You, too, can use irony — no experience required

Obama_ad_wart

Wow. As cool as Barack Obama is — and he IS cool, all the time — some of his supporters are VERY emotional.

Two of them — Jennifer and Pam — got so worked up by my very mild use of irony on this previous post (referring to their guy as "The One") that they mistook me for a Republican. To wit:

I don’t understand why Republicans continue to call Senator Obama
"The One" – none of his supporters has ever used that term. Why do you
rely on mocking the man and spreading lies about him? Is it maybe
because you are obviously wrong on the issues? Crawl back into your
caves, please, and let us get to work cleaning up another one of your
messes.

Posted by: Jennifer Mullen | Oct 29, 2008 9:13:15 PM

_____________________________________

When a party has no good ideas or solutions you slander your
opponent. Just like Brad , you know " the one " comment. The consistent
theme from the RNC and the McCain campaign is fear and hate . And ,
this paper’s editorial board enforces that theme. Sad to think that
some in this state are unable to look to the future .

Posted by: pam,greenwood | Oct 30, 2008 9:58:27 AM

Talk about letting emotion override the higher faculties…

p.m., thanks for pointing out the painfully obvious:

Jennifer, Oprah Winfrey introduced Obama as "The One" years ago. I
have seen the videotape. If you would Google it, you could probably
find it….

Posted by: p.m. | Oct 29, 2008 10:43:00 PM

Yes, I got the thing about "The One" from that font of Republican bile, Oprah… We "Republicans" always go to her for our marching orders, talking points, swastika armbands, etc.

Folks, where are we when we can’t even use the smallest bits of irony in our public discourse without somebody getting all offended?

Come on, folks — Phillip gets it. He’s for Obama, and he can josh about the cheesiness:

Naturally, my biggest complaint was the syrupy Saving-Private-Ryan-ish background music.

Posted by: Phillip | Oct 30, 2008 4:40:54 AM

And I didn’t even notice the music — leave it to Phillip; he’s our music guy. I just noticed the cheesy set, which someone was careful to make ALMOST exactly like the Oval Office, but enough unlike it to allow for plausible deniability. I mean, LOOK at it, people. Now that’s artistry.

Folks, cheesy is cheesy. Joe the Plumber — cheesy. Pandering with a gas tax cut — cheesy. Picking Sarah Palin — cheesy (although, to quote from the movie Phillip cites, I find myself "strangely attracted…"). Maverick this, maverick that — cheesy.

Now, you Obama supporters — make some ironic comments about your guy. Come on, you can do it. Look, this guy’s going to be the president, and I just won’t be able to stand four years of y’all being so deadly earnest. Loosen up.

39 thoughts on “You, too, can use irony — no experience required

  1. Godfrey Kimball

    ….that they mistook me for a Republican (sez Brad)
    Gee, let me see, how could that be?
    When even the Idaho Statesman, located in a city (Boise) within a state (Idaho) that makes SC looks beyond blue; I have to ask myself the obvious question.
    (SUNNNN!!!!….to use my best southern accent) Do we have stupid stamped on our forehead?
    Of COURSE you’re a republican.
    I’m partisan, I admit it. What I can’t stand about some of your quasi-objective holier than thou posts is that you WON’T admit it.

  2. Godfrey Kimball

    …short follow up to the previous post.
    The Idaho Statesman came out for Obama.
    A thousand pardons for the omission…

  3. Brad Warthen

    This, of course, is the height of tolerance on my part. This is my blog, and I continue to let people go out of their way to say the most insulting things they can think of to me.
    For me to allow someone to call me a Republican is like a normal person (and mind you, I don’t confuse myself with a normal person) allowing people to come to his blog and say, “Your mother’s a whore.” You can quietly and calmly argue that your mother is NOT a whore, or even slightly loose in her morals, that she is indeed a paragon of virtue, and has dedicated her life to fighting against vice of every kind. And what’s the response you get? “Your mother’s a whore.” Every time.
    And yes, I do find being called a Republican that insulting. Why do people like Godfrey call me a Republican? Because I make the mistake of making it perfectly clear that nothing could be more insulting to me than to be thus identified with either party. So they choose to say that…
    Oh, but wait — he was being IRONIC, wasn’t he? Dang, and he caught ME being all earnest and whining about my hurt feelings? He got ME, the guy who’s urging people to lighten up…
    Good one. Gotta hand it to you, pal.

  4. Phillip

    That music was just as carefully thought out as any other aspect of the video…that you didn’t notice it is exactly the effect they intended, which was for it to blend seamlessly into the aesthetic of the whole package. In other words, the music had to be mainstream-American to the point of blandness, nothing that would even hint at Obama himself being anything other than generically Middle American.
    Now, if I had been in charge of the music I would have had put together an eclectic score more reflective of Obama’s life, starting with a little Hawaiian slack key guitar, moving on to some Indonesian gamelan (with a special shout-out to my man the multicultural enthusiast Lee Muller), throw in “Dust in the Wind” for the Kansas connection and classic rock fans out there, move on to Obama favorites Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and some Fugees. Then behind his closing statement I’d put another Obama favorite (according to his Facebook page), some JS Bach solo cello suites.
    On second thought that last item would surely get Obama labeled “elitist.”

  5. Lee Muller

    You don’t know what irony is, but maybe they didn’t teach that in English at your college. Please don’t dare try to use simile, consonance or alliteration.
    You have to “lighten up” because the reality reporting the news and looking beyond flashy props, acting, and platitudes of the candidates is too much heavy lifting for you.
    Barack Obama is just as phony as John Edwards, and with the same tailored suits, makeup, and fake empathy for the downtrodden.

  6. mattheusmei

    I enjoyed watching Barack-o-vision last night. The Obamercial had some interesting points. As one morning personality pointed out and I didn’t pick up till they said it — the amber waves of grain looked a lot like that scene from Gladiator right before he started mussing the wheat with his hand.
    I appreciate Irony in political discourse, sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps me sane. (And I am an Obama supporter).
    <--- That One '08.

  7. Lee Muller

    Muslim support Obama, too, with illegal cash
    According to the FEC last week, Obama refused to hand over the names of 2,113,000 of his donors.
    Of the 335,000 unique donor names, 37,000 of them had over 100 contributions, many totaling $10,000 or more, which is illegal.
    Many people named as donors and checked by reporters said they had made one small donation or no donation to Obama. Their names had been used with untraceable cash cards from retail stores like Wal-Mart.
    The online store had a large suspicious activity, with $65,000,000 in “sales” but only $2,000,000 shipped according to sales tax reports.
    $32,500,000 of the online store sales came from Palestine, with untraceable cash cards.

  8. John

    Actually, Sen. Obama has referred to himself as the One as in, “We are the One, we’ve been waiting for.” I believe it was a phrase first uttered after his SC Primary win.

  9. Mattheus Mei

    Brad, how are you so lucky as to have your own troll? I wonder if we took Lee to a Bingo parlor if he’d bring us good luck, or just scare off children and try and eat passing goats.

  10. slugger

    Hi Lee,
    The guilty always hollow the loudest, call names and otherwise just act nasty to try to overcome their lack of being able to understand the facts. They are trying to justify their vote for Obama by lashing out at you for calling (without using the word idiot) their attention to what they can expect by their vote for Obama. They are just “blowing in the wind” on the good ship lollypop on their way to the land of Oz ruled by the great Obama Oz.

  11. Brad Warthen

    Yeah, that Obama is really math-challenged — how can “we” be “the One.”
    So Phillip, how would you score a McCain infomercial, pretending for the moment that he had the money to pay for one?
    “Anchors Aweigh,” following by “Spanish Ladies,” interspersed with some Sousa marches? Maybe some “Top Gun” Kenny Loggins in the Naval Aviation sequences? Followed by, well, “Anchors Aweigh” again? Irony aside, for Navy families, that one always has a deep emotional effect — I’m sure McCain, like me, stood on the wharf hearing the brass band play that as his Dad’s ship pulled out to sea, as the kids waved and the wives and sweathearts (may they never meet, in the old Service gag) wiped away the tear…

  12. Capital A

    This, of course, is the height of tolerance on my part. This is my blog, and I continue to let people go out of their way to say the most insulting things they can think of to me.
    Posted by: Brad Warthen | Oct 30, 2008 11:41:19 AM
    Warthime, stop playing the martyr role. It doesn’t suit you and you’re much too old of a man to shed crocodile tears.
    You give almost as good as you get on this blog, from where I’m blogging. You routinely dismiss Lee as a kook (which he is), and you passive aggressively patronize others with whom you disagree. Does that put the “i” in hypocrisy?
    You’re certainly more a Republican than you are a Democrat, as your positions on this blog have shown. For instance, you were so sure that Babybush would produce weapons of mass destruction that you devoted almost as many blog entries to the subject as you have to Sarah Palin’s pheremonic fury.
    Calling you a hypocrite concerning major issues is not insulting — it’s the truth! When people on both sides of the party line agree, you’d think you would get the hint! After all, you are the author who is putting himself out there as a matter of public discourse. No one made you create this blog, did they?
    Instead of throwing a minor tantrum, take in the evidence and process the facts! When you are given the expected reaction from logical (conservative and liberal) people who read your writings, you then want to purge their postings, take your ball and go home, crying all the way.
    Sheesh, talk about irony…

  13. bud

    The only irony I see is the leader of the UnParty coming across as a flaming GOP Hack. Then again, how can you tell the difference?

  14. Brad Warthen

    Absolutely! That one is awesome, in the original, non-slang meaning of the word. Chills down the spine. Strains of my youth. How’d you know about that one?
    McCain echoed “Faith of Our Fathers” in his book title, but “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” is much more powerfully evocative. It’s a true NAVY hymn; the other is more generic.

  15. bud

    What we see with Brad is not really a partisan GOP hack in the classic sense. He would obviously take great offense with that. Rather, what we’re seeing is a loyal navy brat who can’t resist the urge to support a man who, in a sense, represents a sort of cult hero. Brad could no more resist endorsing McCain than a teenage groupie could resist the advances of the lead singer of her favorite band. It just is not within his makeup to do so. Perhaps Brad genuinely believed he could set aside his experiences growing up and choose a candidate based on qualifications, ethical background and campaign behavior alone. But in the end Brad’s journalistic integrity was overwhelmed by his lifelong yearning to be a part of the McCain “Band”. In his eyes McCain was a rock star whose image could never be tarnished not matter what he did or said.

  16. Godfrey Kimball

    Good post, Bud. My post and Mr. Warthen’s histrionic response is pretty accurately reflected in what you said.
    He’s a sensitive sort no doubt…poor little feller.

  17. Phillip

    To answer your question, Brad, it became kind of a sacred talisman to my parents, especially my mother, after they heard it played on television at the JFK funeral. We had a hymnbook sitting around at home (odd for pretty agnostic non-churchgoing parents) and when I was a kid I would play the hymns for sightreading practice and my mother would invariably ask for that one. After a while she didn’t have to ask.

  18. jfx

    I think the moment Obama won me over was that day at the Glider Diner in Scranton when, being pressed on foreign policy by a reporter, he retorted:
    “Why can’t I just eat my waffle?”
    As if THE ONE presides over his own waffle, rather than having it sliced, drizzled, and nestled in his eager mouth by a troupe of glistening concubines. The Audacity of Breakfast.

  19. pam,greenwood

    Brad your response ” VERY emotional ” , ” two of them ” “got so worked up ” . My response to you, you can get your point across without using a demeaning tone . Your attitude proves my earlier point .

  20. mac_palin_oh_eight

    Isn’t it kind of ironic that McCain can truthfully recall in his memoirs his date with a Florida stripper, while Obama continually distances himself from his odorous friends and accomplices? Not that strippers are odorous…..

  21. Lee Muller

    Barack’s memoir also omits a bunch he knows about the communism of this Kenyan father.
    His wish to emulate his father’s socialism is the neurosis driving this fascist.

  22. murraywood

    Yup, those Obamamites sure do get stirred up – where did Obama get his OhFishal seal for the tail of his jet airplane? Looks like he ripped it right off a can of PepsiCola.

  23. jfx

    murraywood:
    Look at the American flag. Now look at a morning sunrise (this morning’s was great). Now look back at the flag. Now look again at a sunrise.
    Hopefully it clicks in your brain.
    Gosh, you guys are really scraping the barrel-bottom now. “Gee, our desperate attempts to smear the guy as a terrorist…communist…socialist…fascist….whatever…aren’t working! I know!!! Let’s attack that colorful thing on his airplane!!! YEAH!!!”

  24. jfx

    murraywood:
    Look at the American flag. Now look at a morning sunrise (this morning’s was great). Now look back at the flag. Now look again at a sunrise.
    Hopefully it clicks in your brain.
    Gosh, you guys are really scraping the barrel-bottom now. “Gee, our desperate attempts to smear the guy as a terrorist…communist…socialist…fascist….whatever…aren’t working! I know!!! Let’s attack that colorful thing on his airplane!!! YEAH!!!”

  25. Lee Muller

    Obama smeared himself.
    Barack Obama calls himself a socialist in his writings.
    Barack Obama writes about how he admires his father’s communism in Kenya.
    Obama spent his entire life with communists, socialists, terrorists, apologists for domestic terrorists and Muslim terrorists.
    Continually caught red-handed in print and videotape, Obama lies and denies the undeniable truth.

  26. Capital A

    Lee, is that an excerpt from another one of your opuses (opii?)? Tell me the title quickly so I can place that one on order also.
    We need some toilet tales to help furnish my new bathroom.

  27. p.m.

    Congratulation, Capital A. You’ve gone lower case again.
    Pat yourself on the duodenum. You deserve it.

  28. Lee Muller

    For the 1,000th time Obama cult followers cannot deny nor defend his socialism, racism, lack of experience, and lack of citizenship.

  29. Capital A

    Congratulation, Capital A. You’ve gone lower case again.
    Pat yourself on the duodenum. You deserve it.
    Posted by: p.m. | Oct 31, 2008 1:54:03 AM
    How rouge, p.m.s.! You’d do well if you stuck to mocking those who won’t embarrass you publicly . I know you want to portray yourself as the humorous blog menstrual, but your better ideas are smothered in maximum, party line padding. Your thinking is all cramped, more often than not.
    You’re my least favorite of Lee’s multiple personalities, by the way. Not sure what it is…you’re just not sanguine enough. You lack a certain…flow…to your “logic.”
    No worries, though, as your usual nonsense may be Aleve-iated through circumspect application of the most basic facts and references. So, let’s flush your negativity and return to debate, shall we, dear aunty?

  30. p.m.

    How would you embarrass me publicly, Cap?
    By showing the public persona that scares people into voting Republican?
    Happy Halloween, but here’s hoping Nov. 5 gives you a rude awakening.

  31. Lee Muller

    Sooner or later, a lot of people are going to come to a rude awakening about Obama, the fascist.

  32. Lee Muller

    Obama caters to racism, envy, victimhood, and serving up villains to be punished – “the rich” whites and Jews who run businesses. His politicis is nothing but Racial Socialism.

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