Posted on 11/03/2004 5:56:19 PM PST by onehipdad
Bush Unbound By Sidney Blumenthal Salon.com
Wednesday 03 November 2004
Winning on fear itself, the GOP is ready to take the country even farther right.
"This country is going so far to the right you are not even going to recognize it," remarked John Mitchell, President Nixon's attorney general, in 1970. Mitchell's prophesy became the mission of Nixon's College Republican president, Karl Rove, who implemented the strategy of authoritarian populism behind George W. Bush's victory.
In the aftermath, Democrats will form their ritual circular firing squad of recriminations. But, finally, the loss was not due to their candidate's personality, the flaws of this or that advisor or the party's platform. The Democrats surprised themselves at their ability to raise tens of millions of dollars, inspire hundreds of thousands of activists, spawn extensive new organizations, attract icons of popular culture and present themselves as unified around a centrist position. Expectations were not dashed. Turnout vastly increased among African-Americans and Hispanics. More than 60 percent of the newly registered voters went for John Kerry. Those concerned about the economy voted overwhelmingly for him; so did those citing the war in Iraq as an issue. But the surge of the Democrats was more than matched.
Using the White House as a machine of centripetal force, Rove spread fear and fused its elements. Fear of the besieging terrorist, appearing in Bush campaign TV ads as the shifty eyes of a swarthy man or a pack of wolves, was joined with fear of the besieging queer. Bush's announcement that he favored a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage was underscored by referendums against it in 11 states, including Ohio - all of which won.
The evangelical churches became instruments of political organization. Ideology was enforced as theology, turning nonconformity into sin, and the faithful, following voter guides with biblical literalism, were shepherded to the polls as though to the rapture. White Protestants, especially in the South, especially married men, gave their souls and votes for flag and cross.
The campaign was one long camp meeting, a revival. Abortion and stem cell research became a lever for prying loose white Catholics. (Rove's designated Catholic leader, his own political pontiff, had to resign in disgrace after being exposed for sexual harassment, but this was little reported and had no effect.) To help in Florida, a referendum was put on the ballot to deny young women the right to abortion without parental approval, and it galvanized evangelicals and conservative Catholics alike.
While Kerry ran on the mainstream American traditions of international cooperation and domestic investment, and transparency and rationality as essential to democratic government, Bush campaigned directly against these very ideas. At his rallies, Bush was introduced as standing for "the right God." During the closing weeks of the campaign, Bush and Cheney ridiculed internationalism, falsifying Kerry's statement about a "global test." They disdained Kerry's internationalism as effeminate, unpatriotic, a character flaw and elitist. "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," Vice President Cheney derided in every speech. They grafted imperial unilateralism onto provincial isolationism. Fear of the rest of the world was to be mastered with contempt for it.
These emotions were linked to what is euphemistically called "moral values," which is actually social and sexual panic over the rights of women and gender roles - lipstick traces, indeed. Only imposing manly authority against "girlie men," girls and lurking terrorists can save the nation. Bush's TV ads featured digitally reproduced crowds of cheering soldiers, triumph of the leader through computer enhancement. Above all, the exit polls showed that "strong leader" was the primary reason Bush was supported.
Brought along with Bush is a gallery of grotesques in the Senate - more than one of the new senators advocating capital punishment for abortion, another urging that all gay teachers be fired, yet another revealed as suffering from obvious symptoms of Alzheimer's.
The new majority is more theocratic than Republican, as Republican was previously understood; the defeat of the old moderate Republican Party is far more decisive than the loss by the Democrats. And there are no checks and balances. The terminal illness of Chief Justice William Rehnquist signals new appointments to the Supreme Court that will alter law for more than a generation. Conservative promises to dismantle constitutional law established since the New Deal will be acted upon. Roe vs. Wade will be overturned and abortion outlawed.
Now, without constraints, Bush can pursue the dreams he campaigned for - the use of U.S. military might to bring God's gift of freedom to the world, with no more "global tests," and at home the enactment of the imperatives of "the right God." The international system of collective security forged in World War II and tempered in the Cold War is a thing of the past. The Democratic Party, despite its best efforts, has failed to rein in the radicalism sweeping the country. The world is in a state of emergency but also irrelevant. The New World, with all its power and might, stepping forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old? Goodbye to all that.
About the writer: Sidney Blumenthal, a former assistant and senior advisor to President Clinton and the author of "The Clinton Wars," is writing a column for Salon and the Guardian of London.
Awwww.... are we upset??? Are we convinced that somehow, with only Evil White Straight Married Christian Men voting for him, Bush won? Must be baffling to be a liberal. The world must be a scary, unpredictable place.
Geez, this is such hateful bile.
Yep. It just ain't cool being a gun grabbing, baby killing coward in 2004.
Sid Vicious cannot bring himself to state the hidden idea in his statement: A socially conservative majority in the Republican Party has the votes to defeat the socially liberal Democrats in this country.
"The evangelical churches became instruments of political organization. Ideology was enforced as theology, turning nonconformity into sin, and the faithful, following voter guides with biblical literalism, were shepherded to the polls as though to the rapture. White Protestants, especially in the South, especially married men, gave their souls and votes for flag and cross."
This man has consistently utterly hated Christians. He called Ewing, the assistand to Ken Starr a 'religious fanatic'.
Now, an interesting question to Sid is simple: just what did your Dad do, or worse not do, that made you so such an utter rabid God hater?
IMHO the Professor [Sidney] is dancing away from some more central lessons of this election.
Americans remember that the concensus of opinion, world, liberal and conservative, was that Iraq had WMD and that Bush acted in good faith. There was no lie involved.
While everyone, even me, wants free medical care, most of us realize that free ain't free.
The economy may not be all we want it to be, but most of us realize that the recovery from the bubbles and 9/11 has been remarkable and GWB deserves some of the credit.
The hatred for Bush that is professed to exist in the world is shallow and much of it is the product inb leftist and Islamic politics supported by the MSM.
Even decent liberals recognize John Kerry is as much a phoney today as he was in his 1971 Senate testimony.
In short, the American people aren't as stupid as the DNC [And Dear Sidney] thinks we are.
Like black churches aren't?
We're seeing firsthand what anathema Christians are to Democrats. We're like a cross to a vampire.
none needed, imho
Somebody call the nice young men with the long white coat! Syd Blumenthal is off his meds again!
Even though majority opinion does not decide morality, I would have less of a problem with a state legislature considering the gay marriage issue with opportunity for public comment and then adopting it as law. This is not the route the left has chosen for this issue, and so I have major problems with (in the example of Massachusetts) four justices upending several thousand years of tradition and redefining for the rest of us basic tenets of society. If you want to do that, find yerself a state rep, write a bill and fight it out.
With vicious 'analysis' like this I no longer
feel sorry for gloating all day today!
Sorry Sid, you can't win by blaming everything on the opposition. Look inward, it's your party that's self-immolating.
And keep in mind, when Hillary! runs in four years, we'll be sure to remember that it was you and your ilk that made up stories about a draft, social security and so on. I'm sure that she'll want to tell us all about how right you all were with your predictions.
A bit peeved, are we, Sidney.
Clintonista scum.
"This country is going so far to the right you are not even going to recognize it," remarked John Mitchell"
Ahhh, Sidney the Socialist!
I hope Mitch is correct!
The founding fathers were right wingers...
Suppositories like Blumenthal love to use words like "fear" and "panic" when talking about conservative reaction to having the gay agenda rammed down our throat. What a joke. These words imply that their culture of perversion has power over middle America, or that they're somehow more socially or intellectually advanced (rather than devolved). In reality, words like "disgust" and "revulsion" are more appropriate. I'm sure as heck not afraid of some limp wristed pansy wearing a pink tutu and buttless chaps. Just disgusted.
Pretty clear these are the talking points...all the shows have been hosting guests stating that this was an anti-gay election, blah blah blah.
Strange...with these libs, a 14-year-old girl wanting an abortion is a "young woman", while a 23-year-old man fighting for our freedoms in Iraq is a "kid".
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