"Conservatism, not Radicalism, threatens the free exchange of ideas, intellectual tolerance, and the life of the mind in Academia." - Herbert Shapiro
"In any discussion of the problems in our world today, racism must rank high. Not because we are soft-minded liberals obsessed with countless crimes throughout history induced by colour, religion, tribalism or chauvinism of one kind or another. But because the poison which we hoped and believed had been eradicated in our own time by the knowledge of the ultimate evil- the gas-chamber murders committed by the Nazis--is in fact still present, not in any one area of discrimination or racism, or in a restricted number of specific rulers or governments, but in all humankind. I call it "Inner Racism."-
My previous unread post (see below- or don't for that matter) suggested with tongue firmly planted in my cheek, a way the "lower" roster of Republican presidential candidates may make the oh so important Great Fox Debate Cut next month, but upon further snoozing in front of my trusty TV - waking occasionally upon a brief Mets inning or a quick visual bite at yet another amazing diner meal on the cooking station -
I realized that even my unhelpful advise isn't really necessary and to trump matters, neither is the debate. While entranced by a somewhat jovial middle-aged mid-american man wearing a pirate bandanna mixing enormous amounts of granulated garlic, black pepper, cumin, and Hungarian paprika, about 5 pounds of sugar and a boatload of crushed tomatoes into what must be two tons of brown meat he has just spent 4 days pushing through a hand-grinder I suddenly realized as I say, that this "debate" and the others that are scheduled to ensue and the campaigns themselves with all that money raised and donated, all that traveling back and forth between Iowa and New Hampshire ( imagine the fate of the free world depending on people who voted for that horrible Joni Ernst and that bigoted know-nothing Steve King) is not really necessary - all the candidates ( and their many friends) have already appeared again and again and continue to show up on the Fox Propaganda Shows and on the old Network Sunday shows and those not-so upstart cable news shows: CNN & MSNBC. And along side these Koch anointed candidates are the usual mob of TV-genic advocates. Every week you can catch any number of these worthies either in prime time or during the days talking news shows and I don't believe any of them had to PAY for the privilege. Come Sunday morning its a veritable festival. On all three (once?) major networks, CBS, NBC, ABC- and FOX
Whats My Line?
on any given Sunday you will find interchangeable panels as if they were interlocking boards of directors attended by ( and not in any specific order)Republican mastermind, Karl Rove, corporate lobbyist posing as a "journalist", Cokie Roberts, Ebola expert and rape apologist, George Will, Reagan fetishist, Peggy Noonan, Irving Kristol's boy, William, and a small contingent of liberal commentators that seem - perhaps with the exception of my old sweetheart, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, to sit on egg shells whenever they appear as "guests" - Truth to tell I would not be so accommodatingly well-mannered if I was sitting on these shows with many of these people who have to my mind aided and abetted war and murder over the many years that they have appeared on our TVs and have been handsomely rewarded with money, prestige, and
I've Got A Secret?
even professional prizes. There is also the regular auxiliary guests such as the great family values champion and Ceo of Newt, Inc., Newt Gingrich, who now has a regular show of his own - I'm told. There is also Patrick Buchanan still sitting in with that "other" Sunday show. He sits across from a guy whose a regular too on the show, Morty Zuckerman, one of the richest men in America- a Democrat and a Jew and I doubt that as he sits across from a white supremacist and Holocaust denier like Buchanan he even considers for a moment of turning to the camera and denouncing this man for what he is and then walking out- for god's sake he can buy his own show -why sit there giving legitimacy to this Nazi? AND all these programs are mere frameworks for the candidates themselves. Why just this past Sunday there was Carly Fiorina who was fired from her position as head of Hewlett-Packard and now she's presidential material spewing forth on ABC- laying out her anti-everything Obama did and does agenda for free; on Meet the Press, after all these years
To Tell the Truth?
an "American institution", there was Chuck Todd chastising the NYTImes for not having Ted Cruz's book on their bestseller list. By the way Chuck and NBC have already decided that Bernie Sanders won't be President- A year and a half away from the national election before any primary and they have decided- so save your breath Bernie. Bobby Jindal and Jim Webb were also featured on one of these shows- c'mon you can't BUY this type of airtime and exposure. Donald Trump wasn't on any of these shows this week but his image and racist rantings were well served up on all of them. On CBS little Peggy Noonan ( I think it was CBS, oh well) sat in apologia for him saying things like, " My gosh, there is so much to say about Trump."- Not really but no matter, because nobody ever holds her to what she stupidly utters- across all three ( and more) of these networks. She's treated like "TV Journalist" royalty. Do the network producers really live in anticipation as to what our Peggy will elucidate for us this week. Does anyone actually read the Wall Street Journal to find out what she's thinking? And every week the candidates come by- many already have-perhaps all have already sat in as a guest or have been interviewed by one of the crack interviewers - either Chuck or George S., or Old Bob and now Tom D., a second generation TV "journalist". Our worst instincts are pasteurized and blended for our comfort on Sunday mornings- nobody is wrong or causing harm or being a bigot or lying or exploitative or disingenuous or deliberately misinforming- its free air and its their time and they know they won't be called out for their idiocies and racism and warmongering lies because there is product to sell and they're it.
So why all the campaign money? Why the hundred debates? Quite frankly- if you don't know by now what each and every candidate stands for you'll never know- and there's a year and a half to go. Whats wrong with us?
4 MONTHS LATER:
from the NYTimes
Donald Trump Advertises Rising Value of Free Political Publicity
Photo
Donald J. Trump appearing on "Saturday Night Live" with the singer Sia, left, and Kate McKinnon.Credit
Dana Edelson/NBC
Donald J. Trump hosted “Saturday Night Live”
this past weekend and gave interviews to at least four national
television networks on Sunday. The result: an opportunity to reach
millions of potential voters, without spending a dime.
In
fact, while many of his Republican presidential rivals have poured
money into the airwaves in search of such exposure, Mr. Trump has not
spent any money at all on television advertising since he announced his
candidacy in June. Yet he has remained at or near the top of most
national and state polls for months.
“TV
ads are necessary, they can be effective, but in terms of overall
value, being the host of ‘Saturday Night Live’ is probably going to get
you a lot more as a candidate than 20 ‘super PAC’ ads,” said Dave Levinthal, senior political reporter at the Public Integrity.
Mr.
Trump’s ability to command media attention and reach voters without
depleting his campaign funds is just the latest example of the way that
his campaign has upended the conventional approach candidates have used
to communicate with voters.
In
addition to having done countless interviews, Mr. Trump has been
effective in using social media to attack his rivals, and many of his
acrid and controversial quips on Twitter are rebroadcast by traditional
news media outlets.
The other night while watching Rachel Maddow chat with Frank Rich about the impressive size of the potential Republican presidential hopefuls- wait a sec, that sounds like a snide comment about Chris Christie - let me re-phrase, about the overwhelming number of Republican candidates who may not "make" the Fox channel's "cut" for a debate they will be televising next month, apparently there are only ten places available and if your polling doesn't measure up you're out; just like a Trump show, anyway, and Rachel was musing aloud to Frank that perhaps one of the GOP candidates or all, would need some outrageous statement some verbal outrage to outdo even Trump to set them off from the lowly pack they find themselves in for now; a distinguishing incident to pull away from the crowd and make a singular stand to exploit and thus make the cut for that all important Fox gig.
What could anyone possibly say or do? I mean the Republicans have only been playing the "race" card for the pass 6? years ( and every election cycle since Goldwater's campaign? before?); the anti-immigration card has been played for a while now and the fight seems to be just who can be more stupid than Marco Rubio or those Texas knuckleheads ; and it seems all the Republicans did their hemming and whoring on the Confederate battle flag status, worried what their John-Birch-White-Supremacist-Patriot base would think- no it can't be those. So the Mexicans are out already. The Blacks can't be used either- if anything, they've been overused-neutralized as a threat. Gays - perhaps an outrage about same sex marriage? Nope, polls show that will never work no matter what Santorum and Cruz and those other yahoos say. There is one card that hasn't been played much- but has an American bona fide and is occasionally used in a sort of code language among the base and its proponents. It could be too risky, even political suicide but given its fire-power and a longer range strategy it may do the trick: All of the Republican bete noires, their calling cards if you will from liberal stalwarts like Social Security and Food Stamps to immigration policies to civil rights and gay marriage to the certain subversive Supreme Court justices to minimum wage advocacy to wars in the Middle East and terror threats at home to the obfuscatory measures taken to take the Christ out of Christmas to the unsavory tactics of big banks and giant financial centers (if needed) to the disappearing middle class and unemployment, all, as I say, can be rolled out and spoken in one two word phrase and even shorter than that : the Jew.
Though it hasn't been front and center in our politics for quite some time - its heyday during the 1920's and 1930's with a resurgence of a kind in the 1950's - it may very well unite the Republican base in a way that may even surprise the Birchers themselves. It unites over class and religious ties and may even draw in disaffected Democrats, we know it makes people feel better about their lowly selves and particularly at this time in the American scene where ignorance and hatred seem ascendant and valued for their political prospect. But what about the well off and terribly rich and contributing Republican Jews? Sheldon and Stevie and the assorted hedge fund honchos and others, well what will they do- support the Dems they have been railing against since Obama was elected? Who will they now decide is best for Israel? Haven't they said that whats best for America is best for Israel anyway and what of it? They don't like it they can take their money and move elsewhere- their money already has anyway and besides there's plenty of rich goyim around . Who needs them? There's always the dual loyalty charge to level and you already have a solid electorate to build on if the ADL figures are accurate - 10% of the American adult population are anti-semitic or at least feel Jews are different in certain negative ways. I think thats a bit conservative myself but what the heck. And some of our most popular Presidents and religious leaders were of the opinion:
LIVE FROM THE OVAL OFFICE, FEB. 21, 1973:
Graham: It might be because of this religious
situation that's coming up in the country.
President Nixon: Right, but I would be very, very tough
with all of our Jewish friends in here, like Tannenbaum.
You tell him he's making a terrible mistake and that they're going to get
the darnedest wave of anti-Semitism here if they don't behave.
Graham: Well, that's exactly right and Mark Tannenbaum
is probably the most outspoken and the most listened-to rabbi in America.
President Nixon: Yeah.
Graham: And he's going to come down here this week.
And he wrote a letter to the New York Times defending
me a few days ago. And he--I think if we can swing him
over to make some strong statements, it'll have a great effect.
President Nixon: Right.
Graham: He's certainly one of the cleverest
and most brilliant of the rabbis.
President Nixon: Right. Right.
Graham: And it was very much for you this past time. You know we tried to get him to lead the prayer--
President Nixon: I know.
Graham: --at the Republican Convention. But he felt he
couldn't go quite that far.
President Nixon: No. Well, the thing that you've really
got to emphasize to him though, Billy, is this: anti-Semitism
is stronger than we think, you know. They just--it's unfortunate,
but this has happened to the Jews. It happened in Spain,
it's happened in Germany, it's happening--and now
it's going to happen in America if these people don't
start behaving.
Graham: Well, you know, I told you one time that the Bible
talks about two kinds of Jews. One is called "the synagogue of Satan."
They're the ones putting out the pornographic literature.
They're the ones putting out these obscene films.
President Nixon: Like the thing in Time magazine.
Graham: Terrible.
President Nixon: And then Newsweek.
Graham:Ruth [Graham] canceled both of them.President
Nixon: Good for her.
Graham: We won't take Time or Newsweek.
President Nixon: I'll tell you it's a disgraceful thing. And I think, really, they don't deserve to live.
And this "Jew-strategy" could be used in a more cynical fashion by off-setting say our lucky candidate and maybe even getting him or her elected and there would be an added bonus if say Sen. Bernie Sanders was somehow to be the other side's nominee. Not only would you have your Jew-card to play but out of the mush of history there would be the socialist boogeyman to play in hand also. How much more lucky can you get?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jewish groups react to Mike Huckabee’s ‘oven’ remarks
Jewish groups across the country reacted to Mike Huckabee’s comments, in which the GOP presidential candidate this weekend likened the Iran deal to the Holocaust, with one organization saying the remarks “may be the most inexcusable we’ve encountered in recent memory.”
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