One thing that I've been learning in increments over the past decade as my political views have slowly shifted from almost wingnut-grade conservatism (hey, I used to subscribe to
BC Report magazine!) over to moderate liberalism is just how prone members of the right wing of the political spectrum are to near weapons-grade
projection.
Case in point (from Kim Lehman, a member of the Republican National Committee):
If you are able to successfully ignore the Twitterer's rampant stupidity, where she manages to ignore Obama's outright statement (within the exact speech that she refers to) that he is a Christian, and replaces his words with her own mistaken belief that he is a "secret Muslim" (it's a conspiracy!), you'll notice that she accused Politico of being paid large amounts of money to "protect" and support the Obama presidency.
Most people would think that the reason this Republican uttered such a statement was to merely strike a rhetorical attack, intimating that the only reason someone would ever defend Obama would be due to financial renumeration. That makes sense, right? Well, as it turns out, Republicans have been very busy purchasing articles and opinion space from right-leaning websites and bloggers in order to guarantee their support. The specter of Karl Rove (I know he's not dead, but he's certainly a Creature Of Darkness) rears its ugly head, and a Republican again accuses their opposition of performing an immoral act that they themselves have done a number of times. "Attack the enemy at their strengths" is a lesson they've learned well!
There's a second lesson to be learned here: Conservatives throw money at their supporters to ensure their continued fealty, yet the Democrats seem to prefer lobbing invective at their supporters in vain attempts to stop criticism for acting too much like Republicans. The GOP will use anything they can to "encourage" their base to vote: fear, racism, lies. Democrats will do anything they can do to demotivate the people that put them in power, for fear the Republicans will say mean things about them. This is merely another example of the Republicans revealing themselves as cynical opportunists and the Democrats proving that they are complete morons.
I can't believe I'm just hearing about this six months late, but I have to say it's kind of neat to be able to claim I share a hobby with the President of the United States. Well okay, I technically share the hobby with the White House cooking staff, not the President himself, and for them it's actually a job, not a pastime, but at least we shared the same beer style for our first attempt at brewing!
