Prime-time Republicans are Hard to Take

[Guest guest]

--- SSRI-Research wrote:

 

> SSRI-Research

> Thu, 2 Sep 2004 21:54:41 -0400

> [sSRI-Research] Bush = Eli Lilly

>

> Published on Thursday, September 2, 2004 by

> Newsday / Long Island, New York

 

> Prime-time Republicans are Hard to Take

> by Hugh Pearson

>

>

> http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0902-03.htm

>

> As I watched Tuesday night's network coverage

> of the unrelenting political propaganda hour known

> as the Republican National Convention, the first

> thought that came to mind was of old newsreels of

> those self-congratulatory Nazi rallies held in

> Germany during the reign of Adolf Hitler.

>

> For many people, I'm sure, such a comparison

> sounds extreme. Yet, just as the Nazis were obsessed

> with endless displays of swastikas, the Republicans

> are obsessed with the red, white and blue (for that

> matter, the Democrats are, too).

>

> In the same manner that the German people were

> told that Nazi leadership was faultless, the

> Republicans are telling the American public that no

> one knows what's best for the world except the

> current leadership in the White House.

>

> " If you believe this country and not the

> United Nations is the best hope for democracy, then

> you are a Republican! " bellowed California Gov.

> Arnold Schwarzenegger.

>

> In the same way that Nazis rationalized doing

> away with democratic rights and launching a

> pre-emptive war to protect the self-interests of the

> Third Reich, Republicans this week continue to

> encourage the American public to ignore our

> Constitution's directive that only Congress has the

> right to declare war (thus, we are not officially at

> war with anyone), and that a pre-emptive war with no

> exit strategy will actually protect " the American

> way of life, " rather than further endanger it.

>

> Simultaneously, on the streets of New York

> City, the police are responding to dissent by

> protesters from around the country with a mild

> approximation of the kind of crackdown that happened

> decades ago in Germany. Tuesday night they arrested

> close to 1,000 protesters in an attempt to make sure

> the demonstrators couldn't come close to displaying

> to a world shocked by the mess our government has

> made of its foreign policy that, indeed, dissent in

> America is alive and well.

>

> With the cooperation from the broadcast media,

> there were ominous signs that the Republicans have

> every intention of continuing to dumb down the

> American public, turning us into collective putty in

> their hands. Indications came not only from the

> propaganda espoused by Schwarzenegger, but in the

> performance of President George W. Bush's twin

> daughters, Barbara and Jenna. Having the audacity to

> stand in front of the convention like two bored rich

> girls at a coming out party, they told the audience:

> " Since we've graduated from college, we're looking

> around for something to do for the next few

> years... "

>

> How about suiting up and joining the

> front-line troops your father has sent to fight in

> Iraq, in his misdirected effort to protect your

> privileged existence?

>

> After watching this convention on television,

> about the only sign I could find that the

> Republicans have any understanding of the real

> struggles facing those in this nation without the

> privileges epitomized by the president's daughters

> came from the mouth of the president's wife, Laura

> Bush. Our first lady acknowledged that making the

> ideal of freedom in America real has been an arduous

> task.

>

> What neither she nor anyone else speaking from

> the podium acknowledged is that the economic and

> foreign policy facts of life in America are about as

> far from Republican fantasies as Crawford, Texas, is

> from New York City.

>

> Convention speakers want us to believe that

> decisiveness from our current president, even if you

> disagree with where he has led us, beats the

> wishy-washy pronouncements from the mouth of

> Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

>

> Given the tone of what Republicans have been

> telling us at their convention about the direction

> George W. Bush is leading us - and the way they are

> delivering the message - let us not forget one other

> thing: Hitler was decisive, too.

>

> Hugh Pearson is currently working on a

> biography of James Weldon Johnson and is a publisher

> of the Web site, NYAge.Net.

>

> 2004, Newsday, Inc.

>

>

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

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