A shorter Bachmann/Palin doctrine.
To see this pretty clearly you only have to do a bit of word replacement and selective emphasis (no, Bachmann did not say this, I'm just changing American to Republican to make everything clear):
BACHMANN: It's important because we look at the collection of friends that Barack Obama has had over his life, and usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us. And it seems that it calls into question what Barack Obama's true beliefs and values and thoughts are. His attitudes, values and beliefs with Jeremiah Wright on his view of Republicans, which is negative, Bill Ayers, his negative view of Republicans. We've seen one friend after another calls into question his judgment but also, what is it that Barack Obama really believes? And we know that he's the most liberal senator in the United States senate. That's just after one year after being there. He's the most liberal. Joe Biden is the third most liberal. You've got Harry Reid who's liberal, Nancy Pelosi who's liberal. You have a troika of the most leftist administration in the history of our country.
Doesn't this
BACHMANN: Absolutely. I’m very concerned that he may have anti-Republican views.
make more sense than the
BACHMANN: Absolutely. I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views.
original?
I know that Bachmann is widely and correctly derided for engaging in neo-McCarthyism. This has been diaried extensively, I want to focus on another aspect
But what is really troubling to me is the equivalency that is being made by Palin and Bachmann implying Americanism as being specifically equal to Republicanism.
Palin: (original quote)
He is not a man (Obama) that sees America the way you and I see America.
Palin: (quote modified by me)
He is not a man (Obama) that sees Republicans the way you and I (Republicans) see Republicans.
Ta-da! Immediately we get much closer to the truth. Of course Barack Obama does not see Republicans or the Republican party the way Sarah Palin does. Duh!
Palin again:
"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."
(I just added emphasis this time)
Well, what is it about small towns that Palin finds "pro-American" as opposed to, you know, other, ickily anti-American parts. Could it be that rural areas and small towns tend to vote Republican in many parts of the country?
This is really what McCarthyism is, in addition to being a movement that criminalizes belief, and a form of quintisentially American fascism. It is also a movement that specifically attempts to coopt what it is to be a Republican and turn it into what it is to be an "American". Note that it also uses jingoism to equate service with in the American military with "Americanism" and thereby Republicanism.
So, this all got me thinking about the imagery used to associate. Palin and Bachmann are subtly drawing on association to separate who they think of as "real Americans" versus those who are not and using geography as a marker.
If that is fair to do, then here are some associations:
Not fair? Here's another.
But when foreigners think about America, what is the iconic imagery. What is it about hope and optimism that makes a foreigner think about America? Is it a "Pro-American" Republican image they think of?
Is this an unfair comparison to make? Did I pick the best of blue America and the worst of red America?
As Sarah Palin might say, "You betcha". To make a point. This is what they're doing, they just use words and not pictures to do it. I'll use the pictures to make it crystal clear.