DougJ has been doing a great job describing the post-wingnut phenomenon, in which the right becomes so compartmentalized and separated from the rest of us (and reality) that they just speak in terms and codes that make no sense to the majority of America, but which make a great deal of sense and carry great symbolic meaning to them. The classic examples are the recent flare-ups over arugula and Dijon mustard, in which right-wingers see the dread menace of elitisteuroliberalfascism and react hysterically, while the rest of us are left wondering just what the hell is wrong with mustard and tasty lettuce.
At any rate, I was driving home from Target after replacing yet another household appliance (I’m just buying Kitchen Aid everything from Amazon from now on, because every other brand name is crap that breaks in a year), and I flipped on the AM radio to hear the beginning of the Rush Limbaugh show. I figured what the hell, I haven’t listened to him for a while, I will see what he is up to and what his main concerns are these days. The show was a “best of,” taped during the Chrysler bankruptcy, and it was like a trip to another dimension.
He was repeatedly referring to President Obama as “Barack Peron,” and he wove this elaborate tale about how the Chrysler bankruptcy was actually a cunning scheme for Obama to reward the UAW, and that while the Chrysler bankruptcy was a huge failure for Obama because the bailout funds were supposed to save Chrysler, it was also a huge victory for Obama because it was exactly what he wanted to do. This went on for like fifteen minutes, and putting aside the fact that I’m pretty sure very few in his audience have any idea who Juan Peron is, it just occurred to me that the only people who could have followed what he was talking about are daily listeners who are so far into the kool-aid that they will believe everything he says, the hopelessly uninformed who won’t know what he is saying makes no sense, and the partisan hacks who don’t care, they just hope it helps Republicans. I understand there may be some overlap with those groups.
At any rate, I googled “Barack Peron,” and fortunately the entire rant is online and you can read it for yourself. Here is a snippet:
So that is what precisely has happened here. The lawful debt holders have been intimidated into surrendering their legitimate claims in a bankruptcy. The next thing you do, right out of the pages of Juan Peron, you force state-owned banks — and we have state-owned banks, don’t we, now? Notice the bankruptcy is happening after the bank takeovers, after nationalization of a certain percentage of some banks. Isn’t it interesting the timing here? So you force state-owned banks — you don’t have to force them because they’re yours anyway — and these state-owned banks, and they’re the big lenders to Chrysler over the years, you force them to give up most of their claims in a bankruptcy, ’cause you gotta save the company. I mean, that’s the bottom line, gotta save the company for America.
Then after you have forced the lawful debt holders to surrender their claims and the state-owned banks, the big lenders, to give up most of their claims in a bankruptcy, then what do you do? You hand the company to your union allies. Fifty-five percent of Chrysler today will be owned by the United Auto Workers. Now, many Americans do not recognize this pattern, because we don’t see this pattern in this country. This method of bankruptcy and of saving a company by basically turning it over to people who have hardly any investment in it, the United Auto Workers, at the result of an iron fist from the state, i.e., Barack Obama, this is so far outside the American political spectrum, business spectrum, people can’t get their arms around it because they’ve never seen it before, and they probably don’t know what Juan Peronism is, they may not even know who Juan Peron is. They know who Evita Peron is, they think it’s Madonna and they think she was great.
If you didn’t know the source, you would think this was babble I had copied down from some unwashed homeless guy with a nervous tic talking to himself while walking down the street. It makes no sense whatsoever. To follow his logic, Democrats secretly crashed the economy last summer, knowing that Barack Obama would get elected, so that the current Republican President would be forced to shower all the major banks with tons of money to keep them afloat and that would in effect nationalize them so that a year later, when an auto company goes bankrupt, President Barack Peron could then flex his muscles and give away the company to the evil autoworkers union, just as he planned to all along, just like Juan Peron. Also, Madonna.
If that “theory” (and I use the term loosely) makes sense to you, you might want to seek help. But there it is, in all its glory, from the guy who is the de facto leader of the opposition party. And it is insane. But if you look at it a again through the post-wingnut filter, it really is the political equivalent of raising a ruckus over dijon mustard. There is no coherent thought, just buzzwords that the in-group is supposed to recognize and react appropriately to:
Nationalization- BOO!
UAW- BOO!
Barack Peron- BOOO!
Madonna- DOUBLE BOO!
And reading the transcript really doesn’t give you the whole effect, because you have to hear the caustic sneers and the other tonal shifts to completely get the feel for the crazy. After listening to the entire dizzing opening monologue, I realized why some of these nutters in the birther wing of the current right feel comfortable putting up billboards asking “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” without stopping to realize most people aren’t going to have any clue what they are talking about. Or writing diaries trying to explain that Jesus would waterboard.
They’re crazy and they are increasingly isolated and insular and speaking a language that only makes sense to them. It is just that simple. I have my doubts about the Democratic party, but at least they are functioning in a reality that I can relate to and understand. When we look at the sky, we see the sun and clouds, and not a heliocentric conspiracy to deny the existence of God (and yes, I am aware that is a spoof site).
El Cid
Here in Atlanta Boortz has been raging against the injustice done to the senior bondholders of Chrysler by Obama, reading letters from a guy who whose son has to drop out of college because his bond investments were not bailed out. So they’re moving into seeing this as a net political win because they want to portray it as “Obama killed your firefighters’ pension in order to score points with and repay the UAW and BIG LABOR which put him in office.”
bayville
Coincidence? I saw that same snippet scribbled on the inside of an Elk’s Lodge bathroom stall on Saturday (with the exception of a dozen or more misspellings).
Must be the new battle cry of the Limbaugh conservative movement.
Thank’s for the heads up JC.
dmsilev
We should give thanks, I suppose, that they’ve moved from Hitler and Stalin to slightly less odious comparisons.
But that said, how do these people make a comeback? Do they really believe that there’s this enormous reservoir of True Conservatives (meeting all the insane litmus tests) who didn’t vote last time but will ride out and sweep the GOP back to victory? Because that’s the only way the current “strategy” even begins to make sense (with a very low bar for “makes sense”).
For Rush, I can understand the incentives for dialing the True Believer Nutcase dial up to 11. His incentives are for growing an audience, not for winning elections. But why are there so many GOP politicians/strategists/etc. following his path?
-dms
garyb50
I repeat: read ‘Shock Doctrine.’
Olbermann runs a video of Rush @ that Republican shindig a couple months ago. Rush, dressed in voluminous amounts of black, up there chanting “Rush, Rush, Rush…” Exhorting the exhorters. It’s just about the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen & I never get tired of watching it because it so exemplifies the CRAZY.
Bill E Pilgrim
Is that the store that says “Abandon all hope ye who enter here?”
It’s pronounced “tar-jay” by the way, if you want to drive the wingnuts crazy and confirm their suspicions that a secret French Socio-Fascist takeover of the US is at hand.
asiangrrlMN
John, you and I entered into an unspoken, but binding agreement when I started reading this blog that you would listen to and read that shit so I wouldn’t have to sully my ears/eyes. Do you know how much lye I will have to use to remove the stain of what I have read?
All kidding aside, the first thing I thought of when you wrote Barack Peron was, “Why the hell is Rush comparing Obama to Eva Peron?” Heh.
But, according to RedState via TBogg, Rush doesn’t attack individuals, oh no! Whatever, Erick the son of Erick.
zed
Yeah, damn auto workers! Like they have any interest at all in the state their jobs will be in. Why, I bet they run the company into the ground just to spite “The Man”.
Bill E Pilgrim
Just to prove once again that Gary Larson covered almost every possible occurence years ago.
Blah blah blah SOCIALISM, blah blah blah blah
TR
BOB, I think he’s talking to you.
MikeJ
Vitajex, jex, jex
makes you go, go, go!
Dave L
The Brownback posting may be a spoof, but this site is not:
http://www.fixedearth.com/
A pretty small faction even within the fundamentalist fringe, admittedly, but a useful reminder that there is no reality so self-evident that it cannot be denied.
MattF
Wingers are pretty much working their way through the textbook description of the social response to cognitive dissonance. So far, the core group has stayed quite stable, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a schism eventually. Inquiring minds will eventually ask, e.g., whether the Limbaugh is identical in substance to the Cheney, or merely similar…
aimai
@ MattF 12
“the core group has stayed quite stable?” They don’t sound at all stable to me.
aimai
gizmo
The essential problem for the wingnuts is that they don’t have any sort of positive agenda of their own. Their whole movement is based on the notion of hating whatever it is that liberals are trying to do. That’s why they are happier when they are out of power with no responsibility to govern– it liberates their inner crazy.
Brandon T
Shorter John Cole: Rush Limbaugh has become Frank Chu
The similarity is getting uncanny. Of course, Chu isn’t nearly the asshole Rush Limbaugh is, but the fact-free, unintelligible, conspiracy laden rants are very similar.
This isn’t the most updated version of his autobiography, since he now seems to have incorporated the Bush administration and uses a lot of “behind closed doors” in his rants these days.
SrirachaHotSauce
@gizmo:
Pretty much true. They certainly don’t have any practical plan to solve any actual problems. If I had to pick one reason for their abject downfall right now, it would be that. Whatever the gory details of the Bush administration, the bottom line over and over again was that they just couldn’t actually solve anything or fix anything. They are so busy “sending messages” or managing expectations or pandering to a base, and resting it all on the noble “Government IS the problem” theory, that they can’t actually govern.
That’s how you end up on the brink of a depression and them suggesting a spending freeze. Not even Matt Groening could come up with that.
demkat620
I’m know I am behind in the joke, but whatever became of psycheout? How is he or she now?
IndieTarheel
*BAM!*
Sorry, my WTFmeter just exploded…
Tim F.
The wingularity is nigh!
Bob In Pacifica
I recently had a weird experience with a relative. She claimed that Father Coughlin was “instrumental” in getting FDR elected, that Coughlin was a progressive-socialist and that Coughlin split with FDR because Roosevelt didn’t go far enough as a progressive. Now this person is not snot-drool crazy. In fact, she was actually a fairly intelligent person forty years ago.
But listening to Limbaugh and Fox has reshaped her reality. Discussing politics with her was worse than useless. Thanks to people like Jonah Goldberg she didn’t even know what the words meant anymore.
It’s true that maybe only 20% of America is eating this brand of sh!t sandwich, but that’s still a lot of people to be delusional. And communicating with them in a rational way is nearly impossible.
Alan
Argentina’s Peronism modeled Italian fascism so it’s all part of the meme. Plus you get Madonna. Heh
Terri
I have a client who thinks like this. Sweet lady, but i haven’t figured out how she breathes on her own. Recently, I made an offhanded comment about someone working on a Darwin Award, and she asked with a quizzical look on her face, “I thought his theories were disproved?”.
JimPortlandOR
Back in the early 70’s (when BASIC timesharing was hot – before the PC came along in the 80’s), a fun-loving programmer at HP (where I worked) wrote a porn-text generating program. It grabbed random gobs of phrases, words and idioms and crammed them together into ‘sentences’ and stories.
We should compare what most wingnut GOPers are saying post-Jan. 20, 2009 with that kind of discourse. Random strings of words that defy logic, analysis and discourse. Its worse than the 1000 monkeys typing on keyboards because it uses real-world memes and lies as fragments of the ‘Shakespearian’ output. Rush, Newt, Big DIck, Daughter Dick, Boehner (Boner), Cantor-the-singer, Huck, Hannity, Kyl, et. al. There’s so many graduates of the school of nonsense politics clustered together that the word ‘clusterfuck’ takes on whole new dimensions of descriptiveness.
One thing needed: we need to recycle the name “know nothing party” to describe this phenom.
donnah
I still subscribe to our local newspaper and the editorial page is now littered even more with letters from outraged Republicans, shrieking madly about this administration, and they are all using the Limbaugh talking points.
“It’s obvious Liberals can’t face the fact of what Nancy Pelosi really is: a liar.”
“It only makes sense that President Barack Obama is going to help the autoworkers. They elected him, via the unions.”
“The Obama administration is bungling the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If they blow this, the Taliban may end up controlling Pakistan’s nukes. They won’t be able to spin this to blame George W. Bush. They own it. Once again, it is proven that the Democrats can’t be trusted with national security.”
So apparently there are still sufficient Dittoheads out there to keep those great points in circulation. Gawd.
SteveinSC
That’s DEMOCRAT party, thank you very much.
Kerry Reid
@MikeJ: I showed “A Face in the Crowd” to a class on Election Day last fall. It was a hit. Everyone should see that film, IMO. “Bible readin,’ Sunday-go-to-meetin’, just plain folks!”
Alan
@donnah: The bizarre part, they all think they’re versed and educated on all political matters for which they speak. They balk at the very mention they’re reciting rightwing talking points they heard from talk radio or RW blogs.
Dennis-SGMM
No resident of Somalia or Afghanistan would disagree with the notion that government is the problem. It is only the blessing of anarchy that’s enabled the citizens of both of those nations to thrive.
donnah
Alan, Of course! It’s verbatim, but it’s their original thoughts, yeah right. I don’t discuss religion or politics where I work, so I have to bite my tongue nearly in half when I hear crap like this. Sadly, though, it’s what they believe is true, because Rush Said So.
smiley
I’ve listened to Rush quite a lot over the years. He is a plutocrat of the highest order. There is absolutely nothing on which he won’t side with corporate interests. So, I guess that makes him a corporatist of the highest order also.
By way of insight into Rush’s world view/personality/girth, he has admitted to being a big fan of Nero Wolfe stories when he was growing up.
Krista
When you can no longer tell the difference between the Serious People(tm) and the spoofs, then the spoofs have won.
But society as a whole loses, because it means that the Serious People have descended to the level of farce. It also makes it not as much fun to spoof, when the genuine article is way nuttier than any fatigue-induced, giggle-provoking imitation that DougJ et al could come up with.
JD Rhoades
What, no mention of ACORN? It’s not really primo wingnuttery unless you can shoehorn ACORN in there somewhere.
The Grand Panjandrum
You sound more and more like a Democrat every day.
malraux
My general rule is to avoid buying anything that either has moving parts or runs on electricity from Target. I have yet to have something fitting either of those criteria bought from target last more than a year. Target is just walmart with better labor relations and packaging.
JD Rhoades
@smiley:
Damn it. Thanks for ruining the Wolfe books for me. I used to love those, too. Great old-time mystery fiction.
The Moar You Know
@SteveinSC: That’s DemocRAT Socia!ist Party, thank YOU very much.
I’m barbequing fetuses on a Chinese-made Weber fired with American flags all stolen from the widows of servicemen, and drinking French wine. What are the rest of you doing on this fine holiday?
Winston Smith
Dude, I’m telling you, that’s Rush’s M.O.–free association in which a large number of the nodes (including what he seems to regard as his “conclusion”) are equivalent to ‘liberals suck.’ You always know where he’s going…and you always know roughly what over half of the “lemmas” will be…but how he gets there is like a kind of screechy, verbal interpretive jazz…
I have to admit I’m a little surprised at your surprise!
me
750 millitimecubes
Mike G
John,
Before you buy anything Kitchen Aid, read this —
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/editorial-stein-x-leikangers-metaphorical-journey-into-kitchenaid-hell/
Yet another American brand with a strong reputation that has gone for MBA-bullshit corner-cutting and the fast buck, and is now in the “let’s produce cheap crap until people catch on that we’re not what we used to be” stage.
Or writing diaries trying to explain that Jesus would waterboard.
If the pro-torture wingnuts were around in 38 A.D. they’d be pro-crucifixion. After all, Jesus was a dirty hippie dissenting from the authoritarian right-wing government, and we’ve seen what they think of such ‘elitist’ types. Besides, he might have had knowledge of ticking time bombs to be invented 1500 years later.
valdivia
and he doesn’t even get the peron reference right.
Notorious P.A.T.
How about the “know-nothing and proud of it” party.
TR
The wingnutese reminds me of the political speech Charlie wrote on “It’s Always Sunny….”
Bill E Pilgrim
@Notorious P.A.T.:
I propose “The Party of Noh”
Given what I just read above, it’s more apt than anything.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
I think the correct term to describe you is “Helioleftist,” John.
Notorious P.A.T.
@TR:
Hahaha ) Anyone who hasn’t seen that show, really should. Rent it.
Comrade Darkness
@Bill E Pilgrim: Is that the store that says “Abandon all hope ye who enter here?”
The sign at our local one reads “Arbeit Mach Frei” so I’ve never been inside. There are always way more cars in the parking lot than could be justified by the lack of foot traffic, so that doesn’t help either.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Tim F.: Why would any reasonable person think the wingularity is nigh? They have Liz Cheney!
Now what could possibly go wrong with that?
Enlightened Layperson
I think you have to give the right wing credit on this, and on the AIG bonuses. They are taking a principled stand on behalf of unpopular people. We stand up for terrorism suspects; they stand up for finance executives. The sanctity of contracts, no matter how odious, is a matter of principle to them, just as the rights of the accused, no matter how odious, is a matter of principle to us.
What I don’t get is why they think destroying a major auto company and depriving people who worked there all their lives of their healthcare and retirement in order to make sure a few hedge funds will be paid in full makes populist sense.
Comrade Darkness
@Enlightened Layperson: The sanctity of contracts, no matter how odious, is a matter of principle to them,
As others have pointed out, tho, they feel free to disregard the UAW contracts just fine, so this is not at all a stand on principle.
JD Rhoades
@Comrade Darkness:
The right has no principles whatsoever. All they have is a desire for power. They want to be wearing Orwell’s Boot.
The Cat Who Would Be Tunch
I just choked on my arugula. Man, have I got some catching up to do…
Joe Max
This brings up something I’ve been pondering lately.
When I was a kid (lo, so many years ago) I think my family had the same toaster and the same electric mixer for at least a decade. Solid hunks of American steel that were made to last for years and years. They occasionally broke down, and one took them to a appliance repair shop where a nice man would fix them for you.
Back then, a toaster or clothes iron were fairly expensive, as average prices went. (That’s why so many couples would get them as wedding presents.) They were expensive because not only were they made in the USA, but they were made well, and made to be serviceable. So they lasted for many years, and therefore were more economical in the long run.
But today, the whole thing is different. Appliances are made to be as cheap as possible to purchase, but are not expected to last more than a year or so, when you must go out and buy another one. This suckers people into a trap of false economy – as in, “wages are stagnant but hey, you can buy a toaster at Wal-Mart for ten bucks!” Yes, and over ten years you will pay $100 to toast your bread. Some 30 or 40 years ago, the toaster cost maybe the equivalent of $50 adjusted for inflation, but lasted for ten years. In the long run, it cost you less. Even if you had to put $20 into it to repair it over that time, it still cost less, and it also supported a local repair business.
Nowadays, you can’t buy a solid, well-built American-made toaster or iron even if you want to. They aren’t made anymore. And no repair shops exist to service them.
Roger Moore
@Enlightened Layperson:
As others have pointed out, union contracts seem to be an exception to this rule. It would be more accurate that the interests of rich people are a matter of principle to them.
Napoleon
I can’t find this online, but there is a Dickinson piece in the current Rolling Stone with an extended quote from Bruce Barlett that ends with “And there’s nobody in a position of authority in the party willing to say that some of the beliefs of the core are just crazy”.
Yep, pretty much sums it up.
geg6
The Cat who Would Be Tunch: Dude. If you missed the whole “Jesus would totally waterboard” stuff, you missed some prime grade A wingnut. Funniest and saddest shit I may have ever read. At least until I read the definitive wingnut definition of marriage, that is.
Snark Based Reality
I’m confused.
I can’t find a non-wingnut definition for Helioleftism. Is the Helio part from Heliocentrism? If so… I don’t get the slur.
Could someone please explain the term to me and why its bad?
Edit: I give up. I honestly can’t tell via google if its a real slur or spoof.
Tonal Crow
I’m not making this up folks. Let me tell you what those Pelosi-loving ACORN-sprouted liberal apparatchiks in the Republican central committee are doing now. You won’t believe this. They voted down — yes folks, voted down — a measure that would have required the Democrats to refer to themselves as the “Democrat Soċialist Party”. One of them even called it “overly partisan” and “embarrassing”. I have to tell you folks, the RINOs have taken over. There’s no truth in the Republican Party anymore. We got Colin Powell campaigning for the Kenyan-born taxer-in-chief, John McCain mouthing off about closing Gitmo, Arlen Specter acting like a Democrat Soċialist — oh, wait, he *is* one — and now this. Why don’t we just amble down to the Castro — yeah, they call it “the Castro!” — and hop into bed with the first drag queen we meet? I mean, that’s what it’s come to, folks. It’s a sad, sad day for America.
/Rush
Comrade Darkness
@JD Rhoades, I think they may have, and abide by, the principle that cognitive dissonance is good for the soul.
Comrade Dread
I guess they must have missed the part of the Bible when He said to love your enemies, bless those that curse you, and pray for those that oppress you.
And they probably skipped the part when after being beaten to a pulp, whipped into a bloody mess, and nailed to die in the most agonizing manner, He lived it out and asked God to forgive those that had done it to Him.
TenguPhule
Welcome to Vime’s Boots.
Mike G
The sanctity of contracts, no matter how odious, is a matter of principle to them
Except for the US Constition when Cheney/Bush was in power. And all international treaties they found ‘quaint’ or inconvenient in their aggressive war.
The sanctity of *their* contracts is inviolate. Your contracts, not so much. The mentality of bullies.
Kyle
And they probably skipped the part when after being beaten to a pulp, whipped into a bloody mess, and nailed to die in the most agonizing manner, He lived it out and asked God to forgive those that had done it to Him.
In the Wingnut Edition(tm) of the Bible, Republican Jesus rose from the tomb and went on a rampage through Jerusalem with an AK-47. Then he demanded a tax cut while waving an American flag.
smiley
@Joe Max: I think the old adage, “You get what you pay for” applies to your comments. I subscribe to Consumer Reports Online and I research almost everything I buy. I have a Krups toaster oven, a Cuisinart toaster (I know, somewhat redundant), a Panasonic iron, a Samsung microwave, and a George Foreman grill. They are all at least 5-10 years old and they’re all working fine. And also two Sony TVs of the same vintage. Yes, it’s annoying to be told that it’s cheaper to replace than to repair. But there are still quality products out there, relatively speaking. Unfortunately, they’re not the cheapest or necessarily American made.
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
Helioleftism! Gotta love it! Let’s also remember how these knuckledraggers loved The Passion. Remember that Mel Gibson’s father Hayden, who took his family to Australia to raise them in one of those Opus Dei Commune/Alternate Universes they’ve got down there, had a standing offer of $250,000 to anybody who could convince him of heliocentrism? A bet that was never collected, by the way.
mclaren
This is what I don’t get… You sound like a smart sensible guy, John. But Limbaugh was spouting exactly this kind of gibberish all throughout the Clinton years. I remember hearing Limbaugh going on and on about how the Clintons had allegedly killed Vince Foster, and Bill Clinton had supposed murdered a bunch of people in Arkbansas to cover all the rapes he had allegedly committed, and Limbaugh’s crazy babbling just went on and on in that vein. He was really riding the Crazy Train right to the end. And Limbaugh was doing that for years. It was just as nutty as the stuff you’ve cited above, and just as incoherent.
So here’s what I don’t get. Why did you listen to Limbaugh and buy into all that craziness then, but not now?
Call me stupid. I don’t hear a difference between the wacky crap Limbaugh was spewing 10 or 15 or 20 years ago, and the wacky crap he’s spewing today. It’s always the same. Liberals are evil monsters plotting to destroy America, elite leftists are subverting your children, blah blah blah. Basically replace the Jews in The Protocols Of the Elders Of Zion with liberals, and you’ve got it.
So what’s different now?
I ‘m genuinely curious. Why is it so obvious that Limbaugh is a nutjob today, and why wasn’t it obvious to you back in, say, 1995?
Mike in NC
@Tonal Crow
Man, that was too close to reality. You could fill in as executive producer and head writer for the fat man. Bravo Zulu!
John Cole
@mclaren: I wasn’t paying attention. In the 90’s I was active duty a few years, then in college and the guard working two jobs and playing lacrosse, thne spending 70 hours a week running a store, then grad school, a grad assistantship, two jobs and the guard, and so on. I had other shit to focus on, in other words.
jonas
Peronism? He’s referencing Peronism in the context of Obama’s bailout of Chrysler? What’s next? Comparing supporters of Colin Powell to the Falangists? Calling health care reform “Operation Condor”?
Of course the hilarious thing is that Peron was an authoritarian, quasi-fascist ultranationalist who should serve as a model for Rush’s politics, rather than a way to frame Obama’s policies. But wev. If you’re listening to Rush, you’ve pretty much checked any common sense or semblance of rational thought at the door.
Mike in NC
Dick Chickenhawk Cheney is a guy who knows a thing or two about “other priorities”. Also.
ppcli
Ahem: Democrat Soc-ialist party, you mean.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
@Snark Based Reality:
People who believe in Heliocentrism hate America and Baby Jesus. They’re all Helioleftists.
Real Americans have rejected the lies of Darwinists and Copernicans.
Chuck Butcher
For many people politics is tribal, you are born into a tribe and whatever rituals they go through are the true way, it need make no sense or show any sign of working. It is a faith based approach, very similar to religion, and any push back is an attack on a fundamental of their life. Rush is the crazy preacher in a radio tent telling them they are right to be afraid and pissed. Their tribe is under direct attack from within by subversive elements and without by the incarnation of evil. If you can twist religion and the tribal politics together, so much the better, you have appealed to the mindless emotive base drives of the folks, no complications arise – like having two sentences agree with each other. Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel and Cain slew Abel and yet there are children somewhere in the picture – how is of no concern, it is simply true. Either ‘teh gay’ produced kids or some incest got into the picture or…it need not make a lick of sense, it is the tribe’s ritual and it is good.
People break free of the tribe for reasons of their own, something kicks the power of reason into primacy and the mess falls apart and they become sceptics. They are dangerous tribal allies on any side because they now question and worse yet, apply pragmatism – see J Cole. Politics is dangerous for your metal and emotional health if you ask questions and apply reason, it will be an exercise in frustration because it is endlessly messy and pragmatic mixed in with tribal appeals.
I mix with very dedicated and intelligent people within the Democratic Party and yet I find myself on occasion wanting to beat my head as they veer off into some tribal ritual that violates things they moments before asserted as principles. It just is that way and you can only hope that appeals to reason will resonate somewhat. The saving grace ot the Democratic Party is that it is more questioning of authority and fragmented, but counting on that is risky.
I offer you this as an example of a Party acting in a manner contrary to outside expectations of tribalism.
The Cat Who Would Be Tunch
@geg6:
Yeah, I just saw that post. Sometimes I think there’s a big practical joke that’s being played on the right-leaning crowd, where a bunch of Juicers have managed to infiltrate these conservative outlets and are writing a bunch of spoof material.
Shell Goddamnit
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Blah blah blah SOCIALISM, blah blah blah blah
Ahhhhh…perfect.
Matthew Hooper
In this context, I’m struck by Rush’s response to Olbermann’s suggestion that El Rushbo not talk about himself for 30 days. Rush called it “incoherent”. He’s not just losing the ability to speak English; he can’t seem to understand it anymore, either.
Graeme
I saw a flyer @ my grocery store for a socialist event. They want to re-organize & do it better in 2009. Yes, I live in SF.
That said, this is a political party/group that would probably be thrilled to get a turnout of a few hundred people.
Obviously, I thought of the Republicans when I noticed the sign, and not just because SOCIALISM was in big block letters at the top of the poster… I was thinking, if they keep going down this path, they’re going to be in the same boat: thrilled if a few hundred people turn out to their events.
Well, I guess it would be the same as all the teabagging things. Whatever…
At least I have something to laugh about while I look for a job.
Raoul
I like the post and I am a big Dem- but to play devil’s advocate: the Gitmo vote last week was a reality denial vote.
Yutsano
Waiting to see if maybe Berlusconi snaps Obama back into reality. I’m thinking probably not so much.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/05/25/italy.guantanamo/index.html
Mattius
Dear John,
I bought that “Heliocentricism is an Atheist Doctrine” T-shirt, because like you, I thought it was too crazy not to parade around in. After about a month or so it occurred to me that maybe the joke was on me, as it says “doctrine,” (as opposed to theory or proof) perhaps not refuting that the earth revolves around the sun but instead rejecting a doctrine where God isn’t the center of one’s universe. I don’t know. Maybe it’s a real parody site, I honestly can’t always tell. Anyways, there’s two ways of looking at the phrase, one where the phrase is batshit crazy and another where the sentiments are honest but deeply misguided.
I still wear the shirt to the gym. No one’s ever approached me about its meaning, though.
Yutsano
Maybe they’re just scared of the figure of you in that shirt at the gym. I dunno. You could be some big skeery hulk that stretches the lettering or something.
SGEW
@John Cole:
The unexamined life is not worth living (cf.).
Welcome to the brighter side of the cave.
[s.g.e.w. +?]
SGEW
@John Cole:
“[T]o talk every day about virtue and the other things about which you hear me talking and examining myself and others is the greatest good to man . . . the unexamined life is not worth living. This is as I say, gentlemen, but it is not easy to convince you.”
(cf.)
Comrade Darkness
@Kyle: In the Wingnut Edition™ of the Bible, Republican Jesus rose from the tomb and went on a rampage through Jerusalem with an AK-47. Then he demanded a tax cut while waving an American flag.
You forgot to add: all while speaking English.
@smiley: re: appliances not lasting.
This is weird to me. Everything I own is ready for the museum before it gets given to someone else or, very rarely, breaks. I can’t imagine stuff breaking immediately. Perhaps this is just a side benefit of being an engineer. Just looking at it at the store you can tell how long it is going to last. More recently I find amazon.com reviews to be of immense help when I don’t get to actually touch the thing in question.
Kathy in St. Louis
At one time, I worried about Rush and the far right. I no longer do. What changed my mind was the realization that he no longer believes anything he says anymore than moderates and liberals do. He couldn’t possibly and remain outside of a locked ward. There is absolutely nothing this man would not say or do in order to make a headline, piss off the left, or make a dollar. All the little tin imitators are cut of the same cloth. O’Reilly and Hannity don’t believe a word they utter. I mean, they live in New York City, for God’s sake, and know better. Beck probably does believe a portion of what he says, but his mind is so addled by years of drug use and a shaky psychiatric outlook that I doubt he will be around much longer to charm and annoy. That leaves only the third string, the Savages, Cohens, and every former DJ who ever had hopes of making big money on talk radio. Unfortunately for most of them, their core audience is dying off as fast as the true believers of the Catholic Church. Soon there will be very few to listen to their venom.
Yutsano
I actually watched Whoopi Goldberg and Barbara Walters rip him a new one on The View. It honestly was a sight to behold. Trust me, he doesn’t believe a single damn thing he spews, he just throws out whatever he thinks will inflame opinion and up his ratings.
Mike in NC
Add Ann Coulter and the rest to that list. It’s all about making the fast buck while the opportunity is there. Time is running out for these dirtbags.
Yutsano
Actually Ann couldn’t even give her last book away, so your wish may be coming true at least on that front. Of course the easiest way to upset a supposedly straight wingnut is to point out the inconvienent truth of Ann Coulter’s Adam’s apple.
Mark in SJ
Yup, it’s Pavlov’s Frothing Radio Audience…
Limbaugh spews code words to his fellow sociopaths like they’re gonna run out of ’em, and they just sit there and agree… “ditto, ditto, ditto…” sitting there, breathing through their mouths and making this “nyuk nyuk nyuk” noise.
Way back when, one of my part-time jobs through college sometimes involved working with a Dittohead who could not stand to miss Rush. What a propaganda junkie, and when I argued with him, man, he got all worked up. Big fun.
Crazy, they is.
JollyRoger
Damn, he is really off the charts these days. Sounds like it’s about time to steal some Viagra and head down to Puerto Plata for a little relaxation with the teenage rent boys.
Brachiator
I flipped on Rush today for much the same reason during an interlude in my holiday celebration. Yeah, it’s like a trip to another dimension. However, I can see that Rush is relentlessly hammering home certain points.
The universe according to Rush: Obama is a failure, and Rush must be brave enough to point this out. Obama is a dictator (some of Rush’s listeners probably think Peron was a socialist) whose main aim is to do stuff that is un-American and which seeks to redistribute the nation’s wealth from its rightful owners to unions, blacks and illegal immigrants.
Un-American. Dictator. Failure. Facts don’t matter. Reality doesn’t matter. The absolute lack of ideas coming from the GOP doesn’t matter. I’m frankly surprised that a drug-addled gasbag like Rush can craft a remotely coherent propaganda strategy. I suspect that he is getting help. But clearly, since the GOP cannot compete with ideas or policies, they have to resort to the crap that previously was the sole domain of the wingnut fringe.
Nancy Irving
@Bob In Pacifica:
Check out Coughlin’s Wikipedia entry. He was a populist who became a demagogue and then a fascist-symp and anti-Semite. The fruit of a healthy tree may fall and then rot, notwithstanding what it says in the Gospels.
He was a genuine populist, who initially supported FDR, then opposed him–from the left.
Fascism has elements both of right-wing and left-wing politics–which like they say makes strange bedfellows, especially if you use the time machine. For instance, the party of the working man opposed abolition, because freeing the slaves would bring down the wages of the white working class. Progressive William Jennings Bryan was the foremost anti-evolutionist of his time. The land of the free allied with “Uncle Joe” Stalin in WWII. Etc.
And not all the elements that joined to suppress Coughlin, and not all the reasons they suppressed him, are necessarily sympathic to us on the left.
It’s not enough just to assume everything your opponent says is false, we need to inform ourselves.
Your relative is more correct than you think on this issue.
Wes
This will be a Republican Party strategy meeting by this fall. (Just replace with “socialist”.)
tc125231
@Enlightened Layperson:
tc125231
@Nancy Irving: Ms. Irving:
In the first place, most of your examples have virtually nothing to do with fascism. You seem to confuse populism with fascism, which is incorrect.
In the second place, i challenge you to find one substantive, objectively verifiable statement currently employed by either Limbaugh or the RNC in their daily rants.
Note that I am not under the illusion that everything the Democrats say is correct. I have, however, been struck by how amazingly little of what the GOP’s mouthpieces say is empirically true. It really is quite a feat to be THAT unhinged from reality.
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
@Nancy Irving:
You’re very correct that the Fascist movement was a wild and wonderful pastiche of political persuasions that strike us as strange bedfellows. (Mussolini started out as a Socıalist, remember.)
It would be good for some of the people who join these “movements” in the interest of taking power to remember what happened to those Nazis who took the “Socıalist” part of “National Socıalist German Worker’s Party” too seriously. Google “The Night of the Long Knives.”
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
@Mattius:
They never did come out as a parody site. For all we know, they’re real, and they all gave up because they were finally committed or something.
If you ever see a girl wearing the “Heliocentrism is an Atheist Doctrine” g-string, that girl is The One. (That goes for everyone, not just you. Any woman wearing such an article of clothing merits an immediate marriage proposal from whomever should lay eyes on her.)
bob h
It makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it, for Republicans to align themselves with fat-cat bondholders and hedge funds at a time when the moneychangers have laid the nation low and are universally despised?
There is only one process that returns the Republicans to power. A long period of Democratic competence and success lulls the population into taking good government and affluence for granted. Historical amnesia (remembrance of Bush-Cheney) sets in. A charismatic Southern yahoo appears. This all takes a generation.
Don’t take any of their current hallucinations seriously.
NickM
They’re past drinking the Kool Aid – they are shooting the stuff directly into their veins – they call it the “Right Wing Speedball.”
Morbo
Impressive. Let’s see if I understand this correctly. Barack Obama is secretly a Kabbalist who worked in concert with Madonna, the Whore of Babylon, to bring down the world economy in order to hasten the end times? Also, Socialism, glayvin!
viagra
Back when Limbaugh was on television I thought he was funny. The first shot of every show was plump middle-aged gentlemen in suits, clapping and frowning. What I didn’t realize until long afterwards was that the plump middle-aged gentlemen in suits were not laughing. Not at all. They just frowned and frowned in their suits.