Gelding McCain's Sleaze

By: Josh
Published On: 10/5/2008 1:22:58 PM

The great genius of Lee Atwater was that he could take the most insidious, invidious, hateful parts of the human psyche and present them as American exceptionalism.  In Atwater's brilliant hands, racism, antisemitism, and homophobia became a noble crusade on behalf of "hard workin' Americans". Greed and the corporate destruction of democracy became "freedom", and the jealous hatred of intelligence and common decency turned into the vilification of "elites".

 

In past cycles Atwater's minions from Rove on down, have been able to use the code language of hate to obscure the critical issues that truly effect American lives.  Obama's not having it, and this is the beginning of a preemptive strike against the latest iteration of Atwater Sleaze - the McCain campaign.
Every piece of trash, every tired and worn smear from the Pro-Lie, Low-Substance McCain campaign will henceforth be kept in the context of their stated principles.  According to McCain-Palin '08:

1.  This election will not be about issues, but about personalities.
2.  McCain can't win on issues, so the campaign must go overwhelmingly negative in order to distract voters.

The reality is that it just won't work this time, and Obama's campaign has been masterful in capitalizing on the impotence of the McSame attacks.

Pitiful. Insulting.  Desperate. Erratic.  The more McCain changes it up, the more he proves he's just more of the same.  

More Obama Jujutsu from Mysticlaker.

Comments



The fascist way (Rebecca - 10/5/2008 1:51:58 PM)
These appeals to hate and nationalism are the tools of fascism. Let me also say that the Nazis were pure socialists who nationalized banks. The irony is that a nationalized economy can support a totalitarian government. We need to keep this in mind as we watch the continuing nationalization of our banking system. Anybody see any parallels between then and now?

Another tool of Fascism is the tool of distraction and misdirection. The problems caused by the government must be blamed on some scapegoat and the public must be kept in the dark about the truth using a constant stream of lies.

People in the US get Socialism confused with Communism. They both can be totalitariam forms of government, one on the far left and the other on the far right. Either can come to power through a democratic election. In moderation Socialism can exist in a democracy. And, for that matter, capitalism can exist in a Communist country such as China.

In extreme they are both terrible. The right wing version is often called Fascism and the Left Wing version Communism. The Fascists usually add a strong dose of racial hatred and elitism into the mix while the Communist version tends toward discrimination against elitists. Not much room left for freedom of expression in either. Who wants to be forced to put a sign in their window on May Day saying "Workers of the World Unite"? On the other hand, who wants to be forced to condone camps for "undesirables"?