Framing The "Debate"

A friend called me early this morning. He's a default Texas John McCain supporter, which means : He won't vote for no split tail or no negro, by God.

A day before I had ripped McCain to this Truck Driver- and explained why he should be voting Democrat for the rest of his natural born life, apparently, 24 hours set in and he forgot the fifteen damn factors I had instilled in him via reason, logic, and historical example.

He called me from his cell as he was truckin along, and he asked me if I was still supporting Obama. Before I could answer, he followed up with : "Have you seen the news?" - Now, I am a news JUNKIE. I mainline C&L, I shoot MSNBC Straight, I chase it with NPR Radio , and while I'm at it, I have a slice of Yahoo and smoke a bowl of CNBC. And I wash it all down with a suicide of various blogs. So, sitting down at my desk that early morning, I hadn't even booted up my PC yet. All I had was my morning drive with NPR's tibetan updates.

I thought- 'Well, shit! what did I miss?'

"Obama got a terrorist working for him.Yep, it's all over the news!" He exclaimed.

Unawares of what the heck he was talking about, I kinda mumbled- "I didn't see that on the news" But nonplussed, I followed up with the standard West Texas talking point- "Well, hell, Rocky, I'll still vote for a terrorist over Hillary or McCain". That got a chuckle.

"Well, I just thought you should know that's what I heard. That your boy got terrorists working for him."

He couldn't cite a news agency or details, and he had to go abruptly. I quickly got online, thinking to myself- What-in-the-fck-now?

Unsurprisingly it dawned on me that there was no news concerning this soundbite. I had forgotten that the rest of the country isn't quite up to speed on current events. Maybe he had finally heard some shit about Madrassas. Maybe he had heard about Weather Underground. Maybe he heard some uppity black preacher was badmouthing the flag. But whatever bullshit he took in one ear, didn't quite make it out the other.

All that careful conversation I had with him the day before, meant nothing now. All he heard was that I was supporting a black man over the white one. And although he listened carefully and even told me what a sorrry ass Bush was, worst President ever- a day later all that registered was that crazy ass nigga's middle name was Hu-saaaaannnnne and he won't say the pledge of allegiance by damn!

...

He wants to vote Republican. Because he's been told to. But everything is shit and it has been for the past 8 years. Nothing has quite worked out like the Republican party told him it would. He just don't know. But ho-shit- It's not just a split-tail running for President, that's a god-damn Clinton! By Jesus, He'd take a bj in an outhouse with his wife holding a roll of toilet paper outside, but he cain't abide the Preznit getting his jollies in the oval office!

Not if he's damn democrat, at least! And then the other option is a half-breed! And half breeds ain't so bad, Hell this guy's grandson is a "half-breed". But this fucker is half (whisper- BLACK! whisper)

Sumbitch!

McCain is a white guy and hell he's even a War Hero. (If it all it takes to be a war hero is to be captured by a rice farmer in a paddy where you've been bombing civiilians)... So when he hears "Hussein" or "Farrakhan" or "black President" his mind is made up.

The wit and wisdom, the facts and the figures, the history and the truth isn't going to sway him.

UNLESS...

So, what I propose- is to fight like a dirty, piece of shit Republican. Do what they have done to Obama and to Hillary before him- Make up a bunch of bullshit and pass it down the line. Who knows? Knowing the Middle Amerkan dipshit like I know so well, they will PROBABLY improve on it as it goes in one ear and out their ass.

I'm sure you've heard some dirt on McCain. Well, do what THEY do, and just assume its true and pass it around. But frame it in the worst possible way to Right wingers and their ilk; Make a headline about McCain. Say that you heard it from a "reputable source" and let that fucker fly. We are dealing with idiots, slaves, and sycophants. For four years of blogging, I've laid out the truth in careful little lines only to be ignored by morons who want to know who's Britney's Sister's Baby's Daddy is.

FUCK THEM.

McCain wants to Double the Estate Tax! I read it in the Wall Street Journal!

McCain owns interest in a Chinese Nuclear Weapons facility! It was on FoxNews!

McCain called one of Mitt Romney's three wives' (the thirteen year old) a bitch! I heard it on Rush!

McCain beat his ex-wife as she lay in a cancer ward, then had sex with his mistress in the same room as she lay bleeding afterwards! it was on Drudge, I Swear!

McCain wants Cheney as his Vice President! (that might be true)

Rove threatens to blow the whistle on McCain's Bondage Affair with Condi Rice, her lesbian girlfriend and Jeff Gannon! I read it at Free Republic!

McCain secretly vows to George Bush in a satanic blood brother ritual that they will do a 9-11 in every major city until the Democrat party is no longer a majority in Congress! I saw it on Perez Hilton!

Because the horrible truth is- THESE Lies are more likely to get attention than Bush okaying Torture, Blackwater pulling guns on American soldiers with no consequences, Iraq going to hell in a handbasket, our President funneling millions of dollars in weapons to Saudi Arabia and Israel, our government allowing crooked corporations to loot American stockholders, or our military being destroyed by the Incompetent Republican leadership.

So lie all you want. The truth is far worse.

Come Sweet Oblivion

May the Higgs Bosun be with you
personal note : What a crock of shit.

Wild Wild Key West
personal note: Be Kinder to your employees

Jewish marathoners conflicted by diet options
personal note: Today's national tragedy brought to you by: Matzo's

Historians agree: Worst Prez ever.
personal note: And he's not even done yet...

Rachel Maddow
personal note: Yes, I like her, but does she have to cultivate the appearance of a right wing chicken hawk male, down to the hair part? All she needs now is a bow tie.

Alternet Asks can Feminism and Porn co-exist? An article so stupid, I won't bother linking... But it's an easy opening for a smartass answer: Only if it's girl on girl.

It's always darkest before dawn. Betmo offers this glimmer of hope

Fairlane has this interesting take on dealing with wingnuts

Chaos Inc.

Random blogging, part 763




NOTE TO DISGRUNTLED BLOGGER-AMERKANS:

I think we've all felt this way sometime or other during the past year:

"that this election is really going to make one godamn bit of difference and that this is still a functioning democracy....ha-ha! Now, that's funny!"
The Culture Ghost

I think the biggest way to cure apathy is to get pissed off again. So, to all of you who feel like CG right now, and I'm sure its a growing group out there: Get Pissed Off Again.

To all of you who feel like this election is all a useless endeavor- Remember this- The Republicans WILL be voting. Even though they don't like their candidate, they seem to understand what many of us don't - Their vote counts, and it's worth the effort to put it in for your candidate, because, even though that candidate may not be everything you want, it's the small differences that WILL COUNT in the 4 years of the immediate future. They know it. They know McCain will keep pushing Republican bullshit that will aid them in little ways, if nothing else, he will keep the ni**ers, the fa*s, the wetbacks, the fucking poor, the unions, the non-christians, the non-racists, the peaceniks and the socialists DOWN where the Republicans think they all belong. And they will hustle their sorry asses down to vote for that one point only, if it all boiled down to it.

And if You STILL don't think it matters in the end- well fucking shut the hell up and DO Something MORE for your country.

For those of you who feel that working within the parameters of the system isn't going to effect any change- you have plenty of alternatives outside the box. If you are convinced that Democracy is dead, and I am certainly not- are you going to put up or shut up?

Because I'd love to see something either way. I've been right here with you myself before, feeling defeated and dismayed at the whole bullshit system. But selling the idea that everything is useless is ... well, useless. Be a patriot. Shake things up. Get back in the game. Fight for what you believe is right. Too many people sitting on the sidelines is what makes this country weak.

"We are about to become refugees. Was Moses an independent?" Mandt (commenting at The Culture Ghost)

Fuck being a refugee. That shit's for the birds. FIGHT. Note: You may have to turn off your computer and go outside.



Best Matthews description Evar :

"Yet for as basic as he has become to the political and media furniture, Matthews is anything but secure. He is of the moment, but, at 62, also something of a throwback -- to an era of politics set in the ethnic Democratic wards of the '60s and the O'Neill-Reagan battles of the '80s. And he is a product of an aging era of cable news, the late-'90s, when "Hardball" started and Matthews made his name as a battering critic of Bill Clinton during the Monica saga.Cable political coverage has changed, however, and so has the sensibility that viewers -- particularly young ones -- expect from it. Mat-thews's bombast is radically at odds with the wry, antipolitical style fashioned by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert or the cutting and finely tuned cynicism of Matthews's MSNBC co-worker Keith Olbermann. These hosts betray none of the reverence for politics or the rituals of Washington that Matthews does. On the contrary, they appeal to the eye-rolling tendencies of a cooler, highly educated urban cohort of the electorate that mostly dismisses an exuberant political animal like Matthews as annoyingly antiquated, like the ranting uncle at the Thanksgiving table whom the kids have learned to tune out."

News sources

Current TV

What's your preferred source of news? Since I am addicted to politics and news, period, I use as many sources as I can find on the net. The television in my office is dialed into CNBC and has to stay there during the day and I don't watch tv at home so the net is where I get all my news.

Crooks and Liars is usually my first morning stop, check out what's getting the most attention, have a brief laugh over whichever politician has gotten busted being a hypocrite that day, and to put in my two cents worth in the comments.

Then I hit Blue Herald, see what Question Girl and the gang have dug up. I have three monitors on my desk so I am absorbing several inputs at the same time. I usually have my stock news sites up on one monitor: Dedicated trader, Bloomberg, Yahoo finance, MSNBC finance. I am running spreadsheets and streaming stock charts on another. And surfing the blogs on the third.

I hit my favorites list after BH- Think Progress, Americablog, Media Matters, Informed Comment, Truthdig and Common dreams. After that I just randomly go down my blogroll, hitting up my favorite bloggers to see what they have going on.

If I have time I might check out Democracy Now!'s latest vid-news or hit Alternet and the Nation. The commenters at the Nation's website are the biggest group of neocon hitmen/trolls I've ever seen. I bet Cheney, Ari Fleischer and Rush Limbaugh are in there plastering people with their bullshit.

So how do you get your news of the day?

Came back from lunch to see this MSNBC update...

Ah Thank God the Media has our priorities lined up for us.

First - TERROR ALERT! DEFCON 4!

But don't worry, folks! The price of gas is okay!

Okay, America. You can go back to sleep now.

(unless this is part of the NeoCon plot to begin the Invasion of Iran...?)

Hillary's enemies?

Anna Quindlen of Newsweek waxes ridiculous in this week's edition. She describes liberal Democrats as Hillary's worst enemies. I must admit, I don't support Hillary for President at all, even though I have heard she has done some really good things for New York. I don't believe she deserves the support of liberals as far as being the next President-elect. But for Quindlen to label progressives like me as Hillary's "enemies" is just more media chaff ejected to distract the American public.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15362334/site/newsweek/

Here is my reply to Ms.Quindlen:

RE: Hillary's biggest enemies.

Anna, Anna, Anna,

Where to start? Why don't you mention "Hillary Clinton" to the next 10 random people you run into. After you hear the outlandish vitriol from the Republicans who despise her from head to toe, then you can use the word "enemy" in its proper context. As it is, your article is just so much more tripe. Hillary is unelectable for two reasons. Number 1 is because, from my dear old Fox-news imbedded Grandmother to young Republicans everywhere, she is despised and blamed for everything from "Fake" Global warming to coddling terrorists. None of this has any basis in fact, but neither does listening to Dubya tell millions of Americans that we are winning in Iraq.... It is utter manure.

That said, Reason No.2 is that Hillary Clinton is like Republican Lite- She's a pure politician who, until she stood up against Rumsfeld recently, (after she sensed the political wind shifting) has not stood strong with the Democrat party enough. She had the power to stand up a LONG time ago and speak out openly against this Administration, against torture, against wiretaps, against renditions, against Bush's failure to take accountability for 9-11 AND the Katrina fiasco. Time and time again, she has not.

In short, she's failed every Democrat, and especially every liberal Democrat out there by failing to do so. Explore the blogosphere- few Progressives OR Liberals OR Democrats desire to see Hillary on a ticket or TALK INCESSANTLY about it, like you folks in the media. She's insincere. She's just another politician, and thats EXACTLY what we don't need.

Here's some things that Liberals know that it takes the Mainstream media 3 years to figure out, and will probably take Bush supporters another 3 years after that to figure out:

1. The Iraq war is a massive Mistake.
A. No WMD existed at the time we invaded, as we screamed and protested at the time.
B. It Increased Terror and Terrorist activities
C. It has resulted in a monumental loss of life for no, absolutely NO Measurable Benefit to the average American.
D. It has bankrupted our country.

2. Hillary Clinton WILL NEVER Be the Candidate in 2008.

3. Iran is NOT a threat, but if Bush has his way, he will begin Iraq Part Deux ASAP to distract voters. (Note the wargames going on?)

4. Impeachment and immediate THOROUGH investigations on Foleygate, Traitorgate, and the 9-11 commission are the Absolute Best Way to end Political Corruption and the Pork of the Century element of the Abramoff Republican Era.

Don't believe me? Well then, by all means- please, continue writing such inanity as Hillary's enemies being Democrats.