In the Republican National Committee-sponsored publication Newsmax, John L. Perry wrote a column basically claiming that the military has an obligation to stage a coup and take the reigns of power. Newsmax has taken down the column and says that columnist Perry is actually just a "blogger," like moi. Luckily, for you and I, Talking Points Memo still has the original text of the column. Perry claims that he isn't advocating for a military coup, but that such a thing is "afoot." However, he then goes on to advocate for a military coup while at the same time failing to provide any evidence that one is in the works. Basically a big FAIL of a column.
I have two things to say about this:
1. I love how he feels the need to separate a good American coup from a dirty, uncivilized, Spanish-speaking South American coup. Hey, he may want the military to depose a popularly elected government, but he's a conservative first, so anything that comes from a place where people are brown and speak Spanish is bad. In the United States, the generals will just have a little sit down with the President and explain to him that they're in charge of governing now, but he can stick around and give speeches. That's so nice of them. Mr. Perry is so reasonable.
2. Do these people realize that Obama has been in office for less than a year, and hasn't done much of anything other than sign a stimulus bill and an equal pay for equal work bill? I fail to understand how he has radically changed much of anything. I think we should just take solace in the fact that if these guys are this paranoid this early they'll probably tucker themselves out by the time a healthcare reform bill is signed, or maybe they wont.
And with a single post you've proven two points I've been harping on:
ReplyDelete1. When liberals have nothing nice (or intelligent) to say they cry racist. And it's particulary true here, because not one word about race was said in the piece. A strawman argument if you will, and a weak one at that.
2. Obama hasn't done much of anything. The most telling part of that being, Democrats control the Executive and Legislative branch.
Thank you for doing me a favor.
P.S. I don't agree with Mr. Perry.
One last thing. I had no idea Tom Selleck was a coup type guy.
ReplyDeleteI think I established early on that Mr. Perry is crazy so I don't understand why you feel the need to defend him. Someone who thinks a military coup is needed to depose Obama is probably racist, but I didn't mean to imply that all conservatives are. However, I will concede that I didn't choose my words very carefully in that instance. I was trying to make more of a point about Mr. Perry than about conservatives in general.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your second point (because I forgot to include it in the first post), yes he hasn't done very much, but my point is that it hasn't even been a year. I'm no knocking him for that, but I also don't understand how anything he's done would cause the level of hysteria it seems to be causing.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I’m offended by is how much disregard you have for how much the guy in the picture looks like Tom Selleck.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I never have, and never did, and do not defend Mr. Perry in any regard. To say as much is a blatant misrepresentation of the facts as are set forth in my comment. Nothing I said defends Mr. Perry. In fact I specifically said, in plain words, that I do not agree with Mr. Perry.
I was defending conservatives generally, and in doing so, pointing out the apparent knee-jerk reaction the left has to anything a conservative says or does these days that is in opposition to what Obama does, i.e. pulling the race card, which you did in you post, shamelessly it seems (though I suspect you were doing so for humor, but at this late hour, you’ve caught me with my humor bile at low levels). The race bating move has become the staple of the left regarding any criticism of Obama. Do you really thing that when Wilson yelled, “You lie” at Obama it was because he’s black? You may not, but there are people on your side who do. Just because conservatives disagree with Obama’s policies does not make us racists. The argument you make in your post, whether humorous or not, is a flawed straw man technique, and you should know this, you’re in law school.
And to it make clear, I do not support Mr. Perry. I do not support any actual racist protest of Obama. I don't agree with anyone calling for Obama's impeachment, or anything else of the like, calling him hitler. The people in this country, including myself, will never now the terrors of living in that time in Germany and Poland as a Jew. And this is just like my non-support or non-agreement of anything that was happening exactly the same when Bush was in office. It's just the same and just as stupid. I think the problem is, when Bush was in office the libs were okay with it, because, you know, Bush is literally Hitler, right? Wait, let me get in my non-carbon footprint car my daddy bought me and head down to the vegan market, cause it's so terrible in the U.S., things would be better if we were a communist county. But now that Bush is out, it's not okay to do the same exact thing to Obama.
Wake up, it shouldn't be okay for either people. And I've gone from commenting to preaching, but whatever.
I don't think I've ever expressed any outrage on this blog at people comparing Obama to Hitler. I went back and looked at the pictures I posted calling out the teabaggers and none of them were Hitler signs. You posted some. We have a long tradition in this country and in the west (well long meaning since WWII) of calling heads of government we don't agree with "Hitler." I don't really have a problem with this. My problem was with the monkey and watermelon posters.
ReplyDeleteAnd do I think Joe Wilson would have yelled "you lie!" at a white president in the middle of an address to a joint session of congress?...No, I don't. Do I think he hates all black people? probably not. I know other presidents have been booed during State of the Unions, but they didn't have people shouting at them, calling them liars, which is a violation of House ethics.
So yes, poor you. The problem isn't racism, it's anti-racism. Didn't you see Crash? Both sides are equally responsible for racism. That's why it won an academy award, and if the academy likes it, it must be true.
enter black person perspective. you are right to say that sometimes (maybe even often) there can be a knee-jerk reaction from the left when it comes to race and obama (jimmy was just trying to help).
ReplyDeletemy concern is how do you define what an appropriate reaction is and what is the litmus test we use for that? should race never be included in the discussion even if it plays a factor? is it the elephant in the room. we shouldn't shy away from the issue. i guess we differ on when it's appropriate or necessary for it to even enter the discussion and, if it does, what purpose it should serve.
my opinion: by pretending race does not play a factor in this obama phobia, i think we continue to deny an ugly reality (and it is a reality, it's not an 'agenda'). the more cynical are using race (in subtle and not so subtle ways) to undermine the legitimacy of the president and to steer the discussion away from the issues that should matter most to these people who are in a tizzy over whether Barry'O is more Hussein than he is Barry.
granted, you could and probably will say the same of those - i can't think of any - who consistently confuse disagreement and discord with racism so as to avoid real debate. i will say that it's not fair to call someone a racist bc they disagree with BHO; but I am perfectly okay with saying that someone displays racist behavior if, instead of attacking BHO's stances on issues, they begin to attack him on the grounds of him being black (e.g. the search for the missing birth certificate).
looking forward to your reply. i got my race card ready.
So much discord in our society today... I'm going to bake an apple pie to celebrate autumn in this great land of ours. Let's all just get along.
ReplyDeleteyou lie!
ReplyDelete