Quote of the Day

Amanda Marcotte on the story that Fox News has apparently decided is the most important thing ever-

"Why the fuck do I know Obama’s minister’s name?! No, really. Why? I don’t know John McCain’s minister’s name. (But he does have a 'spiritual guide'.) I don’t know Hillary Clinton’s minister’s name? I don’t know John Edwards’ minister’s name. I don’t know Mitt Romney’s minister’s name, and Romney was in a church that is actually out of the mainstream and 'raised questions'. I don’t know George Bush’s minister’s name, but I know that whoever he is probably thinks I’m going to burn in hell for all eternity for the sin of being a feminist atheist.

Nothing that Rev. Jeremiah Wright said from the pulpit is, in an objective sense, any worse than damning the majority of the population to hell, which is a bare minimum requirement for the religious right assholes in this country that we’re supposed to show such great respect for because it’s their beliefs and they’re religious."

Well this is that culture war shit again. There's some (or several) cultural bludgeons that the right uses to whip people up in frenzies, and distract them from the fact that the shit is hitting the fan at a thousand miles an hour. Almost always there is a religious element to these trumped-up controversies, as with gay marriage or 'activist judges' or stem cells. This time they found something with a religion and race two-fer and they are milking it. I believe the potency of such issues has died down in recent years due to sobering, harsh reality, but I am not a swing voter, so what do I know about how this country thinks?

Conservative pundits are unliterally declaring this means the end of the Obama candidacy (one should look up 'concern troll' on Wikipedia). The gang at Fox News-- lead by ringmaster Sean Hannity-- are making particularly good hay out of this... acting as if they were actually fine with Obama before. The reality is that Fox has long been foaming at the mouth over Obama, with the rest of the liberal media following. And in today's NY Times, Bill Kristol has a column about this, cheerily printing falsehoods as is his wont. Etc.

And the most frustrating thing about all of this is that this story is occurring on the same weekend that that the Federal Reserve bought out Bear Sterns with Monopoly money, using JP Morgan Chase as a proxy, while even conservative economists admit the fallout will only grow. The anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is this week. And a million other little stories that can only be found on page B12, next to the lingerie ads. And right on time, here's a perfectly good circus to distract us. I checked the National Review blog at noon... of the 17 posts so far today, 7 were on the Wright story, and none taking a serious look at the big story of the day. There was one post on it last night, of which more later.

There are a lot of people working overtime to take what should be a substantive presidential election, and turning it into another zoo. The media should stop enabling them (ratings, wooo!) and certainly the presidential candidates themselves shouldn't either. Let's all just reject and denounce everyone we've ever met or befriended, and move on already.

[UPDATE: One final thing... some humor. The Red State Update guys throw in their ¢2.]