Monday, October 20, 2008

Insane McCain

If you've ever been to a turkey farm, you will have seen how one lone animal will begin gobbling and the rest will follow suit until the whole flock begins to sound like the American news media commenting on an election.

"Spread the wealth" seems to be the latest gobble ever since John McCain, in his desperation, attempted to conflate the Obama tax policy, which hardly differs from what we've had since the beginning of income taxes in America, with socialism. It's not much more of an idiotic redefinition than is typical of the 2008 campaign rhetoric which has it that a hundred year occupation of a foreign country is a "victory" and accomplishing the goal of regime change and democracy is "surrender." Indeed the trickle down theory is little more than a scenario in which people the government helps to get rich then redistribute a small part of it by spending.

In St. Charles Missouri this weekend, John McCain attempted to show the show me state that lifting some of the burden from the struggling classes is Socialism. Senator Martinez from Florida compared Obama's tax plan to that of Fidel Castro and the chorus of boos from their gobbling audiences is not directed at the dishonest and sometimes demented charges or the turkeys who make them, but at anyone outside the circle of the tribe by virtue of sanity, education, honesty or intelligence: particularly intelligence. The is no idea too stupid, too false, to demented that the tribe will not dance around the fire and scream "kill him!"

It there any charge quite as incredible as insisting that presidents like Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan must have been socialists who wanted to redistribute the wealth by not giving the kind of tax breaks to the top 5% that George Bush did and that John McCain wants to continue and extend? We have never had a bigger and bigger spending government than we have now and McCain has no plan to change that that could pass a second grade arithmetic teacher's scrutiny. He has hot button topics like earmarks, and socialism and spreading the wealth, but the rest is only "trust me my friends."

"Our opponent's plan is just more big government, and John and I think that that is the problem, not the solution," said the gobbler in the glasses "Instead of taking your hard-earned money and spreading your wealth, we want to spread opportunity so people like you and Joe the plumber can create new wealth."

Of course it's not more big government by any measure. It's a return to the time before George Bush's borrow, bloat and spend policies.

What's the Palin plan? Give it to the rich and let it trickle down. Gobble, gobble, gobble. What's the plan? borrow and spend and put the burden of all that debt on people like you and me and Joe the plumber and our children and grandchildren, and how do we sell it? We lie about palling around with terrorists, we call Obama an elitist Arab Muslim Terrorist, who conspires with Vietnam War protesters, who is a Chicago Machine politician with no experience, whose house was paid for by gangsters, who reads books by terrorists and whose education was paid for by Pakistani Fundamentalists and who isn't even an American. Did I mention that he's black?

At this point and regardless of who wins, I'm ashamed to be part of this. If Obama wins, the country has been so damaged already and will be filled with a large minority who think he's the devil, the future is so dim my old eyes can't see anything but gloom.

4 comments:

d.K. said...

I don't know. I'm feeling some optimism here. I think that the hatred (except by that 20 percent who should be in an asylum anyway) will be tempered in short time. I think this really could transform things. I know, I know, I know, but I believe it now, anyway -- may eat my words later. I think the Republican party will become a third party (the fringe it has rightfully deserved to be for 15 years) and some other maybe libertarian party will fill out the role that our system now requires where we have two legitimately competitive parties vying for power. I think the Repugs are done - really, but that we'll get a "honeymoon" period where great majorities will back fundamental reform. And I think Obama is the man for the times. (and I'm not a "great man of history" thinker, but this may come close to challenging that paradigm for me)... Let's hope.

Capt. Fogg said...

I truly want to be an optimist, but I'm afraid to underestimate the power of stupid.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Capt. Fogg. The dispicable McCain campaign has energized a sizeable hunk of human refuse that will NEVER accept the legitimacy of an Obama presidency. It's frightening and appalling and I'm so exhausted from watching it unfold that I am barely holding on to whatever frayed shred of optimism I'm capable of harboring at this point.

Capt. Fogg said...

That's the reason I've been a pessimist for so long. I allowed myself a little of it when we finally stopped the Reagan Revolution and the economy turned around, but they don't give up and they will try to force their dogma on us until they're dead. Even then it's better to put a stake through their hearts to make sure.