Maybe I take a dim view of Americans but I believe the liberal strategy to label the “Tea Party” or anyone on the right as “racist” will work.
And don’t tell me it’s not a strategy by the liberals to do exactly that because there’s way too much evidence for that.
Weasel Zippers reports:
Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean accused Fox News of promoting racism, including in the recent fracas over the Obama administration’s forced resignation of Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod.
“Let’s just be blunt about this … I think Fox News did something that was absolutely racist,” Dean charged on “Fox News Sunday.
The NAACP outlandishly claims that the Tea Party is racist.
For years anyone who wants the border secure has been labeled a racist. And you know what? It works. It works well. How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m not anti-immigrant but…” Once you start off that way everyone you’re talking to thinks you’re anti-immigrant. Think of Richard Nixon saying, “I’m not a crook.”
In the 80’s, liberals labeled Ronald Reagan a likable dunce and even in the days after his recent death you could see how that assumption colored the news reports on him. In the 90’s they labeled Newt Gingrich an uncaring ogre and it stuck. They labeled George W. Bush an idiot and it stuck. They labeled Trent Lott a racist with absolutely no evidence and he only added fuel to the fire by going on his “I’m not a racist” tour. Liberals labeled Palin a close minded fool and it stuck. Sure there’s plenty of people who love her but there’s no arguing that this view of Palin has permeated the mainstream. Andrew Breitbart is being labeled a racist now as the poster boy for the right wing.
Liberals control the media. Liberals control the government and its funding apparatus. And they will keep connecting the term “tea party” and “racist” so much until the two concepts until are fused in the public mind. If you were a legislator right now would you join the Tea Party caucus and open yourself to being questioned about racism every time some dunce says or does something stupid at a Tea Party rally or sends a racially insensitive email.
This kind of thing works. You know all those political attack ads that make outlandish charges with foreboding music in the background. Typically, if you scratch the surface behind many of the allegations they’re pretty weak. People actually laugh at them. There are hundreds of mock political attack ads on You Tube. They’re a punch line. But politicians continue to do them. Why? Because they work. They work well because many people don’t remember the details they just come away feeling icky about the candidate. That’s all they want and maybe a label or two like “Cheater” or “dumb” or “racist.”
Like it or not there are still millions of apathetic people who don’t do the research on these ads; they still watch and trust their nightly news or CNN. And after months of hearing that the Tea Party is racist from multiple sources they’ll believe it. They won’t be able to defend the assertion, they won’t even know why they think it but the fact is they’ll still think it. And they vote.
It doesn’t matter to the liberals that they’re hurting the country, it just matters that they get out the vote in the upcoming election and the way they get out the vote is by increasing the minority vote and convincing apathetic independents that the right wing is racist.
So call me cynical but I believe it will work. I don’t know if it’ll be enough to keep the Democrats in power but it’ll spare them a few seats so they’ll keep right on doing it.
The only thing that can stop this is alternative media. I have great hope for the blogosphere because mainstream media is shrinking. They’re still ginormous but they’re shrinking. We must reach the apathetic hordes with our blogs, by word of mouth, by talk radio. You never know how people will be reached. We must keep on trying because we know the liberals will.
July 26, 2010 at 2:43 am
But are the teabaggers really racist? The seems to be mostly white, but they are not wearing hoods. How racist can they be? The teabaggers aren't racist they are just good old boys and girls
July 26, 2010 at 3:15 am
I disagree. This is their last line of defense, the libs last resort since they don't have any facts to back up their false claims. More people are being awakened each day so I think that every time the MSM, libs, and liberal organizations cry wolf or cry racism falsely they lose more and more credibility each day.
July 26, 2010 at 3:20 am
The emergence of the Tea Party shows that the thinking public is waking up.
However as an indicator of the truth of your statements, Jimbo uses the term "teabaggers". That only gained popularity because of the MSM and it's willingness to identify a vulgar sexual practice with the ideological opponents of the liberals.
So the need for hard work to have our voice heard is clearly evident.
July 26, 2010 at 4:32 am
@Jimbo – by using the offensive term 'teabagger' you're standing on the same side as CNN and other prog/libs
you need to do a little bit more reading about the tea party folks and stop listening to CNN and the others
July 26, 2010 at 11:16 am
To paraphrase Dr. Johnson, "Accusing someone of racism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." It may work on the dopey, unthinking drones among us but it's obvious the "Tea Party" is something of a political force these days, thus the need by the pathetically juvenile Left to demonize it. Sticks and stones, remember.
July 26, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Whoa! Gee whiz! This is twice now I am seeing some OTHER "Jimbo" posting here. Only this impostor is….well I want to be charitable here so I will just say wrong. Those who've seen some of my comments before will easily know the difference.
I have written here before that that term is disgusting and offensive. It's also a way for the left to attempt to control the information flow and the argument.
It may be very juvenile, but it works. I may say, "I'm for responsible fiscal policy". If someone wants to discredit my argument, though, they can do it by having a better argument, or… they can just use character assassination. Since we are talking juveniles here… maybe they decide to start calling me oh, say, a "Poopie Face". Here's what happens next.
Matt Laurer asks me, "Tell us, Poopie Face…"
" – Excuse me, Matt but that's not my name…"
"So why do so many people call you Poopie Face, isn't it true that you may really BE a poopie face and that you have poopie face policies that support poopie faces everywhere? Are you SURE that is not your real name?"
Now the whole discussion is about something else. Racism is used in exactly the same way.
So the Left should be aware that when then say something that is not true or when the bend and exaggerate the truth in order to "shape the argument" they are liars. If you need to lie in order to win an argument, then there is something wrong with your position.
Unfortunately they believe in their own bull and they believe that it's OK to do "whatever it takes" to win, because they think they know what's best for all of us. That makes lying OK. The same psychotic thinking that brought us Hegel, Marx, Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao and so on.
July 26, 2010 at 11:01 pm
It may work on the dopey, unthinking drones among us
I think that was Matt's point – the dopey, unthinking drones outnumber the rest.
July 27, 2010 at 12:06 am
Except that they're not dopey, unthinking drones, they're people who simply still trust their news sources. Don't denigrate them, just help them to see that none of the news sources do a great job of delivering objective news.
Note, I don't say that they have to see things my way about specific issues. They just need to not live in a media bubble.
I don't trust any of the media, unless I'm seeing the exact quotes or the internals of a poll. Even then I reserve judgement, since there have been plenty of cases of judicial editing, and occasional polling errors (or outright manipulation…I always look at the samples and artificial weighting they apply).
July 28, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Total nonsense. Almost all of your examples of when it worked were slanders against an individual. If you don't know that individual you don't know if it is true or not so you the conventional wisdom has power to influence your opinion.
The slander against Tea Parties has not worked because a lot of people know someone who attends or believes in it and can make the judgement first hand.
Because of this the attempts to slander them have managed to damage the parties throwing the accusations and slander because it opens up peoples eyes. If they are wrong about this, how can I trust them regarding that or that?
July 28, 2010 at 3:58 pm
I attended a Tea Party rally. There were no racists there only God fearing, American loving people. Yes they were mostly older and white, but equal numbers in men and women. We know that politicians, liberals, media will lie to get their way. They have the podium to present info in ways to push their agenda. Alternative media is the answer. Traditional media is dying. I have hope that faithful people will see the truth and act.
July 29, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I must politely disagree.
Reagan was considered a dunce and Bush an idiot only by the liberals.
Bush has been treated as a minus habens for four years and has been relected with an impressive advantage over Kerry, actually bigger than Clinton's against Dole.
Liberals only influence liberals.