I know this has been out there for a few days, but I still wanted to respond. Conservatives have long tried to carry the mantle of America exceptionalism are our global superiority. They say the left doesn't believe Americans are the kings of the universe. Hey, we're tree huggers, aren't we? Rove wants Americans to think we're giving up being the leaders of the free world to China and the terrorists. It's quite childish and has been for a long time. They also prop up their straw man that all a person has to do is strap on their boots, pull them tight and they too can host a show like Bill O'Reilly and join the 1 Percenters club. It's so easy if only you try. That's all it takes you lazy rubes -- but you'd rather live off the dole then go to college, work and feed your family.
Well, here comes Super Bowl XLVI and it's usually the most watched TV event every year. For years many people tuned in to actually watch the ads because it was the one time that there was a greater creative license bestowed upon the ad agencies to produce as clever an ad as possible. That changed after conservatives hijacked the SB and the ads with the Janet Jackson flap which was created by conservatives lame attempt to attack Hollywood once again. This time it worked. Movement conservatives even went on TV and said their kids had been permanently damaged by the brief Jackson areola flashing. Wow, for an exceptional people, conservatives are very scared of nudity. They pressured networks and the NFL into thinking children never have seen nekkid body parts before. Heaven forbid if their kids walk in on them right after a shower. They could be damaged for life seeing a reflection of their own bodies.
I bet you don't remember many of the ads from Feb. 5th now except one: Clint Eastwood's ode to Detroit. I was caught up in the game and angry that the Giants blew their first half lead, but Clint's voice momentarily caught my interest and I tried to figure out where what was happening. Ha! It was all about American Exceptionalism and the resilience the auto industry had endured to recover after the global financial crisis. Paulbots screamed to let them all crumble, but Eastwood's message was we can find a way through tough times because the second half is coming. You'd think this would cross party lines since Clint is known to be a center right guy. Not so. See, Karl Rove can't have anything said about America now that makes a case for a positive future. How dare Eastwood praise us.
Karl Rove: I was frankly offended by It. I'm a huge Clint Eastwood fan. It was an extremely well done ad, but it is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the president of the United States and his political minions using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising.
Say, what? Is he kidding me? Clint was shocked too and so he felt he had to call out his spinning.
Eastwood himself reached out to O'Reilly Factor producer Ron Mitchell to defuse the conspiracy theories, hype, conjecture, invective and the rest of it:
"I just want to say that the spin stops with you guys, and there is no spin in that ad. On this I am certain.
l am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was okay.
I am not supporting any politician at this time.
Chrysler to their credit didn't even have cars in the ad.
Anything they gave me for it went for charity.
If any Obama or any other politician wants to run with the spirit of that ad, go for it."
Love. It. It's like, "Screw you and your panic; there's plenty of room up here for anyone who wants to join me on the high road." Now Obama doesn't have to say a word, and the conservatives are left to either embrace the "let's fix this" spirit that they just implicitly ascribed to the president or oppose it as a matter of ideological course -- which would just reinforce the ad's criticism of "the fog, the division, the discord and blame" crippling our discourse.
Conservatives have been whining about it all week. I've been laughing so hard that it took me this long to write this post. All you need to know about the conservative movement is encapsulated in this faux outrage by Karl Rove, who is getting ready to unleash millions upon millions of dollars of negative ads with his SuperPAC for the general election against all Democratic politicians. I doubt he'll have many nice things to say.
Their message is clear, cheer on or say nice things about America and incur their wrath. And yet I still hear political pundits yapping about partisanship.
