Apr 15 2012
The Power Of Stupidity – Or How Snark Killed The Democrats This Election Year
The Democrats were basking in the glow of a really bad GOP primary season. They had successfully turned GOP candidate misfires into the image of the bad ‘ol GOP of yester-year (preachy, prudish and pompous). There was the rich against the poor – with Romney being the near-perfect stereotype of the rich man who won his treasure on the backs of Main Street workers.
And there was the war on women, which erupted after the debate on restrictions for public payment of abortions and birth control, etc.
Then Hillary Rosen lead the charge against Ann Romney in one of those apparent coordinated media attacks you see from political pundits. This was because Ann Romney was deemed to be the biggest threat to the Obama campaign. A threat I failed to see until last week. Little did I know!
Rosen went full-on-dumb snark when she claimed “Ann hasn’t worked a day in her life”. The typical left wing feminist organizations followed suit – right over the electoral cliff.
Rosen’s sin was she attacked the backbone of America – The Family. If there is anything more powerfully toxic to a politician it is attacking the ‘home’ of Americans. We can disagree on solutions to pressing problems all day long, but no one disses the family. And the heart of all families is the mother – who sacrifices so much for her family. Every decent husband, and all the children know, moms give up a lot to do the hardest job in America.
Raising good and successful children.
Who doesn’t have a memory of Mom coming to your aid when you were hurt, or knowing when to spoil you with a reward and punish you when you went astray. Who doesn’t recall being sick and turning to Mom, or being heart broken and turning to Mom, or being proud for making a big achievement and turning to Mom …
Husbands know, Mom is first on everyone’s mind.
The point is, the luckiest amongst us have a Mom and Dad in our lives a lot, as positive influences (as opposed to people who fail at being Mom and Dad – sometimes horrifically). And those who don’t have this fortune muddle through wishing they did.
What Rosen and the left did (primarily the twisted feminist far left) is reopen the real battle lines in America. The war of the family against a society run amok. A society run amok through the power of government busy bodies looking to demonstrate their superior intellect and morals (which always begs the question, what kind of superior being settles for a government job). [BTW, I have 100% respect for all those ‘normal’ people working for the government without arrogance and disdain for all those outside government].
The family is under attack from the tag team of big business and big government. And it is these forces of oppression We The People want reigned in. So when Rosen and the far left snarked their true disregard for the family, they provided a clear and uncomplicated target for Main Street’s frustration. They provided Americans with something to rally behind as wrong, evil and needing to be eliminated from mature thought. There is no need to overthink this, Rosen and the feminists have given everyone and easy place to vent all their frustrations.
Over at Bookworm Room the essence of this misstep was made crystal clear. The selfish feminists are now in full battle with selfless mothers. This line especially hit home:
This is not just a war of tired old feminists who are trying to justify the fact that most of them paid illegal, undereducated women, many of whom speak little or no English, to raise their children.
This actually does appear to be the crux of the matter. In between the Ann Romney types (wealthy enough to stay home) and the liberal elite who are so self absorbed they outsource their kids to surrogates, live the rest of America. Many of whom hire help or utilize day care, but who would prefer more time home with the kids. They would love to be in Ann Romney’s shoes.
Recall that the left see children as burdens, not the treasure they are. For evolution-believing types they are ignorant of the power of parenting in regards to biological success. Feminists and liberals talk about the conception of life as a parasite. Got that? A blood sucking parasite. Not a rare gift – a once for all time spark. A parasite that can be destroyed at a whim, and paid for by taxpayers.
I have a biology degree and I know for a fact the individual of any life form is unique. There never will be another like it ever again, and they are the one only to exist in all of history. To see this rare event as a parasite, or some burden that takes from expressing one’s inner whatever, is sad. Pathetically sad. It is where Main Street parts with the elites and rightfully looks down on the wasted existence of said hollow elites.
The happiest families have balance. Dedicated parents who share the time and responsibility with the kids. Whose free time is dedicated to the kids. In this modern world, Moms working paid jobs are not much different from stay at home moms, and they all get along well in every community in the country. These are children-first types – not the Rosen-nuts. They are repelled by Rosen’s callousness.
Bookworm makes one more point, which to me is just an offshoot or aberration of the guilt-avoidance mentioned above:
Part of the socialist experiment was that children would be raised, not within family units, but as part of the cooperative. Only in that way could the kibbutz [socialists] defeat unhealthy, selfish individualism and assure a new generation of people dedicated to the movement.
Yes, to eliminate individualism would require breaking the bond between parents and children. Then children can be programmed to do the state’s bidding. Nazis and others discovered this issue decades ago. Cults employ this strategy. But ironically, it is those who are selfish with their own lives who fall for this myth. You cannot take the parent out of humanity – it is our long parenting period that made us who we are, and why our children imprint on their parents and stay with them for decades. Social engineering cannot win against genetics.
I feel the left is riddled with insecurity. They are intimidated by the rich, the powerful (see our military), the successful (another form of rich), and the happy. They thrive on sustaining the moment they revolted from parental oppression (be it religion, sexual orientation, taste in clothes, whatever). Why they even consider having or raising kids is beyond me. Maybe it is more of that lashing out and trying to prove they were right when they went full anarchist to leave the nest.
But I do know this. The tolerance for individual choice ends at the individual making the choice. The minute that choice is mandated on others, or others are oppressed (for what else is snarkasm but a way to oppress diversity) then the line is crossed and the spines go up. As bookworm noted, once the selfless parental instincts kick in – so does the mother lion protecting her cub instinct. Or the family’s instinct to protect its matriarch.
The minute Rosen and the left waged their war on mothers (which this was), they were doomed.
No one disses the mom of the house. No one. Being the husband I can tell you for a fact the kids and I would never let our tolerance for diversity extend that far. Them fighting words.
It’s all motherhood and apple pie. I was fortunate enough to be raised by a great Mom and Dad. Yes, she spanked me when I was bad, but I don’t really remember the spankings, I remember the lessons I learned from them. Mama was always there when I needed her, or when she needed to be.
Me and my wife raised two great children and my wife was a stay at home Mom and believe me, I would never have traded my outside job for hers. I knew when my work was done for the day. Her’s never was. Yep, the Dims aren’t just taking on Republicans or conservatives, now they have taken on all the Mom’s of the world and that’s a battle the Dims can’t win.
I really enjoyed and agree with this post..
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/up-with-chris-hayes/47053681#47053681
A beautiful commentary, AJ, strung together by many pearls of wisdom.
I agree that images of “Mom and apple pie” are as anathema to the liberal creed as garlic is to vampires. The Mom/Dad/children family nucleus is a unit the left has been trying to recreate as an unproductive, dated model for society to hang onto. Hence, they have already unleashed their political operation of the draperizing of Mitt Romney, in painting the Romney’s as a hopeless retro 50’s type family, in which no one living in this haplessly molded 21st century can relate to.
Rosen’s subtle attack was but a minor shot in the dark, meant to be an initiation of a new dem strategy, much as contraception was quirkily thrown out in the republican debates. However, what was intended to be merely a sparkler, turned out to be a rocket that exploded in their faces, lighting up a cacophony of male/female distortions, old wounds, the by-products and wreckage of NOW, as well as questions about if we really are better off kicking families and their values to the curb.
I really do believe that Obama’s team has severely misjudged public sentiment on this one. I don’t think they understand how many people do yearn for the ‘good old 50’s’ where dreams were nurtured, family stability was palpable, and opportunities for fame and fortune were fathomed to be greater than just winning the lotto. Old shows, like The Wonder Years, still have audiences watching them on cable, entertained by songs that represented real music, and family drama that held lessons for children to marinate and maturate in, rather than be stalled in our current generation’s endless summers of arrested development malaise.
Yes, Rosen’s remark hit a nerve. May it be but the beginning of many nerves, which can jolt and perhaps awaken a sleeping public, helping them make better choices as to the direction they really want this country to go.
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Redteam, I just posted this and then read your’s above…we are both on the apple pie thought train, aren’t we? LOL
The Rosen/Stay at home Mom affair was strictly about the Left expressing identity issues.
The Obama Administration and its MSM support brigade — being made of of hard core Leftists — will go there on a whole bunch of Left of center identity in order issue to gin up support of their base while trying to turn off independent voters.
The problem they have with this is two fold.
1) When they let slip their “Mask of Moderation”, they very often polarize more against them than in favor of them.
2) The Left is highly vulnerable to identity issue push back, because their political policies ARE THEIR IDENTITY.
Rosen doubling down on stupid was a classic case of this.
Watching the Lefties reaction to the ‘Big Hollywood’ Breitbart site push back on the internet ratings of Colbert & Stewart is another.
I think what is happening here is that the portion of the Democratic Party that is closer to the center is abandoning Obama but in a very subtle and discreet way. Rosen would have known exactly how her phrase “never worked a day in her life” would have been received. She is a PR professional. Words and nuance are her profession. She had to absolutely know that the phrase would generate a firestorm.
David Axelrod did something similar today when he said: “The choice in this election is between an economy that produces a growing middle class and that gives people a chance to get ahead and their kids a chance to get ahead and an economy that continues down the road we’re on.”
Tim Geithner did the same thing when he said something along the lines of “we don’t really have a plan, we just know that we don’t like yours”. All of these things on the surface look like they are trying to help Obama but if you look carefully, they aren’t trying all that HARD to help Obama and actually might be having the opposite impact and it might be intentional.
Say what you will about Democrats but not all of them a far left Maoists like the Obama crew. Some of them are actually pretty intelligent people whose politics is just slightly to the left of center. The Clinton Democrats, for example. They tend to be more pragmatic and I believe they are becoming more alarmed by the direction they see Obama taking the country.
The pragmatic “Clinton Democrats” understand that the only budget surpluses we have seen in recent history were when Clinton and Gingrich passed a dramatic cut in capital gains and dividend taxes. They have to be looking at Obama’s proposals to increase those taxes with alarm. They know that history shows that when those taxes are increased, tax revenue plummets. We can not afford to cut off tax revenues by raising those taxes.
Capital gains taxes can be used along with interest rates to slow inflation. If you increase capital gains taxes you discourage investment and that cools off the economy. We need to stimulate the economy right now.
I suggest listening to Larry Kudlow’s radio program yesterday 4/14:
http://www.wabcradio.com/goout.asp?u=http://www.wabcradio.com/sectional.asp?id=33448
One of your best, AJ.
Why, thank you penguin2!
AJ,
Thank you
Your most powerful post ever.
You have changed the battle.
Well dome, Sir!
Dave
Thanks Mordeci/Dave!
Sometimes the Muses just come out in force.
Change topic to Martin case: just read this:
“Republican Gov. Rick Scott said Monday he doesn’t believe special prosecutor Angela Corey is influenced by anything but the facts of the case.
He says his focus is the same as hers – securing justice for Martin’s family and due process for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer recently charged with second-degree murder ”
This triggers two questions for me:
1. Is ‘due process’ and ‘securing justice’ the same thing?
2. If the answer is no, why would the governor be interested in justice for only one of the parties involved?
if it ‘IS’ the same thing, then why would he not state: He says his focus is the same as hers – securing justice for Martin’s family and for George Zimmerman?
just wondering…
good eye, redteam – that jumped out at me from the governer’s statement too. The answer is no, they are NOT the same thing at all, which makes your question #2 perfectly accurate.
Why doesn’t he want justice for Zimmermann or his family?
“Justice” is a theoretical concept; it’s what is strived for, but only God can ever truly know whether it’s been achieved or not.
“due process” is the constitutional guarantee given to anyone accused of a crime, that all of the legal i’s will be dotted and t’s crossed before they are convicted.
Justice is what victims seek. Due process is what reluctant officials are forced to give to the people they consider to be criminals.
Having said that, I think the Governor is telling the truth completely, maybe even more than he knows. His focus IS the same as the prosecutors, which means they both already consider Zimmermann guilty and are just trying to find a way to ramrod a conviction through as quickly as they can. If it wasn’t for that due process thing, they’d have strung him up already.
I do worry that Zimmermann’s mental state is weak, which is why the prosecutor is trying to scare him into a quick plea bargain deal, which she can then take into this fall’s election as proof of her deep, caring ways. That, by the way, is exactly the game Mike Nifong was playing in the Duke LaCrosse case.
although that was much worse than this; Nifong got fired and disbarred because they were able to prove that he had evidence which proved the boys were innocent, and he hid it. In other words, he conspired to falsely convict them for his own political benefit. Are there crooked prosecutors out there? A heck of a lot more than any of us really want to know.
Rick Scott probably won’t win reelection as Florida Governor. I was wondering why he was polling so badly (he had been a tea party favorite) but when I saw this, it all started to make sense. Oh – so he’s an idiot! and it’s starting to show. No wonder the state is getting sick of him.
“I do worry that Zimmermann’s mental state is weak, which is why the prosecutor is trying to scare him into a quick plea bargain deal,”
I agree. There is definitely an impression that a lot of people think Zimmerman was running around trying to be a bad-ass cop. Those that think that, should listen to the ‘unredacted’ tape of his call to 911 that night. He almost seems timid, is very courteous to the 911 person and is clearly trying to be as helpful as possible. When told that he did not need to follow Martin, he quit. That is very obvious from the sounds on the tape. His hard breathing that came right back to normal when he stopped running. The sounds indicate he was standing there waiting for the police when a confrontation suddenly began.
I think the governor should want liberty and justice for all, not just selected individuals that will help his politics.
more professional opinion as to just what an unprofessional mess the charging instrument is:
“The “affidavit of probable cause” filed by Corey last week charging Zimmerman with second-degree murder is woefully inadequate for what it purports to be — a factual basis on which to charge a person with an extremely serious criminal defense. It may be the weakest such affidavit I have ever read (and as a former United States attorney and long-time practicing criminal defense lawyer, I have reviewed many charging affidavits). Regardless of whether Zimmerman deserves to be charged with a crime — a decision on which I take no position based on what I know at this point — this document, prepared by a trained prosecutor and executed by two trained investigators, definitely does not provide a reasonable foundation for such a charge.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/16/charge-against-zimmerman-reeks-of-unprofessionalism/#ixzz1sJWoGEO2
and meanwhile, Newt continues to campaign for a post-campaign slot as an anchor at either CNN or MSNBC: (no kidding – he’s got nothing else to do, and he’s clearly burning his bridges with his old network)
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57414919-503544/newt-gingrich-still-bashing-fox-news/
The whole point of the Florida legal process for the legal and elected offical players, visa vi Zimmerman’s trial, is to push it after the Nov 2012 election. This way the judge and special prosecutor avoid facing well funded opponents in their next primary election.
If they can intimidate Zimmerman into coping a plea, all to the better.
What we are seeing here is there are two legal systems.
Those for the politically connected and that for everyone else.
This is a cause belli for starting the next American Civil War, if it gets visibly worse.
I see one post of mine has been caught up in moderation for a couple days now – the only thing is a link to a cbs news story, apparently wordpress doesn’t like that.
So I won’t put a link in this one – but a story is out today illustrating what a stinky turd of a case this is becoming. Not only did the 1st Judge officially quit the case today (note: a judge can always find a reason to quit if he or she really wants to, that’s the dirty little secret about conflict of interest) but the 2nd Judge up immediately declared that he had a conflict of interest, too! So Judge 1 and Judge 2 have already jumped out of the way of this runaway train, and now Judge 3 is stuck with it.
That’s a resounding vote of confidence from the judiciary. As with most office politics, we’re left wondering – is the judge who ends up stuck with the stinky turd simply the one guy who’s too dumb to know how bad it is or how to protect himself from what’s headed his way?
It is so astonishing that David Axelrod was caught unaware of Obama’s blurb about eating dogs in his “Dreams from My Father” book.
The Jim Treacher jokes were just fantastic. Can’t believe the jokes include new recipe books!!
Michael Vick had to spend time in prison for mistreating dogs, but at least he wasn’t eating them…..
Kinda like all these people talking about how inhumane the American troops are for taking a picture with body parts. Not many comments about how the originator of the body parts blew themselves apart (is that inhumane?) in an effort to kill those same troops. I’ll let their actions speak for themselves, but someone’s measure of inhumanity is different from mine.
taking a picture? inhumane?
blowing oneself to pieces? Humane?
The dog stories have had legs, that is for sure. I just don’t see how Semas can any longer be held up in disdain, with what is going around about Obama.
Also, agree Redteam, about the body parts pictures. For one thing why did the NYT print them? What was the point? What was to be gained? Also, war is inhuman. So it is not particularly out of step what people, who are in combat, might think is worthy of a keepsake photo, IMO.
Watch out for Wayne Pacelle and Michael Vick!!!
Are you guys keeping with the recent state laws in regards to how HSUS will destroy the private owners that own animals?