Shorter Sarah Palin

Hawaii Just Wasn't For Palin

During my first experiment in quitting, the first college I went to where Barack Obama was allegedly born but, ya know, there's still not enough proof to convince some people and that kind of debate is good, but there they had some people that weren't exactly ethnically the same as most of the people in Alaska so that was kind of, ya know, weird and stuff for someone that had been sheltered in the great white north. But the sameness and more, ya know, comfortable confines of my fifth college were just about as close to the 85% of people in Alaska that look like me.

All You Need To Know Is What Bill Tells You

I often wonder if Bill O'Reilly actually has any guts, any sand, any balls. You know, the fortitude enough to get up off his ass and confront people about what they write.

He often speaks about "inviting people on the program". But all we have is his word. What precisely is that worth? How do we know that these people were contacted. Did some intern just call and then hang up when someone answered just to say, "Ok, I called them. Now we can send out the ambush sqaud."

Here's the latest example in which O'Reilly trots out "His Jesse"



It's probably a safer assumption than most that not many within O'Reilly's audience read The New Yorker to begin with. The more dangerous aspect of O'Reilly's "that's all you need to know" clap-trap is that many people are going to accept that as truth.

These are the people that make up O'Reilly's primary viewership - people that can't think for themselves, people that want, people that need to be told what to do and how to think.

Newt Gingrich was quite clear in saying that he believed that there was a "gay and secular facsism" in the country. O'Reilly simply rearranged the contextual reference to direct it to what he wanted his point to be at that particular moment. It's not what Newt meant or even what he said, but it's what O'Reilly wants you to think.

Also, what about the entire, unedited "interview". This happens all the time. We see Jesse Waters - or whomever Bill deems worthy - jump out of a car and run up and shove a mic in someone's face that has caused O'Reilly's hemorrhoids to flare and there are at least two edit points. What's been cut out? What are we not seeing.

Certainly, the person on the receiving end is most likely trying to process why it is that someone would waste time and money to travel whatever distance just to ask innane questions about why they are so mean to Bill O'Reilly and his friends. Of course they look confused.

You can almost hear their thoughts about Jesse.

"Why would anyone want this shit-job? You do know that when O'Reilly goes off the air in a few years and your out looking for a job, the second a perspective employer sees The O'Reilly Factor and Fox"News" on your resume they aren't going to hire you."

Conservatives Spin The New Yorker Cover

We've all seen political cartoons. Those of us with even a half-functioning brainsteam can see that they are satirical works of art that are meant to paint a caricature of a person. Of course, it helps to know what a caricature is. These are meant to exagerate the features and actions of a person or the perceived image of someone.

Enter The New Yorker.

Who knows if they'll get this in Dubuque, but they sure aren't going to like it in Chicago: This week's New Yorker cover features an image of Michelle and Barack Obama that combines every smeary right-wing stereotype imaginable: An image of Obama in a turban and robes fist-bumping his be-afro'd wife, dressed in the military fatigues of a revolutionary and packing a machine gun and some serious ammo. Oh yes, this quaint little scene takes place in the Oval Office, under a picture of Osama bin Laden above a roaring fireplace, in which burns an American flag. All that's missing is a token sprig of arugula.
The illustration, by Barry Blitt,is called "The Politics of Fear" and, according to the NYer press release, "satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail Barack Obama's campaign." Uh-huh. What's that they say about repeating a rumor?

More from The Huffington Post.

Now, enter in the conservative bloggers. To maintain continuity with previous examples, we'll see what Michelle Malkin and her new boss @ HOT AIR ( Ed Morrissey ) are saying:

Michelle - in all her purse-lipped faux outrage - cries:

Barry,

So, you found this satirical New Yorker cover art “tasteless and offensive.”

Welcome to public life.

Guess what? In Washington, political cartoonists and caricaturists spare no one.

Her post goes on to state that Obama shouldn't be 'whining', and that Bush and his associates have had to endure much worse. This may be true, but according to Malkin, Obama is not allowed to respond. Her statements that he is 'whining' is pure spin. But, that's how the conservative script is written and the cast is expected to follow it to the letter. There is no ad-libbing.

It's all set up in precise terms in order to completely avoid discussing issue, to push aside the message, attack the 'victim', or to create issue where there is none.

Obama, in there eyes, cannot be allowed to speak - whether to defend himself, his cause, anything. If he is mute on the issue, he is allowing himself to be run-over, which would show a sign of weakness. If he speaks, he is 'whining'.

Ed Morrissey takes a different approach:

The New Yorker is attacking conservatives, but Obama’s the one taking offense (and for good reason). Obama warned that the Republicans would obsess over his ethnicity, but so far only the mainstream Left has made it an issue.

Interesting, but just as predictable as Malkin. It appears - according to Morrissey's logic - that Ralph Nadar, Jesse Jackson, and The New Yorker constitue the "mainstream Left".

Here we see another tactic the conservatives like to employ. Make it appear that there is a "mainstream" presence that is doing the attacking. We see this constantly being parroted by conservative bloggers, reporters, and news organizations. "The Mainstream Media" or MSM as it is often called. The cute monicker works well, as people process 'gimmicks' with ease.

Those three examples do not a 'mainstream' make.

One can see how the cartoon clearly illustrates how many in the conservative realm see the Obamas. The 24 hour news outlets will make so much hay from this it will become tiresome before the prime-time opinion programs start up.

It becomes clearer and clearer how conservatives will use this New Yorker cover.

1 - If Obama responds, he's a 'whiner'

2 - If he doesn't, he is allowing himself and his wife to be 'walked all over' and his lack of a statement shows poor judgement, which means he won't be a good President.

3 - This shows that the 'mainstream Left' is who is really attacking Obama

Interesting spin, but nothing more.