23 users responded in this post

Subscribe to this post comment rss or trackback url
mygif
Lister Sage said on September 16th, 2008 at 9:52 am

“Let’s get him a straw hat and have him hum the tune to “Hee Haw.” I bet that puts Alabama in play.”

That’s crazy enough to work.

ReplyReply
mygif

Say this about being frustrated or pissed off: it cures boredom.

The thing about calling a spade a spade (and if only John McCain would say something like that in reference to some Obama proposal so it could set off a whole “John McCain used a racial slur” frenzy akin to the “Barack Obama called Palin a pig” frenzy…oh no wait, the Obama campaign is probably too classy to make that claim, and I don’t know whether that’s good or bad right now) bugs me too. In this case, call a lie a lie.

Aside from “distortion” there’s another word I’m sick of: “misleading.” They are not “misleading” most of the time, they are lying. Goddammit, everybody in the media should be like Joy Behar and say, when they refer to lies, “these are lies.” How many people would vote for a guy who lied all the time, and who was called a liar all the time? Wasn’t Joe Biden’s first shot at the presidency sunk precisely because people saw him as a liar, as somebody who wasn’t honest about where his speech came from?

ReplyReply
mygif

@Rob

The only problem with that, is then you get everybody and their damn mothers flinging around accusations about who lied about what. It wouldn’t matter if it’s true since, as the dialogue pointed out, most of the masses are slightly less than averagely retarded.

ReplyReply
mygif

There are actually interesting, cognitive-psychology reasons why the facts don’t matter in politics. For a good summary, check out this blog post:

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/84811,cognitive-radios-to-improve-public-safety-and-wireless-devices.aspx

That said, nicely written bit. Crushingly depressing (and I’m saying this as an American law student with a profound belief in the power of politics), but well-written nonetheless.

ReplyReply
mygif

Brian P.: Enough though I’ve seen examples of this in my life, isn’t still scary to have it affirmed.

ReplyReply
mygif
Sean D. Martin said on September 16th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

The only problem with that, is then you get everybody and their damn mothers flinging around accusations about who lied about what.

If only there were some, oh, I dunno, almost like a Fourth branch of government which could investigate and report on things and could be counted on to inform the public as to which things really were lies and which were not.

Sometimes I really wish we had one of those.

ReplyReply
mygif

@ Sean

I wish we had one of those that was completely unbiased and reported ALL lies… Instead, we here in the states have stations like Fox News, who say that the bleeding-heart liberals/democratics are always lying, or on the other hand, you have the liberal bloggers and intar-web news sources that all say the war-mongering, racist conservatives/republicans are lying.

So, basically, we’re screwed.

ReplyReply
mygif

Lessons learned in life thus far: 1. Most (American) people are retards, 2. Avoid most (American) people and anything that reminds you of them.

THANK YOU FOR BREAKING RULE #2 MGK

I ALREADY HAVE TO

ReplyReply
mygif

*”I already have to live here.” (I also need a new keyboard)

ReplyReply
mygif
thelibrarygirl said on September 16th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

I left Texas soon after Bush was re-elected. He was a miserable governor and much worse as president.

I often wonder if people get turned off by the election because all they seem to hear is lies and accusations about lying. In turn, it assists in reducing voter turnout. (I know this is not the only reason why voter turnout is low.) The modern day purpose of an election seems to be allowing politicians to act like bratty children, who pull pig tails and call their opponents “dumb, dumb heads”. The media and many aspects of the blogosphere aren’t helping the situation.

I was sick of the US election when the Canadian election was called. For those paying attention to both election processes we are getting beaten over the head with muck and accusations. If only Aaron Sorkin could write this electoral process. The cast of characters would be better looking, the story line better developed, and the banter would be entertaining.

Nice script MGK.

ReplyReply
mygif

In the off-chance that you haven’t read David Brooks’s column (and really, why would you?), I recommend it. But that’s only because Gene Robinson pointed the way for me.

ReplyReply
mygif
GoatToucher said on September 16th, 2008 at 6:05 pm

And, again, undecided voters are morons.

Old.

ReplyReply
mygif

I’m also a Texan, and while I wasn’t really old enough that I was at all politically engaged during Bush’s time as governor, I have to say I don’t think he was all bad. It’s PRIMARILY his foreign policy and national security shit that’s been fucking us all over, and as a state governor he obviously couldn’t go there. He also spoke out against Official English, which isn’t something you get to hear that often from a Republican.

ReplyReply
mygif

And, again, undecided voters are morons.

Old.

I didn’t read it like that. What makes these voters so stupid is the reasons they have for voting the way they do.

McCain is tells them “Obama wanted to teach sex education to kindergarteners”, and they actually believe it. That’s stupidity.

McCain picks a woman as his running mate, and a surprising number of women decide to vote for him based purely on that, without considering first what kind of person Palin is and what she believes. That’s stupidity. (I mean Jesus, look at this.)

McCain says something like “my opponent wants to raise your taxes” and a ridiculous number of voters say “OH NOES! Obama wants to raise my taxes!” They just take him at his word without bothering to actually look and see what Obama has said he would do. That’s stupidity.

I’m sorry, but these are stupid reasons to vote for McCain and they’re stupid reasons to have reservations about Obama. People are supposed to be too smart to fall for this kind of stuff.

ReplyReply
mygif

Are there no smart reasons to have reservations about Obama?

ReplyReply
mygif

Sure there are. But an alarming number of voters aren’t deciding after thinking things through intelligently. They’re deciding because of Palin’s sex or because they believe bullshit claims made by the McCain camp. Those people? Very stupid.

ReplyReply
mygif

Those people may be stupid, but not all undecided voters are those people.

ReplyReply
mygif

I miss The West Wing. 🙁

ReplyReply
mygif

Are there no smart reasons to have reservations about Obama?

Of course. The problem is that they’re all even bigger reasons to have reservations about McCain.

ReplyReply
mygif

You know, for a second there I thought this was actually from the show. Got a good ear there, MightyGodKing (or shall I call you Steve?)

You wanna know why the Republicans are lying their asses off? Because they’ve spent the last 30 years building up their rock-hard unbreakable utterly-correct ideology (deregulate, and the free market will grow! stay strong with a massive military, and the world will cater to our whims! cut taxes, because taxes pay for a bloated liberal socialized government!) only to find out their ideology doesn’t fit into the Real World (Welcome to the GOPatrix! The hero’s name is… NeoCon). Rather than deal with reality, they’d rather lie to keep their useless ideology afloat, even as the whole charade collapses around them.

ReplyReply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please Note: Comment moderation may be active so there is no need to resubmit your comments