On 24 July 2008, Barack Obama will deliver a speech at Berlin’s Siegessäule. This is expected to be a major international event and an excellent opportunity for Obama to address Europe at large regarding his views on the relationship between the U.S. and world. The Obama campaign, hoping for an enthusiastic crowd, has printed fliers to promote the event. Apparently, that was an intensely evil thing to do.
Patrick Ruffini, at the blog The Next Right, gets the ball rolling:
This is pretty extraordinary. A candidate for the American Presidency is using flyers printed in German to turn people out for his campaign rally in Berlin on Thursday. This flyer can be found on a bilingual page on BarackObama.com advertising the event:
[... snip ...]
The sea of Germans drummed up by the Obama campaign will be used as props to tell us Americans how to vote, and the campaign isn't trying to pretend otherwise. That's breathtakingly arrogant, and par for the course for Barack Obama.
Holy Crap! Obama printed fliers in German! For a speech in Germany! In an email exchange, we agreed that if they had been printed in Swahili, the entire, horrible episode could have been averted.
Oddly enough, Patrick has a fair point (from a conservative point of view) which gets drowned in a deluge of outrage and speculation. Is it technically a campaign event? Is it even possible to have a campaign event when the attendees cannot vote for you? Reasonable people can bat that around. Personally, I think they’re just petulant. John McCain couldn’t draw 20 people with free beer and a polka band. Obama saw the buzz and decided he could throw it over the top. Excuse us for being popular. Here, have a tissue; your mascara is running.
But Ruffini just provides the snowball. Conservative ignorance provides the snowy incline. I wonder what will happen?
Ed Morrissey at Hot Air kicks in with stock footage, i.e., it’s a ‘flip-flop.’
I’m sure everyone recalls the assurances that the Obama campaign gave that Barack Obama would not conduct political rallies on this trip.
[... snip ...]
The Obama campaign wants to hold a political rally in Berlin, apparently to impress upon American voters how popular Obama is among Europeans.
Ed adds a lovely concern troll finish by warning the Obama campaign that it’s time to shake up the staff. Punting on first down? Where’s that Hot Air spirit?!
Next up is Curt at Flopping Aces. He approvingly quotes Glenn Reynolds who speculates that Obama is running for President of the World. Then he quote Ruffini in total. Curt’s contribution?
I’m at a loss to understand this mans arrogance. Popularity for Obama in Europe will do NOTHING for him in the United States. Is it just for the photo op of thousands of adoring Germans groveling over the messiah? Or is it just one huge ego trip?
I’m betting its both.
The man gets creepier by the day.
Aha. Now he’s creepy. All we need to do is prove he’s stupid, preferably by saying something really stupid. But who would walk into that gaping beartrap? Stop the ACLU to the rescue! Under the headline, Barry Forgets Which Country’s Presidency He Is Trying For (perhaps the mostest tortureded headliney headline evar):
Say, Barry? Buuuudy? No matter how much you want it, German citizens cannot vote for you. I know you folks on the left take the whole worldwide opinion thing a bit too seriously, but, I do believe you are over-doing it.
Hahaha! Silly B. Hussein Obama. Germans cannot vote for you. Obama probably doesn’t even know how many U.S. states there are is!
The pieces are in place. Who is going to light this thing? Who will go the extra mile? Obama is in Germany for Christ’s sake. Doesn’t anyone see the connection?
Oh, Redstate. I knew I could count on you.
The Potemkin Candidate Benefits From Leni Riefenstahl’s Heir.
Posted by: Erick Erickson
In Israel, Barack Obama was twice given the chance to answer the question, "Can you ensure that there will be no second Holocaust?" Both times Obama declined to answer. The American media did nothing to engage Obama on the issue.
Obama has likewise stripped the American flag from the back of his new 757 in favor of his campaign logo. The American media has done nothing.
Obama, speaking at Israel's Holocaust Memorial alluded to World War 2 by saying we stopped evil by "speak[ing] out in one voice." First, that's not true and second, he totally ignored the sacrifice of soldiers and sailors who were the people who actually stopped the evil not by speaking, but by fighting. The American media did not note this glaring omission.
Patrick Ruffini notes Obama is now on to Germany for a great propaganda show. He'll have film makers there to shoot commercials for his campaign.
This event is supposed to not be a political event. Obama is, I would presume, subsidizing his travel with U.S. Senate funds and thus cannot really have a political trip. Nonetheless, Obama is passing out the poster above, attempting to use Germans as part of his propaganda.
No, Obama and his campaign are not the heirs of Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's propagandist.
It is more and more clear the media is the heir apparent.
No! Obama is not the heir of Leni Riefenstahl! That’s the media! Except ... if the media is Leni Riefenstahl, then that makes Obama ... Hitler!
Because the media has become the self-appointed propaganda master for Barack Obama's campaign. The media has become Leni Riefenstahl. Therein lies the danger. By becoming Obama's propaganda master, the media is failing to ask the tough questions in its quest to do their candidate no harm.
Congratulations go out to Erick for winning the Godwin’s Law challenge. A fine piece of deductive reasoning it was, replete with thinly veiled accusations that Obama would ignore another Holocaust, that he hates the flag, and he probably built a gazebo out of dead soldiers. Erick really swings for the fences on this one as he conjures up a tapestry of images to scare his readers into believing that Obama, if elected, would be the death of the Fatherland and he must be defeated by any means necessary. Ironic, no?
Bonus! Dr. Melissa Clouthier, renown expert on ... um ... being a Doctor!, sees what no one else can see:
Here's the italic caption:
A note about the picture juxtaposition: This is about artistic tone. The profile view. The serious expression. The shading. When I saw the Obama flier picture, my mind immediately called up this Hitler image and I was struck by how similar they are in feel the color choice differences aside. Unnerving really.
Unnerving, indeed, Melissa. You have a sharp eye for detail and are probably a very important doctor person. You seem very nice, so why are you destroying America and making a fool of yourself? Oh, well. Have a nice day hating people!