So there were two special elections for the House of Reps this past spring in which Republican candidates campaigned against their opponents by linking them to Barack Obama. The message was this person is like Obama (who is a secret radical Muslim liberal, and by the way, he's Black), so you should vote for me. Both Republicans lost in those elections, signaling that divisive campaigns and fear-mongering won't work. One of those elections was in a Republican stronghold in MISSISSIPPI; the other was North Carolina.
Now the other shoe has dropped. Oregon Republican Sen. Gordon Smith, a guy who has supported Bush's war in Iraq, his tax cuts for billionaires and wealthy corporate donors to the administration, helped blocked passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, and helped ram through right-wing extremists for federal courts, is campaigning on Obama's coattails. Smith is running ads highlighting praise Smith received from Obama on the Oregon Senator's support for better environmental policy.
I guess Smith must have been watching when 75,000 people turned out to see Obama speak in Portland earlier this month.
Times are changing.
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3 comments:
But... but...
CNN said that Oregon is full of "white" "liberal" "elites." Why would anyone want to campaign there? And why would they ride Obama there? I remember CNN also saying that there are no working class voters in Oregon, so it was in consequential. CNN wouldn't... (gulp)... lie, would it? Or fabricate facts?
My faith is shaken, my resolve tested. Maybe I'll switch on Fox News... AAARGH!
My intellect lies dead on the floor.
This shows how sad the corporate media's understanding of class is.
Ah Harold, perk up. Capitalist media understands class and especially class struggle, that is, the class they serve and their role in spreading false conciousness. In the U.S. where white males have had the right to vote on paper longer than in any other country, they have done it longer, beginning in the 1830s, when the slave holder and murderer of native peoples, Andrew Jackson, portrayed himself as the champion of the "Common Man" and abolitionists and other real champions of democracy were portrayed as members of an arrogant elite, more interested in slaves than in white people, and, for the educational reformers, assuming that the "common man" needed free schools when all he needed was his muscle and intuition and the freedom to become rich in society.
Actually, although Fox is clearly the worst, all of the cables and the networks are terrible in terms of basic news coverage, which for them is what they are supposed to be. PBS gives you Bill Moyers to compensate on a weekly basis for its news hour and business cheerleading, and that won't change until we have a government that will create inclusive public media
Norman Markowitz
You are certainly right, Norman, about the capitalist media. All the mainstream stations are awful, and than goodness for Bill Moyers. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find competent basic news coverage.
Its a good thing we have the PWW, yes?
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