Friday, January 02, 2009

Crap Conspiracies of 2008

The Village Voice has the rundown on The Top 10 Rightblogger Stories of 2008 -- or, as I would have called it, the top 10 crap conspiracies that clogged my inbox. From the #10 yawner Fred Thompson to the #1 Secret Muslim story, I tried to avoid these blog topics unless I wanted to mock them.

But the one wingnut fantasy I never heard about was #9:
#9: The Cheapskate's Guide to Civil Disobedience. In the late days of the campaign emails circulated about a guy who pissed off an Obama-supporting waiter by giving his tip to a bum instead. Haw haw! Rightblogger Dr. Helen discussed undertipping waiters, maids, gardeners, etc. if Obama won as a way for rich people to express their displeasure. "If we had deployed this strategy six months ago the election would not even be close," said Ghost of a Flea. Actually this one panned out: the election wasn't close. Maybe voters figured Republicans don't tip anyway.
Oh that's brilliant. In a time of economic crisis, undertip the hard working people who serve you, and somehow that's going to win votes for Republicans. How do they figure? There exists no logic between taking action A and reaching result B. It's like their famous argument that if gays get married, then marriage is doomed. Or if fraudulent voter registration forms are detected, then somehow fictitious characters will vote.

But how do these wingnut cheapskates identify the Obama-supporting waiters, maids, and gardeners? Those types of jobs usually don't allow you to wear campaign t-shirts over your uniform. Ok, maybe I'm being silly. Obviously, the wingnuts assume they can identify these supporters by their race.

Let's admit it, the Republican party doesn't even try to hide their racism now. Republican National chair candidate Chip Saltsman recently sent his fellow party officials copies of a CD containing the parody "Barack the Magic Negro." At a time when the majority of people in this country are ready for a new era, the Republicans desperately cling to the old.

Paul Krugman wrote "As the new Democratic majority prepares to take power, Republicans have become, as Phil Gramm might put it, a party of whiners." Yes, whiners with really bad judgment.

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