"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" -Oscar Wilde |
"The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." -- Proverbs 11:25 |
The Republicans are great at framing issues and labelling candidates. And the new buzzword for Obama is radical. Right-wing radio host Sean Hannity has even re-named his show the "Stop Radical Obama express." On his program Thursday he literally said "radical" about every fourth word. Radical, radical, radical. Get ready, Democrats. We're gonna hear that word more in the next five months than we've heard in a lifetime.
Listening to Hannity's program makes you wonder if he and his kool-aid-drunken listeners are not part of some twisted, brainwashed cult. They greet each other with "you're a great American" and depart with "God bless you." The level of ignorance that flows freely on this program is astounding. Hannity's mission is clearly to poison anyone who comes within earshot of him with lies and deception about the Obamas. Here's a few of his shameless rants from Thursday:
"I am telling you, Barack Obama will move this country in a direction that is so radical that it will shock your senses."
"He (Obama) has views that would probably shock the average American."
"He's a Radical left winger, to the left of George McGovern."
And on 1960's terrorist William Ayers, embattled Chicago developer Tony Rezko and the Reverends Jeremiah Wright and Michael Pfleger: Obama is "a phony. A friend of all these people, and who will associate with anyone who can help him politically."
Throughout his program Hannity hammered home the term "radical associations" to describe these controversial relationships. It's abundantly clear that Hannity's goal for the next five months is to scare the hell out of his regular audience, and anyone else who might be listening for that matter.
Make no mistake: the constant regurgitation of the word "radical" is meant to conjure up all sorts of fear, anger and racial prejudice. Think "radical Muslim." Think "angry black man." Think Willie Horton. This sort of pandering to the racist dumbasses of America is beyond despicable, but it's what the GOP does best. It's pure propaganda. And like all good propaganda, if you say it enough it sticks.
The demonizing of Obama was also evident on the Mark Levin radio program Thursday, where the nominee was accused of just about everything short of eating babies. Here's a snippet of Levin's lies and deception: "Barack Obama has been hostile to Jews and to the state of Israel for years." Oh really Mark? Perhaps you'd like to back that up with some actual facts? Ooops, sorry. There's nothing about facts in the Rovian playbook.
Labels: 2008 election, wingnuttia
I got a turkey breast for .99 lb. It's a scare to go shopping. What about heating oil? Congress should be on this right now.
Hillary had to be nice. She has to retire the campaign debt and go back to the Senate. I'd like to see if Bill starts not being able to get the big bucks because his selling of the presidency is tapped out.
10 to 1 Hillary will soon be trying to get attention. She's not gone. Air America is worse than ever. It should be grabbing listeners because of Obama and they are blowing it. Shultz talks about his last appearance on Larry King for god's sake.
I do think that the Repubs are going to have a rough time. They are preaching only to the choir. Obama is so good that Mc Cain is going to be up against reality, something that he's not fond of.
Maude
P.J. O'Rourke, no liberal, said the most striking thing about this campaign was the decline of the "right-wing radio blowhards". Americans have finally figured out these guys are propagandists, and nothing more.
Sure, they still have their devoted followers, but their influence is rapidly waning. Olbermann is starting to beat O'Reilly in the 25 - 54 demographic. Roger Ailes might be fired soon from Fox News. It's not good to be associated with the Republican Party these days.
Your point, though, is well taken. Smear and fear is all they have this time, even moreso than in 2004 and 2006.
call me a optimist - but i think they are less and less
i think people are beginning to realize the rush and hannity's kind of gas doesnt fill up their cars. the scary black man will not work this time. with so much collapsing around us --- i have to believe (call me an optimist) that even die hard republicans in racially charged places like the south are fed up.
while i think these tactics are not going to work, i also think the incredibly buttoned up and quick responding obama campaign will NOT be swift boated
Is anyone else thinking of Trashcan Man from The Stand riding into Las Vegas with a nuclear weapon in his motorcycle's sidecar, muttering "Bumpty-bump" when envisioning that?
I hadn't, but yeah, that's it. Ow.
And I see you're another veteran of all-night radio (WABC, because WMCA had Barry Gray at that hour). Denison Clothiers...that really takes one back.