Given the Opportunity, the Right Can Offer No Defense for Politicizing 9/11

Conservatives own 9/11. No liberals died that day in that famously liberal city; no Muslims, no gays, no feminists, no environmentalists. The first responders who ran into those burning buildings, while everyone else ran for safety, had all burned their union cards. No union thugs died that day. Only rock-ribbed Republicans -- the only true Americans -- died on 9/11, because it's impossible for liberals to be heroes or patriots. Conservatives own 9/11.

Which explains why this post by New York liberal Paul Krugman was the worst thing ever:

What happened after 9/11 -- and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not -- was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits -- people who should have understood very well what was happening -- took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?

The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.

CONTINUE TO POST>>

I, Robocaller

Robocalls. If you're a voter in one of the "battleground states," you're familiar with them. Right when you're in the middle of doing something liberal -- say, destroying the family by making cakes for same sex weddings -- the phone rings and a voice tells you "the truth" about Barack Obama.

Who makes robocalls? That should be obvious from the name -- robots. Clearly, they see the McCain-Palin ticket as being stronger for their radical robot agenda. The metal men, with their fierce laser beam eyes and computer brains, want nothing more than to see McCain elected.

Why?

I looked up the Three Laws of Robotics and discovered a chilling fact. See for yourself:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

My discovery? That there's nothing barring a robot from lying. You could argue that losing an election would constitute "harm" for Barack Obama, but robots -- with their merciless calculations -- could see McCain losing as an equal harm. The second law could be overriding the first, since offense and defense are merely different positions in the same game. Team McCain orders the robots to make the calls, so the robots do it. The harm caused to Obama by doing it is rendered neutral by the harm caused to McCain by not doing it.

And doing it they are. Oh, yes indeed. Doing it they most certainly are...





I've received the following call personally:

Hello. I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country. This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee at 202-863-8500.

Of course, this is guilt by association. Obama and Ayers were recruited by the same foundation to work on education issues. This is the same as holding you responsible for the people your employer hires. It's a ridiculously wild pitch and isn't getting over the plate with voters. So, of course, the robots tried a different pitch:

Hello. I am calling for John McCain and the RNC because Barack Obama says small town folks like us cling to our guns because we are bitter. And elitist Democrats who want to control Washington and completely ban hand guns and most hunting rifles. The NRA said that Barack Obama would be the most anti-gun president in American history. These elitist Democrats just don't understand us and we can't trust them with our 2nd Amendment rights. This call was paid for by the Republican National Committee and McCain Palin 2008.

One thing becomes clear with this call, the robots think humans are idiots. I got this one and, although it talks about "small town folks like us," I live in Wisconsin's second largest city. The belief in human irrationality is further manifest through the assertion that Obama "would be the most anti-gun president in American history." The robots know his opinions about guns -- even if he were the "most anti-gun president" ever -- have been rendered moot by the Supreme Court. The familiar Republican scare tactic of Democrats coming to take your guns away is even more nonsensical than it ever was. They literally can't.

I warn you, this next robocall is chilling:

Hello, this is Governor Tom Ridge, America's first Secretary of Homeland Security. I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because this week Joe Biden, Barack Obama's running mate, made startling comments that we must take seriously. He reminded us of Sen. Obama's inexperience when he said that America would face an international crisis that Sen. Obama would be unprepared to handle alone. If the Democrats win complete control of government they will want to give traditional civil rights to terrorists and talk unconditionally to dictators and state sponsors of terror. Barack Obama and his Democrat allies lack the experience and judgment to lead America.

That's right, Tom Ridge, former Secretary of Homeland Security and one-time shortlister for McCain running mate, is a robot! And, as the call demonstrates, robots are not incapable of lying. Obama would "give traditional civil rights to terrorists?" Since when are civil rights a mere tradition? They're written into the Constitution. And once you're found guilty of a felony, you lose your civil rights. Robo-Ridge's call makes no sense. Remember, robots believe you're completely irrational.

Other political figures have also exposed themselves as robots:

Hi, this is Rudy Giuliani and I'm calling for John McCain and the Republican National Committee, because you need to know that Barack Obama opposes mandatory prison sentences for sex offenders, drug dealers, and murderers. It's true, I read Obama's words myself. And recently, Congressional liberals introduced a bill to eliminate mandatory prison sentences for violent criminals -- trying to give liberal judges the power to decide whether criminals are sent to jail or set free. With priorities like these, we just can't trust the inexperience and judgment of Barack Obama and his liberal allies. This call was paid for by the Republican National Committee and McCain-Palin 2008.

This explains so much. The reason Giuliani was repeating "9/11, 9/11, 9/11..." throughout the campaign was because he was caught in a recursive programming loop. He's obviously been rebooted since then, but his code is still faulty. Mandatory minimum sentencing isn't the same thing as "mandatory sentencing." Sentencing is always mandatory -- if you've been found guilty of a crime, you've got to be sentenced to something. Yet Robo-Rudy seems to believe that Obama is against sentencing criminals. Why on Earth would he be?

Because humans are irrational, that's why. To the awesome metal men, you might as well be an overly-emotional squirrel. The human mind is a complete mystery to them.

But why do the robot hordes want McCain -- a human -- to be president? We've seen plenty of examples of McCain's primary emotional state -- silent, barely contained rage. We know he's not a robot.

The answer will leave you speechless:

Hi, this is Sarah Palin. One of our local campaign volunteers just called you, and I wanted to follow up and ask for your support. You know our opponents may talk a lot, but they haven't done much listening. I know what it's like to be a hard-working mom. I know how hard it is to make ends meet during tough times like this. John McCain and I know our country is hurting, and we know how to turn it around. We'll get our economy back on track. we'll cut your taxes and lower prices at the pump and at the grocery store. John McCain and I are the mavericks who will reform Washington, Wall Street., and all the wasteful government in between. I hope John McCain and I can count on your support on November 4. We won't let you down. Paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 at 703-418-2008.

Dear sweet God, Sarah Palin is a robot. The reign of humans on this world may be drawing to a close.

For the love of all that is decent and human, vote!

VOTE!!

-Wisco

Lies, Contradiction, and the Danger of Pornography in Schools

If the first night of the Republican Convention was almost entirely about the past, last night's coming out party for Sarah Palin was about incoherence and cognitive dissonance. It was an example of just how logically inconsistent Republican messaging has become and just how crazy some Republican talking points are. When you just grab random bits of propaganda and throw them at the wall, you wind up with a hopeless mishmash of fear, hatred, and self-contradiction.

Mitt Romney started the night off with a speech blaming every problem America faces on liberals. He even accused the Supreme Court of liberalism -- a laughable charge after decades of Republican court stacking. "Listening to Mitt Romney address the Republican National Convention, you'd hardly know that Republicans have held the White House 28 of the last 40 years, nominated seven of the nine Supreme Court justices and held Congress for 12 of the last 14 years," writes Carl Leubsdorf for the Dallas Morning News. That was the gist of Mittens' speech; that liberals have been in charge in Washington for years and years and years and Republicans represent change. It was insane.

And when he wasn't living in opposite world, he was trying to get people to worry about problems that don't exist. "Opportunity rises when children are raised in homes and schools that are free from pornography, promiscuity and drugs," Mitt said, "in homes that are blessed with family values and the presence of a father and a mother."

Pornography in schools? This is a problem? Where?





Mitt was followed by Mike Huckabee, who told a rambling, crazy-assed story about how veterans fought and died in wars so that kids would have desks in schools. No one wonders why Mike wasn't the nominee.

Next up was Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle, who argued that John McCain was clearly unqualified to be president.

I think being a mayor, whether in Hawaii or Alaska or anywhere else, is outstanding preparation for higher office.

I find it especially amusing that the other party says Governor Palin lacks experience when their own candidates for president and vice president...have NO executive experience ... ZERO! Neither Senator Obama nor Senator Biden has ever managed a multi- billion dollar budget, or been a chief executive of any city... or state, of any size... or of anything for that matter.

As President Lyndon Johnson said, "When the burdens of the presidency seem unusually heavy, I always remind myself it could be worse. I could be a MAYOR."

All that executive experience that's so damned crucial? Yeah, John McCain doesn't have any of that either. Let me put on my swami turban and predict the future; somewhere down the line, some right wing hack is going to claim that Sarah Palin is going to teach John McCain how to run things.

Having thoroughly discredited John McCain's argument of being the more experienced candidate, Lingle gave up the stage to Rudy Giuliani. It didn't take long for Rudy to stop making sense. His fifth paragraph:

The American people realize this election represents a turning point. It’s the decision to follow one path or the other. We, the people, the citizens of the United States, get to decide our next president, not the left-wing media, not Hollywood celebrities, not anyone else but the people of America.

Hey Rudy, bad news. The "left wing media" and Hollywood celebrities are citizens of the United States. Maybe you missed Fred Thompson the night before. He's both a radio host and a Hollywood celebrity -- ask him to introduce you to Ice-T sometime.

Giuliani also wasted no time dragging out a straw man. "One final point. And how — how dare they question whether Sarah Palin has enough time to spend with her children and be vice president. How dare they do that," Rudy asked in outrage. "When do they ever ask a man that question? When?"

Who the hell are "they?" If he means the Obama campaign -- and clearly he does -- then good luck finding an instance of it. There's enough wrong with Palin that you really don't need to resort to weak-ass talking points worthy of the GOP. Isn't it wonderful how Republicans, after decades of sexist policies and antifeminist rhetoric, are finally worried about sexism? I'd say it was progress, if only it weren't so transparent and obvious and opportunistic. Now, all we need to do is get them a minority candidate and they'll finally start giving a damn about racism.

But it was the big star who really took the night. Sarah Palin, looking and sounding even more like a Sunday school teacher from Sheboygan than she ever has, managed to deliver a speech without walking off the edge of the stage or getting her head stuck in the podium. And, let's face it, that's all she really had to do to please a crowd already sold on her.

She gave a red meat speech riddled with lies -- Barack Obama has authored legislation, for example. His first bill was signed by the president in '06. In fact, he's authored 152 bills. Sarah Palin ought to fit right in with the McCain campaign -- she's a shameless liar.

In all of these contradictory, lying, accusing, and illogical speeches there was no mention of Afghanistan. There wasn't the first night either. In right wing world, Iraq is the only war we're fighting. Afghanistan, almost completely ignored by the current administration, is being ignored by those who want to be the next administration. Iraq, a pointless, stupid, and wasteful war of choice, is the most important war we've ever fought. The war we actually launched in response to 9/11? Not nearly as important as the problem of pornography in schools. Schools where children have no desks because not enough people have died in Iraq yet.

What all of this tells me -- all this logical inconsistency, focus on trivia, lying, and divisiveness -- that the McCain campaign is done with the debating portion of this contest. They've lost that battle and they're closing ranks. Palin's selection wasn't about poaching Hillary voters, it was about shoring up the base. It's Republican voters who are afflicted with cognitive dissonance -- the condition of believing contradictory things. It's Republican voters who cheer a Hollywood celebrity one night, then cheer some idiot railing against Hollywood celebrities the next. It's Republican voters who agree with the argument that a candidate has to have executive experience and ignore the fact that their candidate has none. Republican voters aren't just chumps. They're willing chumps. Buying this crap takes a conscious effort. The base wants to be fooled, because the only thing that they really believe is that liberals are evil. It's Republican voters who'll buy that liberals have been in charge of Washington for the past eight years.

If you want proof of that, if you need me to demonstrate that McCain's going to a Bush-like base-centric campaign, consider his VP choice and consider the effect of that choice.

TPMElectionCentral:

A new polling analysis from Gallup suggests that John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin may have helped him solidify his support among Republican women -- but it may have also alienated other voters and made the whole thing a wash for now.

Gallup's polling finds that McCain support among Republican women has increased from 85% to 90% in the last few days since Palin's selection. But on the other hand, his numbers have gone down among other groups: He's fallen by four points among independent men and three points with indy women, and is down by five points with Democratic men and two points with Dem women. So Palin hasn't really helped him so far.

"Instead, the data suggest that McCain has in essence fought a rear-guard action of sorts among white women of his own GOP base," the analysis finds, "building their support to a degree even as he was losing support among independents and Democrats of both genders."

The McCain campaign has given up on recruiting more voters to their side and are now gambling that, by firing up the base, they can get enough people to the polls to win. I doubt they can. They'll get a bump, but it won't be converts, it'll be from those who were worried that McCain wasn't far enough right. Those voters will have moved from not voting at all to voting McCain.

For McCain, the election campaign is over. What we're in for is an extended get out the vote campaign.

-Wisco