Charles Krauthammer

My cousin's husband is a rabid, foaming at the mouth neo-con and yesterday, he sent me this Charles Krauthammer piece he thinks is "interesting" (it's really just itsmecissy bait). Here's my response (sorry for the length):

Dear Cuz,
I, like Charles Krauthammer, am a psychic, who truly understands the depths and motivations of strangers. Thus, I am able to translate this into what it ‘actually means’ – let’s call it polemical hermeneutics: (he won't understand that part)

You wrote:
"A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st. You would do well to read and pass this along to EVERYBODY that loves his country. This is VERY serious for the direction of our country. The ramifications are staggering for us & our children."

MADAME itsmecissy TRANSLATES:

A friend went to hear a lunatic conspiracy theorist. He listened with 25 other easily frightened rubes in a closed room so the public couldn't point out the insanity of the speaker's ramblings. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st and still meaningless polemic conjecture. You would do well to read and force it upon EVERYBODY who you know to be a crazy right wing conspiracy nut, or who you'd like to no longer take you seriously. This is VERY serious for the direction of our country because it shows that an increasing number of Americans are divorced from any political reality. The ramifications are staggering for us & our children.

You wrote:
"Last Monday was a profound evening, hearing Dr. Charles Krauthammer speak to the Center for the American Experiment. He is brilliant, intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fear monger, nor an extremist in his comments and views. He is a fiscal conservative, and has a Pulitzer Prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post. The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have shared this with many of you and several have asked me to summarize his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally. Even 2 Dems at my table agreed with everything he said! If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not drunk the Kool-Aid’, feel free."

MADAME itsmecissy's INTERPRETATION:

1.) These two statements contradict each other:
"He is brilliant, intellectual, seasoned & articulate."
"He is a frequent contributor to Fox News..."

2.) "Has a Pulitzer Prize for writing:"
Charles Krauthammer is only wrong in two areas: Foreign Policy & Domestic Policy. He knows little about either. His words are drivel. He hides a lot of facts, or just lies.

3.) Regarding being forthright, careful in his analysis, not extremist or a fear monger: Two people viewing the same event will come away with different interpretations of that event. There is no such thing as completely unbiased reporting, as the initial gathering of facts, followed by decisions regarding which of these facts are worthy of covering in your allotted time, measured against other considerations (such as ratings, for instance) are all influenced by personal interpretation.

4.) And apparently you have to be rich to have not ‘drunk the Kool-Aid:’


A summary of Mr. Krauthammer’s comments:

1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a ‘cool customer’ who doesn't show his emotions. It's very hard to know what's ‘behind the mask’. Taking down the Clinton dynasty from a political neophyte was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.

itsmecissy: If Obama were white and had an Anglo sounding name this would not even be an issue. Unfortunately, Pulitzer Prize-winning writers who do not engage in juvenile name-calling can still be very much into simplistic analysis.


2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he's on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!

itsmecissy: Careful Charles, your bias is showing. But that’s OK, bias is good. I have no problem with opinions expressed in newspapers as some others do. I prefer to know exactly where columnists are coming from.

3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can’t be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to ‘level the playing field’ with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada.


itsmecisssy: Why not just come out & say what you really think? Obama is black and that scares you. Obama (according to many of your cronies) is a socialist and that scares you. Obama will tax you more because you're in the top 5% of earners who should pay more and that makes you angry (hey, you shilled for the Iraq war, you pay for it.) Instead of "dismantling capitalism," read "restoring capitalism to its proper place as an economic concept as opposed to the national religion." And when was capitalism dismantled in Great Britain or Canada?

4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, & NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn't care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada. God forbid.

itsmecissy: What ENERGY? America is dependent on foreign oil for all its energy and that foreign oil is dwindling as we speak; the energy crisis has happened already and it’s getting worse! As for FREE PUBLIC EDUCATION and NATIONAL HEATHCARE – Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, OH MY!!! Heaven forbid we should educate and take care of our own Citizenry. Note: please refer to Madame itsmecissy's Interpretation #2 above: Charles Krauthammer is only wrong in two areas: Foreign Policy & Domestic Policy. He knows little about either. Oh, and he lies.

5. He’s surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they’re going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can’t work in the long run. Obama’s not a socialist; rather he's a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.

itsmecissy: I wonder how many people around Charles Krauthammer have ever run a candy store. And what do candy stores have to do with the presidency? Heck, I could run a candy store, but I couldn’t be president! And BTW, aren’t there some Republicans in the Obama Cabinet?

6. Obama doesn’t really see himself as President of the United States, but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America, as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!

itsmecissy: How can a President want be a "ruler over the world" but is against Imperialism? Face it Charles, the thought of a popular, smart, articulate, and uniting President (who happens to be a Democrat) scares the shit out of Republicans. After the last 8 years of a polar opposite, George W. Bush, who supposedly represented the best of the right wing ideology and, while ‘on his watch,’ this "great noble nation" made GRAVE ERRORS (that he’d never admit to). Yes, I can see why you’re afraid.

7. He’s now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not ‘come due’ until after he’s reelected in 2012. He’d like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Mr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.

itsmecissy: Tsk, tsk, tsk, FOX continues the unethical practice of cutting and pasting video clips and images to fit the stories they create. They are literally MAKING the news and people actually assume it as truth. How scary is that?

8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. We’re ‘pining’ for another Reagan, but there’ll never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she’s to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and states’ rights.

MADAME itsmecissy COMMENTS:

1.) "Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party."

itsmecissy: GOD, I HOPE SO!!!

2.) "Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage."

And I quote: "If combat means living in a ditch, females have problems living in a ditch for 30 days because they get infections, and they don’t have the upper body strength. I mean, some do, but they’re relatively rare. On the other hand, men are basically piglets, you drop ‘em in a ditch, they roll around in it, it doesn’t matter, y’know? These things are very real. On the other hand, if combat means being on an Aegis cruiser monitoring the movement of twelve ships and their rockets, a female may be again drastically better than a male who gets very, very frustrated sitting in a chair all the time because males are biologically programmed to go out and hunt for giraffes."

itsmecissy: Yeah, Newt Gingrich is brilliant.

3.) "Sarah Palin is sincere & intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she’s to be a serious candidate in the future."

itsmecissy: Intelligent? Intelligent? Some people – like George W. Bush – don’t need to be satirized: you just quote them.

4.) "We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and states' rights."

itsmecissy: You need to be the party of angry white guys who think they’re about to get rich. Last I checked, Charles, you were already there.

9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We’re spending trillions that we don’t have. This could lead to hyper inflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn’t work, nor will the stimulus package. These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama’s allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.

Note: please refer to Madame itsmecissy's Interpretation #2 above: Charles Krauthammer is only wrong in two areas: Foreign Policy & Domestic Policy. He knows little about either. And he lies.

10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed. fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of ‘change’ caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.

itsmecissy: For too long Charles, you've been able to cloak your extreme views in the guise of thoughtful commentary - no longer is that possible. You and a large number of right-wing water-carriers had your unprincipled butts handed to you on a plate by a disciplined, principled candidate with a positive message of hope for this country. No longer will vile, hateful culture warriors like you have any say in the direction of this country. And that scares you most of all -- the prospect of your utter irrelevance.

Racism is based on ignorance - as has been most of the Republican Party's politics for the past eight years. But the party has also become ignorant of the principles upon which it was founded, and is only now belatedly waking up to the reality, that "you can't fool all the people, all the time." Indeed when your party is run by ignorance-adoring and chronically inept fools, it is difficult to even fool some of the people part of the time.

11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it's under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it's between 8-10%, it’ll be a dogfight. It’ll all be about the economy.

itsmecissy: BRING IT ON!!!

I hope this gets you really thinking about what's happening in Washington and Congress. There’s a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we’re right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it's far too late.

itsmecissy TRANSLATION:
I hope this gets you froth mouthed and paranoid about what I'm pretending is happening in Washington and Congress. There's a moderate Democratic government, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith, spread delusional propaganda, and form a crazed reactionary resistance. The work will be hard, but we're irrationally Far Right Maniacs on most issues and can trick our country into a reactionary response and further social, economic, and military collapse, before it's far too late.
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