Image from From the Wilderness
Map from Electoral-Vote.com
Last October, long before Barack Obama's Presidential win was a sure thing, I wrote a post predicting the
down side of such a win. I got a lot right. But there was something I didn't count on. I knew that the right-wing, and their supporters on talk radio and FOX "News" would be picking apart every tiny thing the new President would do. Here's where I got it wrong, though.
Back when Bill Clinton was President, it seemed as though the talking heads and the think tanks were setting the agenda, doing the digging and coming up with the talking points. The base conservatives--from merely staunch partisans to the wing nut fringe--provided the support, and spread the word.
This time around, it is the wing nut fringe doing the heavy lifting, and it is they who are getting support from the talking heads and, yes, FOX "News."
Even the most skilled prognosticator--and I do not claim to be one--couldn't have predicted the nuttiness that would ensue. We've got
several groups of separate but overlapping groups of nutters: birthers, deathers, tenthers, tea baggers, town hallies. . .there seems to be no end to it. It doesn't matter how kooky or debunked the theory, it just keeps coming, full steam ahead. Surprisingly, Congressmen, Senators, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, et. al are pushing almost all of it. I can only hope that when President Obama says he will "call them out" on their falsehoods, he means it. And I wonder what took him so long?
[Excerpts from Original Post, October 4, 2008]Democrats, Don't Forget the Downside to an Obama Win. . .So, while we can't be sure, the odds are that Obama will win. What we need to keep in mind, should this happen, is that Republicans and conservatives are not going to take that well. And that's putting it mildly. It will make the sour grapes attitude of the PUMAs look like a 5-year-old's temper tantrum.Remember how Republicans acted during the Clinton administration? Every nit was picked, everything was blown up into a scandal, no matter how frivolous or stupid. Millions of dollars were spent on investigations that proved nothing. Right-wing think tanks worked with right-wing media and politicians to impeach Bill Clinton, for anything they could. It was an impeachment in search of a reason. Unfortunately, Clinton walked right into the trap, and what a stupid trap it was.But that may have been just a preview of what Obama might have to deal with. The right had power for 12 uninterrupted years before Clinton, but they hadn't tasted real power yet. . .So, if Obama wins, this team of "win at all costs" partisans will have nothing to do, except pick apart the Obama Administration. And pick they will. Every. Little. Thing. You think you're tired of the blowholes like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly now? They will be in full-on attack mode.
The irony of course is that George W. Bush and his administration is guilty of so much, in many cases actual crimes. And that list of people above, in addition to the right-wing blogs, have excused it all. There is very little Obama could do that would even approach the shenanigans of Bush, and yet they will act like it is the worst thing a President has ever done, whatever it is.So, be aware, liberals, progressives and Democrats. Be prepared to fight. Be prepared to rebut the inevitable inanity. If Obama wins on November 4, we will breathe an ecstatic sigh of relief. In fact, I think the emotion is going to be so strong, it will be hard to name (with the opposite being true with a loss). But the honeymoon is bound to be short. I wouldn't be surprised--again with an Obama win--if the conservatives went to work on November 5, and worked right up to inauguration day to start the slime from day 1. . .OK, so I might not be Miss Cleo, but I got it pretty much right.
