Dems Proving the GOP is really…
...the Grand Ol’ Party. Republicans, for all the faults of their party, tend to be more laid back and willing to poke fun at themselves and their politicians – unlike the Democrats who have fallen into a cultish mentality when it comes to their candidate. Anyone is fair game to them, anyone except the Obamassiah himself.
This is a complete reversal from the 1980’s when the GOP was the party of Ed Meese’s anti-porn crusade. Of course even back then it was Al Gore’s wife Tipper that led the charge against explicit music lyrics.
I realized this once again when reading the Top 7 Myths, Lies and Untruths About Sarah Palin. Anyone who thinks that these are quotes from extremist websites should consider that my 87 year old mother, who only touches a computer to dust around it, told me on Labor Day that she had heard the first two. Unfortunately she believed them.
And that was before I had even heard them.
What made me realize that the Democratic Party was Victorian and conservative was this pic, showing a photoshopped Sarah Palin on the head of another woman.
Now consider for a moment that someone decided to take a picture of a very attractive woman, Sarah Palin, and put it on a woman with a hot body wearing an American flag-themed bikini and holding a sniper rifle.
What is the purpose of this photograph? The purpose of the photograph is to make Gov. Palin look unfit to be Vice President and by virtue of the title, unfit for the Oval Office. Obviously she’s a sexy, gun-loving patriot. But what does the selection of the photograph show about the person behind the fakery?
1. Women can’t be in power and sexy at the same time. Imagine Hillary in a bikini or even worse, Diane Feinstein. Want to scrape your mind out with an ice cream scoop now? Yeah, me too.
2. Guns are bad, and anyone who likes them is a crazed lunatic. Michael Moore proved this in his documentary Bowling for Colombine. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold didn’t kill 13 people at Colombine: 150 million American law-abiding gun owners did.
3. Patriotism is bad, especially when that patriotism appears backed by a gun. True patriots dissent and hate America – like Michelle Obama and Noam Chomsky.
4. The woman in the picture that the faker wants us to believe is Sarah Palin hangs out with smokers, and we all know that smokers are the lowest form of life; also that second-hand smoke may be why her daughter Bristol’s baby was born with Down Syndrome.
Hear that sound? That shuffling sound you hear is all the tin-foil crowd moving over to the Left. Good riddance! They were messing up my wifi signals anyway.
As the social conservative wing of the party weakens, the pro-freedom, libertarian-leaning wing of the party is in the ascendancy, making the party more humane and dare I say it, fun. For the sake of the country and the party I hope the trend continues. Although I don’t drink myself and am 100% monogamous, I’m all for Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy! in America. And no more fireworks bans either!
Jack:
Scott,
Both sides are guilty of this nonsense. At least 75% of the conservatives I know think that, between both of them, Hillary and Bill are guilty of a long list of felonies including rape and murder.
I find it amazing that each side will accuse the other of snarky, hate-filled lies while ignoring they do the same thing. It’s as though there’s a complete lack of self-awareness.
I am stunned at the drivel from adult bloggers who routinely name-call like they’re still in high school!
It is sad and pathetic.
5 September 2008, 7:10 pmmgroves:
“the pro-freedom, libertarian-leaning wing of the party is in the ascendancy”
Is that really the case? While McCain and Palin may be offering less statist solutions than Obama/Biden, that doesn’t mean they are a libertarian ticket.
5 September 2008, 10:55 pmScott Kirwin:
Jack
My 87 year old mother told me that she had heard that Palin once belonged to an Alaskan independence movement, and that she was a Nazi sympathizer. Where did she get this? She doesn’t read blogs; as I said she doesn’t touch computers.
She watches the news – both network and cable.
Both sides might have their wingnuts/moonbats, but only one has an amplifier in the form of the mainstream media. See my prior articles on Jann Wenner, publisher of Us and Rolling Stone.
MGroves
6 September 2008, 9:00 amNo they are not a libertarian ticket by any stretch. However McCain is not the social conservative candidate – Huckabee was. I think the power of the social conservatives is on the wane; that doesn’t necessarily mean that the libs are in the ascendancy but I hope it does.
Jack:
And the other side dominates the radio and floods the market with books. I heard the murder accusations back in the ‘90’s (before there were blogs) from many, many right-leaning people who were avid Limbaugh listeners.
I know many people right now who think if you criticism the government in a time of war, you’ve committed treason, thanks to Ann Coulter. And on and on. It’s a very sad state of affairs as one side claims that mud is being slung at them while completely ignoring the mud their side slings.
Those who ignore this lack any real self-awareness or are simply being disingenuous. Very sad indeed.
6 September 2008, 11:40 amScott Kirwin:
Jack
So the Right has talk radio and books.
The Left has the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times and the rest of the newspapers; CNN, MSNBC – but not Fox. All of the magazines including Scientific American and New Scientist (both of which I read).
Even the bulk of the blogosphere is Left-wing.
As for criticizing during wartime, I don’t buy that either – but I also don’t buy the belief that dissent is somehow sacrosanct and I can’t critique the dissenters.
Does that justify lies from the Right? Absolutely not. I never bought the Vince Foster attack on Hillary and still view the impeachment attempt on Clinton to be one of the biggest mistakes of the Republican party since pardoning Nixon in 1974. Does this mean that people like me who support McCain and Sarah Palin have to restrain ourselves while the other side lies?
6 September 2008, 5:10 pmNope.
It does mean that we can’t spread complete lies in response, but we can fight back with the Truth.
Jack:
I have no problem with people supporting those who they believe in. I just find it discouraging when I hear name-calling or snarky childish names given to people they dislike. Like I said, it’s the kind of behavior that one finds in high school. At the end of the day, no one takes name-callers seriously. And your tit for tat as to who has the most media outlets is meaningless. Both sides gravitate to media that they have (virtually uncritically) deemed “the truth”, while deciding the other side is full of lies.
Here’s reality: Both side lie through their teeth! Anyone who places a “better than thou” virtue on one side over the other is living in denial and self-deception.
Like I’ve already stated, I find it sad and pathetic.
6 September 2008, 5:48 pmGarland:
You people are idiots. Why do you even come to this site?
6 September 2008, 8:02 pmYou are so desperate or lonely, that you have come to this?My
goodness, that’s quite pitiful! Marxism,socialism does not work—never has,
never will.
Scott Kirwin:
Jack
I don’t like lies. I’m not big on name calling either. In fact the whole idea behind this site is to use Occam’s Razor in the quest for Truth. The razor really comes in handy when it comes to conspiracy theories, and both sides of the political spectrum have their own conspiracy theories – the ultra-left with the 9-11 Truthers and the ultra-right with the Black Helicopters/Vince Foster conspiracies. Both extremes are full of shite.
Then Garland goes and proves your point. Sigh…
6 September 2008, 9:36 pmJack:
LOL! You’re right about Garland. That comment just blind-sided me.
Scott, I read your site religiously and I respect you immensely; always have. And I think you get my point. I’ve never had a mind for politics so I tend to watch from the side-lines and stay relatively quiet.
I think I’m a keen observer of human nature/behavior and it scares the beejezus out of me at how polarized this country has become. I’m a moderate and I see the intense hatred on both sides of the political spectrum as being very destructive to this country.
Clinton was not as bad as the right likes to paint him and Bush isn’t as bad as the left likes to paint him. I think the same about Obama and McCain. No matter what anybody thinks, the country will survive either presidency as it’s done with past presidents.
A reasoned, thoughtful analysis of both men’s plans (or lack thereof) if they become president is fair. Pointing out each man’s strengths, past failures, inconsistencies, and such, is perfectly fair and to be expected. Why it seems like nobody can do this without snarky barbs, jabs, and name-calling, I just don’t understand. Everybody seems to do this! Like I said, I don’t have the mind for politics so maybe it’s just the way things are done and I just don’t get it, which makes it my problem.
On a different note: I’m going to send you an e-mail about something which cannot be mentioned publicly yet.
7 September 2008, 10:47 amScott Kirwin:
Jack
I’m a centerist too, and you’re right about the outcome of the election. People tend to think that the president is more powerful than he actually is; that’s why I tend to shake my head over the people who think that Obama is going to fix everything that is wrong with America. Lower gasoline prices, fix the mortgage mess, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while at the same time ending the threat of al-Qaeda. Ain’t happening.
There are significant differences between the two candidates, and our campaigns today are actually much less slanderous than those 2 centuries ago. Democracy has always been rough & tumble, but I agree with you that people need to step back and remember that at the end of the day on that first Tuesday in November, we all will have to get along no matter who wins.
7 September 2008, 11:08 amWatcher of Weasels » Nominations In The Midst of Operation Smear Palin:
[...] 4. The Razor – Dems Proving the GOP is really… [...]
10 September 2008, 4:18 amDave Schuler:
Scott, I think you’re dreaming about the libertarian wing of the Republican Party achieving any sort of ascendancy. Republican-leaning libertarians, many of whom have a strong anarcho-capitalist bent, just don’t have the inclination or temperament to organize. That’s why the choices for leadership in the Republican Party have tended to be among the social conservatives (who would have been Dixiecrats 40 years ago) or the country club Republicans. They organize.
10 September 2008, 7:46 amThe Glittering Eye » Blog Archive » Eye on the Watcher’s Council:
[...] The Razor, “Dems Proving the GOP is really…” [...]
10 September 2008, 9:15 amScott Kirwin:
Dave
10 September 2008, 6:13 pmYou’re probably right… But I’ll keep dreaming anyway.
Watcher of Weasels » Winners: Finding Our Identity Seven Years After 9/11:
[...] (T*) The Razor – Dems Proving the GOP is really… – 4th place tie with 2/3 [...]
12 September 2008, 7:01 amkiltit:
Uhh, that’s a pellet gun. Just sayin.
22 April 2012, 8:25 pmScott Kirwin:
kiltit
23 April 2012, 9:15 amIt’s actually the first gun I ever owned. Rest assured it wasn’t the last, and the rest have all been much higher calibers than .177.