[Marxism] The Republicans' hate week

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Krugman's liberal, deficit-phobic, and pro-Kerry politics are his own,
of course.  But I think his descriptions of the Republican convention
are valid.  They confirm Mark Lause's points about what is happening in
politics and why -- that our enemies are weakening somewhat and becoming
overtly nastier as a consequence.

The fact that the Republicans, who staged the convention to portray
themselves in solidarity with New York, are ended the meeting in a mood
of open hostility to wicked New York is hilarious.

By the way, we shouldn't start writing off the possibility of Kerry
winning, as, for example, the Militant almost certainly will, and
probably with a dash of heart-felt enthusiasm.

The anti-Bush core vote is about as strong as the Bush core vote.  There
isn't going to be a Kerry meltdown on Dukakis lines.  I believe the
rulers are still divided in their preferences, even though the very
structure of two-party politics and the media adds to the momentum of
the most overtly vicious capitalist campaigners.

Remember that Gore came out ahead in the vote, and his foes had to steal
the Florida vote to gain victory in the electoral college. Gore finished
a couple points higher than had been predicted in the polls.  It
wouldn't take much of a margin of error to put Kerry over the top, and I
think shenanigans similar to what happened in Florida would be much more
of a political crisis.

Be that as it may, the system is headed into more trouble one way or the
other.
Fred Feldman



OP-ED COLUMNIST
Feel the Hate
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: September 3, 2004 New York Times

I don't know where George Soros gets his money," one man said. "I don't
know where - if it comes from overseas or from drug groups or where it
comes from." George Soros, another declared, "wants to spend $75 million
defeating George W. Bush because Soros wants to legalize heroin." After
all, a third said, Mr. Soros "is a self-admitted atheist; he was a Jew
who figured out a way to survive the Holocaust."

They aren't LaRouchies - they're Republicans.

The suggestion that Mr. Soros, who has spent billions promoting
democracy around the world, is in the pay of drug cartels came from
Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, whom the Constitution puts two
heartbeats from the presidency. After standing by his remarks for
several days, Mr. Hastert finally claimed that he was talking about how
Mr. Soros spends his money, not where he gets it.

The claim that Mr. Soros's political spending is driven by his desire to
legalize heroin came from Newt Gingrich. And the bit about the Holocaust
came from Tony Blankley, editorial page editor of The Washington Times,
which has become the administration's de facto house organ.

For many months we've been warned by tut-tutting commentators about the
evils of irrational "Bush hatred." Pundits eagerly scanned the
Democratic convention for the disease; some invented examples when they
failed to find it. Then they waited eagerly for outrageous behavior by
demonstrators in New York, only to be disappointed again.
There was plenty of hatred in Manhattan, but it was inside, not outside,
Madison Square Garden.

Barack Obama, who gave the Democratic keynote address, delivered a
message of uplift and hope. Zell Miller, who gave the Republican
keynote, declared that political opposition is treason: "Now, at the
same time young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the
mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker
because of the Democrats' manic obsession to bring down our commander in
chief." And the crowd roared its approval.
Why are the Republicans so angry? One reason is that they have nothing
positive to run on (during the first three days, Mr. Bush was mentioned
far less often than John Kerry).

The promised economic boom hasn't materialized, Iraq is a bloody
quagmire, and Osama bin Laden has gone from "dead or alive" to
he-who-must-not-be-named.

Another reason, I'm sure, is a guilty conscience. At some level the
people at that convention know that their designated hero is a man who
never in his life took a risk or made a sacrifice for his country, and
that they are impugning the patriotism of men who have.

That's why Band-Aids with Purple Hearts on them, mocking Mr. Kerry's war
wounds and medals, have been such a hit with conventioneers, and why
senior politicians are attracted to wild conspiracy theories about Mr.
Soros.

It's also why Mr. Hastert, who knows how little the Bush administration
has done to protect New York and help it rebuild, has accused the city
of an "unseemly scramble" for cash after 9/11. Nothing makes you hate
people as much as knowing in your heart that you are in the wrong and
they are in the right.

But the vitriol also reflects the fact that many of the people at that
convention, for all their flag-waving, hate America. They want a
controlled, monolithic society; they fear and loathe our nation's
freedom, diversity and complexity.

The convention opened with an invocation by Sheri Dew, a Mormon
publisher and activist. Early rumors were that the invocation would be
given by Jerry Falwell, who suggested just after 9/11 that the attack
was God's punishment for the activities of the A.C.L.U. and People for
the American Way, among others. But Ms. Dew is no more moderate: earlier
this year she likened opposition to gay marriage to opposition to
Hitler.

The party made sure to put social moderates like Rudy Giuliani in front
of the cameras. But in private events, the story was different. For
example, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas told Republicans that we are in
a "culture war" and urged a reduction in the separation of church and
state.

Mr. Bush, it's now clear, intends to run a campaign based on fear. And
for me, at least, it's working: thinking about what these people will do
if they solidify their grip on power makes me very, very afraid.


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