100 Days of WTF?

[filkertom]

It's been 100 days since Barack Obama took office as president, and all over the web you can find analyses, scorecards, praises, tirades and grumblings. But I'd like to take a moment to talk about the other side of the equation.

The absolutely apeshit demented behavior by Conservatives and their supporters.

During the Dubya era, it got to a point where there was not only a fresh outrage every day, but several of them. Just multiple layers of amazingly stupid and evil and obviously stupid and evil shit being done every day.

The term "outrage fatigue" came into play.

And we knew, because we were talking about it early in 2003 when the stupid Iraq invasion was looming on the horizon, we knew that whoever had to clean up the mess would [a] have to do a whole lot of juggling and [b] get a lot of shit for it.

But, continuing the tradition of the Bush years, it's hard to fathom that people actually would say and do some of the things they're saying and doing. And we're getting multiple examples every single day.

We won't even get into the teabagging... yet. No, as a mild and benign for-instance, let's start with this quote by Byron York:

On his 100th day in office, Barack Obama enjoys high job approval ratings, no matter what poll you consult. But if a new survey by the New York Times is accurate, the president and some of his policies are significantly less popular with white Americans than with black Americans, and his sky-high ratings among African-Americans make some of his positions appear a bit more popular overall than they actually are.

As Atrios said, linking to this, "Black people don't really count. Or maybe they only count 3/5ths."

Or maybe we should look at Michele Bachmann (R-MN), the one-woman Crazy Quote Machine. She thinks that:

• Obama, or at least his views, are "anti-American"
• as a Minnesota Congressional representative, she's "a foreign correspondent over enemy lines" who wants the people of Minnesota "armed and dangerous" regarding an energy tax
• it's "interesting" that the last swine flu outbreak was also under a "Democrat president" -- just sayin', y'know? (What she's not just saying is that it was actually under Ford)
• Global warming is a myth because carbon dioxide "is a natural by-product of nature"
• the Edward Kennedy Serve America Act, which triples the size of Americorps, will result in "re-education camps for young people"

She's also one of the people protestesting against expanding the current hate-crimes laws to protect gays. (Meanwhile, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-NC, said today that the fact that Matthew Shepard was killed because he was gay was "a hoax".)

Or there's Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), who says there are "17 Socialists" in the House. Goodness! Who'd ever think such a thing?

When asked about the shrinking Republican electorate, Rep. Jim DeMint said, "the biggest tent of all is the tent of freedom", prompting CNN Reporter Rick Sanchez to say, "What the hell does that mean?"

And then there's the meat-and-potatoes stuff.

We could go with the basic denial of reality, in which Republicans who voted time and again for Bush's "emergency appropriations", which kept the Iraq war off the books, and who helped ram the obscene tax cuts for the wealthy down the nation's collective throat, and who worked on the Bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out from under onerous debt, and who supported screwing up Medicare so that nobody knows what the hell plan to take or whether or not it will cover their meds, and who encouraged the de-regulation that has fucked up our economy... those Republicans are now the ones screaming that Obama's administration is spending too much and must get back to "fiscal responsibility". Some of the Republican state governors refused to take money specifically earmarked to help the poor people of their states -- letting people starve so that they could uphold some nebulous principle that they themselves didn't believe in until Obama got into office -- and so far all have been overridden by their state legislatures.

We could go for the sheep-like stupidity of the rank-and-file, the ones who at this point are so thoroughly brainwashed that they protested a bill cutting their taxes (and raising taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year to the hideously high levels of... not as much as they used to be). Somehow, the teabagging parties ended up going, erm, hand-in-hand with the Two Million For Marriage, or 2M4M, which did not mean what they think it means. You may recall we linked to some fun stuff.

There was the craziness that led to the teabagging, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer of MSNBC, who got humiliated by Jon Stewart.

Here in Michigan, a speech by the moderate Republican governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman, Jr., was canceled by the Kent County Republican Party chairwoman, apparently because Huntsman supports civil unions.

There's the vast increase in gun sales since Obama's election, much predicated on the notion that he's about to take everyone's guns away, even though he's never said that and isn't pushing it.

And there's all the noise from the leaders of the right, attempting to make the question about whether or not BushCo tortured people into a "policy disagreement". (At least that one has some rationality behind it -- they know that if the question is, "Were war crimes or crimes against humanity committed?" they will likely be tried for said crimes.) The most interesting mental gyration is the idea that people were tortured because, hey, torture works. Which kinda conflicts with the one guy who got waterboarded 183 times in a month (although Fox News tells us it was really only five times, just 183 pours of water), or the explanation that all that stuff was really no worse than a fraternity prank.

(I truly believe that torture works, if you want to get someone to say what you want them to say. And robbing a bank works if you want to get money. Murder works if you want somebody dead. Et cetera. Shall we now not prosecute those crimes, because they do work?)

We could talk about Rick Perry of Texas openly discussing secession.

We haven't got the time to get into Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, or the granddaddy of 'em all, Rush Limbaugh.

There's also that new study showing conservatives seem to believe Stephen Colbert is not making fun of them.

The crazies, the die-hards, drove center-right Sen. Arlen Spector (R D-PA) out of the party completely, and when Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) said, "you often get the distinct feeling that you’re no longer welcome in the tribe", Fox News' Fox Nation web site linked to it over the headline, "Don't Let The Door Hit You...".

Lots of other examples. Lots and lots and lots.

What prompted this post was bayushisan's tuning in to Bill O'Reilly the other night, and seeing something that was so far over the top he changed the channel before it got to the really bad part.

See, O'Reilly showed, effectively, a snuff film. (Seriously. From about 3:23 to 3:45.)

Cell-phone video from Pakistan, of two people, "charged with having an affair", being killed by members of the Taliban.

O'Reilly showed this, I guess, because we dirty fucking hippies don't think the Taliban is bad enough, or somethin', and we should rilly rilly rilly step up the Great War On Terror.

Showing the vid is, in itself, beyond the pale -- he introduced it by saying it was disturbing, get the kids out of the room, but not what was actually about to be shown. Thanks for the heads-up, BillO.

I also couldn't help but notice, in the segment (at about 1:30) preceding the snuff film, the incredible projection by O'Reilly and his two guests, Margaret Hoover and Gretchen Carlson, of right-wing-media tactics on left-wing-media people, 'cause, gosh-darn it all, we on the left are just so mean and personal. Really, I kept smacking my forehead with the heel of my palm, shaking my head and blinking a lot. It's that kinda segment.

And then, after that, we go from having people killed, shot dead, right there on your TV, without missing a beat, to a discussion about Carlie Beck, a cheerleading coach who was fired because she posed for Playboy.

All this in less than seven minutes.

The conservative movement in this country, the radical right-wing, is, I think, completely insane. And it's already getting dangerous. And I cannot imagine how they function, balancing so many different imaginary realities in their heads. What truly scares me is that I don't think they know for sure what their priorities are, which makes it harder to be ready when one or more of 'em go off the deep end and try to take others with 'em.

Thoughts?

Comments

[sethb.livejournal.com]

A "snuff film" (at least according to the old afu definition) isn't merely one in which somebody is killed (in which case a lot of news reporting would qualify) but one in which the purpose of the killing is to make the film.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I see what you're saying, but... no. No. This is not a splitting-hairs-on-definition thing.

Real live human beings died. O'Reilly showed it, knowing people died, and didn't warn his viewers.

Sorry to get snappish, but... jeez.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

I have to go with Tom on this. It may not be a "classical" version of a snuff film, but Billo playing it for propaganda purposes made it a snuff film.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

They've spent the last eight years saying how all the right-minded, sane people in this country should unite against pockets of crazed, radical fanatics.

Watch it come back to bite them in the ass.

The cases of Spectre and Snowe are just microcosms of what's happening more and more, day after day.

Let the crazies speak for your group, and soon your group will be nothing BUT crazies.

Thoughts?

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Lots of them, & many NSFW.

We are currently in "Republican Central" south of Denver. I have literally met people who do not realize that there is any other "news source" than Fixed Noise, when the local school did a mock election back in November, McCain won the local kids by an overwhelming landslide.

So we deal with these people daily. Robin, at work, has to keep her mouth shut much of the time because people, engineers mind you, folks one would expect to have at least a few clues, don't like her interjecting reality into their discussions. When I'm in the store I will often hear racist (or worse) opinions being espoused in the aisles. It's difficult to ignore them, but it seems, usually, safest to. Sadly. The few times I've tried otherwise have had (at best) spotty results.

What buoys us through all of this is the knowledge that history is progressive, & that we've already won, they just don't realize it yet. (Or maybe they do but refuse to admit that anyone as pure & righteous as themselves could ever lose.)

[sazettel.livejournal.com]

17 Socialists in the legislature, huh?

I bet he's got IN HIS HAND a list...

Somewhere warm Joe McCarthy is raising a glass.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

I thought that our socialist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders) went from the House to the Senate?

(FYI: I wouldn't consider it a bad thing if we had socialists in the legislature.)

[ebonypearl.livejournal.com]

Oh dear gods, I have no clue what to do about them other than to completely lampoon them because all that's left is to laugh at them, long, hard, loud, and very, very publicly. My ex is just like this and I have never, ever been so glad to have divorced him than I am now. If I was still married to him, I'd have to kill him and the only person who could save me would be the fictional Denny Crane.

There's so much material to lampoon, satirize, and parody. The Republicans have taken comedy to shocking levels.

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, they are rapidly approaching the Kissinger Nobel point.

OTOH, anyone else hear about Backmann spoonerizing the Smoot-Hawley Act?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/historian-michele-bachmann-blames-fdrs-hoot-smalley-tariffs-for-great-depression.php

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty much disgusted with so-called Conservatives these days. The thing that O'Reilly did Monday night was so far beyond the pale that I'm at a loss for how else to describe it.

I really don't know what to think anymore.

People have to start speaking out and emailing the powers that be at Fox News and any other news outlet that crosses the line. There needs to be a bigger reminder that We the People are tired of being manipulated and condescended to.

I wrote an open letter that I posted to my blogs about the situation. I think I might copy it and email it to multiple news outlets. Maybe someone will hear and start talking about it.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Also might not be a bad idea to blog about it at dKos or Dem Underground.

[his-spiffyness.livejournal.com]

And just this week Governor Goodhair went from calling secession to asking the Feds for swine flu vaccine...

Rick Perry's secession talk is just a lot of smoke I expect. The talk around the state is that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson is considering a run for Governor. So he's been rallying the Teabagger vote and laying some ground work for his reelection campaign.

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

The last one left in the Republican Party will stroke out from the frustration of having nobody to purge for heresy.

[zellion.livejournal.com]

My brain hurts now.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

Republicans have become everything they've accused Democrats of being for the past 8 years.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

They always were. That's one of their standard strategies -- accuse the other side of everything that you are doing or contemplating doing, so that they get blamed for it instead of you.

[kengr]

a more minor example of Craziness. The NH legislature *on the same day* passed a same-sex marriage law and rejected a transgender rights law (and did the latter because of the usual bathroom scare tactics. IE "oh it'll let men into the women's rooms and put women and children at risk")

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Sure is a lot of that Obama-Derangement-Syndrome going around.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the phrase I couldn't remember. And it really is cuckoo-nutso-what-the-fuck.

Stay classy...

[msgeek.livejournal.com]

...Mr. Falafel O'Loofah!!!

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

My aunt in the MidWest kept watchign Faux News in spite of the fact we warned her that it was promoting outright lies, and refuted point by point at times. She became terrified there would be black people doing drug-based rioting in the streets if Obama won. She insisted he would destroy civil order and let them run wild. (why?!?). This made no sense when she tried to explain it, it was straight Faux Channel propaganda.
But perhaps what she wasn't articulating was a fear that Far Right Wing Nuts would end up committing all kinds of bizarre atrocities, and then *other* folks would riot in retaliation. I could understand that part, esp. after seeing the nutty things they're saying now.
OTOH, it seems like swine flu has got people's attention on other things.
Public health disease prevention, anyone?
Making it easier for folks to get into shelters and not live under bridges?
Heavens, perhaps decent health care for everybody?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

There's actually been a lot of shift in the political thought of the country over the last several months, as people have, for the most part, realized that we have much bigger problems to worry about than whether the scary black Muslim anti-Christ Messiah who wasn't born in this country like his birth certificate says will wear a flag pin as he takes away your guns and gives all your money to other shifty uppity folks.

The ones who worry me are the ones who simply refuse to shake their party allegiances, whether through crusty ideology, hard-won racism, or whatever.

Last night, I liveblogged Obama's speech with some folks on Atrios. One of our longtime trolls was there. For the most part, we ignored him. We was actually making the argument that, because he was making long and elaborate explanations of his positions, going into nuance 'n' stuff, Obama was trying extra-hard to justify his bullshit to himself first and was even more of a liar than this troll had thought.

In other words, in the middle of our country dealing with two wars, a potential pandemic, a devastated economy, determination that the previous administration did torture, and the rising cost of health care, Obama's not being a monosyllabic uninformed cretin meant he was the Worst President Evar.

I really don't think you can break through that sort of mindset. If you know of a way to do so, well, we've been discussing that off and on here for years, with no progress.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

It's all right. We have them surrounded.

Not only are these America-haters crackpots, incapable of rational thought, but they are contemptibly small. The crazier they get, the more independents, libertarians and intelligent conservatives will be inspired to bolt the Republican party (witness Senator Specter this week, who managed to lower the collective IQ of both parties' Senate delegations in one blow).

They are becoming more politically ineffective with every day that passes. Some day soon, the Libertarians and the Democrats will be the two major parties, and then (to my way of thinking, anyhow) there will actually be a meaningful political choice, instead of the usual completely unacceptable GOP option vs. whatever good-to-mediocre option the Democrats deign to offer. Meanwhile, the America-hating psychos will be completely marginalized, reduced to standing on streetcorners with their pants around their ankles, singing "The Old Grey Mare". And we can point and laugh, or ignore them, at our discretion.

Good times are coming.

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

One wonderful thing about today was pointed out by Jed Lewison of Daily Kos and The Jed Report: Fox News was completely cut out of Obama's press conference today. They're not a serious news organization, so the President doesn't feel obligated to treat them like one. Good on 'im.

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

Didn't Fox refuse to air the press conference in the first place, too?

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

When the people I talk with are right wing, I do a quick assessment of their willingness to listen and their sanity. If they are intelligent, willing to talk without vituperation and have a certain minimum sanity score (at least a Call of Cthulhu 15 or so) I am willing to carefully brace them about their ideas.

Usually it will boil down to "you can't trust that news source because only O'Lie-ly tells the truth" from them, but not always.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

To paraphrase a brilliant comedian:
"Some people are dumb. Some people may be reasonably intelligent, but they're full of shit. And some people are just fucking nuts."

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

They're certifiable, but they are not being checked for crazy before spouting off. *sigh*

Yes, that is an entirely flippant comment, not in any way meant to indicate that I want people's thoughts checked or policed, mostly sane or not.

[mdyesowitch.livejournal.com]

On his 100th day in office, Barack Obama enjoys high job approval ratings, no matter what poll you consult. But if a new survey by the New York Times is accurate, the president and some of his policies are significantly less popular with white Americans than with black Americans, and his sky-high ratings among African-Americans make some of his positions appear a bit more popular overall than they actually are.

This amuses me because what he wants to say, but can't, without losing his job, is that he feels black Americans don't actaully agree with what President Obama has done, but they feel obligated to say they approve of him because he's black. Watching him trip around that idea is somewhat amusing and yes, when you're trying to use weasel words to try to convey what you mean without actually saying what you mean, you tend to sound like an idiot.

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

On behalf of Minnesotans, we are very, very sorry for inflicting Michelle Bachman upon you all. I was there when she hid behind the bushes spying on the gay people during their rally (http://www.eleventh-avenue-south.com/archives/000491.html) when she was a state elected official.

She's insane and just an embarrassment to everyone in our state. All I can say is that she comes from a very socially conservative part of Minnesota and -well- at times we all just shudder to think it's there.

Sorry.

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

Hi Tom. I'm not going to get into most of this as I can't deal with the mental whiplash today. (I spend all day cooped up in a server room with a guy who, while basically a decent sort, is to me as I am to you, only rather moreso - yes, I'm the liberal in here :). I know it'll come as a shock you that I'm going to pick out this one line to comment on:

There's the vast increase in gun sales since Obama's election, much predicated on the notion that he's about to take everyone's guns away, even though he's never said that and isn't pushing it.

Please note that in his agenda, published before the election and for a short period on whitehouse.gov (since deleted, but available in google cache if you want source) he said:

...They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.


Yes, I know he now says he he has no plans to address that any time soon. I also know that he now denies his 1996 statements that he supports banning all handgun ownership. He may have legitimately changed his views since then. Maybe not.

I will say this: I know two different people (who don't know each other, btw), both ardent supporters of President Obama, both voted for him, both continue to support him. Both have gone out and bought "Evil Black Rifles" in recent months because they fully expect him to ban them and don't want to take the chance that they "won't get theirs."

It's weird right now in my hobby. The all out mania to buy the guns themselves seems to be easing off a bit, but now ammunition is almost impossible to find at reasonable prices. It's a combination of new gun owners buying ammunition, a bit of fear mongering ("he's going to raise the tax on ammunition by 5000%!!"), and a bit of profiteering, but the end result is that I can't even buy a cheap box of bulk .22lr target ammunition without hunting around or paying stupid amounts of money for it.

Me, I don't expect him to push for a ban on anything anytime soon. Not because he doesn't want to, but because he knows the political support for it just isn't there yet.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Understood about the mental whiplash. And, so that we don't get into another gun-control debate (having done that recently (http://filkertom.livejournal.com/959121.html) anyway), the only comment I'll add to yours is, indeed, it's a weird time in that area.

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

Thoughts?

Well, for one, why is no-one using the phrase "Christian terrorists"? If this is not the soil out of which a Taliban grows, I'm a Disney character.

Second, if there are 17 Socialists in the government, they'd best get to work. I want to see results.