Pulling back the curtain on the Republican fantasy machine….
CBS News: On Tuesday night, 15-year-old Victoria Blackstone, a sophomore at the St. Agnes School in St. Paul, led the crowd at the Xcel Energy Center in the Pledge of Allegiance. The audience heard her 434-word essay, “Pledging myself to the Flag of the United States of America  The RNC turned that essay into a three and a half minute video, a visually stirring montage rolling over Victoria’s words about sharing the Pledge with Americans who have stood at important moments in history.
It was a video that was supposed to elicit soaring patriotism and real emotions about the Pledge of Allegiance. But to do that, it used fake soldiers and a staged military funeral instead of the real thing…
DailyKos: Apparently, the Republicans couldn’t find very many African American supporters to show on the Big Screen Of Triumph, when introducing McCain… so they simply put up stock photos of black people. You know, riding bicycles and appreciating their moms and stuff…
At Drinking Liberally last night, we counted to 12, the total number of non white people spotted at the RNC during McCain’s speech, out of about 20,000 attendees. Guess that explains the need for stock photos. At least they didn’t, to our reckoning, pepper the XCel Center with cardboard cutouts.
Remember that weird image of a large building on a green lawn that briefly flashed behind McCain last night? TPM reports: “It has been brought to the school’s attention that a picture of the front of our school, Walter Reed Middle School, was used as a backdrop at the Republican National Convention. Permission to use the front of our school for the Republican National Convention was not given by our school nor is the use of our school’s picture an endorsement of any political party or view”, declares principal Donna Tobin.
TPM continues: The California Democratic Party is actually holding a press conference in front of the school… where Dems will hit McCain for not knowing the difference between the school and Walter Reed Medical Center, which is believed to be the backdrop the McCain campaign really wanted.
These people used to be very good at this sort of thing. Are they getting sloppy, or are we getting smarter? Or do they think nobody will notice anyway?
UPDATE: More pulling back the curtain – Rachel Maddow, uses the “L” word, at long last. I cannot tell you how long I’ve been waiting for someone, anyone, in the media to tell it like it is.
I’m sorry but after listening to the history galloping voice over in that film, the first thing I thought of was Forrest Gump.
I read this blog nearly every day, even if I’ve never posted before.
Accordiing to this strip on one of my favorite political web comic blogs, “Socks and Barney”, the number of African-American delegates at the convention was…36. I don’t know if that counts former Md. Lieutenat Govenor Michael Steele. I didn’t vote for him and I felt bad for him when he was TV the other day talking about the low turnout of African-American delegates. What’s a fiscal conservative African-American to do?
These people used to be very good at this sort of thing. Are they getting sloppy, or are we getting smarter?
It’s the internet. Now it is more difficult to pull the wool over people’s eyes because there are so many eyes out there watching. Although, I have to say..for me personally, I haven’t gotten smarter, but I have become wiser thanks to blogs like Maha’s that have taught me how to identify the elements of political deception. Back in 2001 I wasn’t familiar with terms like echo chamber, strawmen, plausable deniablity, dogwhistles, and a host of other little tricks designed to dull my reasoning abilities and deprive me of participation in responsible citizenship.
The GOP does really seem to be phoning it in, like their heart isn’t really in it. No wonder, McCain’s only hope is to convince us that he, and by extension the party, doesn’t believe and never really wanted, to do all the things the movers in the party believe and really want. The real smart ones are waiting for the next round, and have left the ‘B’ team to run McCain’s campaign.
The truth can be seen in the different responses to Sarah Palin and John McCain. Sure, Sarah is a better speaker, but she is also WAY more to the tastes of the GOP than McCain. And no one in the party is going to break a sweat to help him dis’ the Bush years.
What I don’t get is why they’d show a pic of ANY Walter Reed place. It isn’t like it’s a symbol of GOP success, or associated with McCain’s ‘maverick’ identity. Even if it were the right one, how would that enhance his speech, particularly when he called a protesting veteran “ground noise” as he was being dragged out of the hall?
Sometimes I just don’t follow the way they think at all. It’s like some kind of brain damage, or something.
Mel #2, thanks for the revised count. Our count of 12 – such as it was – included at least one Asian. There was some debate about whether to include a Jew we saw wearing a yarmulke, however the Jew sitting next to me – who was betting we could not get to 10 – wouldn’t allow it.
I’ll generalize your question – what’s a fiscally conservative American to do? – my view is that the Republican party abandoned fiscal sanity a long time ago. It’s a weird reversal, because I’m old enough to remember the “tax and spend” tag that was stuck to Democrats decades ago. The current Republican philosophy of cutting taxes and running up monumental, off-the-chart deficits is insane.
Moonbat,
The obvious answer is not many will notice.
I think very few ‘average’ voters could name more than one supreme court justice.
I seem to recall that someone on NPR said minority representation, shich is always low, is even lower this year, in the 1% range.
The RNC also didn’t bother to get permission to use the music either.
Getting sloppy,getting smarter, nobody will notice? A little of all I think. I also agree with biggerbox. I believe this is a dry run, so to speak, for Palin. This is the new darling of the radical religious right wing. If McCain loses, they don’t really care. They will put her up next time. If he wins, they figure he will either not finish his term or not run again. Either way, it will be all hers.
Sandra I find that thought entirely depressing. How did this happen? Who are these people? Why have they lost the capacity for independent critical thought? Who doesn’t know more than one of the Justice’s names? (OK, I’m on the spot without looking at Google: Roberts, Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer – I can do 6) The people I associate with are intelligent enough to know whats going on. Who wants to be ignorant? I can’t understand this.
Moonbat, I remember in the 80’s when the Reagan repubs first started that “tax and spend” meme. I was always confused as to what the gov’t is supposed to do with taxes other than spend them to run the country. I guess they shouild have put all the tax money into a plie and look at it and go “that’s a lot of money.” Or play craps with it in the free market or some other dumb idea.
Sandra, I think you’re wrong. I think their excitement is forced, and that when they lose, they’ll be grateful they burned out a nobody.
If she was the rising star they’re portraying her as, she wouldn’t be hidden from the press, or the rest of the public.
Theocracy, he we come!
#11 I think she is practicing her press responses and the party pitch lines and will see the press when the party thinks she is ready.
She has to have something distracting to say when the press plays her convention speech and reminds her of each lie.
btw I heard this morning it was Bush’s speech writer that wrote her speech.
Trust me she is the darling of the radical right. You might have noticed I live in Texas. I am surrounded by these people and I am stuck in the middle. I can’t put out a yard sign, I can’t discuss politics with my neighbors, I don’t live in the country where I was born. I have one itty,bitty bumper sticker on my car that says “Had enough Vote Democratic”. My son told me I was taking a chance with that, and I honestly am afraid he is right. This election may be everything. She scares me.