You know, given the position of the McCain/Palin ticket in the polls, and given that the country is about to elect its first African-American president, I know the right is going to go bonkers here in the last nine days of the campaign. Still, it’s a bit breathtaking to see the meltdown, which makes the craziest tinfoil hat musings of the DFHs look like bouquets for Dubya. I misdoubt that Obama Derangement Syndrome is going to make Bush Derangement Syndrome look like Cute Puppy Derangement Syndrome.
A few items for your perusal tonight. First, from Pennsylvania, where the Pennsylvania GOP, fresh off of trying to sell the Ashley Todd hoax, has sent a letter out to Jews in the state, warning them that Barack Obama is Hitler. No, really:
“Jewish Americans cannot afford to make the wrong decision on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008,” the e-mail reads. “Many of our ancestors ignored the warning signs in the 1930s and 1940s and made a tragic mistake. Let’s not make a similar one this year!”
A copy of the e-mail, provided by Democratic officials, says it was “Paid for by the Republican Federal Committee of PA – Victory 2008.”
It warns “Fellow Jewish Voters” of the danger of a second Holocaust due to the threats to Israel from its neighbors and touts Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s qualifications over those of Obama.
Because nobody is more likely to be the next Adolf Hitler than a biracial liberal Democrat.
There’s so much hilarity here, and it’s hard to say what the best part is. Is it the fact that the Pennsylvania GOP’s disavowal boils down to saying yeah, we sent it, but we really didn’t mean to, and besides, it’s this contractor who did it? Or is it the fact that the contractor says he was told to send it by the GOP? Or is it that McCain Pennsylvania spokesperson Peter Feldman — the same Peter Feldman who was telling reporters that the “B” on Ashley Todd’s face stood for “Barack” — has parachuted in to note that the McCain campaign “rejects politics that degrade our civics”? All I know is that it’s lucky for the McCain campaign that they haven’t pinned all their hopes for the election on winning Pennsylvania. What? They have? Well, that sucks for them.
The second meltdown comes from the Corner, where Mark Levin’s brain has disconnected:
I’ve been thinking this for a while so I might as well air it here. I honestly never thought we’d see such a thing in our country – not yet anyway – but I sense what’s occurring in this election is a recklessness and abandonment of rationality that has preceded the voluntary surrender of liberty and security in other places. I can’t help but observe that even some conservatives are caught in the moment as their attempts at explaining their support for Barack Obama are unpersuasive and even illogical. And the pull appears to be rather strong. Ken Adelman, Doug Kmiec, and others, reach for the usual platitudes in explaining themselves but are utterly incoherent. Even non-conservatives with significant public policy and real world experiences, such as Colin Powell and Charles Fried, find Obama alluring but can’t explain themselves in an intelligent way.
Yep, all those smart people endorsing Obama for completely irrational reasons, like Obama having shown himself to be steady during the economic crisis, or John McCain having picked an unqualified fool to be his vice president, thus showing he was unserious about the presidency. Who can understand such gibberish? I mean, it’s like they picked a guy to vote for based on who they’d like to have a beer with — the insanity!
There is a cult-like atmosphere around Barack Obama, which his campaign has carefully and successfully fabricated, which concerns me. The messiah complex. Fainting audience members at rallies. Special Obama flags and an Obama presidential seal. A graphic with the portrayal of the globe and Obama’s name on it, which adorns everything from Obama’s plane to his street literature. Young school children singing songs praising Obama. Teenagers wearing camouflage outfits and marching in military order chanting Obama’s name and the professions he is going to open to them. An Obama world tour, culminating in a speech in Berlin where Obama proclaims we are all citizens of the world. I dare say, this is ominous stuff.
I mean, can you imagine — a campaign that tries to get the word out about their candidate! John McCain, in contrast, doesn’t even mention that he’s running for president. He just sorta ambles into the room, mutters, “Maverick!” and moves on, like a decent American.
Even the media are drawn to the allure that is Obama. Yes, the media are liberal. Even so, it is obvious that this election is different. The media are open and brazen in their attempts to influence the outcome of this election. I’ve never seen anything like it. Virtually all evidence of Obama’s past influences and radicalism — from Jeremiah Wright to William Ayers — have been raised by non-traditional news sources.
Yeah, remember in March, when CNN did nothing but talk about Jeremiah Wright for a month? Never happened.
[…]
But beyond the elites and the media, my greatest concern is whether this election will show a majority of the voters susceptible to the appeal of a charismatic demagogue. This may seem a harsh term to some, and no doubt will to Obama supporters, but it is a perfectly appropriate characterization. Obama’s entire campaign is built on class warfare and human envy. The “change” he peddles is not new. We’ve seen it before. It is change that diminishes individual liberty for the soft authoritarianism of socialism. It is a populist appeal that disguises government mandated wealth redistribution as tax cuts for the middle class, falsely blames capitalism for the social policies and government corruption (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) that led to the current turmoil in our financial markets, fuels contempt for commerce and trade by stigmatizing those who run successful small and large businesses, and exploits human imperfection as a justification for a massive expansion of centralized government. Obama’s appeal to the middle class is an appeal to the “the proletariat,” as an infamous philosopher once described it, about which a mythology has been created.
You know what? I’m just going to back away slowly now, nodding and smiling, until I can make a run for it. While I’m escaping, enjoy these words from our sponsors.
Is he gone? Phew.
It’s only going to get crazier from here, my friends. I’m not sure what’s going to happen to the right after Barack Obama wins; I suspect there will be a battle for the soul of the party between the heirs of the Rockefeller wing and the True Believers. The Rockefeller wing could build the GOP back into a respectible party inside of a decade — one that is truly conservative, and thus a good foil for the Democrats. But I suspect the True Believers — the people for whom a modest marginal tax increase on people making $250,000 a year is tantamount to Stalinism — I think they’ll win the day. If so, the GOP will be lost for a generation. They’ll come back, some day — the pendulum always swings back in the end. But it will be a long, bitter struggle for them. And it will lead to more insanity before it gets better.
The Rockefeller wing could build the GOP back into a respectable party inside of a decade — one that is truly conservative, and thus a good foil for the Democrats.
Thank you for noting this. In the annoyance with how hysterical certain Republicans are getting, liberals have been painting conservatism with too broad a brush, insisting that it’s always been playing to our worst impulses. I don’t think a “permanent Democratic majority,” one that need make no compromises with Republicans or even conservative Democrats, is the boon it’s being sold as, and moreover it’s likely to lead to a rejection of the Dems if the first 100 days of an Obama administration is occupied with redeeming various IOUs like the passage of card-check. (Remember 1994?)
I feel genuinely sad for Republicans like Charles Fried who feel compelled to vote for Obama, even though they disagree with him on everything from con law to corporate tax rates, because the GOP has frankly gone into the toilet and Fried et al. cannot bear to lower themselves with the party. I hope we see a renaissance of his kind, the folks who think a familiarity with Edmund Burke or at least the Constitution is a reasonable prerequisite for conservative national leadership.
Incidentally, it occurred to me tonight that the Palin pick is much like the Miers nomination. In both cases, a Republican felt obliged to pick a woman (Bush because the justice would be replacing O’Connor; McCain in order to attract disaffected Clinton supporters). Unfortunately, the pick doesn’t get the support that’s expected because it was so obviously made with no care whatsoever; a dozen competent, fully eligible women are passed over in favor of someone who’s “loyal” (in Miers’s case) or “charismatic” (in Palin’s case). It’s like when Salon felt required to print a conservative — so they picked a lunatic like David Horowitz. Such decisions don’t show that one respects the group of people one supposedly is trying to include; it’s an even more glaring sign of contempt than omitting a person from that group entirely.
I suppose I should be glad the GOP doesn’t seem to be doing this with race. Even Alan Keyes, despite being batshit crazy, is sort of intelligent in an academic sense; I think Justice Thomas, although perhaps not exhibiting as full a record of achievement as we saw from Roberts (never mind Ginsberg and Breyer) prior to his elevation to the Court, has shown that he’s not completely out of his league. After seeing Miers proposed for the Supreme Court and Palin for McCain’s heartbeat away from the presidency, I’m too depressed about what the GOP evidently thinks about women, to want to contemplate what the equivalent “outreach to African Americans” pick might look like.
I’m an absolute believer that the best ultimate scenario would be for America to have two responsible parties — one center-left, one center-right — both of which accept that there are always limits to the effectiveness of one’s core philosophy. I think we need more government intervention in the economy right now. It does not follow that the government seizing control of all private enterprise is a good idea. The GOP thinks lower taxes are a good idea. It does not follow that lower taxes are always a good idea no matter what. But while I recognize the fallacy of the first part, the GOP right now does not seem to understand the latter. I would like them to; I think the Democrats are better off if we have a rational opposition questioning us. Even if we’re right, we’re more likely to get it right if we have to answer tough questions.
Poor Mark Levin doesn’t quite understand why he’s so frightened. He writes of his fear:
But what he’s really afraid of is an electorate that understands this – and votes for it. He claims he’s afraid of a result that will surprise the electorate, but he really should be fearful that the electorate knows that it wants “fundamental change”.
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I wonder if this might be the beginnings of a real third party. I can’t see the theocratic, far-right conservative accepting the Rockefeller side of the party. Their only choice: to form the New Republicans or the New Conservative Party. Or, dare I say it? The New Christians.
PG, I don’t there there would be anything better for Democrats’ future electoral chances than the passing of card-check. Unions are a huge electoral plus for the Democrats; they’re pre-organized and active, the only possible counterweight to how pre-organized, active fundamentalist churches help the Republicans. If union rolls increase by 5%-20%, that would be pretty significant in swing states.
I agree with this, but with the proviso that the Democrats, by world standards, are the center-right party. What we’re lacking is any left party at all.
Jeff, speaking of conservatives going insane, have you seen James Dobson’s lengthy “what 2012 will be like if Obama wins” article? (PDF link). It’s wonderfully unhinged.
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PG, I don’t there there would be anything better for Democrats’ future electoral chances than the passing of card-check. Unions are a huge electoral plus for the Democrats; they’re pre-organized and active, the only possible counterweight to how pre-organized, active fundamentalist churches help the Republicans. If union rolls increase by 5%-20%, that would be pretty significant in swing states.
I think passing card-check would be a gift to Republicans in states that temporarily have been pushed by the economic crisis into the Democratic column, such as Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia, but that are right-to-work states. It’s an easy campaign ad: “See what coerced unionization has done to Michigan’s auto industry. New auto plants are being built in America — in right-to-work states like Alabama, Kentucky and Texas. Democrats have sold out job growth in order to corral votes from union workers. Don’t let them destroy American industry to help out special interests.” Look at where population is moving and where the 2010 census will continue to shift electoral votes; I don’t think it’s going to be toward the Rust Belt.
My favorite part of the Dobson article was the idea that a Christian would find the loss of his handguns on par, as a religious tragedy, with the loss of his ability to spread the Word of God. For anyone wondering WWJD, I don’t think “Head shots, head shots…. Kill the sons of bitches” (in the words of McCain friend G. Gordon Liddy) would be it.
Wow. I think Levin’s motivation is pretty naked, there – it’s like he’s seen America realise that the super-rich aren’t the best people to represent their interests, and he’s trying to beg them back into denial.
“Teenagers wearing camouflage outfits and marching in military order chanting Obama’s name and the professions he is going to open to them. ”
Unfortunately my mother listens to his radio program while we’re in the car, and I’d just like to clarify that the paramilitary Obama force he’s talking about — it’s called “stepping,” a dance performed by members of traditionally black Greek organizations… scary, huh?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepping_(African-American)
And of course, this is the same guy who will then claim that the idea that “multiple Americas” exist is ridiculous.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Bryan Rudnick had ties, or at least communications, with the most extreme, right-wing pro-Israel and Islamaphobe groups based here in Philly around the disgraceful wording of that fear-mongering email. We are the proud home of Daniel Pipes (Campus Watch and other loathsome projects) and Morty Klein (ZOA – a more rabid pro-Likud group you will not find in our most awesome US of A).
On the positive side, the Phillies as of 10:20pm are beating the Rays, despite FOX Sport’s biased coverage. I guess they haven’t forgotten our warm Philly welcome to Palin.
The Obama campaign as “cult” talking point originated with the Clinton campaign when they realized that they were losing. It’s weird that Goppers who hate Hillary Clinton will swipe BS from her campaign shamelessly.
I meant to add – surely ‘soft authoritarianism’ is a perfect description of what the US has had ever since 9/11? I’d hope the next administration rolls that back and I think they’re not going to; why would they give up executive power, however dubiously it was gained?
Timothy Egan also misses the Republican Party that was both worthy opponent and necessary counter-weight:
Here in Seattle, it’s become a one-party city, with a congressman for life and nodding-head liberals who seldom challenge a tax-loving city government. It would be nice, just to keep the philosophical debate sharp, if there were a few thoughtful Republicans around.
That won’t happen so long as Republicans continue to be the party of yesterday. They’ve written the cities off. Fake Americans don’t count, but this Election Day, for once, they will not feel left out.
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