Last updated on September 23rd, 2012 at 08:32 pm
On the day Australia’s deputy prime minister warned the world that the biggest threat to the US economy are the “cranks and crazies” in the Republican Party, the money behind those same cranks and crazies are hoping to distract Americans with MORE FEAR.
Swing states prepare! If you live in Wisconsin, Virginia, or Pennsylvania, a new conservative fear-mongering assault has commenced. Conservative group “Let Freedom Ring” is airing a new ad that borrows from the Glenn Beck chalkboard approach to logic in suggesting Obama is buddies with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Watch here:
The narrator says, “After our embassies were stormed, President Obama’s administration offered apologies while the Muslim Brotherhood stood by as we were attacked. Instead of confronting our enemies such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Obama kowtows to them.”
Of course, that’s not true. President Obama did not apologize to anyone, and Obama hardly kowtows to our enemies unless you call organizing the Navy SEAL death of Osama bin Laden kowtowing. But this already debunked argument is a favorite of Mitt Romney and the Republicans.
FactCheck.Org reported that not only did Romney get this wrong, but he got it backward:
Mitt Romney claims the Obama administration issued an “apology for American values” after U.S. embassies were attacked. Not true. Romney refers to a statement issued before mobs attacked either in Egypt or Libya, and faults U.S. diplomats for failing to condemn actions that hadn’t yet happened.
Furthermore, the word “sorry” or “apologize” doesn’t appear in the statement. Under the headline, “U.S. Embassy Condemns Religious Incitement,” the embassy in Cairo said, “Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy.”
snip
Contrary to multiple reports from Fox News, the U.S. embassy in Cairo — not the State Department in Washington — put out the statement on Sept. 11 several hours before a mob of protesters breached the wall of the embassy, took down an American flag and replaced it with a black flag.
snip
So Romney was wrong about the statement from the embassy coming in response to the protest. Nor do we see any basis for Romney’s claim that the embassy statement was “apologizing for free speech” and “appeared to be an apology for American principles.”
Then, “The Muslim Brotherhood’s top leaders even write about taking over America.” See how that proves that Obama is working with Muslim extremists to take over America? No? You must be an Independent or a Democrat. Perhaps you have to be a Republican to ignore facts on this level.
Scary, albeit unconnected, images work on a certain mindset. So here we are offered the Muslim Brotherhood seal stamped over the White House. What does this mean? It means conservatives can use photoshop.
Nothing titillates conservatives like fear-mongering and terror, but you have to wonder just how successful this is going to be, since it didn’t work in 2008 and since then, Americans have had almost four years to get to know this President — during which time he’s taken out top leaders in Al Qaeda.
Notice how there isn’t one single fact that connects to another, it’s just one terror-filled image after another, all buttressed on the fact that Obama had the Muslim Brotherhood at the White House. It leans heavily on actual things Glenn Beck has said (and Beck is considered too crazy for Fox News).
Yes, the Muslim Brotherhood was invited to the White House and yes, previous administrations have met with Brotherhood members of Parliament. Indeed, Republicans like John McCain have met with the Muslim Brotherhood.
They call it diplomatic outreach, or as conservatives like to call it, palling around with terrorists. It’s not surprising that conservatives don’t understand the delicate nature of diplomacy and didn’t understand Obama’s subtle dig at Egypt when he forced them into supporting the US by saying he wouldn’t call them an ally or an enemy. In other words, show us the money. Which they did.
This ad is all the more classy because the conservatives weren’t going to air this until next month, but after the death of four Americans in Libya, they figured now was the perfect time to strike with fear and politicize terror yet again.
Notice how conservatives don’t have a single issue or fact they can run on? They certainly don’t want to talk about Romney’s tax plans or his disdain for half the country. They don’t want to talk about his plan to defund Planned Parenthood. They don’t want to talk about his immigration policies. They don’t want to talk about his “kick the can down the field” Middle East idea. Instead, they spin fear-laden fantasies about Muslims and Obama, hoping to delude their supporters into getting out the conspiracy vote, and taking a few independents who don’t pay attention with them.
Scary music, photoshop and Glenn Beck conspiracies? It’s 2008 again! And we all know how that worked out. Still, you’ll be inundated with family and co-workers who are enraged over something that isn’t real, testing your patience and humanity yet again.
This is a sign of how low Republicans have gone, but also how desperate they are. Romney is sinking in polls and he is losing all three of the home states that the Republican ticket should be winning. No candidate since 1916 has lost their home state and won the White House. Yesterday, the flailing Republican campaign dispatched Paul Ryan to calm the nerves of Congressional Republicans, urging them to stop abandoning ship.
Taking on water? Commence fear-mongering!
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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