THIS IS THE FINAL INSTALLMENT in a critique of Lou Pritchett's misleading and manipulative "Open Letter" to Obama.
"So now Pritchett tells us who those 'intelligent people' with 'opposing points of view' really are."
Early on I pointed out the use he makes of the repeated refrain "You scare me because..." as a tool to lure the reader into a trance, and as a technique which allows him to bury questionable information in a subordinate clause, in order to slip it by our conscious critical mind.
If I say "Lou is lying because of bitterness over his poor showing in the Republican presidential primaries," most people are much less likely to question whether he ever ran for president (he didn't, as far as I know) than they would be if I say "Lou ran for president once."
But there's a third reason for his repeated "You scare me..." which is less subtle. Lou, like most right-wing propagandists, relies heavily on fear, and one way to encourage fear in others is to repeatedly tell them how afraid you are yourself.
His fear-mongering continues with his next sentence:
You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.
Lou has long ago stopped even trying to tie his bizarre accusations to fact.
Never mind that Obama is the first president to be regularly and publicly criticized for listening too much to the other party.
Never mind that he met half of the Republican demands for the shape of his stimulus package, without even demanding their votes in exchange.
Unless, of course, Pritchett doesn't think the Republicans in Congress are "intelligent people".
I can't imagine who else he would be talking about, but maybe he'll get around to telling us later.
You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.
This one just puzzles me.
Obama believes he's omniscient. Really? We have never had a president more willing to admit to mistakes, more willing to admit that he has much to learn, and that he expects to learn in the process.
Our previous president, by contrast, was fully convinced that his "gut" told him exactly what God wanted him to do, and regularly refused to change course when his gut contradicted the facts.
Lou wasn't scared by that.
Obama believes he's omnipotent? Only Pritchett's belief in his own omniscience could lead him to think so.
Obama has repeatedly changed course when confronted with political realities which he didn't think he could overcome.
Obama would be the least likely president to push the country further than the the facts support—to, for example, insist we invade another country that had not attacked us, or to think that he could use America's military might to solve problems that should be dealt with through diplomacy.
But Pritchett's case gets both weaker and weirder:
You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.
Like when they ask him about reneging on "don't ask, don't tell".
Or when they ask him why so many of his Supreme Court nominee's cases got overturned,
Or when they pick apart every word of his speeches overseas.
And then:
You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaugh's, Hannitys, O'Reilly's and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.
So now Pritchett tells us who those "intelligent people" with "opposing points of view" really are. He didn't mean elected Republicans at all. He meant talk show hosts—entertainers.
And the evidence that Obama wants to "demonize and silence" them?
Limbaugh said that he wanted Obama's presidency to fail, and the next day Obama said to some Republicans, who appeared to be ready to stonewall his proposals, that "you can't listen to Rush Limbaugh and expect to get anything done".
That's it.
Obama doesn't have a very high opinion of Limbaugh—like a great many patriotic Americans who understand that veiled racism and open anger and a talent for controversy won't make for particularly good policy decisions.
But Pritchett doesn't agree.
He thinks that a man...
- who screams that anyone using drugs should be sent to prison, and
- who then gets caught using drugs illegally, and
- who then accepts help from the ACLU, whom he has harangued endlessly against on his show, so that he won't go to jail
...is the model of intelligence and integrity and wisdom our president should consult before making a move.
Once again, Pritchett appears to be able to tell us what Obama "wants" without any actual evidence. The only way he could know that Obama "wants to silence the Limbaugh's, Hannitys, O'Reilly's and Becks" is if he's omniscient and can peer into Obama's soul.
Do you suppose he thinks he is?
You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.
Another good trick. Make a charge that not only involves omniscience, but is so un-defined that it's virtually impossible to reply to it.
Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.
We're talking serious omniscience here—and serious paranoia.
Was it Obama who illegally used government intelligence sources to help out the Texas Republicans?
Was it Obama who put normal Americans under government surveillance?
Was it Obama who wanted laws passed to make it illegal for citizens to sue the government over abuses of their rights?
Hint: No—It was Bush.
But Obama scares him.
The only question left is whether Lou "One of corporate America's true living legends" Pritchett is merely counting, dishonestly, on his readers' paranoia, or whether he's honestly paranoid himself.
At least, that's what I think today.
