Political Theatre category archive

From a Romney rally:

Chauncey Devega has some suggestions for Republicans on how to spin this.

As a Delawarean for 25 years, all I have to say is “Joe.”

Helen Philpot on the unreported story:

Margaret, once again I am going to have to call bullshit. I get that most people thought President Obama didn’t put in a stellar performance at the debate. And I understand that his not doing well was newsworthy. After all, he’s done much better in the past with much less on the line. But I can’t believe that I actually need to tell the media just how the cow ate the cabbage on this one.

It’s pretty simple really. The other guy lied.

How can the media continue to make Obama’s poor performance the top story rather than the fact that the other guy looked really, really great while he lied through his teeth?

Warning: Moderately bad taste about half-way through (at the 1:09 mark to be precise).

Political Prof evaluates Mitt the Flip’s foreign policy paean to blowing stuff up as a first resort and finds its hollow core:

The thing that always gripes me about conservatives is that, in the end, they’re scaredy cat blowhards. They insist—as Romney did yesterday—that the United States is an exceptional nation blessed by God for its special role in the world, and then they insist that the only way to enact this role is to be ready to kill everyone who dares to disagree with us.

The Lebanon Daily Star analyzes the kabuki. A snippet:

When former French President Nicolas Sarkozy faced his Socialist challenger, Francois Hollande, that was a debate – addressing substantive issues and lasting more than two hours. By contrast, presidential debates in the United States are more like staged performances, where the answers to every possible question have been rehearsed endlessly with teams of coaches and advisers.

The candidates in U.S. debates address carefully selected journalists who rarely follow up on a question. And the candidates’ performances are scrutinized less on the substance of their arguments than on their presentation . . . .

Dummying down the discourse, below the fold.

It’s too true to be funny.

Read more »

In a typically long and densely reasoned post, Chauncey Devega considers how the right wing uses fantasies of race war and conflict to further itself. A very small nugget:

Americans are unable to come together to solve common issues of public concern because political elites–the Right is preeminently guilty here–have developed a concerted campaign to “otherize” and marginalize those Americans with whom they disagree.

In all, the Right-wing media apparatus feeds conservatives a daily diet of misinformation, distortions, and hate speech in which their foes are described as insects to be crushed, mentally defective, traitors, and people not fit to live. Such rhetoric is not harmless political theater: seeds do indeed bear fruit.

In September, the conservative website the Free Republic published a hypothetical scenario about how the American economy will collapse and “urban” riots by black people will need to be put down by white suburban vigilantes.

The right has nothing to sell but hate, but, sadly, hate sells.

Check the comments. One of the commenters thinks Devega may be overreacting to the fringe.

I’m inclined to disagree; the fringe may be at the edges, like the fringe on a rug, but it’s still part of the rug, woven from the same fabric.

Celebrating more than a decade of harassing the innocent.

Learn more at ACLU.org.

Via Bob Cesca.

At RoboRomney dot com.

Via C&L.

More signs of our times.

Suddenly, our peace was destroyed when an enormous black car approached our home with horns blaring. The driver slowed at the political sign in our yard, screamed an expletive at us and sped away.

Not only was our gentle recovery shattered, but also we found ourselves afraid — angry and afraid. This was not the first incident regarding that small political sign. During the two previous weekends someone had thrown bags of dog “poop” at the sign. Were we under attack? Would these attacks escalate? When I first wrote about the dog incidents on our neighborhood online bulletin board I refused to identify which candidate’s sign was the target. It didn’t seem to matter as far as I was concerned. It was the behavior that bothered me. That kind of behavior from either side was inexcusable.

Feelings are running high in Greensboro, North Carolina:

Irving Park-area supporters of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan discovered Thursday their campaign yard signs had been vandalized. The signs had a circle drawn across them in red paint, with a slash through the middle.

(snip)

President Barack Obama’s supporters also have been the victims of vandalism, said Bess Lewis, who runs the Democratic Party’s election headquarters in Greensboro. She said the Obama sign in front of the party’s office was stolen.

She said her office has not been reporting the incidents to police.

“In Starmount, an Obama sign was removed from the stand, filled with dog feces and stuffed in their mailbox,” Lewis said. “We’ve had a lot of reports of stolen signs — reports of cars with bumper stickers that have been keyed or the stickers pulled off.”

Via Bob Cesca.

It’s a stickier wicket in San Jose.

And occasionally it contains something worth repeating.

Snow White, Superman and Pinocchio are walking along.

They see a sign: “Contest for World’s Most Beautiful Woman.” Snow White goes in, later comes out smiling, wearing a crown.

They walk along and see another sign: “Contest for World’s Strongest Man.” Superman goes in, later comes out smiling, wearing the belt.

They walk along and see a sign: “Contest for World’s Greatest Liar.” Pinocchio goes in and comes out later with his head down, crying.

“Who the hell is Mitt Romney?” Pinocchio sobs.