The title of this post is lovingly and respectfully borrowed from the title of a cartoon on Tim Kreider’s cartoon site:
http://thepaincomics.com/weekly040128.htm
I’m not sure if I really have a right to be making political posts on this blog. I’ll freely admit that I never paid much attention to politics prior to the 2000 presidential election, and even then I really didn’t feel compelled by either candidate or the issues. The only reason I can really give comes down to a certain lack of intellectual discipline on my part.
An in-depth discussion of my political leanings and views is well beyond the scope of this blog, as well as being irrelevant and boring. If questioned, I’d be happy to explain my views, and I’m genuinely curious about other people’s opinions. I am, however, uninterested in a protracting political argument that involves spewing talking points that I’ve already heard on T.V. about a million times already. As a reasonably intelligent person, I believe it’s my responsibility to make sure my beliefs can withstand a certain amount of scrutiny, and that means I’m obligated to hear all sides of an issue.
Hopefully you can understand where I’m coming from when I say that I’m incredibly put off by displays like this:
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2008/10/sure-mccain-volkssturm.html
You can refute any number of these accusations with about 20 seconds of googling. Hell, watching CNN for a half hour will probably give you the straight scoop. These otherwise intelligent people on the right are being whipped into an echo machine for not only McCain campaign propaganda, but for GOP talking points in general. Even though most of these people still believe the republican party stands for fiscal responsibility (even though we have 20 years of evidence to the contrary) should tell you that this huge contingent of otherwise reasonable people couldn’t care less what the facts say, as long as they have enough sound bites and bumper-sticker phraseology to back up their skin-deep assumptions American government.
In these videos, notice that none of these people could really come up with a reasonable response when pressed for details about why they believe Obama is a terrorist or why A.C.O.R.N. is bad. To me, it looks like one fairly simple principle at work here: They’ve decided to believe what they’ve been asked to believe and what their peers expect them to believe, just like good Germans:
http://wizbangblue.com/2008/10/11/obama-is-an-arab-followup-interview.php
Now, don’t get me wrong here- my Dad considers himself a republican, and I still believe in some of those principles. I have no problem with opposing principles, and I wholeheartedly embrace the idea that opposing views and reasoned discourse are the only way we can really reach a consensus in this country that would benefit the nation as a whole.
It’s this Rovian thing, this idea that public discourse is something to *win* at, and you can do that by making sure your fist is in the other guy’s face as much as possible. After all, you don’t need better ideas if the other guy never gets to talk, right? The idea that you can create an echo machine for your own dangerous, myopic lies and you can use that to drown out your opposition seems like nothing short of hazardous. I don’t want to see the republican party go down in flames as a failed ideology, I just want to see the pycho loony right-wing nutjobs run out of town so reasonable and intelligent republicans can once again stand up and state their case:
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2004/12/i-miss-republicans.html
It’s been a long time since there was any news on the situation with the suspects in Jeremy’s Murder case. Apparently the McBrides had sold the house in Alger and moved to Oregon, and Kenneth McBride was arrested today for Jeremy’s murder. Here are some links:
