"And that prince who bases his power entirely on... words, finding himself completely without other preparations, comes to ruin."
--Niccolò Machiavelli
***
Dear Media Types With Time To Fill:
When, after tonight's acceptance speech, you hear the Republican Party spokespeople and read the Republican Blogs and see the Republican Party strategists talking about the "set" Presidential Nominee Barack Obama spoke in front of tonight at Mile High Stadium... about how "it looks a lot like the White House"... about how "presumptive" it is... about how "like the Germany trip" it shows us X or tells us Y or means Z about Barack Obama... I want you to close your eyes and turn on your inner political translator, so that you hear the deep, sad, connotative meaning behind the words they are saying.
See, this inner meaning - and I'll clue you in on it momentarily - is the same hidden terror underneath all that "elistist" talk and "not-American enough" talk and "missing flag pin" and "secret muslim" and "orange juice" and... well you know the list... because you, dear media, regurgitate and support it in the form of those handy little messages crawling across the bottom of our screens, which are designed to infect our brains like sarin gas.
"Why did Barack Obama associate with a terrorist, Republicans wonder?"
"Is Barack Obama too much of a rock star to really connect with Americans, Republicans ponder?"
"Is Hawaii really an American, American state, Republicans ask?"
All of this non HEALTH CARE, non IRAQ WAR, non AFGHANISTAN, non EDUCATION , non CIVIL RIGHTS, no EQUALITY, non HOUSING CRISIS, non ACTUAL DISCUSSION OF POLICY talk really communicates a much simpler night-sweat that is only five words long and comes, in its original form, as a plaintive moan, so primal it cannot actually be spoken without shaking and tears.
Those five words?
"Oh God, we're losing power."
"What kind of man is so confident that..." = "Oh God, we're losing power"
"Do you think Americans will be put off by..." = "Oh God, we're losing power"
"I think Senator Obama went too far for the average America..." = "Oh God, we're losing power"
"Oh, dear fucking Christ, we're about to lose all that sweet, wonderful power."
UPDATE #1: Oh, and, as always, WE'RE DOOMED:
UPDATE #2: What are those strange vertical things in the background?