Kerry calls GOP ‘depraved’ and ‘sickening;’ I call Kerry ‘overexcited’

Folks, Barack Obama is the most flush candidate in the history of the world. Surely, he can lend some to his party’s senatorial campaign, so they can stop it with the hysterical, slavering begging. Such as this e-mail I just got from our ol’ buddy John Kerry:

Dear Brad,
It is sickening.  But not surprising.

Today’s Republican Party is so depraved that they’re running ads in Florida trying to connect a Democratic candidate to 9/11 attacker Mohammed Atta.  They’re in North Carolina attacking Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan’s faith and character.  And in Colorado, Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall is the target of a GOP robocall campaign making the insane accusation that he supports human cloning.

It’s the same political strategy of fear and resentment we’ve seen for 30 years. 

But this year they will fail miserably.  Because our side has the answers America is looking for.  And no two-bit attack ads will change that reality.

Our job in the hours and days ahead is to make sure our Senate candidates have every resource they need to rise above the attacks.  We need more ads, more phone calls, and more voter-to-voter contact….

Yadda, yadda, you know the drill. The Republicans are evil incarnate, so we must do absolutely anything and everything we can to crush them, drive them before us, hear the lamentations of their women, etc.

These people would probably do this stuff even if they had the kind of cash on hand that Barack Obama has. This is what political parties do — they demonize the opposition, without let-up, on and on and on. I have a mental picture of the kind of donor who actually responds positively to this sort of appeal: He’s wild-eyed, half his hair is torn out, and he’s muttering like the proverbial deranged street person as he writes his check, "Those rassenfratzin’, mother-grabbing @*&^%!!! … THIS’ll show ’em!"

This is one of the main reasons I hate political parties. Equally.

I gotta say, though, that lately the Democrats — except Barack Obama, who is always cool — have seemed more hysterical than the opposition. Maybe that’s what it takes to win in this insane system.

It use to not be that way. Back in Lee Atwater’s day, the Republicans actually WERE as bad as Kerry’s e-mail implies. Well, I take that back — nobody’s THAT bad. But just discount the keening hyperbole a bit, and you’ve got an accurate picture. Not necessarily "depraved." Just very bad. And the Democrats just sort of took the punishment, seeming dazed and confused.

But along about 1998, the Democrats caught up with them. Something just sort of snapped along about the time of the Clinton impeachment. Democrats started screaming, and once W. was elected, they turned up the volume to 11, and if Obama were to lose next week’s vote, they’d turn it up even higher — so it’s probably a good thing that he’s going to win, right? For our ears, if nothing else.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are pretty quiet, by comparison. If anybody’s getting mainstream, official-party e-mails from the GOP as crazy as this one from Kerry, I’d like to see ’em. Well, I wouldn’t LIKE to see ’em, but I probably should in the line of duty. But I think the GOPpers aren’t nearly this pumped up this year. These "atrocities" that Kerry cite may very well be real. But the national GOP’s not sending me stuff like this, and the Dems are.

Anyway, whoever’s doing it — Democrats, Republicans, Federalists — it’s really, really off-putting. I would say let’s get next week over with, but I know that won’t end it. I’ll keep getting e-mails like this one. They never stop coming, because for these people, the campaign is forever.

23 thoughts on “Kerry calls GOP ‘depraved’ and ‘sickening;’ I call Kerry ‘overexcited’

  1. Lee Muller

    When Hitler was taking over Germany, there were plenty of people who just couldn’t stand all the bickering, because they didn’t grasp the significance of what was at stake. All they could think of was their narrow, selfish wants. Because of their shallow view of the world, they became mere spectators, watching other battle for the heart, mind and soul of the nation, clueless as to who was right and wrong. They couldn’t discern the difference between phony partisan chatter and genuine ideology.
    That is what Brad Warthen is like today, a consumer rather than a citizen, who doesn’t want to upset himself by contemplating the evil that actually does exist in many politicians.

  2. Lee Muller

    Democrat’s shape plan to abolish 401-k plans
    Democrats held October hearings in 2 committees on confiscation of IRA money.
    http://www.house.gov/ed_workforce/testimony/2008-10-07-TeresaGhilarducci.pdf
    * Abolish the 401-k, SEP, and Roth IRA plans
    * Sell off the stocks to convert to cash
    * Roll the cash over into an account “managed by the federal government”
    * Those without IRA accounts will get a new one, with $600 to start it off.
    * Pay you 3% interest on your cash.
    * You can make no more contributions on your own.
    * The IRS will deposit $600 each year in everyone’s account
    * Some accounts with “excessive balances” may be reduced through asset taxation
    * You will pay up to full income taxes when you withdraw funds.
    * You cannot withdraw funds until you are 64 years old.
    * The IRS can take your funds any time to pay income, payroll or other taxes you owe.
    Special treatment for union members, government workers and teachers:
    * Bankrupt union pensions will be guaranteed by the federal government.
    * Underfunded state and teacher pensions will be guaranteed by the federal government.

  3. tom4now

    i agree that the party’s great fault is in the demonization, but when you look at the simpletons they are appealing to, you can justify the method. Much quicker and direct than a discussion of credit default swaps, bond ratings and the mortgage backed securities market. I think the media is at great fault for the present situation. The media’s posturing of the campaign is undeniable . They create the environment for soundbite politicking and have foisted the 90 minute talking point sessions on us. We never get beyond the image someone is trying to project.
    any comments on gov sanford’s op ed in the wash times? i feel its about time someone said what he did.

  4. jfx

    Good grief, right when the Democrats are on the verge of a huge win, they trot out Captain Loser-Stink. Obama needs to use some of that huge campaign cash haul to launch Mr. Kerry into space.

  5. Lee Muller

    Bring on Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Jimmy Carter to remind America about how much they regret every stinking Democrat who gets elected.

  6. penultimo mcfarland

    Aha, jfx. We agree on something. Brad calling Kerry “overexcited” is far too kind.

  7. Phillip

    You want “overexcited,” Brad? I just went through my mail and found a flyer for Lindsay Graham, with bold letters screaming out the big concerns of our day…right after “Our Economy is in Crisis” (OK that’s correct for sure) came the banner “Islamic Terrorists Threaten Our Very Way Of Life.”
    Oh please. The economic stuff going on right now is threatening our way of life to a degree that dwarfs anything Al-Qaeda has done or could ever do. The middle class under economic assault DOES represent a threat to our way of life.
    The only way Islamic terrorists can “threaten our very way of life” is if we allow ourselves to feel so frightened by them that we ourselves undermine our own way of life (see: waging pre-emptive war unilaterally against countries of our own choosing; use of torture; undermining of domestic civil liberties; domestic revival of quasi-McCarthyism; devotion of resources to military-industrial complex at high cost to domestic needs like education, health care, alternative energy development).
    Meanwhile, Brad, you are in major league fantasy land if you think the Democrats are generally “hysterical” and the Republicans generally are “quiet” this election.
    I guess you aren’t familiar with these phrases:
    “Ayers”
    “Socialist”
    “Muslim”
    “Palling around with Terrorists”
    I suppose you would have said to Joseph Welch, “Oh stop being so hysterical.”
    Oh, but aren’t you the guy who says that saying “McCain=Bush” is “vile and offensive”? I’m glad that SOME things really offend you…after all, saying that phrase about a candidate whose voting record is 90% in sync with Bush is indeed the most vicious thing we have heard from either side, including that Muslim Terrorist Socialist Anarchist Obama.

  8. Phillip

    Html went awry there, sorry.
    And one more gaping hole in your logic, Brad: you acknowledged the Atwater origins of some of the demagoguery and talked about the Democrats “just sort of took the punishment, seeming dazed and confused.” What they were doing was trying to stay above the fray. Unfortunately, that didn’t always work. What Obama (and those who support him) is NOT doing this time is staying aloof from the fray: they are responding, and calling out those who seek to divide us. You can call that hysterical if you like. I call it taking a moral stand.
    And you cannot claim that the response is “in kind.” No, we don’t hear much from Obama or Biden about McCain’s sinister associations. In other words, Obama and his supporters hit back but not by doing the same thing the Republicans and McCain and especially Palin have done; they hit back by refuting and then by calling out the Atwaterisms, the Rovisms, the Schmidtisms.
    So when you imply that now everybody is playing the same game in the same way, well, while that sometimes is the case, it is not ALWAYS the case.
    Not everything is always equal, Brad.

  9. bud

    Are you kidding Brad. Your right-wing talking points are becoming more and more partisan with each passing day. Open your eyes man. Be a real journalist and not just a mouth piece for the Republican party. Every single one of Kerry’s claims is absolutely, factually true. The Florida GOP IS running scurilous ads trying to link Democrats to Atta. Kay Hagan IS being accussed of being an atheist.
    The GOP is running a smear and fear campaign. Kerry was burned badly by the disgusting Swiftboating campaign in 2004 and he’s had enough of it. I say GO KERRY! We need MORE of this. It’s time these right-wing fear-mongers were exposed for the disgusting bullies that they are. Only a partisan hack could fail to see this for what it is.

  10. Lee Muller

    None of you can deny that all of Obama’s close associates are swindlers, racists, communists, socialists, and even a few confessed terrorists and murderers.
    You can’t deny that Obama in his books and interviews talks of his affinity for Marxism as a new way to reshape America.
    You cannot deny that Obama’s mentors were Frank Marshal Davis, his socialist grandfather, his communist father, his socialist Muslim stepfather, racist Jeremiah Wright, and terrorist William Ayers.
    You cannot deny that the FEC is investigating over $35,000,000 in illegal contributions from Muslim countries, and that the figure may be 10 times that much.
    You cannot name a single accomplishment of Barack Obama in scholarly works, business or legislation.

  11. bud

    I’m really boiling right now. The assault on John Kerry by Brad is simply disgusting. You need to retract this garbage right now. It makes you look completely partisan, something you claim to abhor. Shame on you. Here’s the specifics on Doles disgusting “atheist” ad. Why don’t you report what happened in NC rather than attack Kerry FOR TELLING THE TRUTH. Since when is the truth something to be ashamed of. From McClatchy:
    N. Carolina Senate race in chaos over Dole’s ‘godless’
    By Lisa Zagaroli | McClatchy Newspapers
    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Furious about a new political ad in North Carolina that suggests she’s “godless,” state Sen. Kay Hagan said she’d seek a cease-and-desist order against U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s campaign if the television spot isn’t pulled in the next 24 hours.

  12. Lee Muller

    I thought leftist Democrats were proud of being atheists, or at least of not being Christians.
    Barack Obama says in his book that he is not a Christian, but a spiritualist of a blending of many religions, including Islam. He says he found it in Jeremiah Wright.
    Remember Jeremiah Wright, the racist hater of America, whites and Jews?
    Some religion Obama has.

  13. p.m.

    Boil on, bud. John Kerry is an arrogant hypocrite your principles ought to tell you to hate, a bigger fake than John Edwards ever thought about being, but, no, you just swallow the party line, complete with the hook.
    Man, open your eyes.

  14. Lee Muller

    —- Donations from Palestine ———-
    According to the FEC report of October 21, 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.

  15. p.m.

    I don’t care about the truth?
    I write the truth for a living, dude. What do you do, deliver pizza?
    Man, find a fact somewhere and cling to it. It might help.
    But make sure it’s a fact and not just the latest Democrat talking point.

  16. Tim C

    So p.m., because you write you are superior to a pizza delivery dude? And just who is calling who elitist? It would help if you and Lee actually researched and verified your facts first. Just as Lee’s statement that he thought leftist Liberals “were proud of being atheists.” Just shows that he didn’t know that more people than just Republicans go to church and that attacks on anybody’s religion, regardless of what that religion is, are unacceptable. Period. Or maybe he thinks his relgion is the only one sanctioned by the state. Of course those living in “Real America” don’t much care about the others living in “Un-America” anyway.

  17. p.m.

    I do research and verify my facts, Tim.
    Bud said I don’t care about the truth, and that particularly rankled me, because the truth is ALL I care about. The truth is what I do. And I know how to determine what it is.
    And here is the truth: I don’t “worship at the GOP church of deceit.” I don’t take what I hear on NBC or Fox News at face value.
    It has nothing to do with thinking I’m superior. I used to deliver pizza myself. Matter of fact, I enjoyed it.

  18. Lee Muller

    Enjoying work is the first thing that sets one apart from most Obama followers.
    Honesty openness are another thing which we prefer, and they avoid.
    Obama refuses to be open and honest about his past, his ideology, his associates, his agenda, or his lack of qualifications for office.
    His followers refuse to discuss any of his agenda.

  19. Ish Beverly

    The Democratic Party has been hijacked by the liberal news media or the news media has been hijacked by the liberal Democrats. Anyway they do not have any basic structure for their ideology. They just want to win. They pick a Dud and then go with whatever they can get out of him. Rember Clinton? With him military and patriotism were out. Draft dodgeing, smoking pot, chasing women, lying, were in. With Kerry, military and patriotism were in and honesty was out. With Obama, background, ideology, experience, and honesty are out. Manerisms and how much I can promise you for your vote are in.

  20. bud

    Draft dodgeing, smoking pot, chasing women, lying, were in.
    -Ish
    Describes W to a T. You must have seen the movie and confused the main character with Bill Clinton.

Comments are closed.