2008 October 29 | Hanlon's Razor

McCain’s campaigning in Arizona

By Hanlon, on October 29th, 2008 at 07:09 PM

Remember, FOX doesn’t do this by mistake

By Hanlon, on October 29th, 2008 at 07:00 PM

Call it subliminal messaging.

Remember this happened with Mark Foley during the sex scandal, Arlen Specter when he was grilling Berty Gonzales, and even McCain back in February when his campaign looked like it was sunk. Fox doesn’t “accidentally” label Republicans with a D, it is a conscious (if subtle) way of formally denouncing them.

Marxism, Obama, and the Bible

By Hanlon, on October 29th, 2008 at 06:40 PM

Barack Obama, 2001:

“But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society.”

Karl Marx, in Critique of the Gotha Program:

“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

The Bible:

And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (Acts 2:44-45)

Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. (Acts 4:34-35)

God’s a COMMUNIST!!

The bizarre saga of Joe the Plumber

By Hanlon, on October 29th, 2008 at 01:21 PM

Probably one of the oddest ascensions in politics of the campaign season has been “Joe the Plumber”. He started off as some guy that chatted with Obama about taxes (“chatted” here means “asked a question and then listened for five minutes”), and one debate later he became some kind of small-town hero, to the point that he’s floated the idea of running for Congress and shows up on FOX News periodically to offer “commentary”.

McCain, desperate for some way to appear connected to the middle class, has latched onto Joe the Plumber like a barnacle, completely ignoring the fact that none of his policies would actually benefit the guy. Then, we have this statement from McCain in response to Joe’s bizarrre claim that Obama would bring death to Israel:

While he’s clearly his own man, so far Joe has offered some penetrating and clear analysis that cuts to the core of many of the concerns that people have with Barack Obama’s statements and policies. … [T]here is good reason to question the judgement that Obama would bring to the Oval Office.

Penetrating? Clear analysis?

Everyone wants to be a scrappy underdog that injects a big fat dose of realism into politics. Stories like Harry Potter and Rudy have us all convinced that while everyone else spends their lives working toward something, we all have some inherent ability that will rocket us to the front of the pack, showing all those stuffed shirts what we’ve learned down here in the real world.

Unfortunately, things just don’t work that way. There is nothing in “Joe’s” comments that shows he has anything resembling a good understanding of these issues. When he asked about Obama’s tax plan, it was confrontational but not educated. John McCain had done the same by pushing the “penalty” idea of Obama’s plan without knowing ahead of time what the answer was. It might explain why the pair of them have naturally drifted toward one another.

McCain’s camp is somewhat right, though, in that Joe’s “analysis” gives voice to the concerns people have. The error is in assuming those concerns have any merit. A lot of people are also concerned that Obama has Bin Laden on speed dial and will make an executive order enslaving white people. That doesn’t mean they should be legitimized by public broadcast.