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The Republican Response to the SoTU
So I saw Obama’s SOTU speech last night. I have been avoiding political news for the most part lately, so it was interesting to see what he had to say. I liked it, basically, but that’s not what got my attention.
What forced me to write this was the Republican response.
The guy who gave it is evidently the up and comer in the party. He is, by any metric I can leverage, a complete piece of garbage.
Watching his remarks took me from a disinterested “I wonder what the Republican’s will say…” to “I cannot fucking believe this is actually happening.”
It’s a day later and I’m still stunned by how blatantly stupid he assumed his listeners to be. He essentially put on a clinic on how to patronize and condescend to a mass of frightened and uneducated people.
Here are a few things that assaulted me from the television while watching him. Keep in mind that I missed a few segments while trying to gain control over my vomiting.
His tone was that of a pastor. He was speaking as if he possessed wisdom that his viewers did not have, and that he was warning them of a dangerous truth that they must learn about. Kind of like Jesus’s word, i.e. listen or die for eternity. Well, it’s the same with Obama’s policies.
The interesting thing about this approach is that he’s young, decent looking, and high ranking in the Republican party. He’s also a good Christian, I’m sure–evidenced by him quoting Psalms at the beginning of his talk. This power gives him the authority to condescend to idiots. Worse, though, is the fact that idiots love it. I was imaging many people I’ve known nodding their heads in approval as he talked down to them, warning them of the dangers of Obama/Satan.
His tone was sickening. Not as in “annoying”, but as in “purge your dinner”. It was completely unbelievable that he could talk down to people so blatantly and not immediately be fired. If any politician in a modern, educated society spoke to its constituents like that he’d be sacked before making it back to the hotel. I say educated–that’s not correct. Lots of Republicans who consume this tripe are educated; a better word is non-brain-damaged. Unsupervised Learning — Security, Tech, and AI in 10 minutes… Get a weekly breakdown of what's happening in security and tech—and why it matters.
One moment that clearly spoke to me was when he said, in the most belittling tone imaginable, “Let me level with you…as one citizen to another.” Holy fuck. You’re going to talk down to me for 30 minutes–telling me how afraid I should be–and then bust in with “we’re equals”. No, you’re not. What he really said was, “I’m pretending I’m an equal for the duration of this sentence.” But in reality he’s better looking than the average Republican. He has a prettier wife. He’s higher rank in the Church, he has more money, he’s better educated, he has a nicer house, a nicer watch, etc. Down the line. You know…all the things Jesus cares about. And that’s the hook.
Most Republicans nodding their heads at this fuckstain had already accepted their inferiority to him when he started talking. They were happy to be his sheep, nodding at the right moments as they were being educated from the pulpit. So when he busted out with “citizen to citizen” it felt like he was Jesus giving a scrap of bread off the table after unleashing a backhand across the face. “Yes, I deserve to be punished because you’re superior. Thank you for the bread.”
I lived in a world like this for a while recently. I observed hundreds of Christians being mistreated on a regular basis by people of higher rank. They build the ranking structure as various levels of permission to mistreat those below them. The higher up you are the more superior you are, and therefore the more you can treat others like shit. And relatedly, the more happy the mistreated feel if the masters refer to the lowlings as equals. Can you guess what the response is when they do so? “He’s so humble.” It’s not humble to level with someone when you are both human beings…it’s normal–because you are level.
The speech from this fool last night was the same exact dynamic. It was palpable to the point of leaving behind an odor. I can honestly say that I cannot respect the intellect of any human who could listen to the garbage spewed by that man and come away with any other conclusion than that he is a shrewd politician selling fear to frightened fools.
I would fear greatly for the chances of any country who could have such an obviously evil man as a spokesperson for a major political party. I fear greatly for our chances. We are doomed.
Quick thought: how many people do you think, who liked his remarks, believe in evolution? I’m guessing less than 25%. ::
Notes
1Here’s the video, for those with a strong stomach: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdwVc59L0zo