Slouching Towards Oblivion

Showing posts with label political imaging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political imaging. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

A Tyranny Of Images


This one's pretty good:


I'm just glad CNN is pushing back with a little vim and vigor - finally.  They have a good ways to go yet before I stop calling them Press Poodles, but I like the direction it's headed.

Of course, there has to be the parody:


Oh yeah - BTW - none of that shit is either an apple or a banana. They're images of bananas and apples.

There is truth where you find it. Accept nothing at face value.

Wednesday, August 09, 2017

The View From Out There

It's politics, remember, so they don't tell us the whole truth.

But sometimes they tell some of the truth because - surprise surprise - it's in everybody's best interest to do it, and the Politcos not only recognize that, they manage to do the right thing (surprise surprise again).

This piece is chock-full of little slices of Scary-as-Fuck.

Buzzfeed, Alberto Nardelli:

The current standoff is a dramatic illustration of the grave international concerns over Trump.

On one level, the officials said, he is something of a laughing stock among Europeans at international gatherings. One revealed that a small group of diplomats play a version of word bingo whenever the president speaks because they consider his vocabulary to be so limited. “Everything is ‘great’, ‘very, very great’, ‘amazing’,” the diplomat said.


--snip--

Another diplomat said it had proved impossible to discuss serious international issues, such as Libya, with Trump. And seven months into his presidency, the European officials say they are still struggling to figure out who else they can engage with in the US administration.

Describing a meeting between their boss and the president as “basically useless,” they said: “He [Trump] just bombed us with questions: ‘How many people do you have? What’s your GDP? How much oil does [that country] produce? How many barrels a day? How much of it is yours?’”

“He’s not the kind of person you can have a discussion about how to deal with [Fayez] al-Sarraj [the prime minister of Libya]," the official added. "So you look for people around him, and that is where it’s a problem: The constant upheaval, it’s unclear who has influence, who is close to the president."

A number of European officials compared Trump with Italian former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi – but said the similarities end at their inappropriate jokes during meetings.

“Berlusconi wasn’t ignorant. And behind him he had officials and a whole government structure you could engage with,” one diplomat said.

The officials revealed that at international meetings, Trump has openly mocked his own aides, contradicting and arguing with them in front of other leaders. That has compounded the impression of an administration in chaos. “We can hear everything, it’s weird,” one diplomat said.

Officials also expressed concerns over the status of the State Department, and the lack of seasoned diplomats and experts within the White House. One diplomat suggested that US counterparts have privately lamented to Europeans about the number of roles in the administration that have yet to be filled resulting in a lack of clear positions on many policy areas.

“The White House lacks crucial expertise,” one said. “The State Department and others are isolated. You have the generals, the National Security Council, and then a void. There aren’t enough diplomats, experts etc. in the White House. [Secretary of state Rex] Tillerson has a small team. Does Trump listen to [James] Mattis [secretary of defence], [H.R.] McMaster [national security adviser], to the experts?”



Thursday, August 03, 2017

Today's Self-Inflicted Foot Wound

It's never about anything but trying to make himself look good.


Read the transcripts at WaPo

A "highlite":
 Pena Nieto: Yes, Mr. President. The proposal that you are making is completely new, vis-à-vis the conversations our two teams have been having. But I have gathered this from the position that you have taken in terms of trade. I think we have the route to continue having balanced trade between both nations. And frankly, to tell you the truth Mr. President, I feel quite surprised about this new proposal that you are making because it is different from the discussion that both of our teams have been holding —

 Trump: Enrique, if I can interrupt – this is not a new proposal. This is what I have been saying for a year and a half on the campaign trail. I have been telling this to every group of 50,000 people or 25,000 people – because no one got people in their rallies as big as I did. But I have been saying I wanted to tax people that treated us unfairly at the border, and Mexico is treating us unfairly. Now, this is different from what Luis and Jared have been talking about. But this was not a new proposal – this is the old proposal. This was the proposal I wanted. But they say they can come up with some other idea, and that is fine if they want to try it out. But I got elected on this proposal – this won me the election, along with military and healthcare. So this is not a new proposal this is been here for a year and half.

Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Jim Webb

The guy says he's only "exploring" whether or not to run for Prez in 2016, and he seems to be a truly decent human being, but...



First, never let the facts get in the way of a good slogan.

But second, we really don't need another candidate who just sounds good.  

Add a little bullshit - a little - and the roses grow better.  But if all you start with is bullshit, then try not to act too surprised when we see you as just another Bullshit Marketeering Creation spouting cutesy little bromides.  (Hey - if you think that crap is good Tweet material, then you don't get to bitch at me about fucking up my metaphor)

Anyway, I'm not the one running for office.  

We deserve better - try harder.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

It Won't Stick

Here's Cliven Bundy trying to remind everybody that DumFux News is really in near-perfect agreement with everything he had to say "about the negro":



It's almost impossible for anybody not to know something about what's been happening with ol' Clive by now, and I'm not here to tutor you.  So if you can't keep up, take notes.  And if you're still a little confused, then you're prob'ly gonna be better off in some other class.

Now that I've weeded out the slackers and alienated most everybody else in my vast audience of ones and twos, let's get on with it:  Bundy obviously saw his opportunity to dance in the spotlight and he was determined to do it.  We saw video of him being all folksie and shucks-ma'am.  And we saw him galloping up that little hill with the stars-n-stripes.  And there he was speechifyin' at a podium festooned in red white and blue bunting, flanked by militia members looking all stern and cool and macho as they (almost literally) fondled each others' metal penises etc etc etc.

But then it all went to shit when Bundy took that next fateful step - which everybody "on the left" knew he'd take eventually, btw.  And suddenly, there's Bundy trying hard not to acknowledge that his 15 minutes were up about 20 minutes ago.

So anyway - two things:

1) DumFux News is in full retreat / damage control mode - disavowing him like he was Jim Phelps and the cassette tape's already self-destructing, while Bundy refuses to play along.





2) If history is any guide at all, the gurus at GOP and DumFux News will Etch-A-Sketch the fuck outa this little episode, and in a month or two the bubble-dwellers will be thinking it's all back to "normal" - like none of this ever happened.


The good news may well turn out to be that this has an effect on the big squishy middle.  

Bunches of people vote more or less according to "the fashionable trend".  They don't pay much attention to politics, and they don't know much about positions or policy, even tho' they have a general philosophy in mind and they tend to vote in a certain way.  These are the ones who get really uncomfortable in any discussion where they have to go beyond their usual centrist platitudes.  They haven't spent any real time or effort reading or listening or watching - they leaf thru People and Cosmo and USA Today, and they just kinda pick up a general attitude; they seem to get their political views by some kind of Social Osmosis.

It's not so much that they want to vote for somebody they think will best represent their interests (figuring that out requires work, which requires time, which a lot of people just don't have).  It's more like they only want to avoid being made fun of if they ever reveal who they voted for.

Sean Hannity isn't running away from Cliven Bundy because Bundy's a racist asshole.  

Hannity's running away from Bundy because Hannity's a craven political panderer who knows he has to un-couple Bundy from the GOP's candidates - in a big fuckin' hurry.

Here's what the symbology was supposed to be:  Every vote for a GOP candidate is a vote for freedom-loving patriots in The Real America® (roll the footage of Bundy waving the flag - what, you tho't video like that happened by accident?).

But here's what it is now:  Every vote for a GOP candidate is a vote for inveterate racist fuckheads like The Welfare Cowboy (roll the sound clip of "...about the negro").

When the thing kinda boils down to people thinking "you vote for the guy who's most like you", you're not gonna want people thinking you voted for the GOP because that makes them think you're an inveterate racist fuckhead like Clive Bundy.

Let' see if the Dems can make it stick.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Haiku You

Red State haiku from Addicting Info:

Vanilla is great
Other flavors are scary
Finish the damn fence!


Protect the fetus
Abortion is pure evil
SNAP for kids? No way!


Welfare is just wrong
THOSE people are robbing us
OK if you’re white


Filibuster gone?
How will we stop Obama?
Obstruction is hard!


Election results:
GOP loses badly
ACORN stole the vote


We are patriots!
Liberals hate our freedom!
Take away their rights!


All life is precious
Jesus said. Next week we cheer
Lethal injection


The United States
Turning brown is just not fair
Voter suppression


Welfare queens lazy
CEOs work really hard
On better golf score


We are in danger
Obama ignores terror
Bush never did that


Wall Street’s not that bad
Corporations are people
Need more tax cuts please


Regulation’s wrong
Corporations don’t break laws
Here, have some lead paint


Delicious and fresh
Waterways don’t need new rules
Dump some toxic waste


Economy bad
Obama must be to blame
George Bush? Who is that?


Abomination
Gays offend all good Christians
Pass the shrimp cocktail


All the unions
Cut into the bottom line
No pensions for them!


Benghazi “scandal”
We’re outraged at lost lives
Bush kept us all safe


Cheer the CEOs
Ayn Rand’s heroes all, watch them
Plunder the pensions


We love ‘Murika!
Constitution is sacred!
We want to secede!


Brown people voting
Means right wing will always lose
Where is your I.D.?


Have AR-15
Must stop liberal gub’mint
Jesus would approve


Jesus is pure love
Love fellow man but not gays
Put them all to death


Tax cuts for the rich
The poor and the sick perish
Our base is happy
(courtesy of Mark Janes)


Taliban zealots
Kill all of those they dislike
Tea Party jealous


No war on women
Get back in the kitchen, slut
Barefoot and pregnant


Hey, we’re not racists
“You” people can’t get ID?
It’s not OUR problem


Black guy in WHITE House!?!
BENGHAZI-BENGHAZI-BOO!
HELP, baby Jesus!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Unconfirmed

..but of course, we can run with it because of the rule: "Significant If True".






















So eat it, Repubs.  You wanna make shit up about Obama, then you can bloody well expect to get it back.

Friday, September 07, 2012

Press Poodles

This is as bad as it gets - at least from the point of view that appearances matter.  I can't get up over the Certainty Threshold on this one, but I can't just assume this is mere coincidence either.



Sometimes, it is what it seems to be.

(hat tip = Crooks and Liars)

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

GOP Convention Scorecard

A quick look at what FactCheck had to say about the Repubs' get-together last week:

FactCheck.org's Weekly Update for August 31, 2012

New Wire ItemsRomney’s Sorry ‘Apology’ Dig
Mitt Romney wrongly accuses President Obama of going on an “apology tour” in foreign countries.

Romney’s Big Night
There were a few bits of exaggeration and puffery in his Republican convention speech.

Ryan’s VP Spin
Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech at the GOP convention contained several false claims and misleading statements.

Santorum’s Distorted ‘Dependency’ Claims
Rick Santorum faults Obama for 'almost half of America receiving some sort of government assistance.'

Christie’s Fact-Free Keynote
The New Jersey governor made some exaggerations in a speech heavy on generalities, opinion and platitudes.

Republican Retreads from Tampa
The first day of the Republican convention saw a lot of exaggerated, misleading or downright false claims that we’ve heard before.

Spin Detectors: Help Us Monitor the Conventions
We still want you to help us monitor the Democratic National Convention.

Winning? Super PAC Compares Republican to Charlie Sheen
There is less to Majority PAC's claims about Connie Mack IV than meets the eye.


New Ask FactCheck Responses
Q: Is the Democratic National Convention hosting a Muslim “Jumah” prayer service after rejecting a Catholic cardinal’s offer to lead a prayer?
A: No. A Muslim group scheduled an event that was independent of the convention at a city park. The cardinal is leading the convention’s closing prayer. 


Q: Would a “list of Republican budget cuts” by the “new Republican House” slash $2.5 trillion from federal spending over 10 years?
A: The list is real. But so far, there has been no action on the bill, which was sponsored by 33 conservative GOP House members.



Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Willard's GOP

What in the blue-eyed buck-naked fuck were they thinking?

Old (and maybe a little tipsy?) white guy arguing with an imaginary Obama.  That was the big electrifying surprise?

Really, Repubs?  You wanted us all talking about Clint Eastwood the day after your convention, and not about the guy you just got done nominating for president?



I can get a little squirmy when Alec Baldwin or Barbara Streisand start diving into it, but that Eastwood schtick was cringe-worthy on an epic scale.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Please, Mr Ryan

...can we try a little harder to keep the Nazi salutes to a minimum?


(my apologies to Mr Godwin)

Monday, August 27, 2012

Packaging Paul Ryan

LA Times explodes the bootstrap myth that's being woven around Paul Ryan.  The guy is not quite the typical SIlver Spoon Legacy Fuck I love to hate, but damned close.
And yet Ryan, 42, was born into one of the most prominent families in Janesville, Wis., the son of a successful attorney and the grandson of the top federal prosecutor for the western region of the state. Ryan grew up in a big Colonial house on a wooded lot, and his extended clan includes investment managers, corporate executives and owners of major construction companies.
The seeming contradiction appears to have its roots in a family crisis in 1986, when at the age of 16, Ryan discovered his father dead of a heart attack.
The death of Paul Murray Ryan forced the family to make adjustments. Ryan’s mother went back to work. And Ryan took up jobs, as well….
But there was also more to it than work. Ryan’s rise to political power and financial stability was boosted by family connections and wealth. The larger Ryan family has repeatedly helped the candidate along in his career, giving him a job when he needed one and piling up tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions…
By the time Ryan had entered Congress in 1999 at the age of 28 and filed his first disclosure statement, he reported assets between $167,000 and $1.3 million, owned a home and had three rental units.
No more Roosevelts, no more Kennedys, no more Rockefellers, no more Bushes, no more Clintons etc etc etc.

No Dynasties, no Legacies, no Entitled Aristocracy.  Not here.  Not now.  Not ever.