As you know, “liberals” are doing little more than using their well-worn “Alinksy Tactics” to fight against freedom in order to bring communism to the United States of America. That said, the fact is, nobody other than Rightwing fantasists and their gullible stooges seem to know who the hell this Saul Alinsky guy actually is!
I know I had no clue about him until I finally looked him up after a dozen or so times of being accused of using his “tactics” by various wingnuts (usually Breitbart cultists or brainwashed, incurious Fox “News” zombies).
It seems Bill Maher had a similar reaction to mine, as seen on Friday night’s Real Time on HBO. More to the point, Maher’s observations about the Republican campaign against Obama, pretty much mirrored mine, as I discussed in my analysis of last week’s State of the Union Speech and in other venues where I’ve spoken about this lately. Specifically, the charge that Republicans can’t defeat the actual Barack Obama on the merits, for a whole bunch of reasons, so they’ve decided instead to run against a “completely fictional President”.
“His name is Barack X and he’s an Islamo-Socialist revolutionary who’s coming for your guns, raising your taxes, slashing the military, apologizing to other countries and taking his cues from Europe — or worse yet, Saul Alinksy!”
Maher went on to explain how Obama has done anything but the phony charges used against him, and then went on to compare those complaints with Democrats’ complaints about Bush.
“Say what you will about the Left’s hatred of Bush,” said Maher, “at least we were hating on the real guy. We didn’t invent a boogey-man who tanked the economy, took us to war on false pretenses and tortured prisoners. That was the actual guy!”
NOTE: This video seems to be getting removed from YouTube by HBO (clearly another Alinsky Tactic!), so you may wanna watch it quickly before this version is removed as well. It’s well worth it. But, in case it’s gone by the time you get to it, see below for the text from Maher’s key rant near the end of the piece…
And this is how politics has changed. You used to have to run against an actual candidate. But now, you just recreate him inside the bubble and run against your new fictional candidate. That’s how Bush won in 2004: By running against John Kerry — a French war criminal.
And speaking of Bush, I know conservatives are saying, “Oh, Bill, come on, Democrats did the same thing to him!” No. Say what you will about the Left’s hatred of Bush, at least we were hating on the real guy.
We didn’t invent a bogey-man who tanked the economy, took us to war on false pretenses and tortured prisoners. That was the actual guy!
But run down the list of complaints about Fantasy Obama: He wants to raise your taxes, even though he’s lowered them; confiscate your guns, even though he’s never mentioned it; and read terrorists their rights — yeah, like he did Tuesday in Somalia…
…
You see the difference is, the Republicans hatred of Obama is based on a paranoid feeling about what he might do, what he’s thinking, what he secretly wants to change. Anger with Bush was based on what he actually did. What Bush was thinking didn’t matter, because he wasn’t.
Actually, Obama signed pro-gun legislation that a lot of the left hated, and the NRA types still demonize him on it…
While Maher can draw a great laugh over this, the deeper ramifications that are not at all funny.
The hard right utilizes Alinsky, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, in the same manner that the Nazi’s utilized “Jewish Bolshevism.”
George Orwell picked up on the hard right tactic in his use of the character, Emmanuel Goldstein, in 1984 — an imaginary subversive who then became the focus of the Party’s ritualistic three minutes of hate.
This article has some problems. Of course neither party is more or less gun-grabbing than the other. Of course neither party raises taxes more or less than the other. Of course neither party is more or less warlike than the other. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a liberal humanist, I’m not a Republican, but unless I misread the article, Brad acknowledges that he was able to “hate on” the “real” Bush. I agree. Bush did his evil more out in the open. Obama does exactly the same thing, but under “left cover”. Hence, the painful silence of the peace movement, a recently more Democrat movement. The “chirp, chirp, chirp” is painful, devastatingly painful. But here, speaking as a Democrat, I must disagree with Brad. Bush, at least, was openly a Neocon. Obama is a Neocon operating in exactly the same way, for exactly the same masters. The only difference is that he’s “our Neocon”. As long as it’s our guy, the same actions are A-OK.
Oh…. the Race card again. really. You guys can do better than this. Maher however is a lost cause.
Agree with DieDaily. Both Obama and McCain supported HR 2640, and Bush signed it (legislating guns away from Americans)and Both Obama and Bush gave guns to Mexican Drug Cartels, “terrorists”, and the REAL murdering racists of Libya, Uganda, etc… Of course you think we dont need them, and the cops will protect us so the point is mute. O’BOMBa will continue to wreck the country of my birth while you cover for him … Its on YOU man. *REAL quote in response to Glenn Greenwald’s charges that he is not a real progressive: “I am a socialist and I want to take all your guns” – Lawrence O’bama-Donnall MSNBC-GE-Comcast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxKd5lpZwLY
Jack Blood said @ 4:
I didn’t get the chance to reply to DieDaily later, so I’ll do so now. The case made above is NOT that Obama is “better” or “worse” than Bush. Merely that Republicans are running against an imaginary Obama. If they (or you) wanted to make the case you’re trying to make against Obama, I’d not get in your way — presuming you were accurate in making that case.
That’s not what either my commentary, or Maher’s, is discussing.
Well, if you’re really looking to make a distinction between Obama and the Right, Obama expanded gun rights under his administration, while Bush did not.
That said…
Do me a favor, Jack. Don’t put words in my mouth, and I won’t put them in yours. I believe I’ve made that request previously as well. It would be nice if you started respecting that.
Huh? While I “cover for him”? When and how have I done that? Or are you just making shit up again, like your allegation about how I feel about “cops…protect[ing] us” above?