February 25, 2006
The Republican Party is a Cult*
Did you ever notice that when Karl Rove tells the Republican base to jump, they ask "how high?"
For example, during the 2004 Republican Convention, the RNC had to spin the fact that John Kerry had fought in Vietnam and received a purple heart.
Instead of - god forbid - treating him with the respect he deserves (or simply ignoring it altogether), they mocked Kerry by handing out band-aids for everyone to wear on their face (hey, these are petty, immature Republicans. What do you expect?).
They also handed out "flip-flops" so everyone can go around screaming - what else? - "Kerry's a liberal flip-flopper!"
Na-na-na-na-na-na....
I haven't come across behavior like that since kindergarten. But that's just kid stuff (literally).
What's alarming is that whenever the Republican Party hands out marching orders to "the troops," they're always carried out, word for word (if only the Bush White House was half as competent and efficient).
In fact, the Republican Party has become a powerful and intimidating machine that does nothing but spew orders, propaganda and talking points to a mindless and gullible base. (December 2007 insert: Former White House Communications aide Dan Bartlett admits
For example, to spin Iraq's nonexistent WMDs, every Republican brings up the fact that "even Clinton said Saddam Hussein had them and that he was a threat" (I've already made Republicans look foolish for using that one). And to show how wonderful the war is going, every Republican brings up the same thing: "schools are reopening."
I'll get to that in a minute. But it's frightening that the Republican base always does what they're told because when they're that mindless, that gullible and that obedient, it's not a political party anymore. It's a cult that has mastered the art of getting their people to believe anything, say anything and do anything - no questions asked.Here's how the "machine" works:
1. Bush's arrogant incompetence puts the country into a mess.
2. The White House lies, manipulates, confuses, obfuscates and withholds information.
3. The White House acts like it's the victim of the "liberal" media.
Did you ever notice that when Karl Rove tells the Republican base to jump, they ask "how high?"
For example, during the 2004 Republican Convention, the RNC had to spin the fact that John Kerry had fought in Vietnam and received a purple heart.
Instead of - god forbid - treating him with the respect he deserves (or simply ignoring it altogether), they mocked Kerry by handing out band-aids for everyone to wear on their face (hey, these are petty, immature Republicans. What do you expect?).
They also handed out "flip-flops" so everyone can go around screaming - what else? - "Kerry's a liberal flip-flopper!"
Na-na-na-na-na-na....
I haven't come across behavior like that since kindergarten. But that's just kid stuff (literally).
What's alarming is that whenever the Republican Party hands out marching orders to "the troops," they're always carried out, word for word (if only the Bush White House was half as competent and efficient).
In fact, the Republican Party has become a powerful and intimidating machine that does nothing but spew orders, propaganda and talking points to a mindless and gullible base. (December 2007 insert: Former White House Communications aide Dan Bartlett admits it.)
For example, to spin Iraq's nonexistent WMDs, every Republican brings up the fact that "even Clinton said Saddam Hussein had them and that he was a threat" (I've already made Republicans look foolish for using that one). And to show how wonderful the war is going, every Republican brings up the same thing: "schools are reopening."
I'll get to that in a minute. But it's frightening that the Republican base always does what they're told because when they're that mindless, that gullible and that obedient, it's not a political party anymore. It's a cult that has mastered the art of getting their people to believe anything, say anything and do anything - no questions asked.Here's how the "machine" works:
1. Bush's arrogant incompetence puts the country into a mess.
2. The White House lies, manipulates, confuses, obfuscates and withholds information.
3. The White House acts like it's the victim of the "liberal" media.
4. The White House and RNC create spin and talking points to absolve themselves of responsibility and blame.
5. It gets communicated through the conservative media, such as talk radio and Fox "news."
6. The brainwashed Republican base, which as I've already shown can not think for themselves (here, here and here), believes it, memorizes it and repeats it over and over again, just like they're trained to.
That's exactly how Muslims respond to their Islamic clerics. They're told what to believe, what to do and when to do it. So whether it's a Muslim mob chanting "death to America" on que, or Republicans putting a band-aid on their face to mock a "liberal," just like they're told to, there's no difference.
Now that's scary.
And it doesn't matter how big of a mess Bush's arrogant incompetence has gotten the country into - 9/11, the "response" to Hurricane Katrina, the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the exploding budget deficit, rising gas prices, the confusing senior drug prescription program, wiretapping without a warrant, torturing prisoners, the deliberate leaking of a secret CIA agents identity, or Dick Cheney shooting a guy and acting like a 17 year old who's trying to keep his parents from finding out about an accident he had with the family car - the White House and RNC will not only get the talking points out to the base overnight, but give them the opportunity to blast liberals, the "liberal" media, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, France, and/or Michael Moore; not only to divert attention from Bush and the Republican Party, but to keep the enemies they've created over the years, the enemies (keep in mind, it's the Republican Party that wraps itself in religion and "morality." I wonder if Jesus would approve of such nasty, immature, manipulative and hypocritical behavior.).And with a complicit media that has been thoroughly intimidated by the GOP propaganda machine, the real story of Bush's scandals and disasters gets lost in all that noise.
"Mission accomplished."
It's incredible that the Republican base never stops to think about the talking points they're being fed. Do they ever think for themselves? Obviously not. But cults don't let you think for yourself. Which brings me back to the "oldie but goodie" GOP talking point about the schools reopening in Iraq.
1. This was an unnecessary war. So the schools should never have been forced to close in the first place.
2. If the best news coming out of Iraq is that schools are opening (and that Iraq now has cell phones), then it proves how big a disaster Iraq is. Because by now, a stable secular government should be in place, the country should be secured, massive rebuilding should be well underway, and most if not all of our troops should be out of there (maybe if Bush spent more time planning the war and its aftermath then the average family plans a vacation, we'd be at that stage).
Heck, the schools should have reopened around the time the "mission was accomplished!"
3. Prior to the war, Iraq was one of the few secular Arab governments in the region. And putting the UN sanctions aside, it had a decent economy; not only because it was a secular society that women were part of, but because Iraq's education system produced doctors, lawyer, scientists and teachers - male and female.
But today, with the Islamic theocrats taking charge in George Bush's "democracy," that's all changing. Women are now treated as second class citizens and losing the rights they had.
And the schools? Instead of teaching children math and science as they did under Saddam Hussein, this new "government" could very well indoctrinate these kids in the Koran and taught that America is the enemy (the same way the GOP teaches/brainwashes their base into believing that liberals, the "liberal" media, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, France and Michael Moore are the enemies).
So an entire generation of anti-American radical Muslims could be created, many of whom will become terrorists (hey, we'd be better off if the school's didn't reopen!).
Great going Mr. President!
With all the daily violence and chaos in Iraq, the "schools reopening" is like getting a first down in the fourth quarter of a football game that you're losing by 100 points. So if these Republicans want to blast "liberals," defend the indefensible and insult their own intelligence by using this moronic talking point, fine. They can call up a conservative talk radio programs and do it all they want. But please, don't insult my intelligence.
How long will Republicans continue to use this talking point? For as long as it's the only one they got.
What's scary is that no matter what talking points come out of this arrogant, incompetent, belligerent and criminal White House, they'll be repeated over and over by a base that the Republican Party/Cult has by the nose.
But I don't mind because I love proving them wrong and making them look foolish. It's so easy!
December 2007 insert: The leader of this cult practically admits it: "...See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."
- George Bush May 24, 2005 (here)
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