Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Yet More Wacko Myths about Obama

Slate, an interesting on-line publication, keeps abreast of rumors and myths that surround our political culture, especially the unending whirlwind of bogus information attached to Barack Obama.

The journal recently published its collection of "Obama 2.0" rumors, which it calls "Crazy right-wing myths."

A sample: The Teleprompter myth, a favorite of blowhard Rush Limbaugh, claims that Obama is fully dependent on the machine and can't appear in public without it.

The truth, of course, is that Obama is an excellent off-the-cuff speaker who has demonstrated this fact hundreds of times on the campaign and since taking office. He's head-and-shoulders above George W. Bush.

Another sample: Obama is a Nazi-style eugenicist. This myth is peddled by Fox News "no"-nothing Glenn Beck, but needs a lot of creative speculation (read: paranoid fantasies) to make any sense at all. The truth: There's no evidence that Obama supports anything of the sort, policies that would, after all, attack his own (and his family's) racial background.

There are more wacko rumors (Obama is the Antichrist!) and you can read them here.

13 comments:

Tulsan said...

The Teleprompter myth is an example of the Rove tactic of attacking an opponent on their strong points, e.g., Kerry on his war record.

Isn't it amazing how prolific the right wing is when it comes to urban myth production? It's a basic aspect of their mindset.

Another aspect is that they project all their own weak points onto their opponents. Run down the list and see if it isn't so. They have no idea how much they are revealing.

The more foolish they make themselves look, the better off we all will be.

Man of the West said...

...Fox News no-nothing Glenn Beck...

Betcha he knows how to spell "know-nothing." :)

Tulsan said...

Could be an allusion to the base's habit of saying "no" to everything.

Alternative Tulsa said...

We stand corrected.

Tulsan said...

A perfect example of this topic arrived in my "In" box today. It starts off:

@@@@
Subject: Laws of Physics... to be repealed .....Obama's people say so

This would be a great joke but it isn't These people are that DUMB

Obama can change the Laws of physics

He is also planning to invent new technologies that the dumb old auto
engineers haven't been working on fast enough.

Can't you just see the customers lining up to purchase these new
cars designed by the government!
@@@@

It goes on to relate a tale of how Obama's people want to repeal, amend, or use an executive order to change the laws of physics.

Anyone with a sufficiently developed BS detector would quickly smell a rat. Sure enough:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/physics.asp

The next plot they dream up will probably be that left-wing bloggers are conspiring to flood the internet with bogus stories to outrage the gullible. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Man of the West said...

Could be an allusion to the base's habit of saying "no" to everything.

SNORT! The pitiful part is that I half think yer serious...

Tulsan said...

I presume you noticed the "no" was in quotes in the original comment, so mine was a plausible interpretation. But enjoy your SNORT.

Man of the West said...

Thanks, I did--the more so now that I realize that you somehow didn't gather that I copied and pasted the original... :)

Tulsan said...

If AltTulsa typoed, well, even highly erudite people make mistakes on occasion. Even I could have made a mistake presuming the original text had not changed.

More to the point, the GOP might as well be known as the "No" party at this point in their history. So let the record read that I, not AltTulsa, called them the "no, nothing" party.

Tulsan said...

Another wacko Obama myth that many are swallowing hook, line and sinker is this:

Obama administration has ordered a change in policy, requiring agents to give Miranda warnings to all detainees.

The right-wing vehicles are all pumping each other up to full steam with it, yet it is only another manufactured object of outrage.

Tulsan said...

Oops, so sorry, Man of the West, I "just" noticed that you went ballistic over this very wacko Obama myth on your own blog.

It's OK. We all make mistakes...some larger than others :)

Man of the West said...

Hmmm. Only just noticed that last comment. Sorry for the delay.

Tulsan, I'd say "I sputter in disbelief," but truthfully, this is about what I've come to expect. From a post titled, for cryin' out loud, "I Sputter in Disbelief," and which largely consisted of these words, emphasis mine:

"This would be so shockingly stupid a thing to do that I half-expect that at any moment I'm going to hear confirmation that it's an urban legend gone viral.

If it's true...

...my word...

...that would be the dumbest epithet-ing thing I've ever heard out of any elected official, I think."

you draw the conclusion that I've made a mistake and have gone ballistic? God knows that I make my share of mistakes, Tulsan, but this wasn't one of them.

Sir, if the words I emphasized in the quote were not enough to alert you that I wasn't quite convinced of the story's truth, that I was fully prepared, in fact, to find out that it was false, I am not sure there are words in the English language that would have sufficed for you. Perhaps these will do: the point of the post was that IF the story was true, it would be a colossally stupid action to take; it was not an assertion that it was true.

Clear now?

Tulsan said...

May I introduce you to my new blog:

"Things I Would Be Very Angry About If They Were True, But I Can't Be Bothered To Find Out Before I Get Conditionally Angry"