The promise of Barack Obama — both implicit and explicit — was the message of Hope and Change, of New Politics, of Uniting our nation, of bringing us all together.
But the mask is slipping, and behind that mask is the face of the thug, the bully, the intimidator.
The Obama Brute Squad.
Their message is simple: you WILL NOT threaten Obama and his plans in any way, shape, or form, or you will be silenced. By any means necessary. And the campaign stands ready to aid you in organizing your actions.
You want examples? No problem.
Yesterday, on the official Obama web site, the following call to action for Dallas:
“Welcome” Palin Oct. 3 to Dallas (Women for Obama) Sarah Palin speaks at a $1000/plate fundraising lunch at downtown Dallas on October 3. Let’s give her a rousing progressive “welcome” by marching in solidarity on the streets in front of the hotel. Event starts at 11am to “welcome” luncheon attendees.
The actual page is gone now. I don’t know if it was deleted as embarrassing or just because the event passed, but I wish I’d grabbed a screen shot.
Earlier this year, Stanley Kurtz — a well-respected conservative scholar affiliated with the National Review — traveled to Chicago to examine the records of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. This non-profit was set up — largely by unrepentant former terrorist and now professor of education Bill Ayers — to funnel a lot of money into improving Chicago’s public schools. Ayers arranged for an up-and-coming lawyer and community organizer named Barack Obama to head up the board, where he spent seven years on the board.
The Challenge was shut down in 2002, and its records were given to the University of Illinois at Chicago. Kurtz was given permission to examine the records, but that was revoked once he arrived — and only re-granted after considerable publicity.
Kurtz got a pretty decent article out of research, but got his biggest surprise when he was invited to go on a very respected local talk show to discuss the story.
First, the station was deluged with complaints about the upcoming interview. Next, once he was on the air, they were flooded with calls denouncing him and slamming him for daring to “smear” Obama.
And much of this was coordinated through the good graces of the Barack Obama offical web site.
Another group drew the ire of the Obama camp. An organization calling itself the American Issues Project prepared an anti-Obama ad and started airing it on TV stations. The Obama campaign responded with a formal letter to the Department of Justice demanding that it investigate and prosecute one of AIP’s biggest donors for possible violations of campaign finance laws.
In Missouri, several Obama supporters have formed — with the campaign’s blessing — what they call a “truth squad” to rebut what they consider “deceptive” ads against Obama. This is all fine and good, until you look at the day jobs of these Obama supporters — sheriffs and prosecutors
So, why do all these Obama supporters think that it’s OK to pull these kinds of stunts?
I suspect it’s because their candidate said this recently:
“I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.”
No, he didn’t say “threaten them with criminal charges” or “key their cars” or “burn their lawn signs” or “keep them off the radio station” or anything like that. But he doesn’t have to — his followers can read between the lines quite nicely.
Remember his infamous “lipstick on a pig” moment? He denied that it was intended as a slam on Sarah Palin. And it’s plausible — they certainly had their denial at the ready. But watch the clip carefully. He pauses before using the phrase, says it, then pauses again — cuing the audience to pay close attention. And the audience certainly doesn’t react as if they heard just another hoary old cliche’ — the cheers are the type you get when the mob has been thrown some red meat.
In comedy, this is called “telegraphing.”
These are NOT the message of hope and change we have been promised. These are not the new politics. These are the oldest and most despicable forms of politics, the type of stunts that should be reviled by everyone.
But Obama came by them honestly. He is a product of one of the most corrupt political machines in the nation. This is precisely the sort of thing we should expect from a man who came out of Chicago Democratic politics, who stood shoulder to shoulder with some of the most corrupt, most venal, most vile, most criminal politicians the nation has ever produced — and not once ever challenged them or questioned them or defied them. For someone who claims to want to “reform” politics, it’s amazing how many opportunities he had during his rise to power in Illinois to do just that — and instead, did all he could to “go along to get along.”
Now his brutes are expanding. They’ve seen what works so far, and they want to apply it on a national scale. They know that one way to help insure electoral victory is to silence your critics — on a TV station, on a radio show, in print, at the polls, or anywhere else they can “get in their face.”
That doesn’t frighten me.
It infuriates me.
And it should you, too.
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