Romney's Selling, Mainstream America Just Isn't Buying

Thurston Howell, III as played by actor Jim Backus

Let's just call it like it is; there's a growing sense pervading the collective 'culturegeist' of the American voter that we simply can't afford four years of a Romney presidency.

Even after his disastrous and possibly irreparable remarks about the "47%" (a group including retired veterans, retired workers living on pensions they earned, people working two jobs and members of the oft-forgotten long-term unemployed who can't find jobs because US companies are content to sit on huge cash reserves rather than expand hiring), Flipper found a way to seem even more like an affable-but-doddering scion of privilege totally alienated from mainstream Americans.

As detailed on numerous blogs and Websites including Salon.com, Marriott chairman Bill Marriott
(#298 on the Forbes 400 with a net worth of $1.6 billion) introduced the candidate at a recent fundraiser by relating a story of how he pulled his boat up to a crowded slip at a dock on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire and couldn't find anyone to help him. Mittens bravely stepped forward to tie up the line and secure the expensive craft of the head of one of the largest hotel chains in the world; and it's fair to observe, a fellow wealthy leader of the Mormon Church.

Nothing personal against Bill Marriott mind you, he's a decent enough man who's been generous with charitable support for organizations like the Boy Scouts of America for years. But during this time when millions of Americans are struggling to find jobs, stay out of debt, hold on to their homes and survive the ravages of an economic downturn that's decimated the middle class, offering up the public endorsement of yet another billionaire as a character endorsement does little to reassure voters who have no confidence Romney is remotely capable of identifying with the struggles of the bulk of the US population.

Increasingly, Mittens is perceived in the media more as a caricature to be lampooned; a walking symbol embodying the ultra-wealthy 1% who inhabits a different America than the rest of us. A man who comes off more Thurtson Howell, III from Gilligan's Island than seasoned business executive ready to lead the nation into long-term recovery based on some kind of suave corporate savvy and a decidedly non-specific agenda based on sketchy old Supply-Side economic theories that have never actually worked.

The media blame game isn't helping Mitt either. As much as some of the more extreme conservative media pundits would like to make the growing gap between Obama and Romney about abstract concepts like "liberal media bias" (or one of my favorite Sarah Palinisms, "the lame-stream media") the plain truth is the problem is simply Mitt Romney and his ultra-conservative budget-hawk VP candidate sidekick Congressman Paul Ryan. 

As Brian Knowlton observed on today's Caucus blog on the New York Times Website,  just this morning Ryan appeared on Fox News Sunday to complain about how 'Media Bias' is skewing the sagging poll numbers.

Of course his dip at the polls has nothing to do with, oh I don't know, Ryan having been the leader of one of the most unproductive and obstructive Congresses in modern history? Or his having quite recently been booed onstage at a recent AARP convention audience after telling them he wants to repeal the Healthcare Reform Act? And surely his dismal poll numbers are unrelated to his desire for draconian unrealistic cuts in government spending that would overwhelmingly affect the poor and middle-class?

The media, liberal or conservative, has nothing to do with Americans having already pegged Ryan as a heartless technocrat who's a one-trick political pony. Choosing him as a running mate was one of Romney's worst decisions of his campaign. It's not that Mittens isn't a nice guy or a decent family-man, but it's obvious he just isn't the kind of candidate for president at a time when America needs innovative ideas, the ability to connect with all Americans regardless of their income level and the courage to tell the American people things they might not want to hear.

Maybe it's just possible that Romney and his embattled campaign manager Stuart Stevens (check out Maureen Dowd's op-ed on Stevens and his role in the mismanagement of Romney's run) can change the tide at this Wednesday nights presidential debate but I wouldn't bet on it.

Okay enough politics and links for now, the Yankees just tied Toronto in the 5th, I've gotta head to the gym to be back in time for my weekly fix of HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire'; it's what television can be when it dares to combine excellent writing with a willingness to explore topics of substance. Sunday nights are all about Nucky.

Limbaugh Claims Poll Data is a Voter Suppression Tactic

"The mainstream media's efforts to suppress your vote is now at full speed. It's getting tiresome to me, but it is taking place now at full speed."

That's talk-show host and touchy professional grouch Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday trying to explain away Romney's trailing in the polls even though it's actually Republican state legislatures behind the REAL voter suppression efforts.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, at least 180 separate bills aimed at restricting the right to vote have been introduced by legislatures in 41 different states since the start of 2011. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a shadowy quasi-public/private think tank that I blogged about back in March of last year, actually drafts the language of right-wing legislation for GOP politicians has been very busy indeed; the implications for the basic tenets of Democracy are chilling.  

In one of the most perplexing political jabs of the campaign season, Limbaugh claims that two CBS/New York Times and Washington Post polls that show President Obama with significant leads in critical swing states are "..irresponsible. They are designed to do exactly what I have warned you to be vigilant about, and that is to depress you and suppress your vote. These two polls today are designed to convince everybody this election is over." The transcripts are on Limbaugh's own Website.

Let's review shall we? The same guy who advocates on behalf the Koch brother's Tea Party-backed True the Vote -the organization behind morally reprehensible voter-suppression tactics - is claiming that poll data taken by three of the most trustworthy news sources in the world are themselves, tactics to suppress the Republican vote. How crazy is that? Kevin Cirilli wrote an interesting piece on Limbaugh's kooky assertions on Politco.com.
 
If Rush Limbaugh were just another schmuck with a radio show, the baseless absurdity of his loony right-wing political theories would likely be dismissed as the rantings of just another small-minded man channeling his anger into a mic. But he's not.

Limbaugh is the anointed mouthpiece of all things Republican, so his latest effort to help salvage poor Flipper's imploding presidential campaign only served to further cement the perception of the GOP as hopelessly stuck in a detached ideological reality the majority of the country can't identify with let alone stomach.

If you think about it, it's kind of like the build-up to the invasion of Iraq under W back in 2002.

When Dick Cheney didn't like the intelligence he got from the CIA and MI-6 saying Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the 911 attacks; he simply instructed his staffers (none of whom were actually intelligence experts) to use inconclusive raw data to create their own intelligence conclusions about WMD's for W to use during his State of the Union address; Yellow Cake anyone?

But you have to admit Limbaugh's got moxie. Poll data isn't saying what you want? Smear it! It's like when Paul Ryan got all worked up when multiple fact-checking organizations called him out for blatant factual errors in his speech at the RNC. Rather than make loose accusations about poll data, perhaps Limbaugh should blame the current culture of the GOP which never seems to let facts stand in the way of the rigid convictions of it's own ideology.

Do you know who Catherine Engelbrecht is? The New York Times sure does. If you believe all American citizens legally registered to vote in this nation have the right to do so, you should too.

"Amish Terror" Ends with Samuel Mullet & 15 of His Followers Convicted of Hate Crimes

66-year old convicted Amish sect leader Samuel Mullet

Self-proclaimed Amish Bishop Samuel Mullet represents the rare exception to the tranquil image of the Amish as a peace-loving, deeply spiritual people opposed to violence in all forms.

A recent Federal court ruling will ensure that he and 15 of his followers, including three of his sons and his daughter, have become the first defendants in Ohio to be found guilty of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act founded in 2009.

The Matthew Shepard Act, as it's commonly known, was named for Shepard, who was tortured and killed in Wyoming in 1998 because he was targeted as a homosexual, and for James Byrd Jr.; an innocent African-American man who was famously tied to a truck by two known White Supremacists, dragged to his death and decapitated near Jasper, Texas in the same year. 

The perverse sickness of both cases shocked the world and drew widespread media coverage to the growing problem of hate crime violence in the United States. It's kind of interesting that the first people to be found guilty under the federal law enacted in the wake of such horrific crimes in Ohio are a group of Amish.

Even though the now-infamous forcible beard-cutting by Samuel Mullet and members of his strict, breakaway sect of Amish drew intense global media coverage, it runs contrary to the pacifist beliefs and devotion to a more simple and modest way of life of the vast majority of Amish and Mennonite communities in America. It's a pretty strange case, not just because the Amish way of life is so strange and mysterious to most Americans but also because it's a sobering reminder that hate comes in many forms.   

Locked Dumpsters in Girona: the Spectre of Poverty in Western Europe

Spanish citizens in Madrid protesting austerity measures. 

With 42 days until the 2012 election and just 8 days until the first presidential debate on October 3rd, both candidates are clearly seizing any media opportunity to sell their respective messages to the American people.

Even if it's a real stretch.

Case in point: Romney VP candidate Paul Ryan's lame effort to turn the widespread populist anger over the NFL replacement ref's blown call fiasco at the end of last night's Seattle v Green Bay game into an anti-Obama moment.

If you've got 52 seconds and don't mind a crappy political joke, give it a watch. Watch the crowd's reaction too, the joke lands like a sack of wet mice even though the self-satisfied smug expression on Ryan's face makes it clear he thinks he just dropped one of the funniest lines since Bill Clinton eviscerated the GOP during his speech at the DNC. He also appears to briefly pause, look down at a podium and actually read that sad excuse of a joke off of a piece of paper.  

Speaking of bad calls I watched the Seahawks/Packers game last night and as a former professional football player it was clearly an interception. Was it a clear error on the part of officials trying to interpret a tough call? Sure, but it had absolutely nothing to do with President Obama's budget advisers as Ryan struggled to suggest during his campaign appearance earlier today.

In light of today's UN meetings, topics like Iran's nuclear ambitions, sanctions against Iran, the possibility of the Syrian conflict spreading further into Iraq and the global Muslim outrage over the now-infamous video posted on Youtube that slandered Islam have dominated much of the recent media coverage - and the campaign's respective policy stances. 

But lately I haven't really seen the candidates weigh in on the growing economic problems over in Europe; problems also affecting millions of Americans as well. Suzanne Daley's eye-opening piece in Monday's New York Times put the spotlight on the growing numbers of Spanish citizens facing the reality of hunger as austerity measures slash salaries, government benefits, pensions and of course jobs.

Formerly-middle class people in Spain who used to have jobs are now being forced to search through dumpsters for food. Paralleling former members of America's middle class who now find themselves living in their cars as reported by Rolling Stone back in June. It's gotten so bad city officials in the Spanish city of Girona have resorted to putting padlocks on the dumpsters to prevent people from getting infections.

A truly sad indicator of the millions of people around the globe increasingly being pushed to the brink of survival. How much can they take though? As the BBC reports, today thousands of Spanish protesters are rallying around the capital in Madrid to protest the severity of the austerity measures. What's in store for the Spanish economy when 50% of its young people are unemployed?

It'd be interesting to see both presidential candidates share their ideas on what that means and how it will affect the next four years. Obama explored those themes with eloquence during his DNC speech but I'm not sure hungry Spanish citizens are on the agenda of the Romney campaign given his limited capacity to grasp the economic realities of the majority of the nation still trying to extricate themselves from the Great Recession.

Romney's campaign (to say nothing about his archaic views on the"47%") says a lot about the evolving cultural makeup of this nation and the growing gap between the privileged and the shrinking middle class. Given his inability to connect and recent polls in swing states, it's not looking good for him. How bad is it for Mittens?

Consider a just-released Zogby poll that shows Obama leading his opponent by a seven-point margin....among NASCAR fans. 42 days and we'll know the answer.   

What's the Deal with Allen West?

US Rep. Allen West (R) Florida, the new face of the far right?

This past week certainly represents one of the most pivotal moments in the 2012 presidential campaign, but there was also something sad and revealing about the nature of our society and who we are as a nation.

The implosion of Mittens' presidential aspirations in the wake of his shockingly elitist  comments caught on tape at a GOP fundraiser point not just to his inability to govern on behalf of all Americans; it was a stark reminder of the growing ideological and wealth gap that serves as the 21st century version of the Mason Dixon line.

As the GOP has reinvented itself as a virtual repository for a bizarre collection of right-wing fringe characters so far removed from the American mainstream they'd make Richard Nixon cringe, I'm fascinated with some of the people lauded as influential thinkers within the conservative ranks. Case in point, Republican House Rep Allen West who represents Florida's 22nd Congressional District.

West was a career military man who served with distinction in both Iraq wars until a controversial incident in which he personally interrogated a suspected terrorist (despite not being trained or authorized to do so by the Army) with a pistol landed him in hot water and ended his Army career.

He was selected as the first black Congressman elected in Florida since Reconstruction, joined the Congressional Black Caucus and is the new darling of the Tea Party, garnering media attention with his derisive public comments about, well, pretty much any Democrat; including the President whom he openly despises.

What I can't figure is the intensity of his hatred for opposing views. He's well-educated, a man of the world, a guy who's risked his life for his country fighting, yet he's been accused of being anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic and lately seems to have embraced a strange anti-Communist/Marxist schpeel; going so far as to publicly accuse the members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (a progressive liberal block of Democratic Congressional members) of being Communist.

Watch for yourself as Allen invokes 50's-era guilt by association.

I respect his right to free speech and I admire diversity of thought and opinion within the ranks of African-American politicians; but whipping up 'Commie hysteria' in 2012? Marxism and Socialism are the major problems confronting the American people? Really? McCarthyism was a dead horse back in the 50's and performing ideological CPR on the carcass of an animal isn't providing realistic solutions for the problems facing Americans.
   

Journalist Steven Gray Examines the State of the Black Middle Class in America

Steven Gray, Time Magazine's last black correspondent

"It's the middle class stupid" might well be the underlying political catchphrase that summarizes the central domestic policy issue of the 2012 presidential race.

Given the sluggish rate of global recovery and massive shifts in the landscape of the changing American workplace, that 5-word variation on political strategist James Carville's infamous  and oft-repeated campaign theme for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential run (It's the economy stupid) might well be central to the 2016 presidential race too.

Even a cursory analysis from the themes, messages, speakers and soundbites from the recent Democratic and Republican party conventions suggests that the Obama campaign team seems to get it. Unfortunately (for the GOP anyway) it's a concept that clearly seems to be eluding the wavering Mitt Romney campaign; as evidenced by his insufferably dim-witted efforts to blindly attack the Obama administration foreign policy cred in the wake of the September 11th attack on the US embassy in Benghazi. It's all over the media so no need for me to kick that horse except to add that poor Willard is a walking train wreck when it comes to articulating his foreign policy positions and by virtue of his own self-implosion, is managing to make Bush junior look like Henry Kissinger at this point. 

While the alarming erosion of the middle class seems to warrant only tepid coverage and analysis from the bulk of main stream media, there are any number of media sources, NPR, PBS, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Salon.com and Mother Jones.com to name a few, that are consistently covering it with the sense of urgency it deserves and staying on top of the harsh truths of what's really happening in our nation. 

Case in point Steven Gray. Yesterday on the 'Tell Me More' show on NPR, most-excellent host Michel Martin had a really insightful interview with journalist Steven Gray (pictured above) about a recent article he wrote for Salon.com, "Can the Black Middle Class Survive?" an in-depth analysis of the devastating effects on African-American wealth and employment in the wake of the Great Recession; as well as a penetrating and honest look at his own experiences after being let go from his job as a correspondent at Time Magazine almost a year ago. Definitely worth a read.

There's no question that it's not just the black middle class under threat in 2012, but Gray offers a compelling mix of fact, opinion and insight into the particular challenges faced by college-educated African-American male professionals trying to reenter the workplace in the face of a persistent 14% unemployment rate (for blacks) and a work culture where we are often isolated among our peers and co-workers in ways the main stream media doesn't always examine.

My one constructive criticism of the article from an editorial standpoint is that it almost seemed as if it could have been two different pieces; I felt that his experiences with Time could have been an interesting article unto itself. He's a good writer who, like thousands of people across the nation of different races, is facing a changing (shrinking) 'print-centric' industry still struggling to re-define itself in the era of digital transformation; but that doesn't mean he doesn't have some legit concerns about how his race and age played into his departure from Time or how the lack of cultural diversity on the masthead or in editorial meetings will affect their content moving forward in terms of the kinds of stories they cover.

Give it a read for yourself, but one fact he shared struck me. After his contract with Time was not renewed, the magazine no longer has any black correspondents or editors. None. It's a theme that spirals out into many different job sectors and Steven Gray (a journalist with a solid resume) rightfully delves into what that means not just for African-American journalists and media professionals, but for America as well.

Atlanta Police Officers Cleared on Allegations of Racial Profiling of Tyler Perry

Filmmaker/DWB victim Tyler Perry

As an African-American man it's really sad that one of the things that I share in common with virtually every single black man in America is the degrading experience of having been stopped by white police officers for no other reason than being who I am. 

It's not easy to explain to someone who isn't black the range of emotions that fill your head when you see flashing police lights in your rear view mirror and you know you haven't done anything wrong; you know the officer is stopping you because of the color of your skin.  Reduced by law enforcement to a stereotype.

One of the interesting components of racial profiling in America is that we live in what many describe as a "post-racial" society. One of the central planks of the Republican party and thinkers on the right revolves around the loose assumption that "there is no racism anymore." One of the reasons I began this blog was to dispel that myth, not to "cry racism" at every turn; but to show different ways of how racism is interwoven into the threads of this society. To show how it warps perception and perpetuates fear. 

So I was disappointed to read this morning that a four-month internal affairs investigation cleared two Atlanta police officers for profiling filmmaker Tyler Perry back on February 24, 2012 after he left his studio in his white Porsche Panamera. Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson does a far better job than I could to offer an eloquent and concise summary of what it's like to be stopped by the police when you're a professional with a college degree and a nice car. Watch his comments in the video clip above.

Tyler Perry is the latest in a long list of black celebrities to be subjected to the humiliating and dehumanizing process of racial profiling; Sidney Poitier was stopped by Beverly Hills police in the 50's blocks from his own house.

I vividly recall when Earl Graves, Jr., the son of publisher Earl Graves, a clean-shaven Harvard grad raised in the upper middle class community of Scarsdale, New York was stopped by two white Metro-North police officers on the platform of Grand Central Station after he stepped of his early morning train wearing an expensive suit and carrying a briefcase on his way into work. Graves was 33 at the time and a vice-president of advertising and marketing for his father's Black Enterprise magazine; but to the police investigating an "anonymous report of a black man with a gun", he was just another 6'4" black guy. Not an individual but a possible perp.

The story got a lot of press in New York City and Metro-North apologized for the incident by taking out several full-page newspaper ads; but such reactions are the exception rather than the norm.

As I've mentioned in this blog many times, in the 1990's detailed studies of traffic stops by New Jersey state police on the NJ Turnpike showed that African-American drivers comprised a staggering 80% of traffic stops even though blacks made up only about 12% of the state's population. NJ State police training even taught officers to target and stop minority drivers as part of policy.

There are no public apologies for the thousands of innocent black and Hispanic drivers who are still stopped just for looking like they do. Some law enforcement personnel like Arizona's notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio brag about profiling drivers who fit a pre-conceived stereotype.

And so it continues. I'm personally affected by people like Tyler Perry or Earl Graves, Jr. because like them, I'm a tall black man when it comes to how some white police officers see me. They don't see my college degree, intellectual pursuits, professional accomplishments or the fact that I pay taxes and vote. They don't see my volunteering for charities or the fact that I have no criminal record. Sadly some white police officers, clearly not all, will see me only as a physically imposing black man; they see danger and fear.

I'm standing right in front of them but sometimes they don't see me at all.

Did CNN Give Itself Props for a June 25th Rolling Stone Story?

Mark Seliger's photo of Janis Adkins for Jeff Tietz's Rolling Stone Article

As much as any mainstream media brand, Rolling Stone Magazine has been unflinching and relentless when it comes hardcore journalism devoted to uncovering the myriad complex truths behind the economic collapse of 2008 and what greed is doing to the fabric our our nation.

Matt Taibbi's august 29th cover story exposing the real story behind Mitt Romney's troubling tenure at Bain Capital is just the latest in a series of hard-hitting exposes on the insatiable greed of Wall Street players and Big Banks that reveal how America's middle class had been systematically, intentionally and ruthlessly gutted with the help of complacent federal regulators like the SEC, soul-less Congressional legislators who represent a narrow-minded "Ayn Rand-ian" ideology rather than their constituents, and the billionaires bankrolling Romney's run for president.

While Taibbi's work is Pulitzer-worthy in my opinion, I was also particularly moved by a compelling human interest story in the June 25th issue of Rolling Stone by Jeff Tietz that looked closely at how some middle class Americans forced to live out of their vehicles were coping with the help of a program called Safe Parking that allows homeless people a safe lot where they can spend the night in their car, van or SUV; New Beginnings Counseling Center runs the program.

So I was kind of surprised when I saw a CNN report last Friday (September 7th) morning by reporter Kyung Lah that struck me as a more compact made-for-CNN retread of Tietz's Rolling Stone story, entitled "The Sharp, Sudden Decline of America's Middle Class". Don't get me wrong, I totally applaud CNN for devoting coverage to the plight of Americans displaced by the Great Recession and the realities of being homeless in the most prosperous nation in the world. But as a former television reporter myself, I felt like Ms. Lah should have at least given some kind of shout-out or recognition to Rolling Stone, or made some reference to the fact that Jeff Tietz had rolled up his sleeves and written an informative and emotionally wrenching piece 3 months before CNN ran their segment.

Watch the report for yourself. At different times last Friday both Ashleigh Banfield and Wolf Blitzer gave reporter Kyung Lah thanks from the anchor desk for her reporting. In fact, after the conclusion of the late morning segment, Ms. Banfield actually looked a little misty-eyed when she thanked Lah for the report in a subdued voice.

It's certainly not breaking news that CNN has been going through a series of personnel and programming shake-ups over the course of the last year as it's ratings have slipped to a 20-year low. Back in July, CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton (a 30-year CNN vet) announced his resignation effective at the end of the year to make room for "new thinking" in an effort to pump new life into the cable news channel started by media mogul Ted Turner.

I'm no media insider, but it seems to me if CNN wants to make it's product more relevant to a broader news audience, it needs to attract the kind of talent that can create that content. Parent company Time Warner is a media behemoth with deep pockets that can certainly afford to invest money in more cutting-edge content creators.

But trying to make your brand more like Jann Wenner's Rolling Stone (which has boosted it's own audience with hard-hitting coverage of how the economic collapse is affecting Americans) by using their content to develop CNN pieces for broadcast strikes me as rather unoriginal.

Look, I'm a blogger who writes about stuff I see in print or online - but I don't sell ad space on my little blog, it's just an outlet for me to practice my own version of "Citizen Journalism" and besides, I think I make a decent effort at crediting the writers and media sources who create the content that catches my eye.

Some CNN producer leafing through their June 25th copy of Rolling Stone then sending Kyung Lah out to California with a cameraman to do a piece that's clearly based on Jeff Tietz's work isn't plagiarism or anything; but it strikes me as lazy journalism given the scope of CNN's resources and their desire to make a genuine effort to recast their brand.

It's all about content creation, and you should either create it, credit it, or bring some kind of new or unique perspective to the story. While I'm still a CNN watcher, I just don't think Lah's CNN piece offered anything new and Jeff Tietz and Rolling Stone should've gotten credit somewhere rather than kind of making it seem like Lah had come up with the idea.

Just sayin'.

"1,000 Years of Darkness"? Chuck Norris: Portrait of a Tea Party Extremist

In the ideological, political and cultural sense, the Republican party has certainly come a hell of a long way since George H.W Bush first talked about his "1,000 Points of Light" and his idea for a unified society during his inauguration speech on January 20, 1989.

I'm not going to criticize Chuck Norris for expressing his political beliefs; this is America and everyone has the right to their own opinions. When I caught wind that Norris, a well-known former action-film star, had posted a short anti-Obama video on youtube with his wife, I wasn't surprised.

Between Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan's uninspiring appearances at the lackluster GOP convention in Tampa and Bill Clinton's amazing speech during last night's Democratic National Convention - it's clear that the Republicans are desperate to do anything to try and prevent President Obama from winning a second term.

I respect Chuck Norris, before I decided to blog about him I checked out his Wikipedia page and he's given a lot to charitable causes, carved out a career as an action star and is arguably a Hollywood icon in his own way. But he's also an outspoken evangelist Christian activist who believes in creation theory and campaigns for prayer inside public schools; he campaigned for Mike Huckabee in the 2008 Presidential race and endorsed Newt Gingrich during the Republican primaries.

This video is getting a lot of media buzz, but what's really sad is that in the end, Norris gets in front of the camera with his wife and doesn't say anything of substance. He doesn't spend one second talking about a specific issue that he's concerned about, or a policy that he disagrees with.

Instead, Norris clutches his wife's hand and essentially "Eastwoods" his way through the video, rambling earnestly about worn-out Tea Party rhetoric about the horrors of Obama's "socialism". He quotes Edmund Burke and Ronald Reagan, offering up baseless, irrational fear-mongering about the consequences of Obama being reelected leading America into "1,000 years of darkness."

About the only thing Norris manages to do in this laughable online video clip is to demonstrate a remarkable detachment from fact and reality. It's almost as if he's totally retreated into his own strange "John Wayne-like" netherworld where he no longer distinguishes between reality and fantasy; and has come to actually believe he IS the fictional action-hero he played so many times in movies and on television.

Norris' foray into political infomercials is so much more sad and pathetic than Clint Eastwood talking to a chair because he really looks like he means what he's saying. Like if Obama wins the election he and his wife (she's got those "crazy eyes" like Michelle Bachmann) are going to just pack up all their gear and move up into the hills and live "off the grid" in some kind of extravagant bomb shelter compound to ride out the Armaggedon of a presidential administration ruled by fact, reason and a sense that Americans don't have to be ruled by fear, ignorance, division and delusional ideas.

So no, I wasn't surprised by this video at all, in fact, how typical, when Americans need leadership and ideas, right-wing conservatives offer up fear and ignorance. Frankly Norris and his wife look like they're the ones locked into a "1,000 years of darkness." Did Dinesh D'Souza direct it?

Federal District Judge Blocks Republican Voter Suppression Law in Ohio

Federal District Judge Peter C. Economus seated far left

 

Despite Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's best efforts to silence opposition to his attempts to sharply curtail voting hours in urban Ohio districts that tilt Democratic, on Friday Federal Judge Peter C. Economus ruled that all Ohio voters should have the right to cast their votes within three days of Election Day. 

Last Tuesday I blogged about Husted on the eve of his impending decision to fire two Board of Elections members from Montgomery County (Democrats Dennis Lieberman and Thomas Ritchie) who opposed Husted's overt attempt to severely limit voting hours despite Ohio's recent history of long lines at the polls for voters. Husted went ahead and fired both men in a heavy-handed control move more reminiscent of Stalin-era control tactics than a modern Democracy.

The story really didn't seem to pique all that much interest from the mainstream media during the long Labor Day holiday weekend that followed a flood of coverage of a rather lackluster Republican National Convention that got more notice for the blatant inaccuracies in Paul Ryan's speech and Clint Eastwood's bizzarre rambling dialog with an empty chair than it did for any visionary ideas for how presidential candidate Mitt Romney would lead the country.

You can't blame Americans for wanting a few moments of respite from the intense political coverage before it starts up again with the start of the Democratic National Convention. Too bad,  Ray Rivera offered up a nice summary of Judge Economus's substantive arguments on why the GOP-led Ohio initiative to suppress voter access to the polls violates the Constitution on the New York Times The Caucus blog.