Rhetorical flourishes: remember when Obama named the opposition “the enemy”?
At the time, it was looked on as something rather scandalous. This headline at Reuters tries to turn it into a Republican attack on Obama: “Obama seeks to blunt Republican attack over comment.” An excerpt:
President Barack Obama said on Monday he should not have used the word “enemies” to describe his political opponents as Republicans sought to make an issue of the comment a day before congressional elections.
Obama, in an interview with talk radio host Michael Baisden, said, “I probably should have used the word ‘opponents’ instead of enemies.”
He was backtracking from a comment he made a week ago in an interview with Univision radio in which he sought to persuade Hispanics to vote for Democratic candidates instead of Republicans.
“If Latinos sit out the election instead of, ‘we’re going to punish our enemies and we’re going to reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us’ — if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s going to be harder,” Obama had said.
Seems rather quaint now, doesn’t it? The idea that Obama might be criticized for calling Republicans “enemies” and that he might see the need to defend himself?
During his presidency Obama was usually careful not to let the mask slip, but now and then he accidentally showed the way he actually thought. At the time, he felt that a more moderate facade was needed. Note, however, his use of the word “probably” in his “correction.”
At any rate – that was then; this is now, and it’s the way the entire Democratic Party rolls. We’re not just enemies, we’re terrorists:
From Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), to committee chairmen such as Homeland Security’s Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), with no dissent in the ranks, the House Democrats assert their Republican colleagues are “enemies within,” accusing them of complicity in the January 6 Capitol riot, and claiming that Republican members endanger their lives. That the Democrats don’t believe a word of this lie only underlines why they repeat it ad nauseam: to pin the label “terrorist” on Republican leaders and voters, thereby depriving us of standing as citizens who must be respected and justifying all manner of oppression.
See how that Overton Window thing works? The events of January 6th facilitated the process of demonizing the opposition, but it was always going to happen after Biden was safely in place as president:
It is truly frightening to consider the number of Democratic politicians, current and retired members of the alphabet agencies and of the Pentagon, to say nothing of brainless partisan hacks in the MSM and countless morons on social media, who are completely comfortable not only in describing their ideological opponents as “enemies” or “domestic terrorists”, but also in suggesting that techniques once employed overseas against jihadist extremists be used against the “enemy within.” This, combined with the increasing contempt of “progressives” for freedom of speech and their subservience to the oligarchs of Big Tech, augurs very badly indeed for the future of principled dissent.
In Tyler, Texas, the home of Congressman Louie Ghomert and the state of Senator Ted Cruz, there are electronic billboards calling for both to resign. I just drove by one against Cruz a few minutes ago and it said something along the lines of “ voted against democracy.” So far I have seen two billboards against Ghomert and one against Cruz.
Remember the Trump/Clinton debate when Hillary Clinton was asked who was her enemy?
REPUBLICANS was her answer.
Nothing new to me. THEY have been calling me an enemy for the past 4 years. And now THEY want me to play nice.
“ Gohmert” not “Ghomert”.
neo …
Remove “This” from the end of the Reuters link to fix it.
Madness is the order of the day.
Saw this morning that the Secretary of Defense has ordered a one day “stand down” throughout the military to address ‘white supremacy and ‘extremism’ in the ranks.
Need I mention that the SecDef is a Person of Color? I expect that he was the choice of Obama. Since Obama purged the senior ranks during his tenure, I assume that this appointment was one of his pet Generals. Biden broke with tradition by appointing a retired General–if he even knows who he appointed. (Trump also broke tradition when he appointed Mattis; and he soon realized his mistake.)
If the goal now is to drive all white personnel from the military by forcing them to admit that they are the rotten core of a sick organization, it may work. Talk about a toxic work environment.
Right now it is hard to see where all of this will end. Prediction; not well.
Leftists always project…
Quaint maybe then, now we are living it daily.
I am sure Barky is calling the personal roster
One would be hard pressed to find a bigger BS artist, hypocrite , lying POS than Barack Obama and Michelle.
While they send their kids to very elite private schools and then onto Ivy League or U of Mich (a first class state U), he opposed school choice for inner city kids.
He talks of of global warming but buys a near waterfront house at Martha’s Vineyard, which, by the way, must be one of the “whitest” neighborhoods on planet earth. So much for his “hanging with his oppressed “bros” and sista’s.” I guess he can bring a gun to the fight , when rising sea levels bring a knife and inundate his house (i.e. mansion).
He speaks of climate change, but he does not have solar panels on his homes nor does he drive / get chauffeured about in electric vehicles (the electricity, of course is generated from the combustion of either natural gas, coal, oil or, heaven forbid nuclear !!! ).
Meanwhile, Michelle, at every opportunity claims “its been a struggle” to achieve what she has achieved.
Let’s see; a grad of Princeton, a university that 98% of white folks have ZERO chance of attending; a grad of Yale Law (Harvard?), a law school that 99 % of white folks have zero chance of attending.
In fact, she , and her lying POS husband have had opportunities that 99% of all white or Asian (oh, sorry, I believe that Asians are classified as white. I guess that being successful as an ethnic class determines one’s race. I await the “classification” of black Nigerian African emigres to the USA from black to white) .
What I simply do not understand is how the ACTIONS of the elite liberal progressive/socialists, which is in total contradistinction to what they publicly profess, has ZERO influence in the support they receive from their “average citizen” supporters / voters.
I can only surmise that it is these same folks that are very susceptible to ANY form of propaganda that is delivered in an effective manner.
It sure looks like about half of the electorate would have made very “good Germans.”
After my 9-11 change and during the Iraq War I was still a prominent participant on a counter-cultural bulletin board. In a Christianity discussion someone had brought up Karen Armstrong, the well-known and much-honored writer on comparative religion.
Armstrong was something of an apologist for Islam while no friend of conservative Christianity. In an Utne Review interview, she said:
________________________________________
[Karen Armstrong] proclaims Bush and Bin Laden to be parodies of each other with their talk of good and evil, black and white. “They’d probably get along pretty well if they could meet,” she says.
–“Utne Reader” March-April, 2005
________________________________________
I took issue with this. Her claim struck me as superficial to the point of willful ignorance.
I went on to say that Armstrong considers the American Christian Right to be kissing cousins with Islamic terrorists. But that’s not true. In fact the Christian Left and the Christian Right in America have far more in common–such as democracy, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion–than the Christian Right has with the radical Islamists, even if this escapes Armstrong’s notice.
However, the progressive audience refused to budge, refused to consider George W. Bush was anything other than a terrorist ayatollah from Texas, monstrously occupying the White House, with no interest in democracy or freedom.
I pressed them to support their claims, but they had nothing to offer beyond mild complaints about Republican policies here or there, and of course, the Iraq War. They hated Bush 43 and that made him evil and the equivalent of Bin Laden.
Standard operating procedure for Democrats, going back at least to Nixon.
jack:
Thanks, fixed.
John T.
I love the tact the Obama Vineyard mansion is something like 12 ft. above high tide.
Also, about 6 or 12 months ago Bill Gates bought an expansive beach pad from the T. Boone Pickens estate. I checked in out on the Bing Aerial view because it is on the extreme north end of Del Mar, CA about 3 miles from where I once lived on the south end of Solana Beach.
I do believe the pad has a big array of solar panels, but it is right down on the sandy beach. Del Mar does have many nice homes atop some tall beach cliffs, but this spot is well north of the cliffs. Unlike slightly wealthy wannabes like the Obama’s, the Gates’ could treat the beach house like an expendable item.
Well the party of destruction gotta destroy.
Of course, they’ll always blame YOU for it.
Righteously.
It’s their M.O.
Tommy Jay @ 4:48
12 feet above hi tide; that’s today.
Recall that according to Obama and climate change fanatics, ocean levels will soon be rising.
That 12 feet above high tide today will then be 12 feet or more under water.
But hey, it’s Obama’s mansion; this means that all of MA could wind up under the ocean waters, but Obama’s mansion will , miracle of miracle, never become inundated.
Why?
Because it’s Obama’s mansion, that’s why.
He is GOD.
Just ask any liberal.
“it’s the way the entire Democratic Party rolls. We’re not just enemies, we’re terrorists” neo
Effectively declaring 74+ million law abiding Americans to be “domestic terrorists” is a profoundly stupid thing to do. Their ideological blinders will be their undoing.
j e,
“suggesting that techniques once employed overseas against jihadist extremists be used against the “enemy within.”
Should those “techniques” be employed, it will create a new ‘standard’ in insurgencies. Too arrogant to see the fire with which they’re playing.
Oldflyer,
“If the goal now is to drive all white personnel from the military by forcing them to admit that they are the rotten core of a sick organization, it may work.”
It won’t work the way they intend, as it’s far too heavy handed. Nor will it drive out the 80% that Sen. Cohen revealed the dems fear. Most of that 80% will go silent and hunker down in a simmering resentment just below a boil.
Most of all, what it will do is further harden the view among that 80% that, the upper echelons in the military and the democrat party’s leadership and ‘activists’ have become domestic enemies of the Constitution they swore to defend…
JohnTyler,
“I await the “classification” of black Nigerian African emigres to the USA from black to white”
Rather than be classified as whites, black Nigerian African emigres will be classified as “Uncle Toms”. Like Thomas Sowell, Larry Elder, Candace Owens, etc., etc.
What we have learned is that half of humanity make “good Germans”, that is until they personally experience what they’ve enabled. Then, in the face of a now brutal reality, half will abandon their prior willful blindness and half cling to the rationalization that, “if only the ‘right’ people had been in charge”…
huxley,
“However, the progressive audience refused to budge, refused to consider George W. Bush was anything other than a terrorist ayatollah from Texas, monstrously occupying the White House, with no interest in democracy or freedom.”
Self-identification with ideological ‘certainty’ allows for not even the tiniest seed of doubt to be admitted.
Self-identification with ideological ‘certainty’ allows for not even the tiniest seed of doubt to be admitted.
Geoffrey Britain:
It was some kind of certainty, though I’m not sure if ideological is the precise word. Ex-hippies aren’t ideological so much as tribal and cultural. It was in their DNA to hate American presidents who made war and that was still operative in 2005.
…With the exception of the New Left folks always doing their best to steer the counterculture in the proper directions. That was true too and more effective than I like to admit.
As the hippies I knew grew up, they built careers and families. Most of them were successful and as they came from middle-class to upper-class families, they regressed to the mean of that aspect of the red-blue divide — such as reading the NY Times as the final word.
However, I was genuinely surprised at the vehemence of the Bush/Bin Laden stance my friends took. It didn’t occur to me that after 9-11 they would be that far gone. I knew I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.
Democrats otherwise the untermenschen!? “…it was always going to happen after Biden was safely in place as president.”
Re Neo’s post: You want more Trump? … This is how. But that was then.
You want CW2? This is how you get CW2.
huxley, perhaps you didn’t notice: Karen Armstrong loves all religions except the one she left. THAT one she hates, and therefore the others are always better!
“You want more Trump? … This is how. But that was then.
You want CW2? This is how you get CW2.” – TJ
And there are plenty of people ready to give them more Trump.
https://notthebee.com/article/oh-my–64-percent-of-republican-voters-say-theyd-join-a-new-trump-led-political-party-according-to-a-new-poll
I would have thought that anyone who loves liberty, the Constitution, and America was an enemy of Democrats.
Effectively declaring 74+ million law abiding Americans to be “domestic terrorists” is a profoundly stupid thing to do.
Democrats need enemies & victims, as their predecessors needed Kulaks. Quotas to fill, you know.
And there are plenty of people ready to give them more Trump.
I think a 3d party would be a fool’s errand. It’s tempting because of the disposition of Republican politicians, most of whom are vacuous careerists and men without chests. That Liz Cheney is still chair of the House Republican conference tells you what they’re worth.
Impeach Obama! that’s how it works now, right? I seem to recall that he also said “if they bring a knife, we bring a gun”?
Smells like…incitement.
This describes some of the perks that former presidents receive: https://www.ntu.org/foundation/tax-page/pensions-and-perks-for-former-presidents-archive
But it also says: “Presidents who are removed from office through the impeachment process are no longer eligible for the pension and benefits provided in the Former Presidents Act. Lifetime Secret Service protections is provided under a separate law so this benefit would not be impacted by removal from office.”
However, since Trump was not “removed from office” via impeachment, does that mean he gets to keep his post presidential benefits?
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/02/04/the-q-word-weapon-of-choice-for-smearing-opponents/
The fake news about Q is unraveling.