What is it with conservatives who purport to revere American history but have virtually no knowledge or understanding of it? From GOP candidates who think that the Revolutionary War began in New Hampshire, to Republicans who reject marriage equality, to Supreme Court justices who think corporations are people. The right has fetishized the Constitution and canonized its authors, but they repeatedly show disdain for both through their ignorance.
The Fox Nationalists routinely abuse the American legacy by misrepresenting it and twisting its meaning in pursuit of their partisan agenda. This morning they ran an item that unfairly hammers President Obama with an accusatory headline saying “Obama Attacks America’s Founding Principles in Detroit.”
The basis for their assertion is an article that misquotes the President’s remarks to the UAW in Detroit yesterday. The article was originally published by CNS News, a subsidiary of the ultra-rightist Media Research Center, and slams Obama for allegedly saying that “trying to climb to the very top” is only about “greed.” But the President’s message was more than that. What he actually said was…
“America’s not just looking out for yourself, it’s not just about greed, it’s not just about trying to climb to the very top and keep everybody else down. When our assembly lines grind to a halt, we work together and we get them going again. When somebody else falters, we try to give them a hand up, because we know we’re all in it together.”
That part about not “keep[ing] everybody else down” was a significant omission. As is the part where Obama says that “we’re all in it together.” The notion of collective destiny is something that conservatives have profound trouble grasping. It’s why they hate unions and community organizing. However, another great American had something to say in this vein, and he knew a thing or two about America’s founding principles:
How long will it be before Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh rips Benjamin Franklin apart for being a socialist Alinskyite?
May I submit that the qualifying phrase “not just about” was also deliberately ignored?
This election would be easy to win if they make it about a meritocracy over a plutocracy; genuine success over nepotism and nobility. Pawns in a board game being pushed around by the few that find greed as something to be encouraged instead of a vice that harms the masses, especially on the scale they exhibit. Genuine sacrifice and genuine victims of ’08 versus doing better than they ever have in history and bitching and complaining about a 4% tax hike that, surprise surprise, was made to expire by republicans. True deficit hawks versus deficit makers. Taking care of national security effectively versus ignoring credible threats leading to 9/11 and starting bullshit wars with pretenses void of truth. Actually effective economic policies that visibly strengthen the economy versus going after workers and public servants like teachers and law enforcement. Going after our problems versus mandating government shove a probe up your twat.
Make it about reality versus an unproven, evidently contradictory theory (as they seem to practice it anyways) of small government. And in the words of Toby Zeigler, ‘Make it about heavyweight and not.’
The point of the rant, is they HAVE to be running out of spin on all this shit. Rewriting history and saying ‘President Bush’s policies aren’t our policies’ won’t fuckin fly anymore. Sorry if it was still off-topic.
Franklin was also a member of the Hell Fire Club and a womanizer, something Newt and him have in common. Maybe, they will gripe about that, too.