Thursday, March 27, 2008

A Truthless Monster

By: Thebeerdoctor

This is going to be tough. It has to be. First the quote: “It is difficult for the ordinary voter to come to grips with the notion that a truly evil man, a truthless monster with the brains of a king rat and the soul of a cockroach, is about to be sworn in as president of the United States for the next four years…”

That was Hunter S. Thompson, writing about George H.W. Bush on September 14, 1987. This could also apply to the wife of a former president, who just happens to be running for the very same office. Why do I say this? Well you only have to look at the manure being shoveled out from the team Clinton barn

“He would not have been my pastor,” Senator Clinton announced, passing judgment on the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. “You don’t choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend…”

The arrogance that comes out of the Senator’s mouth is astounding. Woe betide anyone who has the temerity to question the authority of the United States government. According to Mrs. Clinton and the media minions, that is treasonous talk. The “chickens coming home to roost” remark about 9/11 that was so shocking, it is now classified as hate speech. I do not know the sphere of the Washington insiders, but I heard the same analysis said by white people, less than a month after the event.

With the advent of the video loop, we can now hear and see, ad nauseam, Reverend Wright saying “God damn America!” Never of course putting this into any kind of context. But why should it? It is doing the job intended. Joseph Goebbels would be proud. Do not think, emotionally react. A gut check, from day one.
Recently the prime minister of Australia made a public apology for the way his country treated the aboriginal people. It is difficult for some of the jingoists to admit, but there is honor in admitting shame. Hillary Clinton has praised Martin Luther King. Was it hate speech when Dr. King said that the U.S. government was one of the great purveyors of violence in the world? To call a black minister’s criticism of the United States government “hate speech”, reveals an intolerance that prevents real change from taking place. Barack Obama attempted to address this in his famous remarks about race. But it does not seem that the whirling dervishes of spin media had a clue to what he was talking about.

John McCain has been given essentially a free pass when it comes to careful examination of his spiritual supporters, John Hagee and Rod Paisley. Perhaps it is alright to be endorsed by religious nut jobs, just as long as they support aid to Israel and want to go to war with Iran. Jeremiah Wright is hateful when he speaks of justice for the Palestinians.

Another remarkable acrobatic trick of team Clinton was to marginalize the vote for the Iraq war resolution. According to their take, the vote was unfortunate, with the had I known then what I know now alibi. But an examination of the record shows that 23 Senators said No to that resolution, including Barbara Boxer of California, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Just what did those ladies understand that the Senator from New York did not?

“President Bush’s speech in Cincinnati and the changes in policy that have come forth since the Administration began broaching this issue some weeks ago have made my vote easier.” So said Senator Clinton from the Senate floor, before casting her yea vote. It is not surprising that she refuses to admit she made a disastrous mistake. That would be admitting participatory shame, which is something a leader, ready from day one (as her inflated resume indicates), can never do.

So this wrenching spectacle continues. Hillary Clinton and her team, including the very snide ex-president, continue to demonstrate that when it comes to seeking power, there is no room for principles.

Since I am not a part of the Obama campaign, I do not have to do a mea culpa, like Samantha Power. I stand by my statement. “Truthless” is a word invented by Hunter Thompson. But it so apt for this situation. I leave you the rest of his prophetic quote: “And he will bring his gang in with him, a mean network of lawyers and salesmen and pimps who will loot the national treasury, warp the laws, mock the rules and stay awake 22 hours a day looking for at least one reason to declare war, officially, on some hapless tribe in the Sahara or heathen fanatic like the Ayatollah Khomeini.”

RIP Hunter S. Thompson.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your reference to Malcolm X’s famous (or infamous, DOYPOV) speech from 1963 prompted me to go back and read his words. It seems that times have not changed. The Clinton political machine and the Democratic Party of Super delegates are doing just as Malcolm X suggested back in the early 60’s. They put out the political spin machine, consisting of powerful blacks and in-power whites that control the dialogue to convince blacks and liberal minded whites that the in-power machine is best for them, whether in Truth, it is or is not.

When the Rev. Jeremiah White brought up America’s chickens coming home to roost on 9/11 and said “God Damn America!” in his sermon, his intent was not to damn America to Hell or destruction, but to point out that We play by our Own rules, others be damned.

If we are ever going to end these cycles of hate and fear and war, we must confess our sins against each other and make reparations. The freed slaves were promised 40 acres and a mule as reparation, yet the federal government conspired at the highest levels to quell any notion that the freed blacks had of collecting their due.

Malcolm X asked for a percentage of the US’s total wealth, based upon overall population proportion based upon race to compensate for their bondage. I see no problem with Malcolm X’s demands except that they give no value to lives lost in a war that was in truth, over the States Rights to Self Determination, or the right to hold slaves. White blood was lost to secure the black man’s freedom. He also diminished white civil rights activists that sacrificed much to fight for equal rights for everybody. Case in point, Senator Al Gore Sr. comes to mind. He lost his bid for re-election because he fought for civil rights. Tennessee US Senate seats since then have all gone to Republicans with the single exception of Al Jr.

The truth is the war for equal rights continues to wage. But as time has passed it is shifting more from a Black/ White issue to a Rich/Poor issue. Federal bail outs for corporations, single investors be damned.

God damn America for her Corporatist greed. We’ve seen it decade after decade.

It is that greed that drove our forefathers into trading slaves or being a slave. Greed drives our politicians, our government, and our way of life. It decides who votes for what in the Senate. I know that Senator Clinton had access to the former president’s security briefings. We all know that if the Clinton’s wanted unbiased information that they, as she points out…know people all over the world. So how is it that this brilliant Senator voted for a war that I personally knew to be bullshit because I spent an hour on the internet reading, and she had at her beck and call access to the best Intel in the world? Could it be greed, or the consuming desire to gain power? Was she willing to sacrifice our nation’s wealth, military might, and soldier’s lives for perceived political gain?

Barack Obama seems to have nailed a Perfect Storm. He has overcome the overt and acceptable racism that existed in Malcolm X’s time, and he was able to avoid the quagmire of the Iraq debacle. He is viewed as new and different. Whatever he is is yet to be seen. But with Senator Clinton, I think we’ve seen it all too many times before.

Anonymous said...

Well said Beerdoctor and you as well peacemonger. Mr. Obama's speech on the state of racial understanding in this nation was a well thought out, nuanced appraisal of the situation. Unfortunately American voters don't pay any attention to the nuanced details of any situation. Karl Rove and his predecessors have made sure of that.

"Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain". No truer words were ever written.