Fight the real enemy
Nov. 2nd, 2006 10:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhI'm trying to do the NaBloPoMo or whateverthehell, but with fewer television posts. I admit, I started with a backdated post; I put up this post about race earlier today.
So this is what I think about recent apologies: Wow, it really doesn't take much for Karl Rove to get every Democrat in the country off message and off strategy one week before the election, does it? I mean, seriously, y'all, it was a non issue and the fact that it lasted for what, three or four news cycles now? is testament to how much we all allow the right to set the agenda, and we just react, and I'm so over it. It was a stupid mistake, yes, but was it worth being the only thing about this election that I've seen anyone on my flist blog about in the last week? Um, that would be no. I mean, I know that none of us are writing political blogs here, but you pick one thing and it's Kerry, who by the way is running for fuckall, putting his foot in his mouth again?
If you actually want something to get pissy about, how about these assholes at the Club for Growth PAC. They were running an ad attacking Larry Grant, a Democrat running for Congress in Idaho's First District. In it, they pull the "don't let the Democrats retake Congress" card. Toward the end, they talk about San Francisco and New York liberals, and put up pictures of Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel.
Now, Nancy Pelosi is fair game. She'd be the new Speaker if the Democrats take the House, and the Republican talking point is to refer to her as a "San Francisco liberal" which is actually pretty accurate. But how many people in Idaho, rather than in her own district, would recognize her, or know who she is?
Charlie Rangel is another story. True, if the Democrats take the House he'll be the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is a very powerful spot, and for the Club for Growth PAC, who are anti-taxes, he would be a true pain in the ass. But again, what person who isn't from New York would know him?
The above, the bits about their being the (hopefully to me, frighteningly to Club for Growth) future Speaker and Chair of Ways and Means, gives a nice fat deniability to what I'm about to say. But I'm sorry, what is the point of putting up a picture of what to a non-New Yorker is some random black guy and saying "New York liberal"? What kind of short hand is going on there, what kind of signal? Never mind the sign embedded in "San Francisco liberal." I mean, it's true; her district is San Francisco and his is New York, but I'm sorry, what does San Francisco stand for? So to have all of this—a black man, a woman, San Francisco and New York—it's just gross. If they had just labeled the photos, I wouldn't be saying this, but as it is, what are they really saying.
Yeah. It's pretty gross. So if you want to get all righteous about something as we count down the days until Tuesday, get righteous about bullshit like that, and not some Senator who isn't even up for re-election saying something arguably stupid but ultimately just something that Karl and W can use to distract everyone from the matter at hand. Seriously, people.
ETA: Hmm, since I saw the ad, and heard about it on my local radio station, they've re-edited it to put in their names and call them both simply "tax and spend liberals." (At least, that's the version that's on their website today.) Which is fine, really, but my musings stand.
So this is what I think about recent apologies: Wow, it really doesn't take much for Karl Rove to get every Democrat in the country off message and off strategy one week before the election, does it? I mean, seriously, y'all, it was a non issue and the fact that it lasted for what, three or four news cycles now? is testament to how much we all allow the right to set the agenda, and we just react, and I'm so over it. It was a stupid mistake, yes, but was it worth being the only thing about this election that I've seen anyone on my flist blog about in the last week? Um, that would be no. I mean, I know that none of us are writing political blogs here, but you pick one thing and it's Kerry, who by the way is running for fuckall, putting his foot in his mouth again?
If you actually want something to get pissy about, how about these assholes at the Club for Growth PAC. They were running an ad attacking Larry Grant, a Democrat running for Congress in Idaho's First District. In it, they pull the "don't let the Democrats retake Congress" card. Toward the end, they talk about San Francisco and New York liberals, and put up pictures of Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel.
Now, Nancy Pelosi is fair game. She'd be the new Speaker if the Democrats take the House, and the Republican talking point is to refer to her as a "San Francisco liberal" which is actually pretty accurate. But how many people in Idaho, rather than in her own district, would recognize her, or know who she is?
Charlie Rangel is another story. True, if the Democrats take the House he'll be the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is a very powerful spot, and for the Club for Growth PAC, who are anti-taxes, he would be a true pain in the ass. But again, what person who isn't from New York would know him?
The above, the bits about their being the (hopefully to me, frighteningly to Club for Growth) future Speaker and Chair of Ways and Means, gives a nice fat deniability to what I'm about to say. But I'm sorry, what is the point of putting up a picture of what to a non-New Yorker is some random black guy and saying "New York liberal"? What kind of short hand is going on there, what kind of signal? Never mind the sign embedded in "San Francisco liberal." I mean, it's true; her district is San Francisco and his is New York, but I'm sorry, what does San Francisco stand for? So to have all of this—a black man, a woman, San Francisco and New York—it's just gross. If they had just labeled the photos, I wouldn't be saying this, but as it is, what are they really saying.
Yeah. It's pretty gross. So if you want to get all righteous about something as we count down the days until Tuesday, get righteous about bullshit like that, and not some Senator who isn't even up for re-election saying something arguably stupid but ultimately just something that Karl and W can use to distract everyone from the matter at hand. Seriously, people.
ETA: Hmm, since I saw the ad, and heard about it on my local radio station, they've re-edited it to put in their names and call them both simply "tax and spend liberals." (At least, that's the version that's on their website today.) Which is fine, really, but my musings stand.
