Grasping at strawmen

By Mustang Bobby 

I don't remember where I read it, but some conservative commentator made the most egregious false equivalency argument about the Romney video that I've heard in a long while. No, I'm not talking about the "clinging to guns and religion" line; that's already been deflated because Mr. Obama was worrying about how to connect with those people. Now they're grasping at a more recent straw. I'm paraphrasing, but it went something like this: "How different is what Romney said in Boca about the 47% compared to what Obama said about 'You didn't build that!'? Both said stupid things, and yet the libs are completely ignoring Obama's socialist trope."

Yeah, that's because when Barack Obama said "You didn't build that!," it was part of a much longer speech in which he was saying that "we're all in this together." The Romney campaign and its press agency — Fox News — selectively edited that speech to make it sound like Mr. Obama was slapping around business owners. Given the chance and the editing machine, they could make it sound like he was storming the Bastille. But the Romney tape is all out there. There's no editing. He really said it.

By now, though, a number of middle-school kids pundits are coming back with "Well, so what?":

Conservative commentator Mary Matalin hailed Mitt Romney's "47 percent" line on CNN as good news for Republicans.

"There are makers and takers, there are producers and there are parasites," she said. "Americans can distinguish between those who have produced and paid in through no fault of their own and because of Obama's horrible polcies who cannot get a job or are underemployed. That's what the campaign is about."

This is a little like the scouts coming up to General Custer and telling him that they were surrounded.  And the general replied, "Great! We've got them right where we want them!"

I can understand that the Republicans desperately want to make chicken salad out of chicken shit, but now they're letting signs of panic creep out. Even with my cold, I can smell the flop-sweat.

Once this election is over, the hard-core right wing will go on the attack in their own party for letting a nominee with no real right-wing credentials lead them into the battle. We have not heard the last of Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann. Yip yah.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)