Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Right Wing Thuggery Targets Michelle Obama


Here we go again!



The Swiftboat of fools are at it again, as predicted. Everyone knew it was coming.


After what they did to John Kerry (and Theresa, to some extent), it is reasonable to expect that this general election is going to be much worse. If they can go after a man who volunteered to serve in Vietnam (when he did not have to), claiming falsely that his medals were bogus and that he "got himself shot so he could someday be president," they are literally capable of anything.


What's worse, there are Americans who actually believed that claptrap, maybe because they wanted to believe it, needed to believe it or because they are simply mentally challenged and constantly subject themselves to Pravda AM Radio and Faux Noise.


These Americans, sad to say, are already being convinced that Barack is a Marxist Muslim and that Michelle is a racist who hates America.


Check out the link below to Obama's "Smear Page" and you will see what I mean. There you will find the smears and the truth regarding them.


Some of the usual suspects are involved, but I am surprised and saddened to see the hate and misinformation being spread over at Larry Johnson's "No Quarter."


Our posting has been slight of late and one of the reasons for that has been that our usual posters and researchers (which are usually the same people, especially during the summer months) is that we have been doing due diligence for our community to track down some of the rumors that are flying and trying to find out the truth; the truth about where they are coming from and the validity, or more likely the invalidity, of the claims about Michelle and Barack Obama. (I would not doubt that there will be rumors about their little girls next. I guess it's a good thing that some controversial friend of the family hasn't given the girls a dog. I can see it on Fox Noise: BREAKING NEWS "Obama's daughters associated with a Muslim, racist, marxist Labrador Retriever" )


On a personal note:
My cousin, who was more like an older brother to me when I was a kid and to whom I will refer to as G., came for a visit a couple of weeks ago. I had not seen him since my father died slightly over 11 years ago. When we were still young my aunt, finally, insisted that she and the boys light somewhere. Their father was in the U.S. Army for years and then with the civil service. His work made it necessary for him to travel, until the day he retired, often in other countries. From the time she and the boys moved into a house about 2 to 3 miles from ours, I had what I always wanted, brothers.


I write all this personal stuff because it is the first time I have had to face the results of the right-wing propaganda machine in someone I love and from whom I just cannot simply walk away.


During our times alone, our conversation eventually turned to politics. Not far into the conversation he stated that Obama is a Marxist. My mouth /speech mechanism failed me. I guess I was stunned. After what seemed longer than it probably was, my speech facilities returned. Much to my surprise no insulting rant flew out. Instead, I asked? Do you really think that, G? He said that that is what he has heard and that it makes sense to him. "Where did you hear that....who told you that,? I asked. "Neale Boortz (not sure of spelling) on the radio," said he. Not one to listen to the radio any more, I wasn't sure who Neale Boortz is, but I had a feeling he was part of the right-wing-propaganda-machine. Still, I said, " Well, G., if you really think there is something to this, I am going to get down to some heavy duty research after you leave. I promise, I will study the matter. He was going to be here for a week and much of that time was taken up with tourist stuff. At times unfortunately, I live in one of those places. Whether or not Obama is a Marxist could wait.


We had several conversations, while he was here about politics, and the state of the union. The topic certainly came up when my youngest cousin and his wife showed up as well. It sounds strange talking about my youngest cousin, whose hair is whiter than mine and who has turned into one of the most fun and fascinating characters I have ever known. His wife fits him well. They are one of those few couples who you may know or have met somewhere. You look at them and know that they were truly meant for each other.


I will refer to him as D.D. and her as E.Z.. ...


No less than three times he announced to us that he is a Republican. What followed each time was total dismay and real fear for the country. It was not Al Qaeda or any other terrorist group of whom my cousin and his wife are frightened. It is the Republican party of today and the authoritarians who are controlling D.C.. "Some of the Democrats are just as bad," he said, in a tone of voice that was not politically accusatory, but reasonable and sad more than anything else. D.D. is a very successful business man. It is no surprise that he is a Republican; the kind of Republican my father was, a full generation ago. I guess if there is still such a thing, he is a Goldwater Republican. D.D. is 5 years younger than I am. I came of age in the 60s. Back then the voting age was 21. If I could have, I would have voted for Bobby Kennedy, had I been one year older and not robbed of my ballot by a bullet. I don't recall that D.D. was all that interested in politics at the time.


I saw three good men (warts and all), gunned down because they told the truth about America's warts, they talked about change; change for the good of all. As Bobby once quoted someone (I don't remember whom): "Some see what is and ask, why? I see what can be and ask, why not?) D.D was just young enough that he was not as emotionally effected by those murders. Even my father, after Bobby's death, wondered allowed if the U.S. was anything but a big banana republic. What he was wondering was if there had been a coup in America.


Little did we know.


My father voted Republican all of his life. My first exposure to politics was from my father's shoulders in downtown Birmingham. We "liked Ike" and Eisenhower is the only president or presidential candidate, to this day, that I have seen, personally. Nevertheless, Bobby was murdered, I felt helpless and hopeless and my mother taught me the importance of being an independent, not that the two events had anything to do with one another. They just happened around the same time.


Now, all these years later, D.D. and E.Z drove 30 miles and stood in line for three hours to see Obama. They didn't have tickets. They got to see him nonetheless. They were impressed.


There is no doubt for whom they will be casting their ballot. McCain, D.D. says, is more of the same but worse, and certainly more than the nation can endure and that he is not fit for the job at such a perilous time as this. He wasn't ranting, making false accusations that are on the face of them half truths at best. (A half truth is, in many ways, more dangerous than a bald face lie. Think about it.) He noted Obama's lack of experience in Washington, D.C and his apparent lack of foreign policy experience. Then he said exactly what I have been thinking and sharing with my friends:


He said that he would rather have a smart, very sharp person in charge and a smart group of problem solvers around him, people who have no real conflicts of interest between their own well-being and the job they are asked to do. The best people will be people who realize, as we all do, that the nation is in very deep trouble and that there is no easy way out of this mess, people who will tell us the truth about the state of our union and then set about to lead, responsibly and selflessly, as people often do in times of great crisis.


The time for silly campaigns and average to completely inadequate to actually criminal presidents is over for the foreseeable future as far as I'm concerned. As I told my cousin, I do not want a president I can have a beer with, or a glass of wine or a Margarita for that matter.


I would just as soon he stay sober, thank you very much. I do not care if he is elite when it comes to smarts, if that is what makes a person elite. Obama was a very big deal at Harvard, no slouch he.


If that makes some of us feel inadequate to the point that he or she feels the need to smear him, I can only say, "try to resist." As you can see, it only reflects badly on you and shines a spotlight on your inadequacy, real or imagined. Try to understand that it is a very primitive type of motivation and behavior, adapted long ago from out-right murder to throwing stones and slinging mud at that which threatens not your life, as in our more primitive years, but your obviously fragmented ego/personality.


The last thing I want is a man or woman in the White House who is considerably more stupid than I am. I don't want a "regular guy" in the White House and anyone who does is a damn fool.


Unfortunately, the job of being president is very isolating and anyone to whom we give that job has to make an effort to stay in touch with the people and their lives. It seems to me that a president's spouse is a natural liaison with ordinary Americans; meaning those who are not bound up in the D.C. bubble.


When I sit here and think about a president's liaison with the people being his spouse (I say this because Hillary has more or less conceded to Obama), I know with whom I, personally, would rather be having a town hall meeting. That spouse would be Michelle Obama. I don't have a damn thing in common with Mrs. McCain except our color and that is just not enough, no, just as Barack being just any black person would be enough to win my support for president of our very broken Democratic Republic.


The simple fact is that though I am a nearly 60 year old, white woman from the deep south, I would feel more comfortable with Michelle Obama. I have more in common with her. The really funny thing is that every time I hear a "Michelle Obama is such and angry person" smear, I know that that is one of those dangerous half truths. I have never met Michelle Obama in my life, but I would be willing to bet that she does get angry. Hell, so do I. I was angry yesterday; so angry that I didn't feel all that comfortable posting. Nevertheless, I did post about what had made me so damned angry.


So what, if Michelle Obama finds herself being really proud of her country for the first time in her adult life? I'm feeling hope again for the first time in 40 years and I know people who haven't voted in 30 to 40 years who flat intend to vote for Obama this year. I see and hear about our young people getting involved in politics because of Obama's campaign. That alone gives me hope and it makes me proud, that our grandkids are trying to take up help us realize that dream we all shared in one way or the other, back in the day, when it all blew up in our faces, 40 years ago.


So, click on over and take a look at what the RWPM has managed to fling so far. My strong hunch is, this is nothing compared to what's coming.


Forgive me, but it makes me feel like grabbing someone by the ears and slamming his or her head against a wall. Seems that should be the treatment for concrete brains or brains so ideologically rutted as to be dangerously dysfunctional.


Makes me wonder if this union can endure.


http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/notape



The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.

2 comments:

L. Marie said...

Soo if this gets any worse, and by any worse I mean McInsane getting eleted, can we enact that uh moving to New Zealand plan again?

Pelican693 said...

I sure as hell hope so.

"We gotta get outta this place....if it's the last thing we ever do...."