Somewhere, in Alaska, a Village Has Lost Its Idiot

Sorry, had to resurrect that old Bush-era slam for this post from Steve Benen at Washington Monthly. Apparently the former half-term governor of Alaska and her team of speechwriters has pulled an Obama quote completely out of context and put out a version of what he said that will fire up her base of supporters.

Well, duh! Benen correctly labels Palin as "painfully, conspicuously unintelligent," but her team is not. See, on the red side of the aisle, it's important to note that the base does not read anything about Obama unless it comes from Fox News or some other right-wing propaganda machine. Their entire view of the President, therefore, is tainted by what the managers of this machine want them to hear. Since they already have the preconception that Obama is not an American citizen, a socialist, a Nazi, and hates America, then all the right has to do is take what he says (precisely, that he loves the United States, the country of his birth, the country that provided him with all the opportunities he has had which have brought him unbelievable success) and pronounce that it means precisely the opposite of what it really means.

Here's John Boehner the other day, after the Obama administration announced that it was suing Goldman Sachs in civil court on fraud charges:

Despite President Obama’s rhetoric, his permanent bailout bill gives Goldman Sachs and other big Wall Street banks a permanent, taxpayer-funded safety net by designating them "too big to fail." Just whose side is President Obama on?

So, as the president announces he's taking a hard stance against Goldman Sachs and holding them accountable for selling their investors financial instruments that they were secretly betting against, he's actually creating a permanent bail-out fund (another RNC/FNC talking point being bled dry).

And the GOP base will believe him because they refuse to listen to anything else.

I can't help thinking that older Americans, who make up the vast majority of the Tea Party movement which now represents the dominant Republican world view, were saying similar things about the last two young Democratic presidents, and that this whole mess since last spring/summer has been nothing more than a generational conflict. Those who used to hold power can't stand losing it to those they raised because those they raised now disagree with them. And young Republicans like Sarah Palin have capitalized on this collective tunnel vision by feeding it a constant diet of Obama hating, non-Republican-hating, non-Christian-hating rhetoric. It's as predictable as a sunrise these days. And it's pathetic.