On Bullshit

Ok, so I've figured out what it is about the Republicans that is so infuriating. It's not just their do-nothing obstructionism, or the latent racism of some of their propaganda. It's not even the fact that they caused this whole mess we are in with their de-regulation of the finance industry, the way they ignored global warming, their senseless war in Iraq..... you know.

No, I just realized that I am tired of their bullshit. They are so full of it--full of bullshit. It's probably because the line between politics and entertainment has become so blurred these days. Whatever the reason, they are just so full of bullshit. And I'm tired of it. And I'm tired that some people still believe their bullshit. I believe that some of them are indeed operating from a sincere philosophical political position--that they believe in small government, traditional family values, etc.--but for the most part they are just full of bullshit.

For instance, take this birther bullshit, the idea that President Obama might not have been born in Hawaii and therefor isn't eligible to be President. But he's got all the documentation Hawaii requires, Hawaii says he was born there, the courst threw out the case long ago, and yet they still insist on this bullshit--bullshit so blatant that even Glen Beck -- GLEN BECK -- has called it bullshit.

And speaking of Beck, his bullshit about the president appointing Communists to the government. What is this, the 1950s? We aren't at war with the communists anymore, dummy. We are at war with the Taliban and with al Queda, which are decidedly not communist (and which, by the way, only exist because we propped them up when we were at war with the Communists). It's bullshit. Of course, so is his definition of communists and socialists. What Glen Beck calls a "communist" is really just anyone to the left of Hillary Clinton. And apparently anybody can be a socialist in Beck's world. He pilloried Teddy Roosevelt as a socialist (maybe he just got his Roosevelts wrong). His bullshit over the iconography of Rockefeller Center was even more stupid, because it demonstrated his total ignorance of iconography, of art, of the Rockefellers (can you imagine? calling Nelson Rockefeller a socialist?) and the history of the building: One of the most famous incidents in the history of art occured when Rockefeller objected to a mural Diego Rivera had painted for Rock Center and ordered it destroyed, because it was what Beck is claiming the art there still is, too socialist. In other words, this is a place where socialist art was specifically excluded and destroyed, and Beck insists that it is decorated with socialist art. Because he's full of bullshit.

You've heard all this bullshit: Obama is a socialist (bullshit: if he were a socialist he'd be pushing for socialized medicine); Obama is weak on defense (bullshit: just because he thinks before going off half cocked), Obama wants to kill grandma (bullshit: pure unadulterated bullshit).

I'm not saying liberals aren't full of bullshit too. Keith Olberman's bullshit often annoys me, and Bill Maher makes me scream sometimes, but their bullshit seems less onerous. Maybe it's my own bias, but liberal bullshit doesn't seem to be as outrageous, nor does it seem to be pervasive. I don't think the liberals actually believe their bullshit, nor do they believe others will believe their bullshit, and their bullshit is nowhere near as deep as the Republicans bullshit is.

No, the Republicans, following the example of Limbaugh and Gingrich and Reagan, have turned bullshit into an art--a shameless art. Nobody bullshits better than a Republican.

(apologies to Howard Beale)