Election Snippet: The “Real” America

Well, the main purpose for today’s election snippet is to show you a very funny clip from the Daily Show… which, as usual, is both laugh- out- loud funny and dead-on accurate. But first, a little introductory rant.

I am so sick of this “real America” line I could spit.

Sarah Palin has been trumpeting it. John McCain senior advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer has been trumpeting it. Other Republican politicians, from Rep. Michelle Bachmann to Rep. Robin Hayes, have been trumpeting it. It’s clearly the line of the day; the trope that they think is going to flatter/ fearmonger the moderate swing voters into voting Republican.

The line goes, roughly, “Sure, maybe Obama and the Democrats are ahead in the polls. But in the real America — small-town America, patriotic America, the America that counts — we’re winning.”

And I keep thinking:

What the hell are the rest of us? Robots? Androids? Replicants?

Millions and millions of Americans live in big cities. In fact, most Americans live in big cities and suburbs. When Palin and McCain and the Republican party bash big cities, they’re bashing the majority of Americans. And I’m not just talking about the Americans in the standard wicked metropoli of New York and San Francisco and Los Angeles. I’m talking about the Americans in Minneapolis and Chicago; in Dallas and New Orleans; in Seattle and Salt Lake City; in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

Country first

That’s real patriotic of you, folks. That’s a real good case of “Country First.”

Jon Stewart makes a point in this video (coming up in a moment, I promise) that I’m kicking myself for not having thought of myself. It’s this: The Republicans love, love, love to play the 9/11 card. They love to talk about the evil terrorists who tried to destroy America in the 9/11 attack, and how we have to do everything in our power — lie, oppress, conquer, torture — to crush them once and for all and make America safe again.

But where, exactly, did the 9/11 attack take place?

Washington DC… and New York City.

Which now, mysteriously, isn’t the real America.

Honestly, I think what they’re doing — apart from trying to whip up divisive fervor and make half of America hate and fear the other half in order to score political points — is denial. They can’t accept that Americans might actually like this Obama fellow better than them. So they’re re-defining America. America, in their eyes, is now de facto “the people who vote for us.”

And guess what? By that definition, they win. By that definition, 100% of the “real Americans” will vote for them.

Even when they get their asses handed to them by the rest of us replicants.

Now here’s the video. Enjoy!

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Election Snippet: The “Real” America
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5 thoughts on “Election Snippet: The “Real” America

  1. 2

    Back around 9/11, I was reading a right-wing blogger that was winding up his audience by screaming about the terrorist threat. Why, he said, what would we do if Boston was nuked?
    I live near Boston in Massachusetts, a state that, I am assured, the “real” America hates due to its taxes and liberal attitudes.
    I am kicking myself years later for not telling that blogger something like this:
    “If Boston really were destroyed by a nuclear bomb tomorrow, you’d gloat. You’d say, ‘Well, that’s what they get for liking *terrorists!* and their *rights*!’. ‘What’d them Secular Humanists expect!?’ (despite that this atheist would be threatened by Islamism as much as anyone.) There’d be another round of sick jokes on the Kennedy family.
    So why should I care if I’m not a ‘real’ American?”

  2. 3

    As I understand, it, “elitism” usually means something like “I went to Yale, therefore I’m better than you” or “I’m from San Francisco, so I’m better than you hicks”.
    But aren’t the Republicans promoting a similar idea? That “I’m from a small town, therefore I’m better than New Yorkers.” Isn’t that the same sort of elitism they’ve been railing against?

  3. 4

    They’ve been talking about “small town values” for a while, but I hadn’t heard this “real America” bullshit.
    That’s it. I’m voting for Obama. Since the Republicans don’t seem to be that interested in representing all of the people in this country, they shouldn’t be given the chance to do so.

  4. 5

    As always, Kung Fu Monkey nailed it:
    Four million people in the US play World of Warcraft. And yet, do I ever hear:
    ANDERSON: We stopped by the gates of Ogrimmar in Durotar, on the east coast of Kalimdor, where one local told us Hollywood just can’t relate to the level-grinding life.
    UNIDENTIFIED ORC: They’ve never been back here, questing Razormane or Drygulch Ravine, y’know … or farming for Peacebloom and Silverleaf. They’re out of touch.

    No. No I do not.

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