Welcome to the Friday edition of your open thread. Thank goodness for the end to a really loooooong week. I hope everyone else had a great week and has a fun weekend lined up.
Diarist dhonig at Daily Kos found this ad in Women’s Day magazine.
Did you catch that? Here’s a close-up of the first point.
Is this the reason for the wage gap? Some contact the Chamber of Commerce!
Bob Cesca lays out the case that this summer is “The Summer of Republican Race-Baiting.”
This year has to be some kind of high water mark for white antagonism against minorities, and evidence that the Republicans, along with the array of far-right apparatchiks, don’t really have a serious agenda for governing to sell or, for that matter, anything of value to say. And so they do this. They continue to tap into a mother lode of white majority self-pity and inchoate rage as a form of spackle over the gaping holes in their ridiculous policy arguments.
Take a good look at the big stories of the last several months — the stories that have been driven by the far-right machine, injected into the mainstream and subsequently debated by the rest of the country — partly as a result of the far-right’s money, loudness and tenacity, and partly because these arguments are too obnoxious and outrageous, and therefore too irresistible, to avoid. I’ve been hearing a lot about August being “crazy month,” but the crazy topics have spanned the entire summer and beyond.
Cesca gives his examples: Shirley Sherrod, Anchor Babies, Park51 and Obama is a muslim rumors.
Actually, it could be all of the above because Beck simply outlined a number of so-called Muslim-ish things President Obama has done, and then left the sinister conclusions up to the imaginations and paranoia of his viewers. And by the way, that’s a major feature of the Strategy. Never draw the conclusion. Some examples. A black woman was talking about white people — and you know what that means. Mexican babies are automatically citizens — and you know what that means. The president with his mysterious religion and unusual name said positive things about Muslims — and you know what that means. We don’t know where Imam Rauf is getting his money — and you know what that means. Wink, wink. White rage is successfully tweaked. Mission accomplished.
Whether or not these issues are substantive is entirely irrelevant. The ends justify the means. Winning more power is the goal. Demagoguery, racial politics and specious arguments are fair game as long as they work. As long as the enemy is defeated. This doesn’t necessarily mean that every Republican is a racist (or, with regards to the specious arguments, an idiot). But what else do we call the deliberate inciting of racial bigotry and resentment for the sake of attaining power? It’s unethical, immoral and obscene. It’s race-baiting and it’s a major component of the Republican strategic arsenal.
Matt Taibbi has a more sinister take, comparing the rhetoric to the notorious “Radio Rwanda.”