Saturday, August 02, 2008

The master baiter

Come on, admit it -- if a Republican made that "epiphany" remark, Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert would milk it like a herd of Holsteins.

Apparently, the exact wording was garbled in the original print accounts of that speech, which occurred in New Hampshire last January. McCain's team found the video and used it in their latest ad, which is quite funny.

(Yes, the Republican party actually succeeded at humor. The Apocalypse must be nigh. By the way, when are we going to get a Rifftrax version of The Ten Commandments?)

The video makes it clear that Obama was not kidding when he described That Epiphanic Moment. You can find fuller versions of the speech on the web; context offers no escape or excuse.
"Every place is Barack Obama country once Barack Obama's been there."
The Glorious One actually said this of himself. Was he kidding? I think he was "kidding on the sly," to use an old expression that Al Franken likes to resurrect.

Of course, no matter what he says, we must never call the Lightbringer "arrogant" or "presumptuous." To do so would be racist. If you don't want to be considered kin to David Duke, you must allow Our Savior to say that which other politicians may not.

Obama has finally 'fessed up to his most recent exercise in "racism-baiting." Here's his deceptive explanation:
“I was in union, Missouri which is 98 percent white - a rural, conservative. and what I said was what I think everybody knows, which is that I don’t look like I came out of central casting when it comes to presidential candidates."
This statement is a lie. Obama did not simply point out that he looks different. He accused the McCain camp of appealing to prejudice -- something which is not true.

When will Obama and his progressive supporters learn? Unfairly accusing white people of bigotry makes them feel infuriated and disgusted (especially when the person charged has a non-white adopted child). This is not a way to win votes.

If you're clever -- or if you own one of those patented Josh Marshall Secret Racism Decoder Rings (tm) -- you can scry racism into any text, however innocent that text may be. Just don't expect such specious charges to make you popular.

After McCain aired a commercial comparing Obama's unearned celebrity to Paris Hilton's unearned celebrity -- a comparison I consider fair -- his progressive apologists cried "Racism!" They tried to pretend that the spot was not about vapidity. They tried to pretend that the ad conveyed a secret message: Obama wants to rape blonde white women.

Keeee-RIST! If the progs can read that into that, they can interpret a list of breakfast cereal ingredients as a KKK tract.

The result? The number of Democrats has declined, and Obama no longer has a measurable lead.

Good work, progs! Keep it up! As the leading member of what you call "the Clinton/Bush crime family" said back in 1992: "One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result." Insane progs keep resorting to "bigot baiting" tactics -- and the Democratic party keeps shedding voters.

By the way, here is Hillary's unjustly maligned response to Obama's "epiphany" canticle. At the time, the progs called this statement "desperate." Today, it seems prophetic:

9 comments:

gary said...

What a surprise--I click on one of your links and find the quote, which was made in a light-hearted manner, was actually jumping in on what Obama said mid-sentence. The actual beginning of the sentence, from your link:

"My job is to be so persuasive that if there's anybody left out there who is still not sure whether they will vote, or is still not clear who they will vote for, that a light will shine..."

Not quite the same thing.

As for racism, we know that the Republicans held focus groups to show exactly just how far they could go as far as race goes. McCain did run an ad accusing Obama of wanting to be one the dollar bill and on Mount Rushmore, along with the other white men. Is the Paris Hilton/Brittany video actually innocuous? Maybe, but there are plenty of celebrities who are not blonde females. Anyway, the Obama campaign has said that they are not accusing the McCain campaign of racism, only of taking the low road, which they

Joseph Cannon said...

Give it up, Gary. You're reaching like a slinky that just stepped off the roof.

Wait. Did I say "Give it up"? Scratch that. KEEP IT UP. You're costing your candidate votes! Go ahead -- blame racism. Blame McCain. Blame the Eternal Other. Progs, unlike liberals, are so fucking incapable self-reflection that they always blame everyone but themselves.

But the truth is, your bigot-baiting is shedding votes the way a dog being groomed sheds hair.

KEEP IT UP!

Anonymous said...

Aww, it's the weekend, so how about 'like a slinky being groomed on the roof, shedding its coils'?

Simile! You're on Cannon Camera!

Sparky

Joseph Cannon said...

'like a slinky being groomed on the roof, shedding its coils'?

I don't get it.

Perry Logan said...

Calling your fellow Democrats racists is #1 in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Stupidest Political Strategy EVER."

gary said...

Curious though that you did not address the first part of my comment, about how you were misquoting Obama. Oh, and I like your "Over" graphic. I will be using it after McCain loses.

Joseph Cannon said...

I didn't misquote anyone. The context is not even slightly exonerative -- if I thought it was, I would not have linked to it. Just listen to his tone of voice -- he's serious!

gary said...

I did listen to his tone of voice and did not think he was serious. But then you are not in a position to evaluate whether he was serious as you lost your sense of humor some time ago. The context of the full quote is that it is his job to persuade the voter to vote for him, which he says in a light-hearted way. The bastard.

Anonymous said...

It's "on the square". Kidding on the square. I keep forgetting to use that.