Protecting McCain's Ignorance with a 'Great Wall of Duh'

Senator Obama on Tuesday said of the McBush Republicans, "It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant." After eight years trapped aboard this dark ride, finally hearing a Democratic presidential candidate publicly and forcefully refer to the Republicans as ignorant liars ought to be enough to coax even the most indecisive leaner into the Obama column.

But let's take the senator's remark even further. The McBush Republicans don't just take pride in their ignorance -- their entire electoral strategy depends on it.

This is obviously a risky strategy given the existence of things like "reason", "facts" and "truth" -- each readily available to anyone who's industrious enough to seek them out. Fortunately, though, for the McBush Republicans, there's an outside collaborator working in their favor: the barbecue media whose success also depends greatly upon both ignorance and disingenuousness (Olbermann and others excluded). Paraphrasing Woody Allen, ignorance and disingenuousness are, collectively, their various breads and various butters. So the Republicans have a convenient and sizeable zero-barrier of protective stupid surrounding their golf courses and mansions and trophy wives, shielding them from reality. Let's call it the Great Wall of Duh.

To wit: Paris Hilton and Toby Keith have occupied above-the-fold placement in our national political discourse this week.

Barbecue media players like TIME's Mark Halperin are somehow taken seriously even though he's on record having recommended to Senator McCain that he frame Senator Obama as a "Manchurian Candidate" (read that: Islamic terrorist), while also recommending that Senator McCain allow his surrogates to engage in race-baiting. Very serious!

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal told us this week that Senator Obama's thin physique might make him unelectable in a nation of fatties.

Professional television broadcasters from Dan Rather to Chris Matthews can't stop confusing Senator Obama with Osama Bin Laden; and that's only after they wonder out loud whether or not Senator Obama is capable of speaking "mumble talk" in a diner.

And then of course there are the four horsemen of lying ignoramuses: O'Reilly, Hannity, Doocy and Kilmeade. The entire success of FOX News Channel depends on its audience accepting everything at face value.

Suffice it to say, the awful bricks that form the Great Wall of Duh are practically too numerous to list.

It's no wonder that, with such an airtight cocoon, Senator McCain -- after repeatedly being debunked by numerous experts, and after personally conceding the argument -- can go around saying things like this today:

"[Senator Obama is] claiming putting air in your tires is the equivalent of new offshore drilling," McCain said. "That's not an energy plan, my friends -- that's a public service announcement."

Yes, it's a lie. Yes, it's ignorant. But most importantly, it's disingenuous -- deliberately ignorant with the intention to deceive. Not unlike FOX News Channel, Senator McCain is not just exploiting the ignorance of his supporters -- he's counting on it. He and his cynical strategists are counting on their own supporters to be unaware of the verifiable fact that if we maintain proper tire pressure, we would conserve more oil than would be attained with the McCain plan for offshore drilling. And he's counting on his supporters to blindly ditto this line -- a line that's specifically designed to be easily repeated for the sake of painting Senator Obama as weak and ineffectual. Ironic, isn't it.

The entire Bush administration, as well as the modern Republican movement before it, was built upon exploiting the naiveté and ignorance of its supporters. Start with the Southern Strategy during the Nixon years, fast forward to Reaganomics and do the list on down to "freedom fries" and "nobody anticipated the breach of the levees."

Four years ago, Karl Rove and the Republicans, protected by a patriotically narcoleptic corporate media, successfully painted Senator Kerry -- a decorated war hero -- as a gay coward who barely deserved a purple Band-Aid, much less the three Purple Hearts he earned in blood. Without this ignorant, disingenuous framing, Senator Kerry would have surely been running for reelection today. Without this strategy, there probably wouldn't have been the invasion and occupation of Iraq. And, by the way, CNN hosts like Glenn Beck wouldn't be on television -- without equal time given to a liberal talk show host -- comparing George W. Bush to Batman.

This week's episode of AMC's Mad Men reminded us that tobacco companies for years told us that cigarettes were healthy. Likewise, FOX News Channel tells us every damn day that their network is fair and balanced. Cheneybots tell us that torture yields solid intelligence. Senator McCain's entire campaign is predicated upon obfuscating the facts about everything from his support for President Bush to Senator Obama's patriotism and energy plan -- all the while painting Senator Obama (a product of a broken home and who just recently paid off his college loans) as an elitist despite Senator McCain's own wealth, heiress wife and celebrity status. And this ignorance strategy will continue to work as long as the barbecue media maintains its protective Great Wall of Duh.

So as Senator McCain continues to "surge ahead" in the polls with a huge 39 percent, we can count on him to work this ignorance strategy at every level. A month from now we can count on seeing tire-pressure gauges at the Republican convention. We can count on repeated remarks claiming that Senator Obama wants to "lose" in Iraq and, to that point, we can count on Senator McCain continuing to conflate leaving -- now, next year or many years from now -- with losing.

Here's to hoping that more Democrats will step up for a change and call Senator McCain on his disingenuousness, lying and ignorance with the same clarity and strength that we heard from Senator Obama this week.

Bob Cesca's Goddamn Awesome Blog! Go!

Comments

[EasyCheese]

I'm curious. Why do you include O'Reilly as one of the 4 horsemen of liars? Is there any proof of this, if there is we should put it out there for all to see. I know he claims not to be but appears to be willing to address his mistakes...

And doesn't Obama put out attack ads just as often as the Republicans do?

I fail to see the difference. Although isn't it sort of childish to resort to calling each other names like McSame, Osama, etc.???

---A confused Independent

[kroses98]

We "real" members of HuffPost know the truth of this post.

[EasyCheese]

What truth? I honestly would like to know the answers to my questions.

If you can't answer them, well that tells me something as well.

[DM]

Thanks for an honest question.

I'm a bit bemused as to why you would pick Bill O'Reilly out of that rogues gallery as needing more respect but everyone has fans I suppose. Anyway, I suspect there would need to be a new blog just for readers' examples of Bill O's lying and misrepresentations.

As a start you could go to www.crooksandliars.com. and search (the search field is down the left hand panel) for "Bill O'Reilly" ... there is plenty of good reading and watching there to start with.

As for attack ads ... you are so right. What a plague ... but they're effective (think "swift-boating").

[highlyamused]

Oh thank you. I've been saying this to anyone who'd listen for years. They WANT their base dummied down. They count on it.
The willfully ignorant, the low info voters? That's what makes them happy.

But, in my opinion the lowest thing the republicans have done with the help of MSM........is pit us against each other. Labels, stereotypes, red, blue, north, south, east coast, west coast, liberals, flag pins, patriotism .....etc etc.

We're all Americans.......but we haven't acted like it for years. Maybe that will change IF we elect Obama....but as long as there's money to be made from it by the corp. run media.....I doubt it.

[Cybershaman]

As far as I can tell, the Republican strategy is the same as the abusive spouse strategy.
"Listen, honey. You know the last eight years wasn't the REAL me. All that abuse and neglect was because you FORCED me to behave that way. You know I'm really not like that. It'll be different from now on ... as long as you do what I say. Take me back honey! It'll be just like it was when we first met, again. I promise!"
And we take him back and it's the same damn thing all over again. Whe will the American People wake up? From Joe McCarthy to the 'Drug War' it's all been designed to disenfranchise the 'liberal' aspects of this society by demonizing and criminalizing their ideas and behaviors in order for the 'conservative' aspects to gain and maintain dominance.
Face it! EVERY mess this country, and the world, is in is due to the machinations of 'conservatives' to dominate everything. Throughout history you can see this battle. The most ironic aspect is, after all the bloodshed has reduced everyone to basic survival mode 'the left', or 'leftist' labels are used to lay blame to those who resisted the insanity. And so it continues...

[serena1313]

Thankfully Obama did respond. He is doing more so on a local level. All politics are local. He is running ads in two crucial states: Ohio and Nevada that tailor what matters to the people.

Obama is not attacking -- he is telling the truth:

Jobs matter to Ohioans:

McCain worked on the deal w/ DHL that will soon cut tens of thousands of jobs.

Storing hazardous nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain is a sore point for Nevada residents.

McCain plans to build 40 new nuclear energy reactor plants, but is against nuclear hazardous waste traveling through Arizona ...

The Obama camp has a video on the web refuting point-by-point McCain's false accusations against Obama's tax plan.

Considering the theme: "One World, One Heat" McCain's negative advertising during the Olympics is inappropriate and out of place. McCain could not even hold-off for a week. He blew an opportunity to introduce himself in a positive way.

Contrast that with Obama's "Hands" ad which is very effective, positive and upbeat. It gives a sense of American ingenuity. The contrast is stark.

McCain is playing fast and loose -- it is becoming easier by the day to derive he is an angry, jealous man obsessed with Obama -- and risks backfiring.

After McCain spoke to a group of disabled vets many said they were disappointed he spent time attacking his opponent when they wanted to him to address more vets issues..

Desperation does not win votes. But that is what McCain is projecting.

[Boboday555]

A sick part of me wants McK-Street to win in November.
Sure we'll all have to deal with the FOX-KIDS crowd and the McCainanites childish bragadocio for a few months.
But soon, we'll get to sit back and watch their pride turn to horror as they see their healthcare coverage come to and end, their 401k retirment plan vanish and their grandkids current $4 trillion Neo-Con debt shoot to heights unimagined even during George W. AWOL's un-Constitutional regime.

Wait!
I take that back.
Many more innocent people, even republican d'uhs, will suffer under a McK-Street regime so let's hope the American wins.

[likeicare]

Hey, Bob --

You seem to be the only guy who was on top of the Vicki Iseman story a few months ago, and now, nothing. What's up with that?

I mean, especially in light of the JE revelations -- shouldn't McSame's sex life (gawd! just thinking about someone having sex with that old creep makes me want to throw up!) be fair game?

Just where IS Vicki Iseman? She kinda disappeared a la Jimmy Hoffa, didn't she?

If McSame's got such a hot temper, as his own aides alleged he displayed when confronted by them over his attraction­/obssessio­n with her, voters should know about it.

Why the media double standard when it comes to McSame?

[HalBrown]

What scares me is that "duh" is the favorite "word" of too many voters.

[PartyCrasher]

Hey I got another question. If McCain is so dumb, then why is Obama afraid to debate him in town hall meetings where the questions are not scripted and he won`t have the advantage of a teleprompter ?

[hiprogloho]

Hey, I got some questions. Why are posts supportive of Bob Cesca's views censored? And does he approve of the editorial fascism on what is suppposed to be a fair and balanced news and opinion site?

[SoCalNick]

LOL you are a funny guy. Stupid , uniformed and must NOT watch the 8 or 10 weekly toungue tangles of mcCain each week. Soon my friend SOON McCain will have to share the same stage with Obama and he will melt like the wicked witch of the west when hit with water. It will be PRICELESS!! Funny thing is McCains WHOLE team KNOWS it LOL

[PartyCrasher]

Hey, I got a question. If Republicans are so dumb, why have they been kicking the Dems` ass in Presidential elections for the last half century?

[norkas]

simple the party was to far left. Now it is more centered and honest then the Republicans and this race may be a blow out. I am a Republican voting for Obama as many others are. The left of the Democratic party has embraced others because they understand that enviormental issues is NOT there exclusive club as it was once. We Republicans have seen what lies and war have caused and many of us are voting for a smart change that wants to talk first not shoot first. I believe the Democrats care alot more about HUMANITY then the Republican leadership that does not know what the word really means. Yes the democratic party has changed for the better and i and many others have seen the change.

[Andman0121]

PUH-LEASE the Democratic Party was too far left! The Democratic Party isnt barely liberal! They are in the middle of everything. Democrats lost both elections because they were stolen from them by crooked Republicans, and stupid misinformed voters. I hope the Democrats actually man up and take the mantle of liberalism like they are supposed to for pete's sake. The Republicans take the far right why cant they take the far left??

[Romeover]

PartyCrasher asks "If Republicans are so dumb, why have they been kicking the Dems` ass in Presidential elections for the last half century?"

The answer, which PartyCrasher isn't likely to understand, is that the American public is stupid and misinformed.

[UnknownSoldier]

The simple answer: The Media is Biased against Dems

The complicated answer: The American Voter has become increasingly lazy

[SoCalNick]

Partycrasher has proven in this thread alone that there IS a such thing as a STUPID QUESTION

That is all.

[politigal]

FADUTA- were you really trying to prove Bob Cesca's point? Because you did so admirably!
And calling the statement moronic without even attempting to look it up- because it is verifiable - was the icing on the cake. Stop believing everything they want you to hear.
There are lots of truths out there should you ever care to look.

[rooofer]

The media is a business driven source of information and too many journalist are trying to change the world instead of reporting on it.
Will the Lies ever stop?
What do people think when they say “George W. Bush has been an embarrassment” I am glad He has been my great President for almost eight years. He is definitely not an embarrassment.
-I believe in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age or disability.
-I believe free enterprise and encouraging individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity.
-I believe government must practice fiscal responsibility.
-I believe the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations and that the best government is that which governs least.
-I believe the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people.
-I believe the truth is spoken when we hear that 84% of Americans believe that English should be our official language.
-I believe Americans must retain the principles that have made us strong while developing new and innovative ideas to meet the challenges of changing times.
-Question: When the only job you've ever had is in government, (wonder why?) would you change your meal ticket? Vote for a businessman not a professional politician.
I own a small business and I am tired of the incompetent government types trying to run a business.

[ARBOC2]

I believe you don't know much about what you think you believe, at least who you think promotes those beliefs.

[FADUTA]

McCain's "ignorance". Did McCain champaign in "all 57 States" like Obama? You know what I bet McCain really is dumb and doesn't even know the state capitals of those seven new states!

You want to talk about ignorance - how about BO's claims that proper air presure in our tires will equal all the oil we could obtain by domestic drilling. Where's the math to back up that moronic comment. Or his deisre to drawn down the strategic reserve in a short term stunt but refuses to look long term for drilling and new nukes.

Nobama - Keep the change. Republicans - because everyone can't be on welfare!

[dhairston]

Ignorance??? That's the pot calling the kettle black. Apparently we need to look no farther than you to back up the premise of "The Wall of Duh" All reports state the following...

The U.S. Energy Department estimates that every pound per square inch of
tire under-inflation wastes four million gallons of gas per day in the
U.S. Tires that are under-inflated by five to seven pounds per square inch can
increase fuel consumption by as much as 10 percent, or two to three miles per
gallon, while reducing tread life as much as 15 percent.

Now, there is roughly 20 gallons per gas created from a barrel of oil. Therefore, if you take the lowest number given (5 pounds PSI at 4 million gallons/day) we are wasting 20 million gallons of gas per day or 1 million barrels of oil by not having properly inflated tires. According to all accounts, even at peak production (which would not happen until 2025) new reserves would only yield 876,000 barrels a day.

There's your math. Of course if you come from behind the wall, you could have found it for yourself - it took me 15 minutes via a Google search and some simple math. The funny thing is that most of us have known this for years.

Republicans - supporting Corporate Welfare as a way of life!

[MizFlagPin]

Re-thug-lie-cans support Corporate welfare so there IS only change left for us real citizens.

[Truthortradition]

I liked Obama's remark about Republicans taking pride in being stupid, but I wish he would ask McCain one simple question.
If in fact drilling in the ocean for oil is our solution for high gas prices, then why didn't the wise Republicans lift the ban on drilling during the six years they had TOTAL controll of our nation?
During those years, the price of oil doubled. Why didn't they take action?
Could it be because the richer the oil giants become, the more money they have to give to their Republican candidates.?

[emncaity]

Now that _would_ be a good question (or series of questions) to ask.

I'm glad to see Cesca zeroed right in on my absolute favorite line of the entire campaign, the one that brought me out of my chair the other day--"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant." How perfect. These guys...their candidates, but more importantly, their voters. (Actually, I don't think most of their candidates and/or strategists _are_ ignorant; they know how to play on willful ignorance and how to exploit irrational, and antirational, thinking.)

A viable democracy cannot be sustained by an ignorant electorate. That being the case, we are in some seriously bad shape, aren't we? Somewhere just short of half this country is going to vote for a candidate whose party has all but brought this nation down in the last quarter-century and has worked against the interests of every common citizen while lying to them, breaking the budget, and turning us into the bully on the block. And still it's not enough to turn people away. It's stunning. Dems should have been able to run a goat on a leash for president and be polling about 82% right now. I don't see this as a sign of Obama's weakness at all; I see it as a sign of the country's laziness and willful ignorance.

Well, now that I've depressed myself...

[bernhart]

Emncaity: a math question : IF , some years ago Bush had 90 % approval rating ,and now he has about 30 % , what % of the population is truly "ignorant". ?

Answer: No one knows what % of Americans are truly ignorant but all who read this blog know that you are, indeed, ignorant. For people have the inherent right to vote the way they feel,, the way they see things.Don't get depressed, this is how democracy works. A quarter century means 25 years , and we had Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton and Bush Jr.. In this time period the Soviet empire was defeated, (Reagan), the Iraquis were kicked out of Kuwait (Bush Sr), the budget was balanced ( Clinton), we were attacked 9/11 and we received confort and support from all nations ( Bush Jr). Perhaps the "idiots" that do not want Obama are not so ignorant after all, perhaps they see the Dem Party ( 10% Congress approval) and their presumptive leader as not quite cutting it. Perhaps the fault does not lie in the electorate but rather in the wishy-washy leadership of Obama, whereby he is generically FOR and AGAINST to cover his bets . He "ain't " fit to lead. Your presumption that the Dems should be in the high 80 % rating comes from the fawning news media, not reality.

[LukeLanders]

I think if Obama would join McCain on stage, in a town hall meeting for example, he could actually have a chance to ask a simple question.

[oscartucker]

An excellent article! I wish more people could see it, especially news "reporters". When asked why McCain had missed so many days from the Senate, Rudy G, last week on CNN, began by saying that McCain is running for president and that it takes him away. He, in the next breath, began talking about Senator Obama voting "present" so much in the Illinois Senate. Totally unrelated, yet the morning show hostess "never said a mumbling word"! She never said that he was off topic; she never went back to the real question; she just let him make that sound bite, which someone somewhere picked up and now probably thinks Obama has not been to the Senate in a while.

[Talwar]

It seems like newsmen and anchors are afraid to raise any questions on republicans, as if these repubs held a monopoly on Patriotism. The poor old Media would never play hardball with "America's Mayor" or a "war hero"(but only if they're repubs).

[runnerin1]

A huge percent of their support live in trailer parks and have no medical insurance.

[bodo]

Our Senior Citizen candidate and Vietnam veteran does not have to pretend to be ignorant. He is a natural, having graduated 250th out of a class of 250. No doubt he was a great bomber pilot way back when Kennedy started the Vietnam war, but Kennedy would be 91 this year, and McCain is not far behind.

[mydoglucky]

Talking about the MSM. Go to this website and see who has given to McCain. ESPN President, Clear Channel Chairman, Lorne Michels of Saturday Night Live, and those are just the ones listed in the Hall of Fame.
http://www.newsmeat.com/2008a-list.php