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Saturday, October 28, 2006
Enough to Make You Vote Democrat...
Hat-tip to Cassilis Blog for this appalling US Campaign Commercial from Republican Congressional hopeful Vernon Robinson.
37 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Reminds me of the Tory Party circa 1963, 1974, 1996, 2000... need I go on?
Makes me glad I am not American! I don't think I could bring myself to vote for that, but I am equally unlikely to vote for the Democrats after recent scandals.
I'm just glad of the old Tory party, a sane right-of-centre party I can vote for despite being an egalitarian atheist, or in fact because I am egalitarian, not in favour of the left-wing skewed society.
Fox has Parkinson's disease, quite advanced, and has appeared in two political ads to support candidates who support stem cell research. Limbaugh ridiculed him, claiming that Fox was exaggerating his symptoms and acting.
Limbaugh, having had his ass handed to him by the medical establishment, the Democrats, Hollywood, Canada, and even most of his own loyal listeners, has issued the lamest apology in history.
And don't forget the claims by her opponent that Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth wants to "cut and run" on Iraq. Even though she lost both her legs when her helicopter was shot down there...
There is a vileness about the Republicans this mid-term campaign which is borne of desperation. I sincerely hope that they get a massive kicking for it. Sadly, nothing can be taken for granted when such monstrous amounts of money can be spent on negative advertising. The cost of just one congressional race could keep the LibDems going for a decade....
What's wrong with it? I see nothing there that people wouldn't almost universally agree with fifty years ago. Given that America hasn't quite lost its religiosity or respect for tradition - whereas almost everyone in Britain has - there is nothing exceptional or incredible about it. What about it was false, for starters?
It's a failure of imagination to assume that modern, present-day liberal orthodoxy in Britain on all such matters as homosexuality, religion and immigration, constitutes the only plausible position to take. Actually I think it's far more frivolous and contemptible than this guy's take.
Utterly appauling. If someone produced a campaign ad like that here, there would be a national outcry.
I feel sorry for the more moderate right-wingers over there. If I were American there's no chance in hell I'd ever vote Republican. Hypocritical scumbags for the most part.
The UK has become completely under the rule of the Politically Correct establishment and it would appear that the US is not so far behind!
The German language has not been ammeded to remove the word "Nigger" and the generic term "Neger" is still used. Homosexuals can still be made fun of and we have two first rate comedy films released over the last couple of years (Der Schuh des Manitu & Sternschiff Suprise)which were a real piss take of homosexuals. Funny thing is that two of my openly gay colleagues really enjoyed both films. I firmly believe that we all need to take a step backwards and learn to laugh again. Unless comment is cruel and vindictive I can see no harm in laughter!
"don't forget the claims by her opponent that Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth wants to "cut and run" on Iraq. Even though she lost both her legs when her helicopter was shot down there"
So? Does that mean she cannot want to cut and run, or simply that she must, by definition, be right and beyond criticism? You cannot stifle debate with someone just because they are disabled, that would not be very egalitarian.
There are things in this film that can be criticised heavily, but the Democrats deserve as much criticism overall.
Don't be so bloody soft. This guy is appealing to his audience. It wouldn't work here, granted, but it could well work over there.
And the Michael J Fox episode was far more shameful. He may not have been putting it on but he certainly didn't take his medication before filming the attack ad.
Right is Right - As somebody whose grandfather had Parkinsons for many years, I can tell you that increasingly as time goes by there is no amount of medication that will prevent the disease from physically manifesting itself. Your and Limbaugh's remarks were shameful.
"It wouldn't work here, granted, but it could well work over there"
That's kind of the point we're making. Despite being on the right of centre in UK politics, that is too right wing for many of us. There are some very good points made, but others that, as you say, would not fit in here. No-one said it wouldn't work, but then whatever Chavez did worked, but he's still a nasty, distasteful man.
Of course I am being silly- he cannot be an M P because he is a Lord! I am just making a small point that he should be addressed as Lord Trimble- most do not do that and he deserves that rspect.
Right is right, you are wrong. Follow the link and see that Fox actually said he was on too much medication at the time. Fox can act, but he wasn't putting on symptoms. Ask any medical practitioner what Parkinson's looks like.
Picking on veterans, cripples and invalids rather than addressing the issues does not speak well of the "character" of the Republican party. Or certain commenters.
I liked the advertisement. And if it is true that that sort of advert would not work here in the UK then I think that that is a sad statement about us. Racial quotas? Gays flaunting their homosexuality? Unrestricted immigration? I'm against all of those things, and I am sure most others are too. But in today's society Political Correctness rules, and to express the sort of opinions set out in the advertisement is, in this censorious climate, impossible.
My point was simply that Robinson is appealing to the audience he represents. MJ Fox is seeking to use his terrible illness for electoral purposes for a party that he and his Hollywood chums have always supported.
I thought the US was supposed to be a 1st World country. It is amazing that anyone could be stupid enough to vote for this donkey, but then, who are we to talk? Tony Blair is in his third term!
As for the Rush Limbaugh comments on MJ Fox, it is exactly what one would expect to hear. Popular movie star with Parkinsons making your Party look stupid? Wheel out a slightly touched windbag to make a dick of himself and your Biblical stem-cell policy. Genius.
Let's get this straight. The Democrats create an attack advert containing the exact opposite of the truth. They front it using Michael J Fox who, as he has had to admit, manipulated his medication in order to exaggerate his symptoms on TV.
They assumed that the fact of his illness made him immune to criticism.
Well it doesn't work like that any more. The truth of the matter is that the Dems were trying to give the impression that Republican candidates are opposed to stem cell research (they aren't); that they are vile people who don't want to see a cure for these diseases (of course they do); and that there really would be cures for MS and Parkinson's if only people would vote Democrat (which is untrue, tasteless and exploitative).
What Rush Limbaugh did was to bring this to peoples' attention and expose this tawdry little hit piece for the lying rubbish that it is.
Or to look at it another way, Limbaugh took the piss out of a Parkinson's sufferer, for having the temerity to assert his view that fundamentalist Christians should not be allowed to stop the research that could save others like him.
I have seen the footage of Limbaugh talking about it (his radio shows are filmed, maybe so that he can enjoy the moment afterwards). He even did impressions of Fox shaking as he mocked him. Lovely.
Well yes, that's another way of looking at it alright. It's the standard way, in fact, from the perspective of the left-wing/liberal media.
Mr Limbough's broadcasts, while syndicated to wireless stations with over 20 million listeners all over the USA, are also broadcast via the internet in video to on-line subscribers all over the world.
I saw the original webcam broadcast as it went out. (Yes, I'm a subscriber). It was quite clear to me, at the time and subsequently, that Rush Limbough was not 'taking the piss' out of MJ Fox, but was giving an idea of what the Fox commercial looked like for the benefit of those who had not seen it.
And Fox's appearance struck him as odd because he knows, having seen him in public on many occasions, that MJ Fox does not normally look like that. When he taking his medicine in the correct dosage Fox appears normal.
The whole advertisement was a sham not just in terms of its text, based as it was on untruth and deception, but also in terms of its iconography.
This has since been spun by the lackeys of the left-leaning media as an example of a right-wing spokesman mocking somebody with a disability.
I remember the personal attacks Mr Limbough himself bore when he became addicted to pain-killers and went into re-hab. And I remember the whoops of joy from the liberals and the democrats when he lost his hearing. And let's not forget that it was MJ Fox's pal and fellow Demo-gog George Clooney who 'took the piss out of' Charlton Heston's Alzheimers syndrome and when queried about it replied 'I don't care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association. He deserves whatever anyone says about him.'
I well-remember the media splash at the time (January 2003). MSNBC/ABC/NBC anchor-men were queueing up to denounce these shameful and tasteless ad-hominem remarks. Yeah right.
This entire brouhaha is not especially important in itself, except in the sense that it reveals the double standards and hypocrisy of the left-media. What they really can't stand is that the original attack advert was intended to be a drive-by shooting. A quick in and out, delivered from the impregnable bastion of a Parkinson's sufferer intended to put Republican candidates on the back foot for a few days during a close campaign. And Rush Limbaugh has exposed the big lie behind it. Just unforgivable.
Rush is right got there before me. It appears that when the left take the piss out of someone's debilitating illness (as Clooney did with Heston) it is excusable. When a right wing commentator makes a valid point about one of Hollywood's keenest Democrat using whatever tactic he can to turn away Republican voters he is vilified?
I have much more respect for people like the late Christopher Reeve. That was a guy who had real convictions. He died as a result of spinal injuries that could have been cured with aggressive stem cell research, but continued to vote Republican (on a municiple and State level) right up until his death as he believed in core free market principles and the moral code of those he was voting for.
The sight of that smug t*at Kennedy being part of the new majority in the Senate should be enough for anyone to vote and support the Republicans.
Right is right.... Interesting that you should mention Christopher Reeve.
During the 2004 Presidential election Democrat VP candidate John Edwards said "Well, if we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again."
And there you have it. All you have to do is vote Democrat and that nice Christopher Reeve will be able to walk again. The same bogus mindset as the Fox advert. Just contemptible.
Edwards was an unprincipled huckster, a snake-oil salesman who would tell any lie, promote any untruth in order to get elected. What contempt they have for us. I think people saw that in 2004.
The commercial is excellent and I approve of its message entirely. The modern conservative party has been stolen by those opposed to its traditional values who did not have the courage to set up their own party and be up front about what they stood for. Shame on them.
Isn't it totally flipping obvious to Britons by now that political correctness/liberalism/whatever-you-call -it is an utter failure? Regarding the points in the advert:
Americans are under attack by Islamic extremists in every corner of the world... seems pretty accurate.
Homosexuals are mocking holy matrimony ... true enough: the family is the cornerstone of society, in that it gives men a *reason* to work and support their wives. It has already been badly damaged by the welfare state. Do we really need to turn guys off it even more by making it a gay thing?
Liberal judges have completely rewritten the constitution ... hyperbole, but they're getting there.
Religion, likewise ... perhaps Britain wouldn't be in such a bad way if the people were actually taught Christianity in schools, rather than how evil white people are, and how important environmentalism is.
Illegal immigration is a huge problem in the states... it ought to be in the UK too. Indeed it is: why else do you think the BNP is doing so well? But the mass media is far too effete, inbred and pathetic to ever mention it.
etc.
To summarize, the British political elite are completely ignoring the very palpable problems which screw up the lives of the British working classes, in favour of a bunch of liberal platitudes that have caused more human misery than anything short of Socialism or Fascist. The American conservatives realise this. The British "conservatives" just join in the liberal-fest. If this continues, the BNP will continue to gain power.
No 1st anonymous actually it sounds very like the Tory Party circa 1978-1991 and not at all like the Tory Party ever since.
Anyone who finds that offensive is frankly not a Conservative, conservative or a member of any Party that would have a chance of getting either America or the UK back on track.
As one commenter says, find something in the ad thats not true. Just one thing. But it's all 100% accurate and that's why the whinging Lefties like Mr Dale (because thats what he is, blue rosette or not) are reduced to mere hyperbole and insult as opposed to anything as beneath them as honest debate.
37 comments:
Reminds me of the Tory Party circa 1963, 1974, 1996, 2000... need I go on?
anonymous, no you needn't. Do feel free to point out any Tory PPBs that were in any way similar. You won't because you can't.
Makes me glad I am not American! I don't think I could bring myself to vote for that, but I am equally unlikely to vote for the Democrats after recent scandals.
I'm just glad of the old Tory party, a sane right-of-centre party I can vote for despite being an egalitarian atheist, or in fact because I am egalitarian, not in favour of the left-wing skewed society.
Hardly less surreal than the weird Walton-esque McCain broadcast we got at Conference!
That is so BAD!!!! It made me LOL!!!
But hasnt NuLab made some that were equally dire over the years??
At least you've been spared the ridiculous Rush Limbaugh assertions against my sweet homeboy, Michael J. Fox.
Fox has Parkinson's disease, quite advanced, and has appeared in two political ads to support candidates who support stem cell research. Limbaugh ridiculed him, claiming that Fox was exaggerating his symptoms and acting.
Limbaugh, having had his ass handed to him by the medical establishment, the Democrats, Hollywood, Canada, and even most of his own loyal listeners, has issued the lamest apology in history.
Didn't one of Cameron's people go off to work for the Democrats?
I'm a Tory who wants to see the Republicans blown away at the midterms.
And don't forget the claims by her opponent that Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth wants to "cut and run" on Iraq. Even though she lost both her legs when her helicopter was shot down there...
There is a vileness about the Republicans this mid-term campaign which is borne of desperation. I sincerely hope that they get a massive kicking for it. Sadly, nothing can be taken for granted when such monstrous amounts of money can be spent on negative advertising. The cost of just one congressional race could keep the LibDems going for a decade....
What's wrong with it? I see nothing there that people wouldn't almost universally agree with fifty years ago. Given that America hasn't quite lost its religiosity or respect for tradition - whereas almost everyone in Britain has - there is nothing exceptional or incredible about it. What about it was false, for starters?
It's a failure of imagination to assume that modern, present-day liberal orthodoxy in Britain on all such matters as homosexuality, religion and immigration, constitutes the only plausible position to take. Actually I think it's far more frivolous and contemptible than this guy's take.
Utterly appauling. If someone produced a campaign ad like that here, there would be a national outcry.
I feel sorry for the more moderate right-wingers over there. If I were American there's no chance in hell I'd ever vote Republican. Hypocritical scumbags for the most part.
Speaking as a Tory who lives in the US, seeing what the Republicans are doing to this country is enough to hope for a Democratic clean sweep.
The UK has become completely under the rule of the Politically Correct establishment and it would appear that the US is not so far behind!
The German language has not been ammeded to remove the word "Nigger" and the generic term "Neger" is still used. Homosexuals can still be made fun of and we have two first rate comedy films released over the last couple of years (Der Schuh des Manitu & Sternschiff Suprise)which were a real piss take of homosexuals. Funny thing is that two of my openly gay colleagues really enjoyed both films. I firmly believe that we all need to take a step backwards and learn to laugh again. Unless comment is cruel and vindictive I can see no harm in laughter!
it isn't that clear from the video, but interesting to note that he is a black man, making the accusations of racism harder.
come on this guys isn't that bad.
I'm not too keen on the socially conservative stuff, but other than that he seems pretty sensible.
http://vernonrobinson.com/robinson_contents/issues/
Truly awful. Where IS Karl Rove?
Marquee Mark
"don't forget the claims by her opponent that Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth wants to "cut and run" on Iraq. Even though she lost both her legs when her helicopter was shot down there"
So? Does that mean she cannot want to cut and run, or simply that she must, by definition, be right and beyond criticism? You cannot stifle debate with someone just because they are disabled, that would not be very egalitarian.
There are things in this film that can be criticised heavily, but the Democrats deserve as much criticism overall.
I don't know, I thought the ad had its merits...
There is a strong element of satire, isn't there? He is mainly winding up the Left. Only a black candidate could get away with this.
Don't be so bloody soft. This guy is appealing to his audience. It wouldn't work here, granted, but it could well work over there.
And the Michael J Fox episode was far more shameful. He may not have been putting it on but he certainly didn't take his medication before filming the attack ad.
Telling that the film ends with them all going backwards... They seem frightfully happy about it though, albeit in a rather sinister way.
Right is Right - As somebody whose grandfather had Parkinsons for many years, I can tell you that increasingly as time goes by there is no amount of medication that will prevent the disease from physically manifesting itself. Your and Limbaugh's remarks were shameful.
rightisright
"It wouldn't work here, granted, but it could well work over there"
That's kind of the point we're making. Despite being on the right of centre in UK politics, that is too right wing for many of us. There are some very good points made, but others that, as you say, would not fit in here. No-one said it wouldn't work, but then whatever Chavez did worked, but he's still a nasty, distasteful man.
Of course I am being silly- he cannot be an M P because he is a Lord! I am just making a small point that he should be addressed as Lord Trimble- most do not do that and he deserves that rspect.
Right is right, you are wrong. Follow the link and see that Fox actually said he was on too much medication at the time. Fox can act, but he wasn't putting on symptoms. Ask any medical practitioner what Parkinson's looks like.
Picking on veterans, cripples and invalids rather than addressing the issues does not speak well of the "character" of the Republican party. Or certain commenters.
Here is Fox being interviewed about the whole thing. And here, for comparison purposes, is Rush Limbaugh accusing Fox of faking and doing a classy "Parkinson's Impression". Watch both and see who is more likely to be telling the truth about Parkinson's: Michael J. Fox or Rush Limbaugh, who really isn't in a position to be lecturing anyone about over or under medication, come to think of it.
I liked the advertisement. And if it is true that that sort of advert would not work here in the UK then I think that that is a sad statement about us. Racial quotas? Gays flaunting their homosexuality? Unrestricted immigration? I'm against all of those things, and I am sure most others are too. But in today's society Political Correctness rules, and to express the sort of opinions set out in the advertisement is, in this censorious climate, impossible.
My point was simply that Robinson is appealing to the audience he represents. MJ Fox is seeking to use his terrible illness for electoral purposes for a party that he and his Hollywood chums have always supported.
I thought the US was supposed to be a 1st World country. It is amazing that anyone could be stupid enough to vote for this donkey, but then, who are we to talk? Tony Blair is in his third term!
As for the Rush Limbaugh comments on MJ Fox, it is exactly what one would expect to hear. Popular movie star with Parkinsons making your Party look stupid? Wheel out a slightly touched windbag to make a dick of himself and your Biblical stem-cell policy. Genius.
Let's get this straight. The Democrats create an attack advert containing the exact opposite of the truth. They front it using Michael J Fox who, as he has had to admit, manipulated his medication in order to exaggerate his symptoms on TV.
They assumed that the fact of his illness made him immune to criticism.
Well it doesn't work like that any more. The truth of the matter is that the Dems were trying to give the impression that Republican candidates are opposed to stem cell research (they aren't); that they are vile people who don't want to see a cure for these diseases (of course they do); and that there really would be cures for MS and Parkinson's if only people would vote Democrat (which is untrue, tasteless and exploitative).
What Rush Limbaugh did was to bring this to peoples' attention and expose this tawdry little hit piece for the lying rubbish that it is.
@Rush is Right
Or to look at it another way, Limbaugh took the piss out of a Parkinson's sufferer, for having the temerity to assert his view that fundamentalist Christians should not be allowed to stop the research that could save others like him.
I have seen the footage of Limbaugh talking about it (his radio shows are filmed, maybe so that he can enjoy the moment afterwards). He even did impressions of Fox shaking as he mocked him. Lovely.
to Anonymous 1940.
Well yes, that's another way of looking at it alright. It's the standard way, in fact, from the perspective of the left-wing/liberal media.
Mr Limbough's broadcasts, while syndicated to wireless stations with over 20 million listeners all over the USA, are also broadcast via the internet in video to on-line subscribers all over the world.
I saw the original webcam broadcast as it went out. (Yes, I'm a subscriber). It was quite clear to me, at the time and subsequently, that Rush Limbough was not 'taking the piss' out of MJ Fox, but was giving an idea of what the Fox commercial looked like for the benefit of those who had not seen it.
And Fox's appearance struck him as odd because he knows, having seen him in public on many occasions, that MJ Fox does not normally look like that. When he taking his medicine in the correct dosage Fox appears normal.
The whole advertisement was a sham not just in terms of its text, based as it was on untruth and deception, but also in terms of its iconography.
This has since been spun by the lackeys of the left-leaning media as an example of a right-wing spokesman mocking somebody with a disability.
I remember the personal attacks Mr Limbough himself bore when he became addicted to pain-killers and went into re-hab. And I remember the whoops of joy from the liberals and the democrats when he lost his hearing. And let's not forget that it was MJ Fox's pal and fellow Demo-gog George Clooney who 'took the piss out of' Charlton Heston's Alzheimers syndrome and when queried about it replied 'I don't care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association. He deserves whatever anyone says about him.'
I well-remember the media splash at the time (January 2003). MSNBC/ABC/NBC anchor-men were queueing up to denounce these shameful and tasteless ad-hominem remarks. Yeah right.
This entire brouhaha is not especially important in itself, except in the sense that it reveals the double standards and hypocrisy of the left-media. What they really can't stand is that the original attack advert was intended to be a drive-by shooting. A quick in and out, delivered from the impregnable bastion of a Parkinson's sufferer intended to put Republican candidates on the back foot for a few days during a close campaign. And Rush Limbaugh has exposed the big lie behind it. Just unforgivable.
Rush is right got there before me. It appears that when the left take the piss out of someone's debilitating illness (as Clooney did with Heston) it is excusable. When a right wing commentator makes a valid point about one of Hollywood's keenest Democrat using whatever tactic he can to turn away Republican voters he is vilified?
I have much more respect for people like the late Christopher Reeve. That was a guy who had real convictions. He died as a result of spinal injuries that could have been cured with aggressive stem cell research, but continued to vote Republican (on a municiple and State level) right up until his death as he believed in core free market principles and the moral code of those he was voting for.
The sight of that smug t*at Kennedy being part of the new majority in the Senate should be enough for anyone to vote and support the Republicans.
Right is right....
Interesting that you should mention Christopher Reeve.
During the 2004 Presidential election Democrat VP candidate John Edwards said "Well, if we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again."
And there you have it. All you have to do is vote Democrat and that nice Christopher Reeve will be able to walk again. The same bogus mindset as the Fox advert. Just contemptible.
Edwards was an unprincipled huckster, a snake-oil salesman who would tell any lie, promote any untruth in order to get elected. What contempt they have for us. I think people saw that in 2004.
Of course, Reeve did walk again. Let's look at results.
The commercial is excellent and I approve of its message entirely. The modern conservative party has been stolen by those opposed to its traditional values who did not have the courage to set up their own party and be up front about what they stood for. Shame on them.
Isn't it totally flipping obvious to Britons by now that political correctness/liberalism/whatever-you-call -it is an utter failure? Regarding the points in the advert:
Americans are under attack by Islamic extremists in every corner of the world... seems pretty accurate.
Homosexuals are mocking holy matrimony ... true enough: the family is the cornerstone of society, in that it gives men a *reason* to work and support their wives. It has already been badly damaged by the welfare state. Do we really need to turn guys off it even more by making it a gay thing?
Liberal judges have completely rewritten the constitution ... hyperbole, but they're getting there.
Religion, likewise ... perhaps Britain wouldn't be in such a bad way if the people were actually taught Christianity in schools, rather than how evil white people are, and how important environmentalism is.
Illegal immigration is a huge problem in the states... it ought to be in the UK too. Indeed it is: why else do you think the BNP is doing so well? But the mass media is far too effete, inbred and pathetic to ever mention it.
etc.
To summarize, the British political elite are completely ignoring the very palpable problems which screw up the lives of the British working classes, in favour of a bunch of liberal platitudes that have caused more human misery than anything short of Socialism or Fascist. The American conservatives realise this. The British "conservatives" just join in the liberal-fest. If this continues, the BNP will continue to gain power.
No 1st anonymous actually it sounds very like the Tory Party circa 1978-1991 and not at all like the Tory Party ever since.
Anyone who finds that offensive is frankly not a Conservative, conservative or a member of any Party that would have a chance of getting either America or the UK back on track.
As one commenter says, find something in the ad thats not true. Just one thing. But it's all 100% accurate and that's why the whinging Lefties like Mr Dale (because thats what he is, blue rosette or not) are reduced to mere hyperbole and insult as opposed to anything as beneath them as honest debate.
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