#551 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #8. The un-Civil Political War of 2012.

The main front-page headline of today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune is pretty clear “election 2012 Ad blitz targeting Obama is on its way”*.
Karl Rove and Company is baaaacckkkk, big-time. They were preparing for the Main Event, and here they are.
There are no surprises in the article (click on the headline to see the entire article). There will be hundreds of millions of dollars spent with a single objective: to smear and thus help defeat President Obama and Democrats in November. It is coordinated and it will be vicious beyond any previous precedent. Big, big money will be funding this stuff for the next six months. Buyer beware.

“Obama” is really used as the symbol of people like me: “liberal”, “Democrat”, “union”…they and words like them are all “hate words”. (In a few days I’ll be writing about that business of “hate words”. Stay tuned. The subtext will be “Using the Middle Class to kill the Middle Class”.)
Nothing we’ll see in the barrage of ads (and “forwards”) will be any surprise to me. There is no intention at conveying “truth” in any sense of that word. These “ads” will doubtless include those barrage of “forwards” that I get most every day. (I always look at these forwards, since I want to see how the “truth” is destroyed.) I’ve written about this before, most recently March 24, 2012. It is so rare to receive a forward that on balance is “true”.
I also look at the truly vicious stuff that comes from the “Tea Party” internet structure. I’m a glutton for punishment, I guess.
As for me, I happen to be a retired Teacher Union representative who’s a very moderate liberal Democrat who has a great deal of respect for President Obama, (though I supported Hillary Clinton until she conceded the nomination in 2008.) My best prominent political friend was a former Republican Governor of Minnesota. I’m reasonably well informed person on politics, and reasonably active in the local level of the political conversation.
If you are at all interested in my perspectives, check in once in awhile and simply put the words Election 2012 in the search box. You’ll find anything I’ve been writing about the topic (there have been 7 preceding items.)
If you aren’t interested, fine. Not so fine if you believe the ad barrage, as you will be lied to, constantly, from the comfort of your easy chair. If you are unsure what to believe, reluctantly I would say, believe nothing when it comes to political argument. There is truth out there, but it won’t come from the “forwards” or the ads.
More on this topic in the next few days.
Note: June 27, 2011, I did a directly related post to this one. It is here. I note that in that smear campaign, $20 million was said to be involved. In the one now beginning, the amount will be over $200 million, and national, and this is months before the big and vicious onslaught in the fall.
Caveat Emptor.
* – I’ve subscribed to the Minneapolis Star Tribune for many years. In the most recent years it would likely be most accurately described as moderate conservative Republican in orientation.
UPDATE APRIL 11, 2012
1. From Willard Shapira, Roseville MN: The election of 2012 is nothing less than a no-holds-barred battle for control of America now and the foreseeable future. Civility is out the window; anything goes when the stakes are this high.
2. One of this mornings e-mails was a “forward” from a valued long-time friend, with this question: “Is this true?”
The text, much in very large print, all capitals and screaming color, was
“Shocking News from ABC’s Diane Sawyer”
“Biggest travesty of all times…
The entire e-mail, along with the video, follows my response:
“I appreciate your asking.
I looked at the piece, and I checked Snopes, Nothing about Chinese building American bridges there, possibly because this is a brand new piece.
Here is what I noticed:
1) This is probably a brand new piece of propaganda, and it very likely is a ‘cut and paste’ job using ABC footage and website. It says right under the video that it was aired in September, 2011, six months ago, and the video itself probably used footage even older. But surrounding the video is current news. For someone like you or I it would be almost impossible to discern the “truth” of this apparently very real piece of film. It is probably gross misuse of ABC’s rights, but ABC won’t pursue – too hard. And you can’t attribute this “forward” to anyone specific (typical of such forwards).
2) The piece emphasizes three STATE projects, California, New York and Alaska, but its clear intent is to blame OBAMA and put him and GOVERNMENT in cahoots with CHINA (see the second sentence.)
3) There is something unstated here: these are very big business contracts. As you know, “states” as entities don’t build anything. They let contracts to profit-making concerns who are constrained only by state and federal law. Business (and we consumers) do a LOT of shopping in China.
If one were to dig at all, one would find this to be far, far more complicated. If something surfaces on Snopes, I’ll let you know.
That you would have received this on Monday doesn’t surprise me at all, actually.
Here is what I wrote on Monday on my blog post (you’ve been reading the post I refer to).
After sending my response, I thought about this some more, and added this:
I think about this kind of stuff, quite a lot, actually, and it occurred to me after sending my response that I had left out perhaps the most important piece of data: in my state, and at the national level, and probably in most states, the real ‘driver’ of public policy for the current Republican party is Big Business. One of the main mantras I hear all the time is “get government off our back”, in terms of regulations, such as fair wages, who we can buy from, etc., etc. So, with the bridge example, the prime contractors go where they can get “whatever” cheapest…but continue to blame “government” for the problems.
Prove me wrong on this one. I think it will be difficult to do so, since, as I say, I hear it all the time.”
The “forward” continued.
Diane Sawyer reporting on U.S. bridge projects going to the Chines….NOT Americans.
The bridges are right here in the U.S. and yet Obama has approved for Chinese contractors to come in and do the work. What about jobs for Americans???
Watch this video. It doesn’t take long to view.
This one should be tough for the supoorters of the current regime to swallow…AND it comes from ABC NEWS.
U.S.A. Bridges andRoads Being Built by Chinese Firms. Shokcing to say the least! This video is a jaw-dropper that will make you sick. (It was also shocking that ABC was actually reporting this story.)
The lead-in with Obama promising jobs in the U.S. by improving our infrastructure is so typical of all his promises! Our tax dollars are at work – for CHINA!!!
I pray all the unemployed see this and cast their votes accordingly in 2012!
Click here: U.S Bridges, Roads Being Built by Chinese Firms Video – ABC News
PLEASE pass on to everyone.