I mean, really. Who but wingnuts would keep their kids out of school to protect them from the president’s oogedy-boogedy message to stay in school? They don’t see the irony because wingnuts don’t have a sense of irony (or humor). Republican presidents have addressed students and even though the sainted Ronnie of Reagan preached tax cuts to them, all was hunky dory in wingnutland.
But there are two important differences this time. This president’s not a Republican and wingnuts are incapable of anything other than a say-hallelujah fervor for the GOP and a Chicken Little hysteria for Democrats. Sadly, the second difference — in my honest opinion — is quite simply that this president is the wrong color.
The flames of their bigotry, racism, anger, fear, hypocrisy, hatred and birther craziness are fanned by nutjobs like Glenn Beck, a wingnut pseud whose every demagogic word — he calls President Obama’s address to students “indoctrination” — is swallowed whole and regurgitated by his acolytes. A pseud who called victims of Hurricane Katrina “scumbags” (does he know that’s slang for used condoms?) and said, “When I see a 9/11 victim family on TV, I’m just like, ‘Oh shut up’. I’m so sick of them because they’re always complaining.” A psued who called the Rockefellers progressives (!) while lecturing his viewers on the commie art at 30 Rock that only Beck saw.
I mean, really.
Seems even their tinfoil hats won’t protect them now, not when the terrifying message will be to take your education seriously and stay in school.
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Mike Keefe
Denver Post Sep 4, 2009 |
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I know!!! It’s not just partisan anymore, it’s getting really, really strange! Haven’t seen the like since the McCarthy era (by report; wasn’t actually around for that debacle). I did appreciate the cartoon, but your essay was priceless! I mean, really
MusEditions´s last blog ..Rainy and Complainy
Glad you liked it, Muse. After reading a few hundred comments by wingnuts, it nearly wrote itself.
There are some fundamental problems that factor in. The GOP has let the extreme right fringe hijack the party and the genesis goes back to Reagan selling the party’s soul to get the support of the anti-abortion crowd. (And to imagine people in the 60’s thought Goldwater was nutty.) And the wingnuts are bullies, plain and simple. The GOP — and I said this last autumn — has to grow a pair and tell them they will no longer be allowed to hijack the party and if they don’t like it, form their own. And somebody in this White House has to grow a pair and stop pretending Washington can be a Kumbaya Zone if everyone is statesmanlike. Won’t happen. Not with bullies whose favorite tactic is fearmongering and with their party of no instead of maybe we can, let’s see where we can compromise.
Oh, I miss Kennedy. Really.
PS – I just love the nut with wings in the cartoon. Hee!
Nothing more to add re: the cartoon or commentary – both are on target.
I’ve been involved in a little personal experiment recently. By day, at work, I listen to Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity. Then, at night, I enjoy Matthews (if I can keep from turning his impolite self off), Olberman and Maddow.
The word that comes to mind is “whiplash”. It’s not just “like” looking at two different worlds, it is two different worlds.
It seems to me folks on both sides are heading to the fringes and hardening their positions as they see the middle disappear. The days of “politics as usual” – in the sense of negotiation, compromise, horse-trading, being committed to the common good while serving particular (not special!) interests – seem to be numbered.
I hope someone gets a grip, soon.
shoreacres´s last blog ..Raise High the Floor Beam, Islanders….
You’re a stronger woman than I am. That lineup would make my hair hurt. Of the 6, I can only take one for more than a few minutes, and not every night.
Yes, it is two worlds and has been for some time. When Reagan was prez, I subscribed to a very liberal magazine and a very conservative one. The alternate universe existed then, too, but without the (extreme) hate and fearmongering from the right (although fear is the GOP playbook) and the smarminess from the left. Punditry has done nothing for our national discourse. My problem with people who are swayed by talkmeisters to the point of puppetry is that they’re not thinking. They’re probably the same people who never know if they liked a movie until they’ve read the reviews.
I get so cranky when I’m tired. Sorry. I’m just exhausted. Thanks for your thoughts. Always insightful. (btw, I loved Raise High the Roof Beam when I was a teenager. I wonder if it still holds up? When I get to those books in my packing, I’ll have to keep it out for another read.)
I know cranky, and you, my friend, are not cranky
Love that you caught the reference in the title. No one else has, or at least they haven’t said anything. It makes me smile.
shoreacres´s last blog ..Raise High the Floor Beam, Islanders….
Thank you so much, shore. I’m totally swamped with the move. I will be in Maryland by the end of the month, so this whole thing — from conception to finish — is being done in less time than it took to inter Michael Jackson.
Keep smiling, k?