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Friday, August 24, 2012

Racist Romney Campaign Goes Birther

"No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate -- they know that this was the place we were born and raised."
Had he stopped at the hyphen, Romney's comment might (generously) be read as a comment on and criticism of the default racism that drives so much Republican discourse about Obama, but it is plain as he goes on that he is simply opportunistically expressing and amplifying that racism instead. Time for another pious declamation that Obama "take your campaign of hate and division back to Chicago" no doubt, time for more endless whining about how "negative" the Obama campaign is being for asking Romney to provide the same access to his tax records that other modern presidential campaigns have always done as a matter of course or because Democrats dare to point out the serial obviously demonstrable lies about Obama's record Romney has made the centerpiece of his campaign.

Given the extent to which one can discern an ugly racist undercurrent in most of those lies already -- white people, "you didn't build that" ... "raiding" white retirees' "Medicare to pay for" Kenyan Muslim Socialist "Obamacare" ... "ending the work requirement for" lazy "welfare" queens eating bon bons in front of their wide screen tee vees ... even the charges of negativism themselves, so flabbergasting in the aftermath of the radioactive negativity with which Romney slogged through the swamp of the GOP primary contest, are redolent with ugly and familiar insinuations about the "uppityness" of an "angry black man" which seem especially surreal when they are meant to attach to the consummately accomplished unflappable affable all too conciliatory Obama -- I can't say that it is really surprising to find Romney dipping into Birther well as well.

Listening to the ugly irrational howl of the Republican id that greets Romney's disgusting remark, it is clear that he knows as well as anybody the exact nature of the voters he needs to excite to win the power he covets to fill the vacuum where his principles should be, and it is also clear that he will not hesitate to whomp up his terrified terrorizing infinitely mean know nothing white racist patriarchal gun-nut mob to get what he wants, the country be damned. I suppose it is encouraging after a fashion to realize that Romney still needs to throw raw meat to these zealots who should be in the bag already as he pivots to scoop enough moderates to actually plausibly make a bid to win the Presidency of a diverse continent-scaled industrial nation in which such zealotry does not more generally prevail, but such pragmatic considerations aside it is still a truly awful and demoralizing spectacle to be sure. And, not that anybody is counting or cares or anything, but not only was it an awful thing to say, it happens to be yet another lie, since as a straightforward matter of fact, journalists have asked to see Romney's birth certificate. But, you know, whatever.

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