Reaping what you sow
I'm generally pretty jaded about open displays of smug stupidity and viciousness, especially in the poisonous atmosphere surrounding Presidential campaigns, but somehow the crowd captured in this YouTube footage really got to me. I watched the feed a couple of times over at Chapati Mystery, getting more depressed by the minute; I left a comment over there (#4) but still couldn't get this crap out of my mind. It was a bit like having a flashback , especially the repeatedly shouted admonition "Get a job!" Exactly what used to get shouted, among other things, at anti-war protesters in the 60s. Do such people really think, in 2008, that anyone who questions their bizarre conclusions must be unemployed?
And then this:
I have to wonder what really goes through McCain's mind when he has to confront such idiocy one-on-one, as he does in the exchange below. I don't think he's evil or stupid, but the woman he addresses is an inescapable part of his constituency, and this is where the continual pandering of the Republican party and their media goons must inevitably lead. Not that there is anything new here, except that we can all watch, as many times as we can stand, as McCain stares into the abyss and embarrasses himself yet again with a well-intentioned but painfully inappropriate response: Obama is not an Arab, as the woman insists, "...no, no, Ma'am, he's a decent family man...."
Of course I would love to believe that McCain having to admit that Obama is a decent man, and could be President without the world coming to an end, signals that his campaign is essentially over, but I'm not taking anything for granted. I won't believe Obama has really won until I see him on the podium in January taking the oath of office.
posted by Steven Levery at
4:38 AM
7 Comments:
The "get a job" of this election is based, of course, on the idea that only lazy bums who want a handout vote Democratic. The "get a job" of the sixties was aimed at lazy bums who would rather sit around and get high than struggle for a piece of the suburban life-style. It's a much more insidious accusation now, when there isn't enough suburban lifestyle to go around.
Wow. I'd heard about these clips on NPR. But everyone knows that the socialist liberal media would try to make ignorant republicans look like.. well, as stupid and ignorant and racist as they actually are. Seeing the video clip certainly makes a bit more of an impact. The snarling and/or dim faces makes you wonder where they hid their pitchforks, torches, and ropes. It's funny that republicans don't even really represent these people. They represent the rich people.
Yeah, BLZB, exactly, as you've probably heard me say more than once, the hardcore represented here are too feeble-minded (or whatever) to figure out what's really in their self interest and vote accordingly.
Jeanne, I agree with you somewhat about the differences between then and now, but it still represents the same mindset, which is people making unwarranted assumptions about other people who don't look or think like them. There is another difference, though, which is that back in the 60s I'm sure the shouts came from people who were confident they were in the ("moral") majority. I think the people in these videos now sense, rightly or wrongly, that they belong to an ever-shrinking, embattled minority, and in some cases their desperation is palpable. (And now anyone in the world with access to a computer can watch them ad nauseum.) Of course I could be wrong; the polls show Obama pulling substantially ahead, but the interior of the US still looks pretty red to me.
BTW, did y'all catch the "Epic Fail" sign in the group of Obama/Biden supporters at the end of the first video? LOL!
Epic fail is right.
If I can bring up a slogan from the 1980s in reference to Russians, that may have a new application in our political arena:
'Better dead than red'
Actually, I've been wondering for years who picked the current colors for the parties. I would have thought the Republican Party would have lobbied heavily for the "right" to be called blue. Not that it's really mattered to the result, just interesting.
As a brit i was baffled that the very people whooping and cheering at mc cain since these from appearences are the very economically and interlectually deprived people obama wants to help
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