|
No Rest For the Weary
By David Glenn Cox
In quiet, muted tones they spoke; with split screens and double split screens they poured out information in a thinly veiled attempt to mute the message. Britt Hume looked over his glasses and down his nose and spoke to Faux America like a funeral director. “Obama has won the Presidency, but what is important now is, will the Democrats win a filibuster-proof majority in the US Senate?”
That is the question Faux News thinks is important, but in that other America, with its millions of Joe the plumbers, they celebrated a seminal moment in American history. An estimated 200 thousand people filled Chicago’s Grant Park, a park that was once a famous American political battleground. It was transformed for this one night into the promised land.
In New York and in Atlanta, throughout millions of homes in this country, there was a public rejoicing, unlike any rejoicing I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. But on Faux all that was missing was black bunting and caissons. In the parks and at the celebrations women, along with men, wept. African Americans were joyous celebrating an event that many once thought was impossible. Congressman John Lewis was almost speechless when asked of his feelings of the event. “We never dreamed of it when we sat in at lunch counters.”
“In a race Faux News has determined to be too close to call, Congressman Jack Murtha has declared himself the winner,” Hume said. Thirty minutes later Murtha’s vote total had swelled and Faux was forced to admit defeat/victory. It was a hard night to be a propagandist; the roof had fallen in. Despite round the clock negative news stories and verbose pontifications by Rove and Huckabee and O’Reilly and Hannity, and even just plain Joe, the dam had burst and the pipes had broken and there was much work for the plumber. A propaganda organization can only work best when focused on a single front. It is like a hammer that drives at a single nail and cannot multitask.
The vote was a repudiation of George W. Bush, a repudiation of conservative Republicanism, and a repudiation of John Sidney McCain and his sucker mom, caribou Barbie. On Faux News it was reported that John McCain was incredibly gracious in his concession speech. Glossed over and lost in the moment was what John Sidney McCain did and did not say. Each time John McCain mentioned the names of Barack Obama or Joe Biden the faithful would boo loudly and McCain would throw his arms up to quiet them.
His arms said quiet but his lips said continue by their silence. I kept waiting for him to say, "The campaign is over, the election is now decided, we have a new President elect. We must as Americans rally behind him and support him." And he did say that at the end of his speech. Maybe that’s too wordy, maybe he could have crystallized it into a phrase or a slogan. I know, how about "country first?" Instead McCain chose to take the blame all on himself, despite a badly run and badly managed campaign he threw himself on his sword. Then, in a mavericky sort of quirky contradiction, McCain then called his running mate a wonderful candidate.
You see, it was all about McCain. The loss was his loss and his choice for a running mate cannot be questioned because she was his choice. He was both accepting and denying responsibility, “This is an historic election,” he said, “and I recognize the special significance it has for African Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight. I've always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Senator Obama believes that, too.”
Incredible hubris from an incredibly self-centered man, the gracious thing to do is admit defeat and call for unity and go away. Instead McCain chose to take the blame and then implied that his loss was due to African Americans. Out of the ether and imagination this mist becomes a cloud and a cloud becomes a perception and the perception becomes the new mantra. Obama carried the white vote, the black vote, and the Hispanic vote at a much higher rate than did John Kerry. John McCain's loss in this election was not due to African American's vote but due to America’s vote. To praise with his left hand and imply with his right is a vindication that America did indeed choose the right man.
In an honest mirror McCain could see that it was white men and white women that lost him this election. That white man George Bush lost him this election, Bill O’Reilly lost him this election. Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh lost him this election, and even Joe the plumber lost him this election. America is sick and tired of the name calling and the scapegoating, and sick of the race baiting. Sick and tired of scandals and the leaks, of prerogative and of privilege of communist, socialist, plumber and king.
In the real America people are hurting. McCain campaigned relentlessly that Obama will raise your taxes while millions lost their jobs. Like telling the blind that Obama will take away your reading lamps and it is telling just how far out of step John McCain is from the real America. Obama campaigned that McCain was a continuation of the Bush presidency and at the eleventh hour the McCain camp proved it so by running the Rev. Wright ads in swing states. America voted for change, they voted convincingly for change; blacks, whites, gay, straight, Christians, and Jews voted for change.
In Faux America the questions have already begun, “Will Obama govern from the center as he promises? Or will he govern from the left as his record implies?” You remember his record don’t you? The one that Faux News said on Monday that he didn’t have in the first place? “Who will he name to his cabinet?” No rest for the weary, not even one day off; the propaganda mill runs non-stop. Christ, even QVC turns it off for Christmas day. But not Faux or McCain or the Republicans, there are stories to weave and narratives to sell.
"If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.” Or perhaps he’s just a Republican and watching too much Faux News.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(854 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
