Friday, September 05, 2008

McCain's Hate Speech

In case you didn't get a chance to see it, and because I'm always willing to take one for the team, I watched the entire "acceptance" speech of John McCain. The words from beginning to end were repugnant. The crowd was bellicose and mean-spirited, and if McCain had told them to go out and beat up fags or evil atheists or kikes or niggers or whatever, they would have goose-stepped out of the hall and done it. The assembled Republicans were like a small ugly army of belligerents who wore their hatred on their sleeves, and the "U.S.A." they kept shouting about is a completely different place than the America I inhabit. When McCain grudgingly talked about Obama's achievement, and how he admired it, the crowd applauded limply; but they were in "fuck them" mode from the very first words to the final chantings by their candidate of "fight for" this, "fight for" that, "fight for" the other. That's what they wanted: to go out and knock someone's block off.

Of course, there was plenty of god, god, god. At one point, McCain mentioned that he had been a servant ostensibly to the country but as I learned from Evo yesterday, that word "servant" is code for "servant to god." And sure enough, when he said "servant" the second time, the camera zeroed in on a face in the crowd, lifted to the ceiling and mouthing the word "god," as if he actually saw somebody waving to him from overhead and urging him to go kick the shit out of a liberal.

Early in the speech, a couple of female protestors in the crowd how the fuck did they get in? were physically dragged from the premises, all of which was caught on camera. McCain asked the crowd: "Please don't be diverted by the ground noise and the static." That may have been a good thing, because some strong macho war-machine otherwise might have decided to save America right there.

At one of the many times that McCain was crowing about what a reformer he'll be, one person in the hall held up a sign that said: "Mavrick." That misspelled word sums up exactly what I thought of the crowd's intellect.

I also learned something I hadn't been aware of before. McCain was once a Prisoner Of War. Did any of my readers know that?

The one thing to be optimistic about is how ineptly the speech was delivered. Obviously reading from a teleprompter, the Mavrick stumbled over words, misphrased a few sentences, and even skipped something he started to say when the crowd interrupted him with applause; either he or the teleprompter or both couldn't figure out where he'd left off. Some of the time, he didn't seem to know where the beginning of a sentence was leading. Once or twice, he paused for what he must have thought would be applause, although there was none. A few other times, he seemed to be surprised when the audience did hoot and holler.

Obama seemed so much more like a leader in his speech. I'm not sure he can translate that on the stump and in the debates, but if he can, the race is over. If not, he probably deserves to lose.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

I didn't watch it. And that is scary about the "Mavrick" sign and comparison to intellect. So telling.

Anonymous said...

I heard some clips from it on BBC radio this morning, and I thought he sounded like he didn't quite know what he was doing. But with clips, it could just have been selective editing, and I'm not going to watch the whole thing on youtube.

Aside from her politics, Palin actually looks like the more credible of the two based on their respective speeches in St Paul.

vjack said...

In the first two Kerry-Bush debates, Kerry clearly mopped the floor with him. Kerry came across sounding presidential, while Bush sounded like an unprepared moron (especially in the first debate). Bush still won. I have to remind myself of this every time I see McSame speak and get excited about how awful he is.

PhillyChief said...

Clearly someone was confused and thought they were at a MMA event, expecting to see Mavrick Harvey. I'll try to find an image of that online today. I would imagine it should be all over the place very soon, like this classic (maybe the same sign writer?)

Vjack is right, of course. What you say in a debate in the US is pretty meaningless compared to how pretty and/or charming you can be. It's a tradition that started with JFK, worked wonders for Reagan, and certainly for W (although he was aided first by boring Gore and then EXCEEDINGLY long winded and boring Kerry). This is why Palin is dangerous. If she shows up for a debate wearing camo, a wet t-shirt and carrying a rifle in one hand and a bible in the other, Biden won't stand a chance.

DB said...

Tbh, I didn't think the speech was too awful though I was spending most of the time playing "spot the black Republican" each time the camera panned out. I had to tivo a few shots and still couldn't find one...

The Exterminator said...

Larro:
Yeah, the "Mavrick" sign explained a lot about the crowd. Of course, McCain won't have to spell if he becomes president. He'll be able to look up words on "the google."

plonkee:
Based on their speeches, Palin definitely does look like the more credible of the two. That's pretty scary.

vjack:
You're right about the debates, of course. I think most people, not only Americans, can't distinguish between oratorical talent and content. So those who swing toward Christo-Nazism will automatically find McCain's speech-making to be inspiring, and those who swing toward Kumbaya-ism will find Obama's to be uplifting.

However, because there's no incumbent, and because the current Republican administration has such low approval ratings, the issues-ignorant voters, with their American Idol mentalities, may notice that Obama has more "talent." On the other hand, when the debates are aired, those people are probably more likely to channel-surf for reruns of Cheaters (Republicans) or Super Nanny (Democrats).

Philly:
You're right about a Palin-Biden debate. Unfortunately, she can show up in a granny outfit carrying a spatula in one hand and a Dust Buster in the other. He's not the most listenable guy, either -- although next to Gore and Kerry, he's a Demosthenes. (I'm a little too young to remember Demmy in his prime, but I've heard that he was pretty good.)

DB:
I was spending most of the time playing "spot the black Republican" ...
Yeah, Mrs. Ex has been playing SBR all week. However, she didn't feel that she had earned a point until she yelled, "What the fuck are you doing there? Are you nuts?"

Spanish Inquisitor said...

Next time play spot the Atheist Republican. That's far more challenging.

What's scary to me is that many people have already written McCain off as dying in office, but will vote for him anyway because they figure they are really voting for President Palin.

John Evo said...

Thanks. You’re a great quarterback. I’ll sit out this set of downs and take your word on it (unless someone thinks I REALLY need to watch the speech).

What you are saying about the crowd is exactly how I felt during Palin’s speech. THIS slice of America (a big slice) is just the antitheses of what America is supposed to look like and act like – at least to me. I was truly more disturbed by the conventioneers than I was by anything she said (and more disturbed by what I KNOW she avoided saying).

It really is two Americas. Well, shit. It’s a lot more than that. But you know what I mean.

Anonymous said...

Hey man, thanks for taking one for the team. Though I gotta be honest, I wouldn't have done that for anybody. I can't listen to McCain without the Daily Show/Colbert "make McCain interesting" filter. It's bad enough that Palin's speech ran long and caused my DVR to miss the ending of America's Got Talent. Now I'll never know The Hoff's opinion of the young piano player "with Heart".

C. L. Hanson said...

Well, thanks for taking one for the team -- I'd rather not watch this train-wreck myself. See VJack's comment...

Anonymous said...

Aww, come on everyone, stop giving Ex a pat on the back for his "sacrifice." He loved every minute of it. There are few things he enjoys more than getting righteously pissed off.

The Exterminator said...

SI:
Next time play spot the Atheist Republican.
He was the one with the bloody nose and black eye, cringing in the corner.

Evo:
It really is two Americas.
Yes, one is the country that you and I like to pretend we inhabit. The other is Mussolini's Italy.

Eno:
It's bad enough that Palin's speech ran long and caused my DVR to miss the ending of America's Got Talent.
See, you had the wrong attitude about the Republican convention. You should have thought of it as America's Got No Talent.

C.L.:
Well, thanks for taking one for the team.
You're welcome. I'm planning on holding the fort until Nico gets old enough to watch that kind of bullshit and report back in his David Attenborough voice.

chappy:
If you're going to be giving away confidential information like that, I'm gonna get really pissed off. (Hey, that might be fun.)

Anonymous said...

McCain was once a Prisoner Of War. Did any of my readers know that?

I assume that was some form of sarcasm?

he's been playing the POW hero card a fair bit. well he was just one of about 600 POWs no better, no worse. Being a POW is no prerequisite for being President, surely?

interesting interview of a guy that knew McCain, and was a POW with him - watch it here

The Exterminator said...

Oz:
Yes, sarcasm. If even you down there know about McCain's POW status, you can imagine how much it's being drummed into the American public (using the very same drum that he beats for war with Iran, Russian, and Liechtenstein).

Thanks for the video.

PhillyChief said...

You didn't know that being a PoW makes you uniquely qualified to be a leader? This administration realizes that, which is why they're still trying to make sure no one ever gets out of Gitmo. How many hundreds (thousands?) of future strong leaders are being made there? We can't let them go and lead our enemies. We'd be doomed!

Venjanz said...

I'm sorry to have to say this, but you are going to have to go to the Patriot Camp as well.

escort lecce said...

Here, I do not actually think this is likely to have success.