When I first posted my essay on “McCainism,” noting the McCarthyesque vibe from the McCain campaign, some folks here claimed that Jon Stewart’s likening McCain to Frankenstein–inadvertently unleashing a monster he couldn’t control–was far more apt.
On last night’s “Daily Show,” Jon Stewart drew parallels between the latest speeches and comments from the McCain campaign, not to mention a mid-West congresswoman, that had a definite McCarthyesque tint to it that didn’t even involve terrorism: instead it centered around real Americans versus, you know, people like me, who live in (or near) cities and aren’t voting for McCain. You know: unAmericans.
Now to be wholly fair, I watched the full video of the Congresswoman who stated that the media should launch an investigation into who in Congress might be, y’know, unAmerican. And I tend to blame her interviewer, Chris Matthews, who basically strung together stuff that she didn’t say, acted like she said it, and then hammered her until she blurted out something stupid. She was thrashing about in the deep end and Matthews tossed her an anvil for a flotation device. Still, McCain’s team seems to be moving beyond this whole notion that there are two Americas (Linda Ellerbe pointed out that red states/blue states is entirely a media construction) and floating the notion that those who aren’t with them aren’t part of “real America.”
Apparently I’m not a real American. And if you’re not voting for John McCain, why…neither are you.
Apparently the question has been asked and answered: No sense of decency at all.
PAD
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I don’t like Chris Matthews. His basic pattern is to ask a fairly long question, then when the interviewee starts to answer, he interrupts them and spends an equally long time rephrasing his question. Sometimes it feels like he can’t stop talking long enough to conduct an interview.
However, I understand why guys like him and Joe Scarborough (another guy I have issues with) do stuff like that. So many politicians on both sides hide behind insinuating questions and talking points. Sometimes the only people who can get real statements out of them are the ones who are a little obnoxious about it.
So even though I can’t watch guys like Chris Matthews, I’m glad they’re out there. Sometimes they manage to make people like Michele Bachmann actually say what they mean.
I don’t like Chris Matthews. His basic pattern is to ask a fairly long question, then when the interviewee starts to answer, he interrupts them and spends an equally long time rephrasing his question. Sometimes it feels like he can’t stop talking long enough to conduct an interview.
However, I understand why guys like him and Joe Scarborough (another guy I have issues with) do stuff like that. So many politicians on both sides hide behind insinuating questions and talking points. Sometimes the only people who can get real statements out of them are the ones who are a little obnoxious about it.
So even though I can’t watch guys like Chris Matthews, I’m glad they’re out there. Sometimes they manage to make people like Michele Bachmann actually say what they mean.
Comments today by North Carolina Republican Rep. Robin Hayes only serve to confirm that this is part of far right GOP philosophy and strategy.
Sounds like this guy, along with the Democrat Murtha in Pennsylvania (who says he has a bunch of rednecks living in his district) deserve to be voted out of office with some of the comments they’ve been making lately.
Maybe I just expect too much (ie: I expect better) of our politicians.
Comments today by North Carolina Republican Rep. Robin Hayes only serve to confirm that this is part of far right GOP philosophy and strategy.
Sounds like this guy, along with the Democrat Murtha in Pennsylvania (who says he has a bunch of rednecks living in his district) deserve to be voted out of office with some of the comments they’ve been making lately.
Maybe I just expect too much (ie: I expect better) of our politicians.
Rog, most of those guys voted for the PATRIOT Act because they were buffaloed into it. Hardly any of them read it. It’s a nasty, dangerous piece of lgislation that needs to be repealed right now, largely because it guts habeas corpus and due process. It established the American equivalent of the Gestapo/KGB, and has quietly gutted the Constitution over the last seven years. Its very existence is criminal.
When they had a chance to change it they made a few cosmetic changes and it passed again, with only 10 senators opposing. At some point you have to stop making excuses for them.
Assuming, as I do, that Obama wins and the Democrats control both houses, how long do you plan to give them to repeal it before you consider the possibility that maybe these guys are willing to keep this criminal act?
“Assuming, as I do, that Obama wins and the Democrats control both houses, how long do you plan to give them to repeal it before you consider the possibility that maybe these guys are willing to keep this criminal act?”
April 1, 2009. Seems like a good date to find out the ultimate truth of the matter on.
“Assuming, as I do, that Obama wins and the Democrats control both houses, how long do you plan to give them to repeal it before you consider the possibility that maybe these guys are willing to keep this criminal act?”
April 1, 2009. Seems like a good date to find out the ultimate truth of the matter on.
Jerry Chandler: April 1, 2009. Seems like a good date to find out the ultimate truth of the matter on.
If they then say, “April Fools! We’re keeping it!” then I will stab myself in the head.
Jerry Chandler: April 1, 2009. Seems like a good date to find out the ultimate truth of the matter on.
If they then say, “April Fools! We’re keeping it!” then I will stab myself in the head.
I’m Irish, living in ireland so i’ve no leanings either way when it comes to american politics. I do however watch the Daily show, well, daily as well as this blog and it’s gotten me thinking:
Is america starting to de-volve? First it’s a unnerving trip back to McCarthyism and now it looks like the ‘South shall rise again’.
Just don’t hand over yourselves back to the british- they’ve gotten big enough heads as it is…
I’m Irish, living in ireland so i’ve no leanings either way when it comes to american politics. I do however watch the Daily show, well, daily as well as this blog and it’s gotten me thinking:
Is america starting to de-volve? First it’s a unnerving trip back to McCarthyism and now it looks like the ‘South shall rise again’.
Just don’t hand over yourselves back to the british- they’ve gotten big enough heads as it is…
Is america starting to de-volve? First it’s a unnerving trip back to McCarthyism and now it looks like the ‘South shall rise again’.
I’m really not sure that we ever moved away from those things. Aspects of them and other things are always here somewhere. They just get louder and/or bolder from time to time.
Is america starting to de-volve? First it’s a unnerving trip back to McCarthyism and now it looks like the ‘South shall rise again’.
I’m really not sure that we ever moved away from those things. Aspects of them and other things are always here somewhere. They just get louder and/or bolder from time to time.
Anthony, you say Liberals have been vilifying you guys for 40+ years, since the 1960s, and that is the sole reason for all the anger? Okay, then what was McCarthy’s excuse?
Nathan, can you picture a libertarian like Goldwater running for President under the Republican Party nowadays? I’m sorry, friend, but your party was been almost totally co-opted by the Religious Right.
Anthony, you say Liberals have been vilifying you guys for 40+ years, since the 1960s, and that is the sole reason for all the anger? Okay, then what was McCarthy’s excuse?
Nathan, can you picture a libertarian like Goldwater running for President under the Republican Party nowadays? I’m sorry, friend, but your party was been almost totally co-opted by the Religious Right.
AnthonyX: “Let me help..hmm where shall we start…oh how about 4 decades +++ of positioning your opponents who have differing opinions as either retarded children or EVIL (oohh scary)
Thats a good place to start. Thank me later.”
Yeah, because dirty politics in Americs don’t go at least as far back or farther back than, say, the election of 1828, when Andrew Jackson tried to dislodge John Quincy Adams from the White House. One story floated by his oppositions was that when Adams was minister to Russia, he was a procurer of American girls for Czar Alexander I. Wives were dragged into it when attacks were floated about how Adams had premarital relations with his wife and of Jackson’s marrying his wife Rachel a short time before her divorce was final.
No… there’s nothing nasty about that.
Hey, how about when, in 1896, opponents of William McKinley produced a china doll of the presidential candidate wearing an American flag-print dress. Was the insult that he was a patriotic cross dresser? No. When the doll was flipped over, a black baby appeared – playing on a rumor that the future president had scandalously fathered an illegitimate child and setting the stage for a young boy named Rove to sit up straight in his history class and think to himself that this was a really cool idea.
Nothing new.
Matthews didn’t trick Michele Bachmann into saying anything she doesn’t already mean and feel.
I’m a Minnesotan,and I was ashamed to see her on Hardball…about as ashamed as I was of the woman in Lakeville, MN who said “Obama’s an Arab”.
Bachmann is quite literally insane. There is something broken there, and she should not be holding public office. Even conservatives I know are scared by her.
Matthews didn’t trick Michele Bachmann into saying anything she doesn’t already mean and feel.
I’m a Minnesotan,and I was ashamed to see her on Hardball…about as ashamed as I was of the woman in Lakeville, MN who said “Obama’s an Arab”.
Bachmann is quite literally insane. There is something broken there, and she should not be holding public office. Even conservatives I know are scared by her.
I’d have asked her to give me Joe the Plumber’s phone number. Since she seems to know what he’s thinking, she must be intimately acquainted with the guy. Then I can talk to him and find out for myself.
“When they had a chance to change it they made a few cosmetic changes and it passed again, with only 10 senators opposing. At some point you have to stop making excuses for them.
“Assuming, as I do, that Obama wins and the Democrats control both houses, how long do you plan to give them to repeal it before you consider the possibility that maybe these guys are willing to keep this criminal act?”
I don’t know. I’ve quit making excuses for the ones in my home state. And if they make an attempt to repeal the act, it’ll be around April 1.
Me, I just want the average American to wake up and remove his head from his ášš. For over a hundred years this country has been under the control of big business interests that have used their money to pull the strings of government. This needs to stop. Our legislators need to be answerable to us, not Exxon, Halliburton or General Mills.
And our government needs to realize that, whether they’re willing to admit it or not, we really have them by the balls. It would take very little more than a transportation strike to shut this country down for a considerable bit. A general strike for 48 hours would have Washington šhìŧŧìņg themselves.
I don’t even want to think about what a tax revolt could do.
Governments really should be afraid of their people.
Miles
“When they had a chance to change it they made a few cosmetic changes and it passed again, with only 10 senators opposing. At some point you have to stop making excuses for them.
“Assuming, as I do, that Obama wins and the Democrats control both houses, how long do you plan to give them to repeal it before you consider the possibility that maybe these guys are willing to keep this criminal act?”
I don’t know. I’ve quit making excuses for the ones in my home state. And if they make an attempt to repeal the act, it’ll be around April 1.
Me, I just want the average American to wake up and remove his head from his ášš. For over a hundred years this country has been under the control of big business interests that have used their money to pull the strings of government. This needs to stop. Our legislators need to be answerable to us, not Exxon, Halliburton or General Mills.
And our government needs to realize that, whether they’re willing to admit it or not, we really have them by the balls. It would take very little more than a transportation strike to shut this country down for a considerable bit. A general strike for 48 hours would have Washington šhìŧŧìņg themselves.
I don’t even want to think about what a tax revolt could do.
Governments really should be afraid of their people.
Miles
Miles – They should be, but … four words: air traffic controllers’ strike. Remember what happened?
Miles – They should be, but … four words: air traffic controllers’ strike. Remember what happened?
Mike V–Congress tried to do something about the influence of big business with McCain-Feingold. The law is still around, but it’s been gutted by the courts. As long as campaign contributions are considered (either rightly or wrongly) as free speech, corporations will exert a great deal of influence.
As far as government being afriad of the People, for that to happen, the People would have to act as one. This nation is far too diverse/divided (pick your favorite) for that to ever happen. The average American may have his head up his ášš, but he wouldn’t care even if it was pointed out to him. Mostly, the average American just wants to live his life and be left alone. People who engage in stikes or tax revolts aren’t allowed that.
Bill Mulligan said: “Great quote, Rob. The sad thing is, I think that a lot of people would have a much more difficult time praising a president they did not vote for than they would criticizing one they did vote for.”
Actually, I provided the Roosevelt quote. Rob just… um… quoted it.
I suspect you’re right that it’s easier to complain than compliment (about things in general), but to my way of thinking, the central point of what Roosevelt said is this:
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
I’ve no doubt that there are people out there, even today, who believe any criticism of Bush is tantamount to treason, as if criticism of the man is the same as criticism of the office. There’s a difference, as Sheridan pointed out regarding President Clark in an episode of Babylon 5. Though, as bad as Bush has been, I don’t put him on the same footing as Clark. Even so, apologists for both view(ed) criticism of the man as somehow unpatriotic. That’s disturbing, especially in the real world.
So, while some people would never compliment the president they didn’t vote for when he or she does something right; others would never find fault with the one they did vote for, when he or she does something wrong. Seems to me that TR would find fault with both viewpoints.
Someone get hold of Manse Everard, or Mr. Peabody or the Doctor or Doc Brown and have him bring TR to the present day, and fill him in on, say, the last 20 years of the American political landscape. It’d be interesting to get his insights.
Rick
P.S. If time travel is ever developed, you know current presidential candidates will use the technology to get endorsements from key predecessors. “Gov. Jones is endorsed by both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.” “‘Sen. Smith is the best choice to lead our country,’ raves John Adams.”
Bill Mulligan said: “Great quote, Rob. The sad thing is, I think that a lot of people would have a much more difficult time praising a president they did not vote for than they would criticizing one they did vote for.”
Actually, I provided the Roosevelt quote. Rob just… um… quoted it.
I suspect you’re right that it’s easier to complain than compliment (about things in general), but to my way of thinking, the central point of what Roosevelt said is this:
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
I’ve no doubt that there are people out there, even today, who believe any criticism of Bush is tantamount to treason, as if criticism of the man is the same as criticism of the office. There’s a difference, as Sheridan pointed out regarding President Clark in an episode of Babylon 5. Though, as bad as Bush has been, I don’t put him on the same footing as Clark. Even so, apologists for both view(ed) criticism of the man as somehow unpatriotic. That’s disturbing, especially in the real world.
So, while some people would never compliment the president they didn’t vote for when he or she does something right; others would never find fault with the one they did vote for, when he or she does something wrong. Seems to me that TR would find fault with both viewpoints.
Someone get hold of Manse Everard, or Mr. Peabody or the Doctor or Doc Brown and have him bring TR to the present day, and fill him in on, say, the last 20 years of the American political landscape. It’d be interesting to get his insights.
Rick
P.S. If time travel is ever developed, you know current presidential candidates will use the technology to get endorsements from key predecessors. “Gov. Jones is endorsed by both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.” “‘Sen. Smith is the best choice to lead our country,’ raves John Adams.”
“Mike V–Congress tried to do something about the influence of big business with McCain-Feingold. The law is still around, but it’s been gutted by the courts. As long as campaign contributions are considered (either rightly or wrongly) as free speech, corporations will exert a great deal of influence.
“As far as government being afriad of the People, for that to happen, the People would have to act as one. This nation is far too diverse/divided (pick your favorite) for that to ever happen. The average American may have his head up his ášš, but he wouldn’t care even if it was pointed out to him. Mostly, the average American just wants to live his life and be left alone. People who engage in strikes or tax revolts aren’t allowed that.”
Yeah, I know. I was just ranting. I’m an old man, I do that a lot.
The state of the world offends me, and has for a long time. And people who won’t vote when it’s their right and responsibility to do so just make my blood boil. I’ve got computer skills like you wouldn’t believe, and no job because of the mishandling of the economy by Bush and the apathy of people who let him fûçk things up so badly. The rich get richer, and the poor keep getting screwed. Bohica!
Need more coffee.
BTW, Pete, my wife said to tell you that she’s not anti-American, just anti-bûllšhìŧ.
Miles
“Mike V–Congress tried to do something about the influence of big business with McCain-Feingold. The law is still around, but it’s been gutted by the courts. As long as campaign contributions are considered (either rightly or wrongly) as free speech, corporations will exert a great deal of influence.
“As far as government being afriad of the People, for that to happen, the People would have to act as one. This nation is far too diverse/divided (pick your favorite) for that to ever happen. The average American may have his head up his ášš, but he wouldn’t care even if it was pointed out to him. Mostly, the average American just wants to live his life and be left alone. People who engage in strikes or tax revolts aren’t allowed that.”
Yeah, I know. I was just ranting. I’m an old man, I do that a lot.
The state of the world offends me, and has for a long time. And people who won’t vote when it’s their right and responsibility to do so just make my blood boil. I’ve got computer skills like you wouldn’t believe, and no job because of the mishandling of the economy by Bush and the apathy of people who let him fûçk things up so badly. The rich get richer, and the poor keep getting screwed. Bohica!
Need more coffee.
BTW, Pete, my wife said to tell you that she’s not anti-American, just anti-bûllšhìŧ.
Miles
I don’t even want to think about what a tax revolt could do.
But paying taxes is patriotic!
I don’t even want to think about what a tax revolt could do.
But paying taxes is patriotic!
Posted by Peter David
To me the difference appears to be that those on the left shake their heads and wonder how people can be so benighted. Whereas those on the right already “know” the reasons why those on the left disagree. It’s because we’re unAmerican and Godless.
You forgot “eeevil”.
But paying taxes is patriotic!
Not if you don’t like having roads and bridges and schools and… 😉
But paying taxes is patriotic!
Not if you don’t like having roads and bridges and schools and… 😉
From the Minneapolis-St Paul Star-Tribune:
Not only is she crazy, she seems to have not fully grasped the concept of “We are recording this for broadcast.”
Full story, plus a pool that asks what she could have done to defuse the controversy, in which “Kept her mouth shut in the forst place” (or words to that effect) is running at 50.7% and the next nearest, “Apologise to Obama” is second, at 19.9% and “She could have defended herself by listing the facts that support her claim” is dead last at 10.6%: http://preview.tinyurl.com/5glpxa
From the Minneapolis-St Paul Star-Tribune:
Not only is she crazy, she seems to have not fully grasped the concept of “We are recording this for broadcast.”
Full story, plus a pool that asks what she could have done to defuse the controversy, in which “Kept her mouth shut in the forst place” (or words to that effect) is running at 50.7% and the next nearest, “Apologise to Obama” is second, at 19.9% and “She could have defended herself by listing the facts that support her claim” is dead last at 10.6%: http://preview.tinyurl.com/5glpxa
Posted by Craig J. Ries
Sounds like this guy, along with the Democrat Murtha in Pennsylvania (who says he has a bunch of rednecks living in his district) deserve to be voted out of office with some of the comments they’ve been making lately.
From the Washington Post:
Politics is so muvh more fun in an era where even unofficial sources can record politicians’ exact words and bring them up later…
Posted by Jerry Chandler
Yeah, because dirty politics in Americs don’t go at least as far back or farther back than, say, the election of 1828, when Andrew Jackson tried to dislodge John Quincy Adams from the White House. One story floated by his oppositions was that when Adams was minister to Russia, he was a procurer of American girls for Czar Alexander I. Wives were dragged into it when attacks were floated about how Adams had premarital relations with his wife and of Jackson’s marrying his wife Rachel a short time before her divorce was final.
Or 1884, when Grover Cleveland was running against James G. Blaine (who was widely perceived as corrupt):
(from Wikipedia)
my wife said to tell you that she’s not anti-American, just anti-bûllšhìŧ.
Amen!
my wife said to tell you that she’s not anti-American, just anti-bûllšhìŧ.
Amen!
“Not only is she crazy, she seems to have not fully grasped the concept of ‘We are recording this for broadcast.'”
Mike, we had a Prime Minister – the unlamented Lyin’ Brian [Mulroney] – who, at a press conference in the late 80s, said something which caused one of the reporters in attendance to pounce and question him about it. Mulroney’s reaction? Deny he’d said any such thing. Then he said it again a few minutes later. There’s reasons why the weasel sat at 9% support for the better part of a year partway through his second term.
And in other “I’ll do anything to get elected” news:
McCain says Obama will ‘say anything’ to win
(Click here for the full story)
Let’s see – “Two weeks ago” on October 23 equals October 9. October 9 to November 4 equals twenty-six days – which, in McCain-speak, equals thirteen days.
Who‘ll “say anything to get elected”?
And in other “I’ll do anything to get elected” news:
McCain says Obama will ‘say anything’ to win
(Click here for the full story)
Let’s see – “Two weeks ago” on October 23 equals October 9. October 9 to November 4 equals twenty-six days – which, in McCain-speak, equals thirteen days.
Who‘ll “say anything to get elected”?
It’s the new math, Mike. And next week he’ll show everyone that 13 X 7 = 28.
Karl Rove was caught using some funny math as well when trying to talk about the %-ages of people who think Obama is qualified to be president.
But as long as six by nine continues to equal 42, it’s all good. 😉
Karl Rove was caught using some funny math as well when trying to talk about the %-ages of people who think Obama is qualified to be president.
But as long as six by nine continues to equal 42, it’s all good. 😉
Michael Ian Black has recently outed himself as not a Real American, too:
http://michaelianblack.typepad.com/blog/2008/10/i-am-not-a-real-american.html
Well the woman herself blames Matthews too so I guess she’s not alone in that notion.
Sorry but I don’t buy it. It’s sheer and utter nonsense. Oh he ‘hammered’ her? Poor dear! Imagine a politician on an interview with a man who has opposeing views and is known to be a hardcase actually made it tough for her? What else could she possibly have done but utter the most offensive and nonsensical drivel that she found floating in her head? Of course! Why didn’t I see it before?
Please.
No one forced her to say what she said. Not even Matthews could believe his ears, for pete’s sake. She could have said “No of course I don’t mean THAT, Chris.” She could’ve said a million other things that were NOT insulting, paranoid drivel!
This reminds me of Republicans blaming Pelosi’s speech for their voting against the bill they ‘really wanted to pass’. Wahhh, we wanted to vote for it but her speech MADE us!’
I suppose it was MSNBC’s fault that Buchanan accused Powell of endorsing Obama based on race too? Poor Pat, he really WANTED to say other stuff…
It’s nonsense and I’m tired of it. People can bloody well take responsibility for their own stupid actions and words. And if some pressure makes you run your mouth like a fool then maybe you should have chosen a different profession. The show is not called ‘Softball’.
Recent Jeff Danziger cartoon about right-wing attacks on Obama supporters as “anti-American” and on Colin Powell for endorsing him: “Mr Limbaugh in his foxhole attacks the enemy.”
Recent Jeff Danziger cartoon about right-wing attacks on Obama supporters as “anti-American” and on Colin Powell for endorsing him: “Mr Limbaugh in his foxhole attacks the enemy.”
I’ve watched that vid a few times, and I can in no way blame the guy interviewing her. I know he tends towards pulling stuff like that, but what she was saying was so out there, it seemed like he was giving her a chance to back off from it.
When you hear someone say something out there, and you want to try to be fair, you say “It sounded like you mean this…” or “Did you mean this?”. That is what he did.
If you look at his face, it wasn’t a “Oh, got ya” look, it was “I can’t believe she said that” look.
Wasn’t him at all. It was all her.