Yesterday upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish that man would go away.
- William Hughes Mearns, 1899
I do not recognize the Obama that the Republicans are trying to portray. Sadly, much of the press doesn't recognize complete garbage, at least while they are being fed it. A lie, as Mark Twain said, is halfway around the world before the truth can get its shoes on. For example:
Fwd:Fw:FWD:FE:URGENT - ZOMG!! OBAMA PLAYED THE "RACE CARD"!!!
- No, Obama was talking about
this ad, from two months ago, which literally does everything Obama said it did. In fact, Obama's been making fun of that stupid McCain spot
since June.
The Republicans' point is to paint Obama as a race-baiting ambulance-chaser. The problem is that the Republicans had to fabricate the evidence.
A characteristic of the superstitious mind is that it only needs one data point to "prove" an entire fantasy world. In the case of Obama, however, they've had to fabricate their evidence, in order to "prove" that Obama hates the troops, is arrogant, is a hypocrite, etc.
You could try to make any of these arguments on rational grounds, with real evidence. But, so far, I haven't seen anyone do that. What I have noticed is Republican lie after Republican lie, marching into the Great Bug-Zapper of truth ...
... not that that helps much, when the lie is already "out there."
Time and again, I watch the professional media get punked, and time and again I have to go to a blog to get the facts. The so-called professional journalists are left spinning out tired old stereotypes of Democrats, like someone left Maureen Dowd on "frappé," simply because they failed to check fact one.
The list goes on and on ...
Fwd: Fw: FWD: FE: URGENT
ZOMG!!! OBAMA THINKS HE'S THE SYMBOL OF EVERYTHING GOOD IN AMERICA!!!
SEE?!?!? I TOLD YOU HE WAS ARROGANT!!!
- No,
that's not what Obama said at all. In fact, Obama said "it's not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a symbol." This is the opposite of arrogant.
::
Fwd: Fw: FWD: FE: URGENT
ZOMG!!! OBAMA CANCELED A VISIT WITH WOUNDED SOLDIERS BECAUSE HE COULDN'T TAKE CAMERAS WITH HIM!!!
SEE?!?!? I TOLD YOU HE HATES THE TROOPS!!!
- No,
the press was never part of the plan, and did not have the event on their schedule. The event was canceled because the Pentagon, at the last minute, decided that a military advisor was a "campaign staffer," and preemptively designated the event as a "campaign event," even though it wasn't.
::
Of course, if Obama had gone on with it, as a "campaign event" ...
[cheesy dream sequence transition ...]
meanwhile ... in an alternate dimension ...
Fwd: Fw: FWD: FE: URGENT
ZOMG!!! OBAMA IS USING THE TROOPS AS PROPS!!!
I TOLD YOU HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THE TROOPS!!!
- No, Obama's visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed and in the Green Zone without cameras, and for some strange reason the Pentagon didn't designate those events as "campaign events."
[... cheesy dream sequence transition]
Wake up! No, it's OK. That part was a dream. See? Republicans were all ready to smear Obama whether he went to Ramstein and Landstuhl or not. Even in alternate realities, Republican spokesmen are lying sacks of shit who exploit ignorant reporters. It's a universal constant.
John McCain can strike a pose ...
... hello? Are you listening? McCain can pose as the outraged veteran all he wants, but this was a set-up.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take a moment to kick the everliving dogshit out of Karl Rove:
Rove: ZOMG!!! OBAMA WANTS TO WITHDRAW THE TROOPS FROM IRAQ NO MATTER WHAT, WHICH MEANS THE IRAQIS SUPPORT MCCAIN'S PLAN, NOT OBAMA'S!!!
- No, Obama has long said that withdrawal from Iraq depends on the conditions on the ground. Obama has clearly stated his conditional withdrawal position on
September 26, 2007
February 26, 2008
April 16, 2008
May 4, 2008
In fact, Mr. Rove, you yourself noted noted Obama's emphasis on the importance of conditional withdrawal on March 2, pretending it was a flip-flop. But, as of July 30th, you're pretending you never said that. Would you please make up your mind? You can't have it both ways.
As an aside, isn't it sad that Murdoch has already so ruined the Wall Street Journal that we can't tell its content from the Moonie Times?
::
Fwd: Fw: FWD: FE: URGENT
ZOMG!!! OBAMA SCRUBBED HIS WEBSITE OF CRITICISM OF THE SURGE®!!!
HE'S GETTING ON BOARD JOHN MCCAIN'S BANDWAGON AND TRYING TO RE-WRITE HISTORY!!!
- No,
Obama's criticism of The Surge® for not achieving its political goals (and praise for achieving a degree of pacification) are still there for anyone to read.
Here, the objective is multiple: pretend The Surge® is the reason why Every Flower Blooms in Baghdad, that McCain was right, that Obama is clueless on defense/foreign policy, and that Obama is too scared/stuck-up/dishonest to "admit" that McCain is right - all with a single fabrication.
Meanwhile back in reality, the guy who scrubbed his website is John McCain.
::
Fwd: Fw: FWD: FE: URGENT
ZOMG!!! OBAMA IS PRETENDING THAT HE HAS ALWAYS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT MORE TROOPS IN IRAQ COULD EVENTUALLY REDUCE THE VIOLENCE THERE!!!
HE'S GETTING ON BOARD JOHN MCCAIN'S BANDWAGON AND TRYING TO RE-WRITE HISTORY!!!
- No,
Obama said exactly the same thing back in November of 2006, before The Surge® even began. Obama said that more force can reduce violence but cannot achieve the political goals. He said that before The Surge®, during The Surge®, and now that The Surge® is supposedly over.
This lie may be defensive, since it obscured how Obama has been both consistent and correct on Iraq, while McCain has been all over the map.
::
Fwd: Fw: FWD: FE: URGENT
ZOMG!!! OBAMA BROKE A PROMISE TO STICK WITH PUBLIC FINANCING OF HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN!!!
HE'S A HYPOCRITE!!! HYPOCRITE!!! HYPOCRITE!!!
- No,
that's not what Obama promised to do. And, since the McCain campaign is trying to opt out of public financing after they borrowed money against it, I think that Obama's promise has been fulfilled as much as is possible, considering the Republican's stance.
Here, the Republicans have no choice. They have to point the finger at Obama to keep people from noticing that John McCain is breaking a law that John McCain wrote.
::
One of the truly enjoyable parts of watching dishonest Republicans exploit stupid people is reading the comments sections of blogs and news sites covering the story. Almost without fail, the first few comments will be of the "ah-HA! We knew it! When are you Obamabots gonna admit that [insert Republican bullshit here]" variety.
Then, someone will come along and link to one simple story that refutes the Republican bullshit and dismantles it in detail. These will usually be ignored.
Then, later comments will claim that Obama's supporters are blind to the facts, even when there are no facts (or even, as with this idiot, when they didn't bother to site the thing Obama supposedly did)!
You see, it doesn't matter that it's bullshit. What matters is that it tells stupid people what they want to hear. To a degree, we're all vulnerable to this. But, for the Republican faithful, it seems to be all they have left.
It's like they're a cult, or something. Maybe Paul Krugman could look into this?
But I admit, I've been surprised by how poorly this has worked for John McCain. On the Ramstein/Landstuhl issue, I was surprised how quickly the "elite revolt" that Yglesias and Ambinder predicted actually came about. The press, who had initially run with the story, quickly turned to being aghast at McCain's new low road. I didn't think that would happen, because the truth takes more words to tell than the lie. But McCain was panned so badly that he had to retract the ad.
Whoa. Didn't see that coming.
Next up, McCain "celeb" ad was a complete fiasco for the senior Senator from Arizona. The press hated it. Paris Hilton's father (a big GOP donor) hated it. Paris Hilton's grandfather (and even bigger GOP donor) hated it. Once again, the McCain campaign was "The Gang that Couldn't Lie Straight," but now people were beginning to notice.
Also, as much as everyone's been talking about this video, if you watch it, you'll see that Rachel Maddow wasn't the only one kicking the crap out of Pat Buchanan.
And then last night, on the phony "race card" accusations, I have been surprised how quickly the press has stuck with its "McCain has taken the low road" narrative, because I didn't expect most people to grasp that Obama was talking about a completely different TV spot.
So, the lie did get halfway around the world while the truth was tying its shoes. And then, the truth waited patiently for the lie to finish its circumnavigation, and proceeded to kick the lie's ass.
Nice.
.