Pat Buchanan schooled political protege Rachel Maddow in my opinion this evening....not on substance, but with pure politics...and tipped the GOP's standard dirty trick in the process. After hijacking the focus of the debate, he quickly shut down Maddow as she tried to refocus him,first accusing her of talking loud and fast because she knows she's wrong......then proceeding to do precisely that for the rest of the interview, engaging in a rambling stream of every talking point that popped in his head, raising his volume the whole way...poor Rachel could only sit and listen.
He pulled a FOX News on her...pulled a Hannity....an O'Reilly....just raised his voice and ranted until he was out of time. Rachel, here's a tip dealing with Pat (not that you need much help) followed by some observations on the political news of the day.
First, simply tell Pat to act like a gentlemen and engage in civil debate. Tell him to be better than FOX and Rush...he already thinks he is, so he'll respond to that. Tell him there will be no yelling. Call him on that bullshit tactic about talking loud and incessantly...embarass him for playing a game with an issue that isn't a game. Hell, make him admit that politics should not be treated as a game in times of national emergency. Second, introduce the topic you want to discuss and have Pat agree that is and will be the topic of debate, hijack free. That's all we wanna see, after all...honest freakin debate. You've got the charm and intellect to take it the rest of the way.
Alright, to the political news.
Listening to Bachman blame tweety for her falling star, she digs herself deeper, now saying Obama's ideas are "against America." Remarkably obtuse. Clearly, though, looking around us and at the GOP's politics, it is clear this sentiment is really at the heart of what's going on. Who believes this shit, anyway?
The BASE. The BASE...thinks liberals hate America? They must or these guys wouldn't be ringing that bell so often, right? Just ask The BASE to define liberal and you'll find out quickly enough what they think. Ask Joe Sixpack or Joe the Plumber that question. The BASE think alot of things about liberals that simply aren't true. Perhaps, at this point, given the import of this moment, the media has a duty to educate these folks and us on this issue. I really wish Brian Williams had asked Sarah Palin to define a liberal...now that would have been interesting.
The tone and tenor of the McCain campaign reminds me a lot of 2002-03. During that time, there were far fewer of us trying to stand up and point out that the reasons Bush was giving for our need to "immediatlely" kick Saddam's ass, were in fact, not only false exaggerations, but that the decision, itself, was going to set us back in our war against those responsible for 9/11, with untold consequences. Those things turned out to be true, as they always were, and for those of us who knew and understood why, we felt compelled to say so at that time.
What did we get for our efforts? We got called anti-American...unpatriotic....we got called "liberals"...they turned the volume up so loud on that word, that nobody would listen to ANY dissenting voice, whether "liberal" or otherwise. If it didn't jibe with the Bush party line, it was "liberal" and the work of shadowy anti-American terrorist sympathiser. THEY turned the noise up so loud that everyone ran from that label. Who wanted to be unpatriotic during war? after 9/11?....so in the face of that storm, good people ... congressmen .... congresswomen ... senators .... the fucking media .... sat down and stopped thinking .... at least until 2004...Bush got everything he wanted.
It was then, that the GOP made an enemy of me because, in my mind, there is nothing more dangerous to my Country than a political party that would use the tactics of character assassination to avoid legitimate debate and discussion about a strategic decision that had such profound implications on our future. I saw them do it to Clinton in the 1990s and to McCain in 2000, but chalked it up to mere politics, never thinking they would use the same tactics to hatch a poorly understood, poorly planned and poorly experiment.
Now we are poised to make another momentous decision....picking the Commander In Chief to lead us back from the cliff on which we find ourselves precariously perched.......the next President will inherit a pile of problems...we find ourselves today weaker by almost every conceivable measure of real national strength than we were 8 years ago.
Many of my conservative friends, especially those in construction and my old Army buddies, remain conservative. Most now regret the decision to invade Iraq and especially regret the manner in which those of us who correctly warned about that mistake, were treated. NO WAY was it right to call a guy like me UnPatriotic and they fucking new it.
Yet, here we are today....listening to talk about "real Americans" and characterizing as "anti-American" the politics of the Democratic party....Democrats...representing at least half the population of this Country....half of America....Americans..are un-American? This rhetoric works on their BASE because it ALWAYS works on their base...they're dumb as a box of rocks. But is it working on you?
I implore the media to press this issue. What do folks think a "liberal" is? Do they really hate America? Does anyone think that's fair? Can we start deprogramming this virulent meme before it tears our country apart further, please?
IMHO, the media was complicit in allowing the Iraq travesty to occur and continues to be so by refusing to explore the topic today. They let McCain talk only about the surge and talk in terms of victory vs. surrender, yet don't bother to explore whether Iraq was the right decision and, if it was not, why? Obama brings it up, but nobody is really interested in delving into the "whys" of his beliefs. The media continues to give a free pass to McCain on whether he thought the reasons given for war were correct as well as whether the decision itself made strategic and tactical sense.
The nature of the Iraq invasion as a mistake in the war on Islamic extremism must be discussed and understood as well as the very real difference between the Al-Qaida enemy and Saddam Hussein, a line that the Bush Administration intentionally blurred...and blurred so well that many of THE BASE still don't understand the difference today.
Without understanding the nature of the mistake, it is difficult to plot a course to true victory that consists of anything truly meaningful....either in terms of REALLY supporting democracy in the Middle East or in finally defeating religious fundamentalism in Afghanistan...or religious fundamentalism...of whatever stripe.
So watching Bachman dig her hole, one thing was clear...she's choking on her own Kool-aid. I cannot wait to hear the noise made by the collective sound of the BASE doing the same thing.