Mean-Spirited Republicans

by on September 2, 2008 14
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They're blowing this convention. It's angry. President Bush refers to the "angry left," the Reagan documentary says that "the media despised him," and that Reagan "saved our America." Our America. That's like Houston in 92. Fred Thompson's on now. Tough and mean. The Washington pundits are "in a frenzy" and "state of panic" over Sarah Palin. Obama gave a speech "designed to appeal to America's critics abroad" and sought to "apologize for the United States." Mean. Remember how positive Obama's convention was? Landslide.

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in US Politics

{ 14 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. Paul Easton, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn says:
    September 2, 2008 at 11:15 pm

    Yes I think it will be a landslide. I saw a video of McCain presenting Palen in Dayton. They had a decent crowd but not many people were cheering. The cheerers were trying to make up in volume and duration for their lack in numbers.

  2. church says:
    September 2, 2008 at 11:16 pm

    Americans are different than your analogy suggests. It is not 1992, and an entire Generation (X) is starting to remove the blinders. There is reason to be upset and to see the attacks on Palin for what they are.

    What they are is the expression of contempt by people like Andrea Mitchell, per your last post. I wonder what Alan Greenspan thinks of the same people that his wife so despises. That all of you despise. I certainly doubt he had their interests at heart during his tenure in control of our money.

  3. Michael Blaine says:
    September 2, 2008 at 11:32 pm

    "apologize for the United States."

    I found myself apologizing today for the United States to a friend from China, on account of the Palin embarrassment.

    He said it's clear that the USA is in a downward spiral of decay, putting forth such obviously unqualified candidates for high office, and that if Palin ever becomes president, China's Hu Jintao will eat our lunch.

    But, even if Palin doesn't enter the WH, my friend says the damage has been done: there's no way foreign leaders can still view the US as serious country.

  4. Paul Easton, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn says:
    September 3, 2008 at 2:01 am

    In the above comment we see the convergence of the US and Chinese systems. The contempt the US Upper-Middle Class has for ordinary Americans is equivalent to the contempt the Manderinate has for ordinary Chinese. But I have news for you. It is ordinary Americans and Chinese who have the Juice, and the dessicated Manderinates are going to wither.

  5. Glenn Condell says:
    September 3, 2008 at 2:26 am

    Just saw some video at Barry Crimmins's site of Amy Goodman being arrested for protesting at the RNC:

    http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ

    Remember the footage at their last one of some poor lefty activist who managed to slip in, only to be kicked in the back by a young Repug wingnut?

    Home of the brave and land of the free, eh?

  6. Jim Haygood says:
    September 3, 2008 at 6:16 am

    .

    Right on, Glenn Condell. The staged kabuki show on the convention floor is irrelevant; what's happening outside is of vital importance: third-party journalists and lawyers, getting handcuffed and arrested while acting in neutral capacities.

    An unmistakable message is being sent: that this country has irrevocably changed, and not for the better.

    Glenn Greenwald gets it, and is providing serious, searching coverage on a daily basis:

    http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/01/protests/index.html

    Meanwhile, our heroic Lamestream Media functions as a televised PR Wire. Risible. Pathetic.

    The 20-somethings out on the streets with their videocams are beating the co-opted "professionals" hands down in getting the scoop.

  7. Michael Blaine says:
    September 3, 2008 at 8:05 am

    Paul Easton, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn:

    I anticipated a charge of elitism like the one you leveled.

    But face it: Sarah Palin is not an "ordinary" American.

    She is a superstitious rube.

    Believing the world is a mere 5,000 years old has not been a mainstream view in the West for centuries now.

    Palin is an anachronism opposed to science.

  8. roGER says:
    September 3, 2008 at 9:24 am

    I doubt very much that it'll be a landslide.

    All the evidence points towards the country dividing (bitterly) along the traditional lines.

    I suspect the result, no matter who wins, will be something like 51% to 49%.

    No landslides – just the same problem that has bedevilled the United States for around 40 years now.

    Of course the Bush era, with it's one stolen election, and second very close election has done nothing to heal wounds or mend fences. One of Bush's many great lies was his promise to govern as a uniter…

  9. samuel burke says:
    September 3, 2008 at 9:25 am

    the war party rides again…..J.Raimondo has a piece out on a dutch covert ops called off due to fear of u.s strike three on iran.

    http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13401

    September Surprise
    Get ready for it…
    While the rest of the pundits opine about the meaning and implications of Sarah Palin's ascension from small town mayor to prospective vice president – and whether or not her daughter's private life is fair game for any media outlet other than the National Enquirer – those of us whose job it is to stand watch on the ramparts and report the real news are wondering when – not if – the War Party will pull a rabbit out of the proverbial hat. For months, I've been warning in this space that an American attack on Iran is imminent, and now I see that the Dutch have reason to agree with my assessment. Their intelligence service reportedly has pulled out of a covert operation inside Iran on the grounds that a U.S. strike is right around the corner – in "a matter of weeks," according to De Telegraaf, a Dutch newspaper.

    As the story goes, the Dutch had infiltrated the purported Iranian weapons project and were firmly ensconced when they got word that the Americans are about to launch a missile attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. They wisely decided to close down the operation and pull out.

  10. samuel burke says:
    September 3, 2008 at 9:28 am

    for the first time in my life i actually sat and watched the democratic convention this year hoping against all hope to see signs of life…..i in turn did not even bother to watch the repubs last night because i know what life lurks in those test tubes.

    i was tempted to watch lieberman last night but i didnt want to get too wound up before beddybye time.

  11. Todd says:
    September 3, 2008 at 9:36 am

    "But face it: Sarah Palin is not an "ordinary" American.

    She is a superstitious rube.

    Believing the world is a mere 5,000 years old has not been a mainstream view in the West for centuries now.

    Palin is an anachronism opposed to science."

    I don't know much about Palin, and if she does believe that the earth is only five-thousand yeard old, then she isn't an ordinary American. My problem is that the media types try to dismiss the vast majority of Americans as ignorant rubes who should have interest in the direction of the nation.

    Let's be honest about the fact that the elites have plenty of stupid and harmful theories that border on superstition, such as the belief that forced and heavily managed egalitarianism for a few, where the winners and losers are pre-determined will work. Thats more harmful than denying dinosaurs their proper place in history, and just about as stupid.

  12. Michael Blaine says:
    September 3, 2008 at 10:14 am

    "Let's be honest about the fact that the elites have plenty of stupid and harmful theories that border on superstition."

    I agree, Todd.

    The government should be run by enlightened pragmatists, and neither rube Sarah Palin nor neocon Paul Wolfowitz fits the bill. Then again, neither does Joe Biden — who cheer led for the invasion of Iraq and is now touted as a "foreign policy expert."

    When a doctor removes the wrong kidney, he's sued for malpractice and run out of the profession; when a senator makes a similarly egregious error, he gets a promotion to VP.

  13. Barry says:
    September 4, 2008 at 10:15 pm

    All day long I've been thinking about how mean spirited the Republican Convention seems. Everyone at work today thought the same thing – the whole tone of it just seems scary. The "Drill" chants, the "Zero" signs that everyone does, and what seemed most disgusting was the laughing at the idea of Obama being a "Community Organizer".

    I googled "Mean Spirited" – and this was the third entry on the page.

    Whatever it is, it's going to be closer than we think . I hope that Americans are not falling for this kind of shtick, but I don't have much hope.

  14. Barry says:
    September 4, 2008 at 10:16 pm

    All day long I've been thinking about how mean spirited the Republican Convention seems. Everyone at work today thought the same thing – the whole tone of it just seems scary. The "Drill" chants, the "Zero" signs that everyone does, and what seemed most disgusting was the laughing at the idea of Obama being a "Community Organizer".

    I googled "Mean Spirited" – and this was the third entry on the page.

    Whatever it is, it's going to be closer than we think . I hope that Americans are not falling for this kind of shtick, but I don't have much hope.

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