Republican Governors foment armed insurrection
I’m thinking this was the deeper meaning behind that mind-boggling Confederate History Month thing: the Republican Governors Association is actually trying to get people to stage an armed rebellion. Like, with gunpowder and assassinations and stuff. Yeah.
Watch the video for yourself:
Okay, all joking aside: people who’ve been reading me for a long time know that I’m not the type to take the wingnuts seriously or get overly worked up about dog whistles and so forth. But I’ll tell you honestly: I thought the subliminal message of this video was that somebody needs to kill Obama. I’m not kidding. That’s exactly how it struck me. I thought it was a kind of One Minute Hate: scary pictures of Obama, Castro, Nancy Pelosi, and Al Sharpton (which is a rather hilarious selection in itself, but is no doubt calibrated to send wingnuts into paroxysms of rage), scary graphics and scarier music and gunshot sounds and people in uniform marching and just…gah.
Of course I don’t think the Republican Governors really want somebody to kill Obama, nor do they really want armed insurrection. They’re just being demagogues, doing the same stuff that Glenn Beck and the Tea Party leaders and all those clowns are doing, trying to make political hay out of people’s frustration. But they’re playing with fire. This is the kind of thing that makes people think they need to load up the ammo and head for D.C.
8 Responses to “Republican Governors foment armed insurrection”
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ugsome says:
I wonder if anyone has any notion of responsible political speech any more.
April 24th, 2010 at 11:18 pm EST -
lambert strether says:
As usual, I’m on the side that the other two sides are trying to suppress.
1. The career “progressives” are trying to turn all opposition to Obama into “treason,” just like the Bushies did. Quelle surprise.
2. We might think of the right as a sort of fractionating column for unsavoriness, and all it takes is one or two extremely “volatile” characters…
Depends on what “really want” means. “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” Followed by the ritual exculpation and washing of hands. Followed by the apotheosis of Obama and the firm cementing in place of all his neo-liberal corporatist policies. Followed by all the serious people having dinner together at the restaurant of the moment on K Street, on our dime. The ratchet effect in brutal action. Our system works! Pardon my cyni– er, realism.
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Swannie says:
Perhaps I have developed an immunity for hard sell… and people screaming at me via any kind of tube to “do something”, subliminal or other wise. … like buy an exercise program or the newest glue… this turns me off more than on…….. I remember a headline saying GENERAL BETRAYUS that upset me more than this … just sayin ..
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Alison says:
I can see what Violet is saying. Their is a visceral historical and aggressive quality to the video. It’s odd but subtle and I don’t think anything is intentional. Probably trying to make the Obamas look dated, dangerous and fascist.
But this sort of suggestive violence never shocks me in politics. When the Repubs are in power in happens to them from the left. We hate each other in this country.
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votermom says:
We hate each other in this country.
I agree. W was burned in effigy, wasn’t he? Istr.
Was it Ian Welsh who pointed out that the USA is historically a violent country?Just viewed the video though — seems pretty tame to me, actually. I don’t think this is inciting the right to riot. Just like MoveOn et al, this is co-opting the real anger of the people and pretending that they are on their side.
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Lori says:
I think they are absolutely encouraging someone to kill Obama. The first image of him is preceded by what sounds like a gun shot to me, and one of the final thoughts in the piece includes the word “kill” then two images later, you have Obama. The whole piece is designed to appeal to the sort of narcissism that so many survivalists find seductive. The message, literally, is that Obama is “killing” the United States – not the United States of conservative fantasy, but *the* United States. So, if someone is killing something essential to your survival, what do you do? There will be a lot of inflated egos after watching that piece wondering if they should do their duty to the US and history. And speaking as someone who works in media, that’s exactly what that piece is designed to evoke in the vulnerable.
Interestingly, it’s a mirror image, in many ways, of the 1984 ad that the atavistic assholes that ran the Obama campaign put together against Clinton.
These people are sociopaths and what sociopaths do is foster chaos and destruction. If some wingnut succeeds, they’ll be amused and we’ll hear lots of unctious words about how we are still a deeply divided nation and it was foolish of him to run at his point, blah, blah, blah.
Happily, the Secret Service is very good at what they do, and I don’t think it’s likely anything will happen. But this video is a fucking disgrace for a nation that fancies itself civilized.
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DancingOpossum says:
“W was burned in effigy, wasn’t he?”
And remember the guy who hanged Palin in effigy?
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Gayle says:
I agree with you, Violet.
Honestly, I think we’re one terrorist attack–or one Presidential assassination attempt– away from a fascist state. The OK law you referenced today makes me think we’re already halfway there.
