Tag Archives: Right Wing

Final Thoughts on What Romney Said

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There’s been a lot of commentary on Romney’s 47% remarks. What I haven’t seen anyone pointing out is how plain dumb his remarks were.

He said that the people who are totally committed to voting for Obama are the same people who don’t pay Federal income tax. 

He knows, of course, that there are plenty of people with well-paying  jobs who would never consider voting for him. Many of these people live in states like California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois. These states are home to lots of “liberal elitists” who the Republicans like to complain about. So his claim makes no sense, even from a right-wing perspective.

He also said that the people in this supposed group don’t take responsibility for their own lives. There are some such people, of course, but they are clearly a much smaller group than committed Obama voters and the people who don’t owe Federal income tax.

How could an apparently intelligent person like Romney say something so stupid? My guess is that he was simply engaging in some right-wing stream of consciousness while pandering to his wealthy contributors. If they took a moment to think about it, everyone in the room would understand that, literally speaking, his statements were false. But it would be great fun to hear him insult liberal Democrats, low-income people and welfare cheats by lumping them all together. His absurd remarks reveal as much about his audience as they do about him.

The Social Security Administration Shoots to Kill

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A right-wing website recently reported that the Social Security Administration is purchasing 174,000 hollow point bullets, an indication of troubled times ahead:

“It’s not outlandish to suggest that the Social Security Administration is purchasing the bullets as part of preparations for civil unrest. Social security welfare is estimated to keep around 40 per cent of senior citizens out of poverty. Should the tap run dry in the aftermath of an economic collapse, which the Federal Reserve has already told top banks to prepare for, domestic disorder could ensue if people are refused their benefits.”

http://www.infowars.com/social-security-administration-to-purchase-174-thousand-rounds-of-hollow-point-bullets/ (Visit this site at your own risk.)

Actually, it is outlandish. Would the clerks, accountants and actuaries who work for the SSA be expected to strap on firearms and man the barricades? Are the Social Security trust funds likely to evaporate? Probably not.

In response to the uproar that developed on the internet, the SSA explained that it employs 295 law enforcement officers (who knew?), most of whom investigate attempts to defraud the government:

“Our office has criminal investigators, or special agents, who are responsible for investigating violations of the laws that govern SSA’s programs. Currently, about 295 special agents and supervisory special agents work in 66 offices across the United States.  These investigators have full law enforcement authority, including executing search warrants and making arrests. Our investigators are similar to your State or local police officers. They use traditional investigative techniques, and they are armed when on official duty.”

http://oig.ssa.gov/newsroom/blog/2012/08/social-securitys-oig-responds-concerns-over-ammunition-procurement

Hollow point bullets are standard issue for law enforcement officers, because they tend to disable someone who is shot, without injuring innocent bystanders. 

But why are so many people on the right so terribly afraid? Why are many of our fellow citizens suffering from political paranoia? I think it’s a mass case of psychological projection:

“Projection is a form of defense in which unwanted feelings are displaced onto another person, where they then appear as a threat from the external world. A common form of projection occurs when an individual, threatened by his own angry feelings, accuses another of harbouring hostile thoughts.”

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/478472/projection

Elections Matter

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Kurt Eichenwald has written a rather long piece regarding the upcoming election. He says that he has voted for Republicans as often as Democrats in the past, but he forcefully argues that the Republicans must be defeated in 2012:

“In the last four years, the GOP has transmogrified into something ugly and vicious and, more important, something wedded to the politics of fantasy and ignorance. It has rushed so far from its moorings that I cannot conceive of voting for members of this party until, hopefully, they pull themselves back from the precipice of self-destruction, paranoia and delusion.”

Eichenwald cites five reasons why the Republicans deserve to suffer a crippling defeat, although the reasons boil down to four: they are liars; they are demagogues; they are economic arsonists; and they are threatening American democracy (e.g. through attempts at vote suppression).

The country might eventually recover from a Republican victory in November, but it’s more likely that President Romney and Vice President Ryan would do lasting damage.

http://kurteichenwald.com/2012/09/the-five-reasons-why-romneyryan-must-be-defeated-in-2012-and-why-conservatives-should-hope-they-are/

Creepy

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Various news sources are reporting that someone was ejected from the Republican convention after throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman and saying “this is how we feed animals”. 

It’s not clear whether this occurred because of someone’s feelings toward blacks, women, CNN, or some combination thereof. This could have happened anywhere, of course, but what are the odds?

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/republican-officials-remove-2-attendees-for-deplorable-behavior-toward-cnn-staffer/

Drowning

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The United States, apparently alone among industrialized nations, is caught up in a struggle between two extremely different political persuasions.

It’s as if a competent lifeguard is trying to rescue a remarkably incompetent, very large swimmer. The lifeguard is doing her best (in this case, it’s probably a “her”), but the swimmer (probably a “him”) is in a panic, insanely struggling and dragging them both under the waves.

People can see this death struggle from the shore, but they’re not paying much attention. They’re mostly worrying about their tans and whether it’s time to go buy a hot dog.

One problem with this metaphor is that the people on the beach are being dragged down too. Unfortunately, they’re too preoccupied, uninterested or stupid to notice what’s going on.

The swimmer, of course, would call himself a “conservative”. A more accurate designation would be “radical right-wing ideologue”.

(Postscript: I was asked who the lifeguard represents. Metaphors are especially open to interpretation, but let’s say the lifeguard represents those thoughtful people who are paying attention to what’s happening to this country.)