Aug 15th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Everything is Un-American
Conservatives seem to have become so accustomed to being able to define by fiat which things are manly “real American” activities and which only puny foreigners would engage in, that they’ve now gone completely ’round the bend. First we learned that real men don’t inflate the tires on their car properly, and now the RNC is mocking Barack Obama for taking his shirt off at the beach. Or maybe they think the problematic thing here is that he likes to vacation at the beach during the summer? Or something. But this all has at least the superficial appearance of excruciatingly normal behavior. What will be next — attacking Obama for shaving in the morning? Brushing his teeth?
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
51 Responses to “Everything is Un-American”
Leave a Reply
Register
RSSLogin
Advertisement
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Books By Matthew Yglesias
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
2012
Bailout
Basketball
Biden
Budget
Bush
Cars
climate
Congress
Conservatism
Conservatives
Culture
Economics
Economy
education
Energy
Georgia
Health care
History
Honesty
Housing
Inequality
Iran
iraq
Israel
Mandate
mccain
Media
National Review
National Security
NBA
obama
Pakistan
Palin
planning
Public Opinion
Race
Regulation
Russia
Sports
Stimulus
taxes
transit
Transition
transportation
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Contact Matthew Yglesias
Use this form to contact blog author Matthew Yglesias.
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
August 15th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
But his hamburgers were Hawaiian! They probably had … pineapple on them!
August 15th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Isn’t the President, who *really is* responsible for handling international crises, currently vacationing on a fake ranch?
Exactly how stupid does the McCain campaign think Americans are?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
You know what’s Un-American? Swimming with a t-shirt on like the fat kid in junior high. Is that what the GOP wants? A nation of fat kids?
We should interrupt Cokie Roberts on her vacation in Nantucket to see if it would have been okay if he took his shirt off if he had vacationed in Myrtle Beach, as she suggested (but obviously not as she, a well connected Wellesley alumna and charter member of the liberal elite, actually does).
Is it self-loathing or self-lampooning?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Better yet, I say Obama mock them by playing Right Said Fred in response.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Maybe still HAVING all his teeth?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I don’t think the celebrity theme has really been rolled into the anti-American/foreigner/other theme. In fact, I think they clash. Celebrities are, if anything, over-familiar, essentially the exact opposite of people who are unknown and possibly possessed of sinister motives and goals. Yes, McCain’s message machine is kind of shoddy, and their punches aren’t landing, but I can’t see where they’re implying that taking off one’s shirt at the beach, or going on vacation, is somehow exotic and untrustworthy. Rather, it’s the kind of thing a pampered celebrity would do. (Or, you know, a normal person. But that part isn’t making it into their emails, for obvious reasons.)
August 15th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
McCain can remember when men were arrested for public indecency for taking their shirts off at the beach.
Should we tell them?
.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Next thing you know, McCain will be suggesting that his own wife strut her stuff in front of a bunch of ……….What? Oh?……He already did that?…….Never mind.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Exactly how stupid does the McCain campaign think Americans are?
I think they have a pretty good idea. This stuff will resonate. Maybe not each particular part - “OMG, he takes his shirt off,” but the constant drumbeat of ridicule and mockery.
I think they’re really good at this stuff, and I fear they’re going to win. Again. I’m no expert, but I think the only defense is to go after St. John in the same way - as the old, befuddled, adulterous, corrupt SOB that he is.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
It’s because McCain can’t take his shirt off. Unfair campaigning…
http://www.political-buzz.com/
August 15th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Just when you think they can’t get any stupider…
August 15th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
If there is such a thing as a “real American,” he’s not a wealthy politician with a large enough ego to run for office. Geesh, I can’t believe anyone in politics really tries this bullshit.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Exactly how stupid does the McCain campaign think Americans are?
Is that a rhetorical question?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
all true americans know that all real americans eat a heaping pile of beef while watching football and waving an american flag in a hummer in a small town in indiana or missouri.
staying healthy? going to the beach? using fancy words? not being insulting? obviously not a real american and not fit to be president!
(sarcasm over)
August 15th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
we learned that real men don’t inflate the tires on their car properly
Who said that?
August 15th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Drinking OJ in a diner?
August 15th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Real Americans are so fat that they can’t take off their shirt without causing people to puke. Obama is clearly not a Real American. This is yet another reason why I’m proud to not be a Real American. I’m only here for the money. And I’ve safely enclaved myself in the People’s Republic of Boulder, which is obviously not Real America. It was Real America when it was founded by the KKK, but that was a long time ago. What’s sad, though, is that we Unreal Americans provide the technology and economic prosperity that Real Americans can’t provide for themselves. Real Americans provide little but good barbecue. And McCain can’t even provide that. His recipe is an abomination, for which he’d be tarred and feathered in Texas.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
and now the RNC is mocking Barack Obama for taking his shirt off at the beach.
You mean like Ronald Reagan?
http://hyperorg.com/blogger/images/reagan-shirtless.jpg
August 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
What will be next — attacking Obama for shaving in the morning?
Wouldn’t be that much sillier than attacking a politician for he drawing a crowd to one of his speeches — which is kinda like attacking a cloud for being in the sky…
August 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
This stuff will resonate. Maybe not each particular part - “OMG, he takes his shirt off,” but the constant drumbeat of ridicule and mockery… I think they’re really good at this stuff, and I fear they’re going to win.
I don’t buy it. That sounds like pessimism bordering on paranoia. The ridicule of John Kerry for windsurfing had a little bit of bite because it’s an uncommon hobby for the bottom 98% of wage earners, but I seriously doubt it had any significant impact on the election. Vacationing in Hawaii and wearing a perfectly ordinary swimming suit is not going to seem unusual or elitist to middle class Americans.
It was the Swift Boat attacks and the “voted for it before I voted against it” gaffe that killed Kerry. If Obama loses, it will be because of effective attacks on his inexperience or his record, and/or some sort of major new gaffe or scandal. The Wright stuff hurt him, but he’s still ahead. No one is going to vote against him for taking a one-week summer vacation with his family.
I’m obviously not the target audience for McCain ads, but they seem incredibly weak to me so far. Nearly all of his attack ads have backfire potential. Making lame, off-key jokes about the popular kid in class doesn’t make you popular. It makes you look pathetic. Obama has to have the good sense to use McCain’s own words against him (and he’s provided some rich source material in the past week.) But I’m still confident about his chances.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
In fairness to the RNC, they’re not actually criticising Obama for taking his shirt off at the beach–they’re criticising him for being so much of a celebrity (and a celebrity of the wrong sort) that the legit media _cares_ that he took his shirt off at the beach. They’re actually doing a pretty clever job of trying to turn Obama’s popularity into a liability by saying that the people who like him only think he’s great in a People Magazine kind of way.
Now, the idea that being popular is evidence that you’re unfit for the presidency is insulting and idiotic, so this attack is still absurd, but let’s criticise the RNC for what they’re actually doing wrong.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
and now the RNC is mocking Barack Obama for taking his shirt off at the beach.
Those of you who take the time to click on the link will see that this is patently false.
The McCain campaign (not the RNC) has made fun of Reuters for running a headline that says, “Obama takes shirt off again, goes body surfing in Hawaii.”
There is absolutely nothing to indicate that they are suggesting that taking off one’s shirt is unamerican or unmanly.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Cokie Roberts warned us about this and all you dirty hippie liberals poo-pooed her. Now, see what has come to pass! Pineapple on hamburgers!
(sarcasm)
August 15th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
The guy is body surfing, the single most egalitarian form of surfing possible. Purest too. Obama’s keepin’ it real!
August 15th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Sorry fostert, you just accidently passed the citizenship test.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I’ve heard that Obama fathered multiple black children. Not only that, he has been overheard expressing a desire to keep them out of the media.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I’ve heard that Obama fathered multiple black children.
N**** lover!!!
August 15th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I’m obviously not the target audience for McCain ads, but they seem incredibly weak to me so far. Nearly all of his attack ads have backfire potential. Making lame, off-key jokes about the popular kid in class doesn’t make you popular. It makes you look pathetic.
The entire Rove/Limbaugh/FNC/etc. strategy is based on imitating the C-students who sat in the back of the class shooting spitballs at the rest of us.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
“Sorry fostert, you just accidently passed the citizenship test.”
Damn! But I have an even worse secret: I can cook a mean barbecue. You can leave Texas, but Texas will never leave you. I still listen to Bob Wills, and my Boulder friends can’t stand it. So I guess I might be a Real American after all, but trust me, I’m trying to correct that. But I’m not sure that I can throw out those Bob Wills CDs.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Think how people in the US would respond if it were reported that German politicians were campaigning based on a claim to be more German than their opponents. And then stop and think what has become of political discourse in the US.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
And then stop and think what has become of political discourse in the US.
We’ve got one campaign accusing their opponent of being the Anti-Christ.
Take that, Enlightenment!
August 15th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Whether the RNC was making fun of Obama for being shirtless or Reuters for reporting on it, it knows damn well in its evil heart of hearts that the unspoken upside of pointing to a sexy, shirtless Obama is that it conjures up age-old sexual fears and insecurities among some whites about black males. He’s going to seduce your daughters and maybe your wife, too. He’ll probably give them cocaine, too. That’s the other reason McCain’s campaign chose Britney and Paris for that ad about Obama’s celebrity. They offered a two-fer-one: Not only are they on the record as being promiscuous and vapid, but they both have dabbled in drugs… just like that drug-dealing Barack Obama!
August 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
The point is to always be on the attack, no matter what, and to “win” each news cycle on cable television by bitch-slapping the Democrats around with these attacks.
It doesn’t have anything to do with substance … or reality.
And the sad thing? It works pretty well for the GOP. They look like bastards, but STRONG bastards.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I bet he slumbers in his sleep, too.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Speaking of toothpaste, I’ll just bet it’s that Tom’s of Maine stuff. Harrumph … Who do these people think they are?
Why don’t the wingnuts just come out and say it? It’s positively, absolutely un-American for anyone other than their own to run for public office of any kind!
John McCain = Basil Fawlty — too bad Cindy isn’t Sybil
August 15th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I still listen to Bob Wills, and my Boulder friends can’t stand it.
I say this in all seriousness and with a genuine concern for your well-being:
You need new friends.
Now crank up Take Me Back To Tulsa, smoke a brisket, and show them what living right looks like!
August 15th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I bet Obama pees standing up and puts his pants on one leg at a time. What a queer.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Bokonon:
The point is to always be on the attack, no matter what, and to “win” each news cycle on cable television
You have hit the nail on the head. And the approach is shockingly effective. And no one has come up with a good way to counter it yet. It worries me.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I have to agree with the RNC on this one.
Taking off your shirt and strutting on the beach is simply un-American.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Let me work this out.
- Real Americans are fat and keep their shirts on at the beach.
- Barack Obama is not a real American.
- Al Gore and Michael Moore are fat, and this makes them not real Americans.
- Ergo, Real Americans are neither fat nor thin, but are instead creatures of pure spirit.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
McCain can remember when men were arrested for public indecency for taking their shirts off at the beach.
McCain can remember when beaches were divided into ‘Whites’ and ‘Colored’ sections.
And it might be worth an impish Dem on the cabloids making that point, at least in reference to the RNC. ‘Well, the RNC still hasn’t got used to seeing African-Americans share their beaches.’
August 15th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
“Now crank up Take Me Back To Tulsa, smoke a brisket, and show them what living right looks like!”
Amen, brother.
August 15th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Now you guys did it. I have this mental image of McCain at the beach. And he’s wearing a red Speedo like that French-Canadian guy I saw at Hollywood Beach here last week. (((Shudder)))
August 15th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Real Republicans don’t shower.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Lets see my choice is John McCain or that smart black man Barack Obama?
McCain who does not know how to use a computer but is willing to learn if we elect him – I’ll just vote for that smart black man.
My Choices are: John McCain who says the economic downturn is psychological? - Na! I’ll vote for the smart black man.
McCain who says you are better off under George Bush? - Nope I’ll vote for the smart black man.
Mc Cain who wants to continue killing more people looking for weapons of mass destruction that do not exist? - Gee! I’ll vote for the smart black man.
McCain who believes that we should stay the course but is not willing to support the people he puts in harms way. - I’ll take a chance on the smart black man.
Should I vote for a man that does not know that 9-11 was caused by Osama Bin Laden not Sedam Hussein? - Easy! I’ll vote for the smart black man.
Vote for the man who does not know if the Sunnis or Sheits are our enemies? - No way I’ll vote for the smart black man.
Vote for the man who helped put our government on the China, Saudi Arabia credit card? - Not a chance I’ll vote for the smart black man.
Vote for the man with the worst temper in the Senate to have his finger on the nuclear button? - No way - I’ll vote for the smart black man.
August 15th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Good grief! The Republicans know that proper attire for the beach is in a suit and tie and uncomfortable shoes, as Nixon did it. Don’t you people know anything about uptight decorum?
August 15th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Orange juice for breakfast. I believe that says it all.
August 16th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Re: I’m obviously not the target audience for McCain ads, but they seem incredibly weak to me so far.
The “Celebrity” ad should be included in the dictionary definition of “lame”. When even Paris Hilton can put together an intelligent rejoinder you know it’s dumber than dumb. Not to mention showing your opponent being cheered by a large crowd (and in this case a crowd of white people, who are not identifably foreign in the ad) is not something a propagandist with a grain of common sense should do. The ad, at best, was a case of preaching to the choir– that is, to the politically involved Right, who know that the ad shows Obama in Germany (the average American would not, as there is nothing obviously German in the ad) and who shudder with knee-jerk trepidation at the notion of an American going abroad (unless he’s in the middle of an American army of course). It shows how isolated the Right has become, thinking this sort of thing will have any pull with ordinary Americans, who are a lot more concerned with gas prices and the housing collapse.
Re: - Real Americans are fat and keep their shirts on at the beach.
Would that it were so! Been to a middle-class, middle-aged beach lately? You’ll see so much shirtless, hairy blubber jiggling around that whales and bears are probably peeved for being upstaged by the modern American male.
Re: Al Gore and Michael Moore are fat, and this makes them not real Americans.
Huh? So where does that leave Rush “the Hutt” Limbaugh?
August 16th, 2008 at 4:22 am
Well, in American eyes, “being American” is a good thing (maybe the best), while “being Germen” (as a characteristic) is linked to war-mongering, attacking sovereign nations for no good reason and trying to achieve global hegenomy. Oh, wait…
August 16th, 2008 at 4:23 am
Oh, the internets ate the quote at the beginning of my post:
“Think how people in the US would respond if it were reported that German politicians were campaigning based on a claim to be more German than their opponents. And then stop and think what has become of political discourse in the US.”
August 16th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Headline: Obama Eats Apple Pie, Right-Wingers Claim Apple Pie Is For Only The Communist-Elite
Douchebags.
http://thepajamapundit.com/