Benghazi Will Screw Obama, Which He Deserves

[SlowwHand]

She might as well blow off presidential aspirations, too. I didn't hate her. Now, well, now I don't care for her.

[Sava]

Additional information:

They key difference between the two camps is that Democrats shout down the truthers for being retarded. Republicans encourage the birther movement.

[kentonio]

Personally I don't think that the overall culture of unpatriotic strife is race-related, at least not primarily.

The seeds were sown in the party as far back as the Southern Strategy and have repeatedly risen their ugly heads ever since. They deliberately sought out the racists, they got the racists and they've done very little since to get rid of the racists. Society has moved on since sure, but those old poisonous elements are still there because they constitute a voting block the party doesn't want to sacrifice.

Could the endless hate towards Obama just be purely based on a democratic president coming into office? Well let's consider that for a second, Obama followed eight years of Bush, a President that wasn't much loved by either side, and despite McCain being popular, by the end of that campaign he wasn't exactly a shining banner for Republicanism. So why this very deep and very open hate towards the president from absolutely day one?

He's a centre right politician who spent a ton of his political capital trying to compromise with the Republican party (and lost an awful lot of friends on his own side doing it) to the point of abject weakness. He brought in a healthcare plan which is straight out of Republican idealism, he supported the troops, killed OBL, helped topple Ghaddafi, maintained (and expanded in some cases) the strong US domestic security policies. In many ways Obama could have been a Republican from a decade ago and you'd barely have told the difference.

Yet they hate him. They don't just dislike or mistrust or disagree with him, they hate him. They hate him so much that the very idea of him being American is too much to damn well stomach for them. A party that screamed about respecting the office now talks about the President in the same condescending sneering tones that southerners used to use towards every black person. Every damn racial code word from the south's past has reared it's head again in this presidency and yet we're told 'Oh no, we're not racist!'. The Tea Party wave banners with the president made to look like a monkey and we're told 'Oh no, we're not racist! You're racist for thinking we are!'. A southern congressman shouts 'You lie!' directly at the President in congress and a governor says she 'felt a little bit threatened' the President (terrifying as erudite Harvard Law graduates obviously are to a career politician) but no no no there's definitely no racist overtones to any of this.

Seriously, how many times are an openly racist party going to have to be openly racist before people stop just taking their word for it that they're ok? As for DD, I'll always keep the door open that he might just be have been drinking the party Koolaid on Obama, but defending racists is not exactly a huge improvement over just being a racist yourself anyway. In some ways it's worse, because it provides it with legitimacy.

[Elok]

No, it's not racism, FFS. It's just our increasingly moronic and feudal-minded political theater. We'd treat President Hillary far worse, if only because of her historical baggage.

[kentonio]

No, it's not racism, FFS. It's just our increasingly moronic and feudal-minded political theater. We'd treat President Hillary far worse, if only because of her historical baggage.

Oh give me a break, I'm really tired of this attitude of 'foreigners just don't understand our American ways'. I've been following US politics for decades, and while the undercurrents of racism have always been there (in both parties let's be honest) they have literally exploded in the Republican party in recent years. 9/11 provided the opening for racists to start spewing their hate publicly again with Muslims providing an easy target, and the election of Obama gave them the platform to expand on that.

You can all sit there and deny it's happening and it'll just get worse and worse, or you can face up to it and actually deal with it. Go read what a lot of prominent black writers have to say about this supposedly non-existent racism that's pervading American society recently, and then come back and tell me we're just making it up.

[Hauldren Collider]

Kentonio, it really ****ing isn't racism. I promise you it's not racism. If he were a black republican they'd be all over him. By the way, if you want to see really serious racism, you should see how black republicans get treated by the media.

And yeah, kentonio, you really don't understand US politics.

[Elok]

Who said anything about foreigners in general? You're the only one going on about this ATM. Anyway, I freely admit I don't understand UK politics--largely because I don't bother to follow it--but even if I did, I wouldn't be silly enough to make sweeping conclusions about Labour being, say, secret communist infiltrators while people across the Brit political spectrum told me I was talking nonsense.

Also, a lot of "prominent black writers" earn their bread and butter by looking for things to be offended by and raising hell with them. Just like prominent gay writers, prominent Jewish writers, prominent Christian writers, prominent female writers...if you didn't know that's how we roll over here (I'd be astonished if it were different over there), you really don't know how we work at all.

[kentonio]

Kentonio, it really ****ing isn't racism. I promise you it's not racism.

Cool, I guess all those people who lived through the civil right movement and who are now openly raising their concerns can just relax and go back to bed. Thanks for clearing that up.

If he were a black republican they'd be all over him. By the way, if you want to see really serious racism, you should see how black republicans get treated by the media.

Jesus christ, I do see how black Republicans are treated by the damn media, and the idea that people like Herman Cain and Allan West are lambasted because of racism is damn stupid. They are attacked by the media because they are morons who regularly spout completely nonsensical babble. There's a reason why the likes of Condi Rice and Colin Powell get's treated with a huge amount more respect.

And yeah, kentonio, you really don't understand US politics.

That must be why I accurately predicted the outcome of the last election with the exception of a single state (which I had said I was being optimistic about). How did you do?

[Elok]

P.S. Ignorant hatred of Muslims has been pretty bipartisan, TBH. The direction of the hysteria-defensiveness vector depends on the political situation. That Dubai Ports nonsense was cheered on by Dems, for example, because it plainly annoyed the Republican administration.

[kentonio]

P.S. Ignorant hatred of Muslims has been pretty bipartisan, TBH. The direction of the hysteria-defensiveness vector depends on the political situation. That Dubai Ports nonsense was cheered on by Dems, for example, because it plainly annoyed the Republican administration.

Absolutely, as I said above racism certainly isn't confined to just the Republicans. The Southern Strategy ensured though that the Republicans have far more than their fair share.

[kentonio]

Who said anything about foreigners in general? You're the only one going on about this ATM. Anyway, I freely admit I don't understand UK politics--largely because I don't bother to follow it--but even if I did, I wouldn't be silly enough to make sweeping conclusions about Labour being, say, secret communist infiltrators while people across the Brit political spectrum told me I was talking nonsense.

Sure, let's go for the reductio ad absurdum. It's not like you just spent several centuries oppressing an entire race of people, who didn't even achieve full civil rights until barely half a century ago. It's also clearly not like you still have huge and transparent race problems throughout your major cities and a vast income and wealth disparity.

Also, a lot of "prominent black writers" earn their bread and butter by looking for things to be offended by and raising hell with them. Just like prominent gay writers, prominent Jewish writers, prominent Christian writers, prominent female writers...if you didn't know that's how we roll over here (I'd be astonished if it were different over there), you really don't know how we work at all.

Oh you did not just go there..

[kentonio]

DP

[Colon™]

Bush the younger got accused for orchestrating 911 and installing a fascist regime. I don't think the **** Obama is receiving is any worse. USicans need to turn down the hysteria all around.

[DaShi]

Obama is Bush's fault!

[kentonio]

Bush the younger got accused for orchestrating 911 and installing a fascist regime. I don't think the **** Obama is receiving is any worse. USicans need to turn down the hysteria all around.

It took Bush 2 major wars, a ****load of lying about WMDs, the introduction of abduction and torture policies, the near destruction of Americas international reputation, the devastation of the US economy and an appallingly bad response to modern Americas worst natural disaster to earn that hate. Obama earned it by being elected.