Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Anyone catch Schwarzenegger's speech at the RNC?

roachboy · 09-01-2004, 09:27 AM

that last post seems like border control.
i think bush has alienated most moderates--including fiscal conservatives. those whom i know and have talked to across the board are not voting bush this time. and they are not persuaded by the illusion that kerry is other than a centrist.

[a side note, of a much smaller cadre: he has alienated most muslim-americans, those who were inclined to vote bush on social conservative grounds as well.]

bush has alienated lots of people.
just face it.
one of the main tasks of this convention/tv event is to coax these folk back into the fold.
it is self-evident.

i do not understand how the fantasy that kerry is other than a centrist has taken hold anywhere--i figure it suits the purposes of the republicans to portray him as some leftist in part because it normalizes the extreme rightward drift the party has undergone, which is on the surface now in bushworld. it plays on the old canard dear to the right these days that they are a persecuted populist minority beset on all sides by stalinists---which is little more than a version of the evangelical persecution complex (one's faith is reflected in the level of antagonistic rejection one encounters from unbelievers) . the function of the narrative is obvious enough--it draws boundaries that people can live within---but the mystery is that anyone finds it compelling. you have to have a really narrow political spectrum in mind for the argument to hold--like you are de facto aligning with some militia outfit (a "patriot organization"), and are taking a little breather from playing paintball in camo and distributing pamphlets about how no-one should participate in jury duty to look around. the paranoid vision is an index of ideological purity, presumably. that you might encounter this line from talking heads on fox news (or someplace equivalent or even worse) who wear bidness suits and talk over those who disagree changes nothing.

i thought saletan pretty much on in most of what he says.
i have not seen anything like a substantive critique of his article here--saying he wrong about everything is not substantive---but i would be interested in seeing one.

09-01-2004, 09:27 AM	#7 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	that last post seems like border control. i think bush has alienated most moderates--including fiscal conservatives. those whom i know and have talked to across the board are not voting bush this time. and they are not persuaded by the illusion that kerry is other than a centrist. [a side note, of a much smaller cadre: he has alienated most muslim-americans, those who were inclined to vote bush on social conservative grounds as well.] bush has alienated lots of people. just face it. one of the main tasks of this convention/tv event is to coax these folk back into the fold. it is self-evident. i do not understand how the fantasy that kerry is other than a centrist has taken hold anywhere--i figure it suits the purposes of the republicans to portray him as some leftist in part because it normalizes the extreme rightward drift the party has undergone, which is on the surface now in bushworld. it plays on the old canard dear to the right these days that they are a persecuted populist minority beset on all sides by stalinists---which is little more than a version of the evangelical persecution complex (one's faith is reflected in the level of antagonistic rejection one encounters from unbelievers) . the function of the narrative is obvious enough--it draws boundaries that people can live within---but the mystery is that anyone finds it compelling. you have to have a really narrow political spectrum in mind for the argument to hold--like you are de facto aligning with some militia outfit (a "patriot organization"), and are taking a little breather from playing paintball in camo and distributing pamphlets about how no-one should participate in jury duty to look around. the paranoid vision is an index of ideological purity, presumably. that you might encounter this line from talking heads on fox news (or someplace equivalent or even worse) who wear bidness suits and talk over those who disagree changes nothing. i thought saletan pretty much on in most of what he says. i have not seen anything like a substantive critique of his article here--saying he wrong about everything is not substantive---but i would be interested in seeing one. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 09-01-2004 at 09:29 AM..