It's been awhile since we've talked about the rightbloggers' attitude
toward President Obama. In a way, it hasn't changed since 2008: They
still hate him, and with a ferocity that trumps all reason.
You need only scan their blogs to see this. When the Polish President's plane went down in Russia this weekend, for
instance, Reliapundit immediately declared this was no
accident, but "mass murder" committed by the Russians. "IT LOOKS LIKE
OBAMA IS PUTIN'S BITCH," he roared, seized by the conservative version
of Tourette's.
This is impressively deranged, but also pretty random. And that's a
problem for them. While rightbloggers reliably denounce everything the
President does, outside of the now-traditional accusation of socialism
they haven't had a good unifying schtick since last year's drive to
convince the world that Obama was the next Adolf Hitler. This dissipates the force of
their hatred, and what's the point of hate if you can't win elections
with it?
But maybe they'll do better with the new rightblogger meme, floated this
weekend: That Obama is insane.
The story relies on two traditional friends
of the American Right, the Russians and the French.
According to the European Union Times, "a new report circulating in
the Kremlin" claimed that French President Nicolas Sarkozy referred
in
private remarks to Obama as "dangerous[ly] aliènè," which the
EU Times says "translates into his, Obama, being a 'mad lunatic,' or in
the American vernacular, 'insane.'"
Both the report and its provenance are absurdly sketchy, and do not
allow for the possibility that Sarkozy used these terms as an old
Borscht Belt comedian might ("Get outta here, ya crazy nut, ya!").
Also, the EU Times is itself crazy. They reported in November of last
year that "Obama Orders 1 Million US Troops to Prepare for Civil
War." And some of their stories might be described as anti-Semitic
("China finally Learns the Truth about the Jews").
The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that the EU Times site "is registered to the wife of a racist skinhead gang member
who was involved in a bizarre stabbing incident last month"
But why would that stop rightbloggers? The madness of President Obama is
not a new idea to them. And we're not just talking about the casual
diagnoses of internet shouters like The View From The Turret ("It's Official: Obama is
Insane") and The Astute Bloggers ("The Astute Bloggers has
commented on Obama's psychopathic traits before, here,
here,
here,
here").
Last year National Review actually published psychiatrist Irwin
Savodnik's long-distance analysis of Obama, in which he
deduced the President was "fixated on a single path for the country,"
"looks to a hardened ideology that draws its inspiration from the
storming of the Bastille," and "chose Chilmark for his well-earned
vacation because that's where the utopians go."
And one Dr. Ali Sina put out an similarly speculative analysis
called "Understanding
Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer," which Sina claimed "has been
published in more than 1000 sites." In this fascinating document, Sina
found in Obama's evasions and prevarications not the normal behavior of a
successful American politician, but evidence that Obama is Hitler.
And let's not forget about Dr. Charles Krauthammer (though it would be nice,
wouldn't it?).
So when EU News put up its story, several of the blogbrethren took and
ran with it.
Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft at the ultraconservative Catholic site
First Things promoted the story. "When will the media and brain dead
liberals understand how true his assertions must be," asked Charging Elephant. "French Leader Sarkozy thinks
Obama is insane!" said Fire Andrea Mitchell. "I, For One, Think The
Assessment Is Dead-On," said Chicks on the Right.
Some added corroborative evidence of their own. Hyscience supported the EU Times' charge with
independent photo analysis: "Sarkozy appears to be looking at Obama and
thinking, 'WTF planet of unreality are you living on?'" World Watch found an angle everyone else missed,
reporting that Sarkozy "slammed Barry Hussein Obama, for being a
retard."
Atlas Shrugs -- a staunch supporter of Israel who
would probably be mortified to learn of the EU Times' attitude toward
Jews if she were at all capable of shame -- said, "[Obama's] not insane.
He wants jihad to win. That's what he is doing."
A counterintuitive approach! But she didn't want to let go of the
madness meme entirely: "Of course," she added, "to the western mind, the
rational mind, the logical mind, the American mind, that is insane."
As a tie-breaker, she showed Obama talking to Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and declared, "Look how the power madman
[Obama] is
pointing, talking down to an ally. Would he dare treat his Islamic
masters with such disrespect?" It seems, on balance, Atlas Shrugs is
pro-madness.
Bluegrass Pundit believed "Obama's single-minded
determination to press his socialist agenda" was sufficient proof of his
insanity, because it flew in the face of the incontrovertible evidence
that "the American people are opposed and the Democratic Party is
destroyed." (The Democrats run both Congress and the White House. Wonder
what they look like when they're not destroyed?) Also,
"Obama's unwavering belief that he is the only one who knows what is
right wavers on the fanatical."
"While our media still touts [Obama] as brilliant, articulate, and
persuasive," said Israel and Beyond, "the EU Times is reporting
adjectives like 'dangerous' and 'insane...'" "When you read the article
below, you will have no choice but to agree," wrote Giovanni's World, no doubt while swinging a gold
watch hypnotically over the keyboard. "Yes, even you snotty nosed,
pasty-faced, jello-spined Progressive Fascists."
More cautious parties promoted the story with what they no doubt
considered careful demurrers. "Little news item I ran across," muttered
RedState. "No one is talking about it." "I resisted
linking to this because I'm not absolutely convinced about the
website," said the undoubtedly sincere Tea Party of Perrysburg, "but it's all over the web
today and it does reflect thinking that has been expressed by reliable
speakers over the last week so here goes..."
"Heh: Sarkozy Thinks Obama May Be Insane. He could be on to something,"
said Jammie Wearing Fool -- before pulling the post without explanation. (He wasn't the only one. Maybe word got around about the source?
Even Free Republic pulled their thread on the story.)
But, you know, maybe we're making too much of this. So what if a few
rightbloggers, even some big ones, are running with a totally lunatic
story? It shouldn't reflect on their judgment in general.
After all, there are serious rightbloggers out there, doing serious
coverage of the President -- like Instapundit,
who says anyone could have guessed Obama would be anti-Israel because
he's a "serious lefty with the middle name 'Hussein'"; like RedState, which demands to know what Obama was really
doing when he went to his daughter's soccer game, because our right to
this information is enshrined in the Constitution; like others ripping
the cover off the latest Obama debacle, the tragic mid-air cigarette-lighting diplomat whose
nico-terrorism Obama failed to stop.
And that's a valid point. Why get after them for fixating on accusations
of lunacy? It's a subject they're better equipped than most to discuss.
Roy Edroso's Rightbloggers: Exploring the right Wing Blogosphere
appears courtesy of our sister paper in New York City, Village Voice.
Comments (0)