A few hours ago, I caught the tail end of an interview with (I believe) Todd Akin on the BBC Worldservice. Akin, the Republican Representative from Missouri, was spouting of some lies about Obama moving to far left. I don't have the exact quotes or a link, but that is the gist of what really grabbed my attention.
The BBC interviewer didn't call Akin on any of his statements. I find that troubling, because the Worldservice goes out to millions of people around the world and they have a pretty good reputation.
Anyway, after mouthing off to my radio, I wondered how (if he was being sincere) Akin could say that Obama is moving to the Left when most of his positions and policies tend to be adopted Republican positions from not that long ago.
The only reasonable conclussion I could come up with (again, assuming that Akin wasn't just knowingly lying his face off) was the Doppler Effect. When the Republicans and the Tea Party are moving so fast and so far to the Right, when they look over at the President and the Democrats (who are moving much slower to the right), Akin is experiencing redshift. This gives him the impression that the Democrats are moving further to the away. If you have problems with proper perspective (and I think we can agree that the Republican Tea Party certainly does), then the assumption would be that the Democrats are moving further to the Left.
Do I really believe that Akin himself has this issue? Not at all.
Do I think that there are people out there who aren't fully cognizant of all the shifting positions and are under this redshift effect? Absolutely.
Is this at all relevant? Probably not. I just thought I'd share this with some people who might appreciate it.
Everyone enjoy the Holidays.
