Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Republican Lies and Code Words Promise a Slimy Autumn.

Well it has started. Republican lies make it from speeches to the nightly news.

Lies about “change.” Said John McCain today: “We are the reform party.”

A lie.

No, not an “inaccurate statement.” A lie.

How, I ask you, does a party reform itself? How does the party that brought Americans an illegal and immoral war in Iraq, through lies, deceit, and cover-ups reform itself by offering yet more lies? “We are the reform party.” If it weren’t so patently absurd, if I didn’t know for an absolute fact that this particular Republican will say anything, anything if it sounds like a good sound bite, despite failing the truth test, I would be sitting there with the others blankly nodding my head in agreement.

And really, I have to ask, if John McCain will tell a bald-faced lie about such a petty thing as Governor Palin selling the Alaska governor’s jet on Ebay, and making a profit on the sale, what will he say when it really matters? When lives and treasure are at stake?

It made a good sound bite, as does “We are the reform party,” but it is a lie, and an absurdity.

And the code words continue, don’t they? We have blatant racist remarks from Georgia congressman Lynn Westmoreland calling Barack and Michelle Obama “uppity.” (but had the good sense to drop the “N” word, which is what comes next). We have Giuliani and Palin offering the words “neighborhood organizer,” accompanied with an excess of forced snickers and giggles, as a code word for outside agitator.

For those of you who weren’t alive in the 60’s an “outside agitator” was someone who came into the community to organize it so they could fight racial injustice.

You know . . . black people. Black people who caused trouble.

But the latest code word comes as no surprise at all considering the lead-up. It’s amazing how low McCain goes. Over the weekend, at a rally, McCain addressed his audience on the need to drill for oil on the OCS. The audience erupted in chant, repetitions of “Drill, baby, drill.” McCain interrupted his speech to remark that he really liked what these people were saying.

Again, for those of you who weren’t alive in the 60’s, “Drill baby, drill” comes from a crowd chant invented by rioters who lit up stores and other places of commerce during the 1967 Detroit Riots. “Burn baby, burn” was their chant as they encouraged the flames to consume symbols of their oppression.

It is a blatant and thinly veiled reminder of times past when blacks and whites seemed to be at polar opposites. It’s a reminder to Republicans and Independents not to lose their fear and dread of black people.

It is cold, calculated racism.

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