Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

The Party of Ridiculous Statements strikes again:

There’s been talk for years that many Bush supporters believe he was literally chosen by God to be president. We don’t hear as much about this lately — God wanted a U.S. president who would screw up everything he touches? — but the notion of divine intervention on behalf of Republicans has been a relatively common sentiment in far-right circles for quite a while.

That said, direct comparisons between Republican candidates and Jesus are still rather unusual. (via mcjoan)

Georgia Republican Party chairwoman Sue Everhart said Saturday that the party’s presumed presidential nominee has a lot in common with Jesus Christ.

“John McCain is kind of like Jesus Christ on the cross,” Everhart said as she began the second day of the state GOP convention. “He never denounced God, either.”

Everhart was praising McCain for never denouncing the United States while he was being tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

“I’m not trying to compare John McCain to Jesus Christ, I’m looking at the pain that was there,” she said.

Right, of course. She’s not “trying to compare” McCain to Jesus, she’s just says he’s “kind of like Jesus.” The distinction is obvious. And sacrilegious.

Let's have an English lesson, shall we? If you say something's "kind of like" something else, you're comparing the two. For instance, if I said, "Oranges are kind of like apples - they're both fruit," I've just compared apples and oranges, now, haven't I? These people not only need a course in Reality 101, apparently they need remedial English lessons as well.

Speaking of the terminally reality challenged, Faux News thinks it can give lessons in journalism:

This might be one of the greatest Fox News items of all time.

Last night, Karl Rove appeared on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor” to discuss President Bush’s interview with NBC and accusations that the network distorted Bush’s comments. Rove and guest host Laura Ingraham quickly attacked NBC’s ethics:

INGRAHAM: Yes, well, Karl, this follows on, you know, on
primary nights, big nights, when you’re with Brit and everybody here. Over at NBC, they have a couple of their, you know, commentator types Matthews and the like, sitting next to Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams. I mean, there is no
line between news and commentary. It’s all blurred.

Rove added that the “journalistic standards of MSNBC, which are really no standards at all,” are now “creep[ing] into NBC.”

Now, on the substance, we’ve already talked about how foolish the charges against NBC are. The report did not distort Bush’s comments, and this manufactured outrage is pretty weak tea.

But more importantly, it’s genuinely comical to hear Fox News personalities accuse anyone of blurring the line “between news and commentary.” That is, after all, the reason Fox News exists.

I mean, really. Consider the context on this one — Laura Ingraham (prominent Republican media personality) was talking to Karl Rove (prominent Republican consultant-turned-media-personality-turned-McCain-advisor) about another network maintaining weak journalistic standards on objectivity and neutrality. Not only were they wrong about the NBC report, but neither Ingraham nor Rove are journalists, neither are objective, neither are neutral, and neither have professional standards.

That's it. I'm now convinced that neocons and their slavering followers don't inhabit the reality we all know and sometimes love. Their brains look into some alternate dimension, where Faux News is journalism, comparing someone to Jesus isn't comparing them to Jesus, and what's really rich, they're going to win in November:

“This is going to be a better year for Republicans than people think,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said on Monday. “We hope to pick up seats — that’s the goal.”

If "better year for Republicans than people think" means "We won't lose everything," then yes, it might turn out well. But considering how they've fared so far this election year, all I can say is, "Good fucking luck."