It’s pretty simple folks… If you don’t like the president or the country that much, Canada is to the North, Mexico to the South. If you can afford it, there are other nations not connected to the mainland. Hit the road Jack… and don’t cha come back no more no more no more no more!
I’m just wondering what it’s been like to be the Commander-in-Chief over the past week.
Obviously it takes a special person to be president of these United States. I’m reminded of Seth Meyers’ comments at the White House Correspondence dinner the other night when he talked about how Michelle Obama looks even better today than she did during inauguration; while the president was looking a bit aged. Said Meyers’ to The President, ‘If your hair gets any whiter the Tea Party is going to endorse it!”
With crazy gas prices, Gaddafi Gate, two wars, budget deficits and ‘birther’ bashing led by ‘The Donald’, President Obama has definitely been taking some lately. But like Sugar Ray Leonard in Leonard/Hearns 1, and Jordan in the 4th quarter of a pivotal playoff game, Obama put some work in that dazzled supporters and critics alike! He proved once again that in the world of politics, sometimes it only takes a little to turn shit into sugar. Just a few days revised this President’s potential legacy from pre-lame duck to WFT just happened.
Let’s start from the beginning.
Thursday April 29, 2011:
Obama releases long form birth certificate:
Though I was initially conflicted by this decision, I can’t help but believe that the ends justify the means. While most Americans understood that the birther movement was a ridiculous play on race, and that Donald Trump was behaving like an idiot, some gullible yet well meaning citizens may have started to believe it was an issue. The rules of basic propaganda are that if one repeats a lie long enough many will take it for truth. The media gave coverage as if it were possibly legitimate. And so as to not allow it to continue to be a distraction the administration put it to rest – thus shutting the mouths of birthers for good. Now the question of citizenship and conspiracy of his mother in 1961 (I know it sounds ridiculous doesn’t it) are permanently put to rest.
The Obamas visit Tuscaloosa:
Unlike the previous presidential initial reaction to Katrina, Obama got to Alabama pretty quickly after one of the most devastating tornados in our nation’s history. The Midwest has experienced tornados, storms and lots of flooding. Unfortunately this is not new to us. But what has happened in The South last week is on another level. When I saw the footage of the tornado that hit Alabama, it seemed as if it were actually alive as it reeked what seemed like intentional angry destruction. It’s expected that federal dollars will be given to aid with the rebuilding of these devastated communities. But having The President’s presence there so quickly was encouraging to many. He showed himself to be in touch with the suffering of his citizens.
April 30, 2011: Obama roast Trump at Correspondence Dinner:
I can’t get over the timing of this event. ‘The Donald’ was brashly on television trying to perpetrate a fraud with this certificate thing. He even threw in some racial basketball and affirmative action shots to boot to question the president’s intelligence. Unfortunately on a typical day, the president can’t just respond to some reality TV hack whose major decisions have to do with evaluating the job performances of Little John, Hulk Hogan and Gary Busey. But on this once yearly occasion the president is free to get off on anyone he chooses, and still remain presidential. And as long as it’s funny it rocks. The fact that Trump was arrogant enough to show up and get some of that in person was classic. The President straight got in him unapologetically. And the truthfulness of his remarks made it even more hilarious. I thought of Sergeant Waters’ comment on “A Soldier’s Story” to Peterson after Peterson smarted off at him in the barracks. “Peterson! I ain’t forgot cha boy. I’m going outside and wait for you geechie! And when you come out, I’m gonna whoop yo Black White Southern Ass. Let the whole company watch too! You need to learn respect for these stripes!” Needless to say, Obama beat that ass … in front of the whole company of the same people Trump previously spouted off in front of, the press.
On top of that he got it from Seth Meyers too!
Is this karma at the utmost or what? And while I doubt that it was purposely timed to cut The Donald’s balls in the ratings department, I do know it to be ironic at least. Even with all of the information and misinformation coming to the forefront regarding details of the actual mission, one thing is for sure; The administration was able to keep this operation completely under wraps with no leaks whatsoever as to what was going on.
And to think that in the final days of the mission the president in addition to doing all of the things mentioned earlier, also had time to stop in to film an episode with Oprah as her last guest of her 25th and final season. So for all the smack The Donald and his birther friends talked during the last few weeks/months, the way Americans see it now, the president was indeed doing more than playing basketball.
As was it just me or did anybody else noticed how he just sashayed down the walkway of the podium with the swagger straight from Chicago’s South Side to announce Bin Laden’s death?
The only thing left for Obama was to quote Shaquille O’Neal: “Hey Kobe Donald, tell me how my ass taste!”
Finally as we hear from the right some of the cowardly remarks trying to give much of the credit to former President Bush: While this is certainly no middle finger towards the former president, I do have to say is this. The Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl. Aaron Rodgers was the MVP. You can try to give it to Brett Favre if you want to but that dog just won’t hunt. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove; none of them dudes have been in on the action for years now. And while they were hopelessly looking in caves, Obama and his leadership team caught Bin Laden sleeping in a luxury compound.
Since 9-11 this most notorious terrorist could have been named Osama Bin Missing. And politics aside, The Obama administration didn’t have to roll with Mission Accomplished, or fake stories like Jessica Lynch or that criminal fakery that happened with Pat Tillman to rally Americans. With no intent to deceive the American people the results now speak for themselves. The president had his hands on this entire operation for the last several months. And if he were wrong it would surely have cemented his legacy as a massive failure. As it stands now, he will forever go down in history as the president that took out the mastermind of the worst terrorist event in the history of our nation. Game, set match!
In the wake of the tragic and cowardly shooting that took place in Arizona over the weekend, it didn’t take long for many conservatives to begin the quick process of separating themselves from any and all possible contributions of motivating this heinous crime.
One of my conservative Facebook friends posted this hours after the shooting:
Here’s a wild and wacky idea – instead of linking the tragedy in Arizona to the Right or Left and trying to score political points off of it, why don’t we have a little sympathy for the victims and hope they fry the psychopath who did this?
I get what he was trying to say. Media can be quick to make connections and jump to conclusions when it comes to sensationalizing a story like this one.
In fairness however, there has been some pretty tough talk and violent rhetoric in recent years from certain segments of the population. I can recall in the last presidential election from many McCain/Palin campaign outings where several supporters would shout rants like, “Off with his head!” when it came to then Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama. I remember that initially team McCain/Palin and their handlers as well as many right-wing pundits dismissed these types of comments as being harmless.
Personally, I felt that while the Republican candidates didn’t literally desire to see harm come to then Senator Obama (some may find that debatable) at the very least the Republicans understood very well that a large portion of their energized voter base were extreme right wingers who held their guns, confederate flags, and racism as close to their hearts as they did their bibles. They didn’t want to turn off that block by confronting them. Eventually McCain had to make some concessions after his poll numbers begin to drop due to these radicals.
Since the new President got into office, the rhetoric has continued, except there has also been some action behind it. To give a few examples:
Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina was also threatened. Imagine that, supporting a health-care bill can get one killed!
In addition in months past, Rep. John Lewis and Emmanuel Clever were called niggers and Rep Barney Frank a faggot.
Some white supremacist fool even shot a security guard at the Holocaust Museum.
A questions being asked now, is whether rhetoric via talking heads and even some of the politicians themselves are contributing to the shootings. Most who believe so don’t mean it in some literal sense as if someone like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin pulled the trigger themselves or hypnotized the murder into committing these heinous acts. Rather an understanding that with the desperation that comes with hard economic times bring about the tendency of needing someone to blame.
Advertisers know in marketing their products successfully, one common theme is finding the right endorser. This helps the product to generate a following. This is why Gatorade and American Express hired Tiger Woods years ago. The thinking is they can pay him $100 million dollars to represent the merchandise because just by his name being attached to it, Americans and beyond would purchase the product – not because it’s a superior product, but because Tiger at least says he drinks it. We know this and yet psychologically we fall for it anyway. Not all the time, but enough to make a killing. (no pun intended)
In the months leading to the 2008 Presidential elections, I often listened to black radio. DJs such as Tom Joyner and Michael Baisden used their influence with listeners to promote voter registration. They went on and on everyday as to why this election was so important after 8 years of George W Bush. As a result, many who normally would not have bothered to take an intense interest in the election did so with anticipation and excitement. The minority vote was epic, as was the vote of the youth. The combination changed the results of the election.
Of course the right has always had their talking heads too. According to Bernard Goldberg, Rush Limbaugh makes a cool $33 million a year to galvanize his listeners. So the evidence is there to suggest that there are varying voices regardless of the rhetoric that Americans find influential. Of course the same could be said about politicians themselves.
With this as a backdrop, I noticed soon after the Tucson shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and 17 others (6 fatally) including a small child and a federal judge, there were many connections being made to the suspect perhaps being influence by the rhetoric via radio, television or political figures like Sarah Palin. Equally true was that many conservatives made a point to distance themselves as far away from shooter Jared Loughner. This was the epitaph of my Facebook friend mentioned at the beginning. My personal feelings on the matter cause me to take a broader approach that I started by mentioning the radio personalities and product sponsors. I think the best way to view this intelligently is to take a look at ‘like’ circumstances and gauge reactions to similarities based on deductive reasoning and hard-core facts. From that I come up with a list of questions to ask so that you can reflect based on your knowledge and experience of being an American.
1) Do we have military men as well as FBI monitoring websites of hate mongers, religious zealots, and most definitely Muslim extremist? Does the government and it’s citizens believe it’s worth monitoring?
2) Were groups like the Black Panthers targeted by the FBI because of both their rhetoric and arsenal of weapons in times past?
3) If for example, Nation Of Islam Leader Minister Louis Farrakhan used something similar to Sarah Palin’s cross hairs map to target a section of someone’s district politically saying we need to target and ‘get rid’ of that person, and some black guy named Abdullah X shot a public servant in point-blank range along with a group of people similar to what Loughner did, would the Minister be able to separate himself as easily as you see Palin, Beck, and Limbaugh doing now? Would it sit right with you as the Minister explains that Abdullah committed this dastardly wicked deed of his own volition, and was never involved with The Nation at all? Or would you be comfortable with the FBI tearing through the offices of Farrakhan ripping every single computer to look for further possible threats, to destroy his organization.
I believe most readers who answer truthfully know the answers to these questions. With that being said, regardless of what Loughner’s motivation stemmed from in all of it’s destructive glory and varying degrees, the ability for many Caucasians on the right to smoothly separate themselves from these criminals is quite astounding to me; Impressive really. From Abraham Lincoln, to the Kennedys, MLK, and so on, the story of the lone and weird spaced out anti-social vagabond gunman is one that never seems to get old does it? It’s as if saying those very words instantly sanitizes them from the mere thought of consideration.
‘Oh no! No responsibility on MY part! I didn’t kill those people! I don’t subscribe to such vicious violence! Why I never! This is obviously a sick individual who perhaps needed help but certainly couldn’t possibly be spurned on by anything I said.”
I think our culture, our advertising and marketing departments, the hundred of millions of dollars being spent on campaign adds, say something else.
What it says is at the very least, as a nation we cannot continue to throw rocks, hide our hands, and then act with a pompous holy shame when the results of those words, those signs and pictures, the seeds that are being planted come back with strange fruit hanging on the vines. It is simply idiotic to suggest that people want to be leaders, have listeners, gain an audience, carry a local or national message to the hearers, win support, and take credit for such when an election is won but not when a fool goes off and does something reprehensible.
Regardless of the true motivations of one individual, it’s time that we start to re-think and carefully consider what kind of nation we are allowing ourselves to be. And by all means don’t be surprised if we stay on this course when the future brings more of the same. This denial and self protective attitude of embraced ignorance is long past its prime.
Is that lesson ready to be learned by those in denial of this? I doubt it. I just saw an article that Rep. Joe Wilson’s words,‘You lie,” that infamous unprecedented disrespect against President Obama statement is now being engraved on….wait for it….. the AR-15 assault rifle. Oh yea they are only printing a certain amount so that they can be a ‘collectors item’. Folks, that is as subtle as an assault rifles bullet being shot straight at our leader and anyone who supports him. I mean, really? “You lie,” engraved on an assault weapon? And what segment of the population do you think they are targeting for this beast of a weapon? And again I ask what would the nation say if Muslims were engraving AK-47s with the words “Mission Accomplished”, “Jihad!” or “White Devil?”
Take in the brevity of this. The engravings for the AR-15 is not the target of some guy from around the block. We are talking about the current President of these United States of America! Good old fashioned home-grown terrorism right within our midst. Unfortunately many conservatives thinks that’s OK. And yet… they stand poised and ready to distance themselves from the next shooter.
Of course his punk ass ain’t goin nowhere! All talk!!!!!!!!
By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Mar 23rd 2010 9:44AM
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh gave America reason for hope recently, when he made a public pledge to move to Costa Rica if health care reform were to pass through Congress. In a move that pleased many of those who would like for Limbaugh to return to the rock from which he came, Limbaugh promised that if Obamacare were implemented, he would make the big move to the country whose health care system he respects:”If this passes, and it’s five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented — I am leaving the country. I’ll go to Costa Rica.”
What’s most ironic about Limbaugh’s pledge is not just the fact that millions of Americans would love to see Limbaugh leave the country, but that Costa Rica has a far more socialized health care system than we have here in the United States. Not only does the country provide universal health care coverage for its citizens, but the country has a strong public option. The system also works quite well, as Costa Rica has a life expectancy second to only Canada in the Western Hemisphere. The country’s health program was rated “excellent” by a study in the American Journal of Public Health.
So, Limbaugh inadvertently did his liberal enemies a huge favor by drawing attention to the country whose socialist health care system he admires. Limbaugh, one of the right wing talking heads who constantly rants about Obama’s alleged socialist plot to take over the world, has (surprise) put his foot in his mouth.
Of course, once health care reform passed through the House of Representatives, Limbaugh started back pedaling. If it seems as though he’s being a hypocrite for running away from his previous pledge, the answer is “yes.” Limbaugh, the man who once argued that drug addicts should go to prison, is himself a recovering drug addict. But Limbaugh fully understands that he is a clown-like public figure only meant for entertainment. It is our fault for actually taking him seriously.
This incident also points out one other important truth about Limbaugh that the world has yet to fully realize: The man is not very smart. He is uneducated (well, he did get his high school diploma), and a terrible person to be in a position of influence within American politics. His public smack down of black Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele reiterates the fundamental disrespect that he has for black people as well. I jokingly refer to Limbaugh as part of my “Axis of Ignorance,” including himself, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly. When these three men are off the air, that will be a huge step toward living in a truly post-racial America. Their very existence as prominent media figures is a manifestation of the fact that we’ve got a long way to go.
I don’t have much of an opinion on whether Rush Limbaugh owns the Rams or any other NFL team. It’s a free country and certainly there are racist owners in all of professional sports. (See Donald Sterling) And could he be worse as an owner than say, Al Davis?
What this does tell me though that Dave Checketts’ trial balloon of Limbaugh as a partner didn’t fly like as hoped. And it also tells me that though Limbaugh has amassed wealth in the hundreds of millions of dollars by being a pariah and a hate mongerer, this is drawback that even his money couldn’t buy him out of. At least not yet. This is the price, or at least a side effect of the hate medicine he has sold for his life’s work.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree with Stephen A. Smith who don’t believe many African-American NFL players would turn down money to play for an unapologetic demagogue like Limbaugh. Lord knows most of them don’t stand for anything but the game they play and the money they make from it. I’m just saying I won’t cry tears or carry water for Rush in order to be politically correct or in some attempt to be more fair to him than he is to people who look like me. Oh no. I won’t get on that wagon. If it happens it happens. But I truly IDGAF about Rush’s rights to buy an NFL team.
I like Ed Rollins because he always keeps it real regardless of political affiliations. Which is why I have to give it to him for his praise of President Obama in handling the Somali pirate crisis and saving the life of a ship’s captain.
Where the hell are Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the likes on this matter? I can’t hear them at all. I’m certain they would rather things gone awry regardless of the captain’s ultimate fate since it would give them fodder to spill their hate filled rage against the man.
Instead of the praise they should offer as Americans… all we have is silence!
Canidate #1 Michael Steele
This guy is so confused… almost as confused as the Republican Party. Steele is confused in that he doesn’t get that he is a tool for the party. He is not to express an honest opinion or come up with any innovative ideas. Most of the time he stuck to the party line; especially during the presidential election. He attacked President to be Obama at every opportunity afforded him. He was utterly ridiculous on the Bill Mahr show. Which again is fitting of what they want from him. This is why he was granted a chance to be GOP figure head. They trusted him to keep their ideas and hero’s in tact… coupled with the black face for the “Obama” effect. The party wants to have a “look”of diversity. But that is only to draw more black votes. But the flip side of it is that they are so hardened from the past 16 years of momentum from Clinton hating and Bush loving years that they can’t shake themselves hard enough to modify any of the hard core ideologies.
One only needs to see how some of these governors are refusing the 2% portion of the stimulus package that deal with extending unemployment benefits. They are not enraged at CEOs taking billions, but damn those poor Americans who are losing jobs can’t get a cent extra of unemployment if they can’t get a job quick enough.
But I digress. Steele learned once again that he had to get back into his place as he incurred the wrath of the real head of the Republican Party Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh, the racist evangelical hate mongering drug abusing obese last bastion of white supremacy talking radio head has been making noise most notably post election. He spoke at a venue over the weekend, and when Steele was questioned by D.L. Hugely about Limbaugh, said in so many words that Rush is an “entertainer” and also that his anti-Obama rhetoric was “incendiary” and “ugly.” Some of us raised an eyebrow by these sentiments. “Go ahead, “Man of Steele” break it down.” But that was short lived.
After Limbaugh let Steele know that that the house he lives in with the republican party is not his, and that he could easily be put back into the fields Steele backed up quicker than Billy Graham resigned as Presidential Pastor after the election and actually called Rush to apologize for offending massa. This was his public statement:
In the immortal words of Lil John… “WHAT?” Those statements are not an interpretation, they are a cowardly retreat! Rush and his supporters, “the real brain and energy of the GOP” gangstered your ass into your proper place… which is to carry their water!
My message to Mr. Steele is this… “Man if you’re going to carry the water, carry the damn water. Stop trying to placate to the black community and act like you are down or something. It’s bad enough you don’t know what a job is and most every time you get on TV you make a fool of yourself. We don’t want you and are not impressed with your position. All of this talk of inclusiveness and hip hop are Ludacris ludicrous! You picked a side so just stay there. And try having a candid conversation with J. C. Watts and he will tell you that to be a conservative is one thing… a perfectly acceptable brand of politics to hold to. But the conservative views of your party are seeped in a muck of racism, classism, hatred, and a totally un-American un-inclusive set of ideologies. Watts knows this first hand by how he was treated and that is why he no longer holds office. Until you can man up and deal with that squarely, we have neither the time nor tolerance to consider you seriously. ”
By the way… Rush just called. He needs a shine. “So get your shine box!”
Where “House” Field Negro’s Dare Venture
Fellow blogger C-Haze 77 broke it down when she spoke about the way GOP hardliners have thrown esteemed military general, former National Security Advisor, former General of the Joints Chief of Staff, former Secretary of State, clean under the bus for his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama. I saw this coming when I heard rumblings of this possible choice the last few weeks. One one hand, if he were to choose McCain, they would have said, “This great American, Statesman, Soldier of Soldiers, men of men who worked for the beloved Ronald Wilson Reagan, Bush Sr. and W, supports another soldier in Senator McCain.” They would have used his juice to further their agenda. But if he went with Obama, then they would say in effect its just a nigga voting for another nigga.
This is the epitome of certain republicans and right wing hardliners to use race when it’s convenient for them, but always accuse people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton of using race anytime they point out racial injustices. Mind you now none of them have said a word about people calling for Senator Obama’s head, these Obama bucks that came out recently, or all the other race baiting Obama/Osama bullshit correlations. But they are calling Powell a racist? Certainly he cannot have a set of well thought out reasons for supporting Obama right? Hmm, lets see… read the transcript here.
Personally I have admired and critiqued Gen. Powell, and questioned his judgment in some critical areas. I think he made some mistakes along the way with the topper being that false report he gave to the UN concerning Iraq. Clearly he had enough of carrying the water for the war hawks and thus he stepped down after not being welcome any longer. They used his credibility initially to sell the war, then promptly gave him the boot to the join the rest of the Field Negros.
Obviously Powell still has juice. If he didn’t Tom Brokaw would not have had him on Meet The Press with less than three weeks before the election. And believe me the GOP wanted that endorsement.
I wonder what Secretary of State Rice thinks of all this? I wonder if she will speak out against the way her friend and longtime colleague is being treated by the people she has worked so hard for. I wonder if she understands that if she were to “step out of line” they would make her out to be some dumb black Aunt Jemimah… that these people have no love for her either. I’m not saying an African-American cannot be a republican. Lord knows that the Democrats are seldom our friends unless they need our votes. Most black folks are personally conservative and socially liberal anyway. We need representation in every influential political party. I am saying that if people Rice, Lynn Swann, Michael Steele as well as people likerepublican strategist Tara Wall don’t privately and publically call them out on this… they are just as guilty as those promoting the racism against their own people.
BB&Gcmac's Weblog 