WHATEVER AMERICA USED to represent it doesn’t any longer, with Rep. Michele Bachmann the leading poster propagandist representing why this is true, though she’s got company in her clan. It includes Mitt Romney’s booster John Sununu, a former governor of New Hampshire and George H.W. Bush’s chief of staff. Along with these Republicans you can add many other individuals, which include American citizens who prop up the worst example of what American politics should be offering.
“Michele Bachmann has never been a model of responsibility, but this latest attack is one step too far,” said Michael Keegan, President of People For the American Way. “Members of the House Intelligence Committee are entrusted with classified information that affects the safety and security of all Americans. That information should not be in the hands of anyone with such a disregard for honesty, misunderstanding of national security, and lack of respect for her fellow public servants. “Speaker Boehner was right to call out Rep. Bachmann’s dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric. Now he should act on those words.” – PFAW Calls on Speaker Boehner to Remove Michele Bachmann from Intelligence Committee
Frank Rich broadened the conversation in his column on Sunday titled “Mayberry, R.I.P.”.
… Samuel Huntington wrote in 1988 that declinist waves “may be better indications of American psychology than of American power,” and that “decline, in short, may be in the eye of the beholder.” That certainly applies now. However serious America’s problems, the declinist panic has been fed psychologically by the advent of Obama: He was vilified for negating American exceptionalism months before he was even inaugurated and had the chance to take any official action that affected the country’s fortunes one way or the other. That Establishment pundits would be fellow travelers in this animus, yearning for an Obama who is not Obama, or for a great white daddy who would bring back the good old days, is a bipartisan indicator of a larger resistance to the onrushing ethnic, social, and cultural change in America of which Obama is only the avatar. It’s a kinder, gentler, and more respectable form of Palinism.
Lost in all our declinist panic is the fact that the election of an African-American president is in itself an instance of American exceptionalism—an unexpected triumph for a country that has struggled for its entire history with the stain of slavery. “Only in America is my story even possible,” Obama is understandably fond of saying, knowing full well that as recently as the year of his birth, 1961, he would not have been welcome in Mayberry, let alone the White House. That his unlikely rise has somehow been twisted into a synonym for America’s supposed collapse over the past four years may be the most disturbing and intractable evidence of our decline of all.
The rise of what Rich calls “Palinism” is why I began writing of Sarah Palin’s grass root strengths while most liberal writers were laughing at her, simply because she couldn’t be president. The vacuous way in which political analysts, especially on MSNBC, treated Sarah Palin helped people like Michele Bachmann to gain traction, which ended in her making history as the first Republican woman to win a presidential straw poll, caucus or primary. Bachmann’s Palinism, her unhinged ideology that finds enemies and fantasy events of un-Americanism that don’t exist, has led to an unprecedented assault on Pres. Obama’s very Americanism.
Treating women like Bachmann seriously then offers a way to hold her accountable for her words and actions, instead of people just shrugging and saying, oh, there goes that “crazy” woman again. It allows “crazy” to gain advocates that could put people’s lives in danger, which is exactly what has now happened.
Mrs. Bachmann’s charges against Huma Abedin have now led to her receiving police protection, with Joe McCarthyism ringing into the second decade of the 21st century with the phrase “have you no decency” madam, resoundingly resonate. The answer to that question a firm no, she doesn’t, but again, she’s got a lot of company.
Yet back in her home quarters Rep. Bachmann is lauded and cheered, as well as on her way to being re-elected. Her fans believe Michele Bachmann is the very notion of “American exceptionalism,” which Frank Rich rightly labels as a campaign being associated with Pres. Obama, the aim to prove the President is an example of what it’s not.
Back to Frank Rich:
The moment when American exceptionalism was pushed into the fray—or, more accurately, jumped the shark—can be traced to the final months of the 2008 presidential campaign. Its champion was Sarah Palin. She first embraced the concept at a rally in Nevada that September, speaking of how “we are an exceptional nation” and telling her fans, “You are all exceptional Americans.” There’s nothing objectionable about that, but a month later she was recasting her definition of exceptionalism to expressly quarantine Obama from the American mainstream. In October, as she took to accusing him of “palling around with terrorists who would target their own country,” she went on to say (of Obama, not Bill Ayers): “This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America. We see America as a force of good in this world. We see America as a force for exceptionalism.” Once Obama was elected, American exceptionalism became as Palin had defined it—a proxy for the patriotism that the new president lacked.
Today’s Republican electorate, as well as the party’s leaders, beginning with the base who nominates their candidate, is representative of what used to be unacceptable in the political arena. But somehow, amid the financial crisis, the middle class wage stagnation, the rising costs of health care, and the lack of access to wealth, bootstrap cheerleaders like Rush Limbaugh continue their campaign to keep right-wing radio listeners attached to the idea of voting against their own interests in election after election, while upscale Republicans make economic hay off the backs of the middle class.
Mitt Romney represents this ode to “American exceptionalism” perfectly, which can’t have anything to do with Pres. Obama, the first African American president in U.S. history, because Obama’s policies, actions and entire presidency is somehow “foreign,” a word Mr. Romney chooses to drive the notion home to voters that the Palin/Bachmann coalition typifies. It’s this coalition that Mitt Romney catered to in order to be where he stands today, a mess of contradictions, with no core on which to stand. Presidential candidate Rocky Anderson, on the Justice party ticket, said on Chris Hayes on Saturday that though he endorsed Gov. Romney for governor at one point, today their disagreements are “massive” and implied he couldn’t recognize the man anymore.
“Palinism” has its price.
That Rep. Bachmann is receiving no repercussions for her un-American activities in leveling scurrilous, unproven accusations against Huma Avedin offers additional proof that “American exceptionalism” no longer represents what it once did. American citizens have undone the punishment of Joe McCarthy, a man Ann Coulter touts as a hero, which is now been mainstreamed by Michele Bachmann, who’s following in his footsteps.
That it’s women who have been leaders in solidifying these attacks against an exceptional American, Barack Obama. Because even if you think he’s not an exceptional president or leader, Mr. Obama is someone who rose above great challenges to become the first African American president, but who is being remarketed as an example of un-exceptionalism by Republicans.
“When you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. Yosemite?” – Will McAvoy in “The Newsroom”
photo via Shutterstock
This reminds me of Huey Long, when asked if fascism would ever come to America, replied, “Of course it will, but we’ll call it anti-fascism.”
Oh, thanks for reminding us all of that one, mrpister.
See this Newsmax piece.
Offhand I’d say Christopher Ruddy needs some therapy. Visions of Clintonite death squads goes well with giant purple spiders climbing the walls. That article is like a precursor to the Fear and Hatred mantra of the modern Republican Party (an oxymoron perhaps?)
I think of Long’s quote in the context of “Palinism.” One definition of fascism is not only the intolerance of opposing thought, but the obliteration of it also. it was clear from the start that Sarah Palin was appealing to the lesser angels of our nature. And that has nothing to do with “crazy.” There’s nothing crazy about it; it’s a calculated endeavor to inculcate people with pride in ignorance.
“Palinism” is fascism in polyester.
Well, you know my thoughts on “exceptionalism” — it’s always been based more on myth than reality, and it does much more harm than good. Among other things, it not only limits if not prevents the self-reflection / assessment we all need; it also makes it more difficult to recognize the actual good things about who we are.
What’s happening right now, which has unfolded for Obama’s entire first term, is carving out by Tea Party types, aka the rise of “Palinism,” to actually brand an American president as un-American.
The litany of reasons and list of issues and policies on which I disagree with Pres. Obama has been chronicled here, going back to 2006.
That’s quite different from what “Palinism” is, as Frank Rich calls it, which we saw in the GOP primary circus.
Part of the rise of Bachmann, after Palin, is because too many political analysts refused to see the power in their “crazy,” which has now been allowed to be mainstreamed through the Congress. These people have the Speaker of the House under their control.
It’s now a real issue.
Another home run post, with a follow up triple.
As far as this:
Yosemite works for me. I am packing my bags and going to hide there. This country is not exceptional and hasn’t been for a long time. It’s on its way to going completely cukoo bananas.
To say I’m a fan of HBO’s “The Newsroom” is a flippin’ understatement.
It’s exactly what our culture should be producing, as our media decides allowing the Obama administration & gov. officials to approve quotes & get permission to quote!
It’s just another symbol of our rot.
I was only able to catch Newsroom once, but it is terrific, I agree!
I see this is as the latest version of “exceptionalism,” providing another reflection of the continued Rightward shifting. .
Well said, Joyce.
Thanks, ladywalker
It is obvious that the election of the first african-american president in 2008 drove the GOP (elected officials and voters alike) over the edge and they just all collectively went mad. There is just no other explanation for current levels of hypocrisy, conspiracy theories, lies, fears and lunacy.
It started in 2008 during the campaign when it was not uncommon to read that Obama was the anti-christ and that his election would bring about the end of the world. Or that once elected he would organize all the “blacks” against the whites as a revenge for slavery, or that his first decision would be to implement gun controls and turn the US into an islamic state. In the months after his election gun sales shot through the roof.
4 years after (the world has not ended and none of their fears materialized) still the mere presence of Obama is still a trauma and every word he utters a threat and an attack on the “american way of life”, even if the exact same things were said by countless (white) democrats and republicans before him.
While many of us are struggling with a feeling of betrayal because instead of fulfilling his campaign promises Obama decided to govern like a conservadem or a republican light, the GOP insist on calling him an extreme lefty, a marxist-communist-socialist-nazi with an islamic twist who is just pretending to be christian and american but is really an indonesian-kenyan-european-chicago style politician from outer space. Proof? his forged birth certificate, the fact that he refuses to release his college degrees and god knows what else. Sarah Palin was supposed to be their salvation, unfortunately for them she chose to become rich instead (who can blame her?).
Why stop with Obama? the fearful, selfish, childish and racists have found a new target Huma Abedin probably just because she is called Huma Abedin and works for Sec Clinton. And readers like PWT justify this by turning the rules of evidence upside down. It is no longer necessary for the accuser to provide some sort of evidence even tenuous before slandering someone else’s name and endangering a life in the process, when you are called Huma Abedin the burden on proof rests solely on you the accused to prove your innocence. Amazing!
Bingo! All of this generates dangerous static that can and most likely allow a real threat to get cozy and “do something”. I hope that doesn’t happen but look at this mess! Michelle Bachmann is using Frank Gaffney as a source of her Muslim Brotherhood allegations. Ol’ Frank says that CPAC is an agent of the Muslim Brotherhood along with Grover Norquist (probably because he’s married to Muslim woman). Frank Gaffney has been roundly debunked and defunked.
Yet she’s getting cheerleaded because it’s so cool to play Home Team vs. Your Team (that EEEVVVIIILLL team). And it’s easy. Makes you a popular hero, free drinks at the bar, hyper rallies, etc. But as we know, people internalize. And when you are that irresponsible, you full hardcore true believers. And they get on a mission and roll. And those type of missions exclude everything but the sad, sick goals.
To heck with jobs when you can have a witch hunt!
Agree, T-Steel…
And, I want to add that many defenders of George Zimmermann (who admits he shot Martin and has no regrets) were howling, “You must presume innocence until he is proven guilty by trial.”
But if you are Bachmann, you can accuse anyone you want of being a terrorist and they are assumed guilty by folks such as PWT until you can prove their innocence. It is madness
The old bread and circuses game. None of this is really new, only the proper nouns change.
Isis-You put into words exactly what I have been feeling for a very long time. Those who read my posts know I am not a big fan of Obama, not because of his mixed race but for this:
But the right has become so frantic about getting rid of him, I agree 1000% with you on this:
Now the leader of the Tea Party is going after John McCain:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/wes-harris-arizona-tea-party_n_1697793.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
So rich. No calls for censure of Bachmann, but a recall for McCain! When will the madness end?
…anyone that is a Muslim is a threat to this country, and that’s a fact”
Sigh…This is from the huffpo link you provided. TM makes a very good point against calling the tea party racist or crazy, but then statement such as these makes it really difficult not to. You know it is really bad when we dont even agree on what a “fact” is.
Well to be fair, don’t mean to paint them with a broad brush, but as you say, statements such as these don’t help Taylor out at all in making her point…..{{{sigh}}} I guess this is the Mad Hatter Wing of the Tea Party.
“Go to hell, Senator, it’s time for you to take your final dirt nap,” Harris concludes.
Can someone explain to me how this is not a direct threat of violence against a sitting US Senator? Where is the FBI on this one?
The madness will end when voters wise up and vote the asses out of office.
I see this mostly as a continuation of the craziness of the Clinton years, which in turn were a product of the paranoia and hysteria of the Reagan years. It was going to get worse, no matter who was elected. If it had been Edwards or Kucinich, it would have been bad because they actually are liberals, (Kucinich more than Edwards, of course, but OTOH, Edwards was Southern). If it had been Hillary Clinton, well, it would have been pretty awful, too.
That’s the thing to remember – this is, as you wrote, self-serving nonsense on the parts of many of these politicians and their enablers. That Newsmax article Taylor linked to in an earlier comment is a case in point – they enabled the delusions of people like that, rather than speak out about them. Whether it’s blacks, women, liberals, or even white Southern men who decided to be part of the other party, this will continue as long as it keeps them in power, and as long as the memories of the folks who are being played remain conveniently short.
The Tea Party should change its name to The Mad Hatters Party.
Let me ask this: If Bachmann is so sure of her claims, then why doesn’t she launch a full-blown investigation instead of just making wild and dangerous accusations? Isn’t it part of her role as a Member of the House Intelligence Committee or is “House Intelligence” an oxymoron?
And remember…these same people IMPEACHED a sitting President for a consensual sex act between two adults. Between the “investigations” and the actual impeachment upwards of $250,000,000 of tax payer money was gleefully spent.
Ms. marsh has admonished me time and time again for saying the republican base is the most racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic elements in American society……yet all events current, recent and past would seem to support that view.
And darlins like PWT and the others who pop up here spouting limpwithnoballs’s latest talking points hammer that fact home even harder.
I’d appreciate it if people didn’t call out individuals who aren’t present. It’s way too clubby for me.
PWT doesn’t “pop” up here. He or she is fairly regular and that’s a good thing.
OK, but editing out the “who pop up here” to avoid any perception of “clubby”ness doesn’t change the facts regarding the content of their knee jerk predictably themed comments.
I agree it’s a good thing to have partisans from all degrees on the compass commenting. Always a good idea to know what the other is thinking., Why I used to listen to limpwithnoballs and watch the loon Robertson.
Pot meet kettle, secularh, with your comment above easily thrown back at you from the other side.
I suppose it’s all a matter of point of view. Mine arguably is based in reality.
…though the vast majority of America’s people worked harder and harder still, nothing ever seemed to change for the better, and as a result Her citizens became restless and increasingly confused. The populace continued to reward the wealthiest among them as though they were ancient deities who require sacrifice to remain benevolent, but it was unfortunate (if a bit ironic) that the sacrifices these gods demanded only increased, and it was surely no accident that the fuel for these demands be extracted from those least able to protect themselves…
Michelle Bachmann put a persons life in danger by the lies and sadly there are more Michelle Bachmanns out there. Listen to right-wing radio to find that out.
Several of us have compared Bachmann to Senator McCarthy. Taylor herself posted about Joseph Welsh’s most famous comment at the Army-McCarthy hearings in the 1950′s. Here is that most famous historical trusim spoken by Mr. Welsh to Mr. McCarthy, “have you no shame…..”
mhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO2iiovYq70
The closest we can come today to Mr. Welsh’s humane comment after all the personal and public hell McCarthy put so many innocent Americans through, was that made by Senator McCain the other day.
But, as to date, there has been no effort by Bachmann’s GOP brothers and sisters (and I dare say no effort by the opposition Dems) to censure her for her vitriol comments that resulted in SOS Clinton being attacked in Egypt and SOS Clinton’s Assistant Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin requiring NYC police and Federal agents to protect her from threats because of Bachmann’s etal McCarthy-accusations.
But, the man for whom these lowlife tactics were named, Senator McCarthy, WAS censured by the House at long last after so much damage was done. But, he WAS censured.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaI2rd-c_1M&feature=related
But, we all know that Michelle Bachmann probably won’t be. That is how far we have fallen down the rabbit hole in America.
This reminds me of Huey Long, when asked if fascism would ever come to America, replied, “Of course it will, but we’ll call it anti-fascism.” mrpister 24 July 2012 at 9:36 am
Thanks for that quote Mrpister. I didn’t know of that comment by Long.
I do recall the comment made by Sinclair Lewis when someone asked him if fascism would ever come to America what would it look like and he said this:
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO2iiovYq70
here is that Joseph Welsh comment to McCarthy
I honestly don’t know what it is the T-Pottiers are drinking these days, but it has to be something stronger than tea. Here is another T-Potty attack on McCain:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/25/louie-gohmert-john-mccain_n_1700448.html