A Simple Question

I'm sure all of you have seen this video before but take a look at it again. John McCain asks the question, "Who is the real Barack Obama?" and he is met with the answer of "terrorist." He clearly hears this. He looks at the guy who yelled it and furrows his brow before he moves on. People in the background are smiling.

When radio hosts like Hugh Hewitt tell their audiences that voting for Obama will literally get them killed; and when guys like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity go on and on about Barry Hussein Obama's supposed association with terrorists; and when the McCain campaign itself resorts to a strategy that paints Obama as a socialist Other who literally doesn't see America in the same way that good folks like John, Cindy, Sarah, and Todd do; how is it a surprise that GOP voters are putting 2 + 2 together by expressing fear and anger that the damn terrorist black Muslim might get elected?

Let me answer this for you in no uncertain terms: It is not a surprise that the GOP base is behaving this way. It is not a surprise that a constituency which has been the target of 8+ years of non reality-based drivel has suddenly woke up in a country that has two trillion-dollar mistakes, a drowned city, and all-around corruption; and that they can only bring themselves to point their fingers at the only villain they truly know: f'ing liberals.

After hours and hours of right wing radio telling them how liberals want to hand their country over to their pals, Al Qaeda; and after hours and hours of reading right wing books telling them about how liberals want to take their money and teach sex to their kindergarteners; let me ask you again: How is it a surprise that the GOP base is behaving like this? Much like conservative ideals in government bring about broken government, we are now finding out that conservative ideals in electoral politics bring about broken electoral politics. Who could have possibly thunk it? This is exactly what you get when you clearly don't respect the rules of the game. Cynicism eventually has to attach itself to the real world; people can't operate 24/7 on a tank full of bitter wine.

UPDATE: With what other constituency could this muddled, disjointed mess of a commercial make any sense?



Ah yes, Bill Ayers and sub-prime mortgages--two peas in a pod. Although, to be fair, I know exactly which constituency could make sense out of this ad: the people who laughed during An American Carol. They really are creating their own reality, aren't they? Sarah Palin even released her own Troopergate report for folks in this alternate universe to read and cherish.

BTW: We are finally starting to see some media outlets take notice of some of the outlandishly crazy things being said at McCain/Palin rallies. What these reports do not take note of is the fact that the craziness is directly incited by the GOP candidates themselves. They also do not take note of the fact that these sorts of things have been said on GOP talk radio for quite some time now. These crowds have been primed and McCain and Palin are willingly, knowingly, and forcefully turning on the ignition.