RNC politics

I haven't blogged about politics or, really, anything much. But it's hard to watch the Republican National Convention and not try to "process" what I'm seeing. To put it simply:

Republicans are bullies.

For two days now I've watched Repub- licans laugh gleefully at vicious attacks against Barack Obama and Democrats in general. On Wednesday night, the convention hall broke into uproarious laughter at the mention of Obama's position as a "community organizer." To use a more appropriate word, this laughter was mockery. They sneer. More laughter at Obama's hopefulness. More at his remarkable personal story--Gov. Palin critiqued his run for President as another chapter in his story of self-discovery.

I've even heard them laugh at attacks against nameless "others" in business and politics--the Washington Establishment, Big Oil and other corporations, lax accountability, no-bid contracts, etc. If one knows anything about recent US history, these easy, amorphous targets are clearly other Republicans. There was a Republican in the White House, and Republicans in both houses of Congress for six (6) years. Accountability? The Government Accountability Office were barely asked by Congress to hold investigations into the executive branch during this time, and Bush vetoed not a single bill. Who did Cheney turn to, when he was coming up with Energy legislation? Energy companies. Who gave out no-bid contracts to Halliburton &etc for work in Iraq? I am simply bewildered, hearing Republicans attack these nameless boogeymen, when in fact it was Repub- licans behind the wheel the whole time.

Then there were the lies. Obama's votes in the Illinois Senate have been explained again and again. Obama's "present" votes were a legitimate and calculated political tool, not, as Guliani purports, due to his inability comprehend legislation. Of course, Guliani didn't say it quite that nicely. Instead of the facts, Guliani called Obama stupid. Playground tactics. Guliani also said that Democrats "gave up on America." Nice touch.

Mitt Romney attacked the "Eastern Elite." Romney, of course, is a multi-millionare ex-governor from Massachusetts, whose father was president of American Motors, himself a governor and a Cabinet secretary. I'm not surprised to hear this from Romney who, while I was a citizen and voter in MA, mocked the state of which he was still governor. Classy. But then this elitist who lives and works in the East bashes the "Eastern Elite"? What straw man does he think he's attacking?

On Tuesday, Lieberman said that Obama hadn't "reached across the isle" to work on legislation with Republicans. This is simply not true. Obama campaign advisor Robert Gibbs "cited Obama's work with Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists and with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, on the government budget." (from cnn.com)

Palin claimed that Obama would raise taxes on all Americans, including and especially small business owners. Does she actually believe this? Has she listened to anything Obama has said about reducing taxes on the middle class, promoting innovation and fostering jobs in the US? Is she ignorant, or is she lying though her teeth, promoting a tired stereotype of Democrats as "tax-and-spend liberals"?

Mostly, watching the RNC, I felt like I was watching a convention of bullies. People willing to lie, people willing to attack again and again. These were not speeches that highlighted policy differences. The tone of this convention has been of disdainful mockery. The only metaphor I can think of to describe it is of a playground bully, big and mean and used to being able to push people around. I imagine the jock from Napoleon Dynamite. His outright disdain for Napoleon. Who is this skinny, weird-looking nobody with a strange name? His tactics are intimidation and mockery.

What's scary for me is that it just might work. No one wants to vote for whiners. Politics isn't fair. John Kerry's Swift Boat friends know that attacks don't have to stay above the belt. Complaining about them means you're a wimp.

But never before have I understood Obama's appeal so clearly. When Obama talks about the "politics of personal destruction" and about "voting our hopes, not our fears," I took them to be political pablum. When the speakers at the DNC praised McCain again and again, and highlighted policy differences again and again, I thought, this is natural. This is what politics should be about.

But man, has the RNC opened my eyes. Whenever the Republicans are not talking about McCain's experience as a POW, they are working to destroy Obama, as a person and not just as a politician. They mock Democrats' hopefulness. They invoke fear of terrorism and claim that Democrats "want to lose in Iraq" and "want the terrorists to win."

This is not the type of politics I want for our country. The people I've seen this week at the RNC, laughing, make me sick to my stomach. I have to admit, they almost make me afraid, make me want to be quiet, to run away. They remind me of all those assholes who picked on me in school because I was tall and they wanted to prove something.

Republicans have shown that they are willing to do anything to win. I am not, and wouldn't belong to a party that would. But man, I want to stand up to them and slap that smile off of every one of their smug, rich, entitled faces. But without the violence, of course. Because I'm a pansy-assed liberal.