They Have a Word for It
In the course of considering Peak Wingnut Theory, John Cole discovers Erick Erickson of Red State staying classy by booming a National Enquirer story about the possibility that, as Erickson puts it, "Barack Obama had an underage, gay affair with a pedophile." That’s a pretty interesting way to describe what may have happened between the two. Obama met Frank Marshall Davis when Obama was ten years old. When people discuss (possible) sexual contact between ten-year-old boys who are not their political enemies and grown men, they usually refer to the "underage gay affairs" as sexual abuse. They also recognize that adults who have been abused may or may not wish to tell the whole world the details, and they respect it. Admittedly, most people are not members of the NAMBLA wing of the Republican Party, or, failing that, curdled into pure meanness. Maybe Erickson just holds with the more sweeping theories about the cultural construction of the age of consent. Whatever the reason, he’s sure that that little vixen, ten-year-old Barry Obama, was asking for it man.
Comment by A Squirrel —
October 13, 2008 @ 11:38 pm
There goes Jim again with his Victorian sexual taboos…
I don’t know about the “peak wingnut” theory, but when I read crap like that on redstate, I can no longer even work up the energy to be silently appalled.
I am completely desensitized to it, though I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
Comment by clerk at SEIU —
October 14, 2008 @ 12:41 am
What the hell is Moe Lane doing defending that post in the comments?
Comment by bryan —
October 14, 2008 @ 2:35 am
“Victorian sexual taboos”
Did Obama time travel in order to have a sexual encounter with Oscar Wilde, a convicted criminal and noted metrosexual?!?!
Comment by Rojo —
October 14, 2008 @ 3:30 am
Jeez, I made my mind up long ago not to vote for Obama (voting for McCain wasn’t even a question), but these people seem determined to get me to sympathize with that Wall Street-loving, militarist, “change” and “hope” dude.
Comment by Thers —
October 14, 2008 @ 3:34 am
What the hell is Moe Lane doing defending that post in the comments?
Being Moe Lane.
Duh.
Comment by Iron Lungfish —
October 14, 2008 @ 8:25 am
Seriously, Moe Lane has always been a right-wing creep. This is the guy who stopped writing about politics on Obsidian Wings because everyone there was getting so worked up about that Abu Ghraib stuff, when didn’t they know there’s a war on? He’s been much more comfortable at Redstate, where he’s been free to mock torture victims, make leering comments about Barney Frank’s treacherous gayness, and generally make a complete ass of himself without any P.C. scolds around to harass him.
Comment by Pug —
October 14, 2008 @ 8:46 am
And you thought there might be some sleazy depth to which they would not sink. Wrong again.
Comment by y81 —
October 14, 2008 @ 9:00 am
This is wingnutty, but it’s not more wingnutty than the theory that Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy and childbirth to cover up for her daughter. Proof? She won’t release her gynecological records!
Really, they’re all nuts. That’s why I can’t work up any passion for anyone (they’re all nuts) or against anyone (then I would be one of the nuts).
Comment by nabalzbbfr —
October 14, 2008 @ 9:26 am
The Obama storylines about his normal all-American boyhood are finally being exposed for the fairytales they really are. It is now becoming crystal clear, with the latest revelations about their family friends, that his mother and grandparents brought Obama up in an atmosphere which makes the cannibal family in Texas Chainsaw Massacre look positively tame.
No, that is not a man who sees America the way normal Americans see America! The McCain campaign should aggressively expose all of Obama’s unsavory associations and point out how far from normal Obama really is.
Comment by joe salazar —
October 14, 2008 @ 10:13 am
clerk at SEIU wrote:
What the hell is Moe Lane doing defending that post in the comments?
Moe Lane is one of the leading assholes on the Internet, and has been for years.
Comment by Iron Lungfish —
October 14, 2008 @ 10:22 am
I hear Obama is secretly black. Thank god the McCain campaign is finally bringing Obama’s unsavory blackness to light, where normal, non-black Americans can gasp in horror at it.
Comment by cdsdz —
October 14, 2008 @ 10:37 am
Obama has other sexual history than just that one. The choir director at his church was killed and many blacks in that circle think it was due to the obama sexual relationship with him. I have no idea if it is true. I have heard that people that are black have a cultural practice of not talking about this kind of situations when the person has the potential to become a leader (race over speaking the truth). I do not mean this as a slap to anyone with black skin…the comment is on the cultural tendencies.
Comment by aimai —
October 14, 2008 @ 10:48 am
Oh, I think this is several notches higher on the awfulness scale than the accusation that a prominent christianist scold would have done what prominent christianist scolds have been doing for literally centuries and covering up her families moral failings by adopting a grandchild and posing as its mother. This trope is so common that it was the plot of desperate housewives, season four. The accusation that Palin tried to hide her teenage daughter’s out of wedlock pregnancy was so absurd and improbable that it was disproven instantly by–her teenage daughter’s out of wedlock pregnancy! And the left wing accusation that Palin is not a model mother because her daughter received no sex education and was put at risk, with all other teenagers in wasilla, of unintended pregnancies and std’s was quickly disproved by the fact that she had proudly exposed her daughter to sexual risk, unintended pregnancy, and std’s because its part of her model motherhood plan.
Meanwhile, the obama accusation is, what? that he is secretely damaged goods as an adult male because he was secretly molested as a child? At least the palin accusation bore some minimal relationship to her qualifications for the VP slot which was that she was a regular, admirable, hockey mom since it proved that she was an irregular, stupid, ignorant, bad mother of a hockey slut. But the right wing’s approach to the question of character, as evinced in the obama-was-molested smear simply resolves itself into this: if we put obama’s name in the same sentence with very scary words like “black” “muslim” “pervert” and “child molester” we produce a feeling of disgust that will turn off some voters. Its actually the moral and intellectual equivalent of flashing pictures of Obama on the screen intercut with dead horses and piles of excrement. It has literally no other logical function. *At least* the Palin smear, and to an extent the ayres or wright smears, were meant to go to critical issues like “judgement” or “aquaintances”. This latest “scoop” is much, much lower on the evolutionary scale than anything we’ve seen before.
aimai
Comment by Eric Martin —
October 14, 2008 @ 11:24 am
The choir director at his church was killed and many blacks in that circle think it was due to the obama sexual relationship with him.
“Sexual relationship”?
They have a word for it.
Comment by Pug —
October 14, 2008 @ 11:30 am
…his mother and grandparents brought Obama up in an atmosphere which makes the cannibal family in Texas Chainsaw Massacre look positively tame.
Your days are almost done, wingnut. Using Sarah Palin quotes reveals a very unattractive desperation.
Comment by Matt Weiner —
October 14, 2008 @ 11:35 am
This is wingnutty, but it’s not more wingnutty than the theory that Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy and childbirth to cover up for her daughter. Proof? She won’t release her gynecological records!
No, see, that one is the equivalent to the Obama birth certificate nonsense. Those are conspiracy theories in which people argue for far-fetched theories about the facts, but that’s pretty much all that’s wrong with them.
The problem with what Erickson said is that, even in the unlikely event that he has all the facts right, what he says about those alleged facts is utterly appalling. It’s like saying that for five years McCain participated in an anti-American prison system in which prisoners were tortured, and that he’s proud of it.
See also the comments from the scum on this thread. (”nabalzbbfr” in particular has a long record as one of the most disgusting piles of excrement ever to foul the internet.)
Comment by ChrisS —
October 14, 2008 @ 11:41 am
Additionally, with the Palin faked pregnancy story, there was her questionable decision to fly 12 hours or so back to Alaska after her water broke and then up Route 1 to the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. I’ve been up that road to Wasilla, it’s usually (seasonally dependent) crowded with RVs, and if there’s a moose/vehicle collision, it’s bumper-to-bumper traffic. That she would do that is quite weird and just begs for conspiracy theories. My friend’s wife merely had early contractions in Dallas and thought that her water would break and faced with the possibility of her water breaking she went to the local Dallas hospital instead of flying back to PA.
That Redstate smear is downright ridiculous.
Comment by OneMadClown —
October 14, 2008 @ 11:43 am
Even on the most intelligently written blogs, it takes about 5 minutes for gibbering mouthbreathers to waddle in and paint the walls in shit. Sigh.
Comment by Uncle Kvetch —
October 14, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
I’m with aimai here–there’s really no comparison with any of the mud that’s been thrown at either side to date. We’re talking about a whole ‘nother level here.
These people are truly fucking sick. What else is there to say?
Comment by Matt V —
October 14, 2008 @ 4:10 pm
All I get out of this story is that it looks like Frank Davis was a Republican – along the lines of Mark Foley, Larry Craig, Ted Haggard, Bob Allen, Glen Murphy Jr., and Donald Fleischman, and the list goes on…
Comment by SFAW —
October 14, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
The Obama storylines about his normal all-American boyhood are finally being exposed for the fairytales they really are. It is now becoming crystal clear, with the latest revelations about their family friends, that his mother and grandparents brought Obama up in an atmosphere which makes the cannibal family in Texas Chainsaw Massacre look positively tame.
No, that is not a man who sees America the way normal Americans see America! The McCain campaign should aggressively expose all of Obama’s unsavory associations and point out how far from normal Obama really is.
I agree with NoBallsBu’f'r: they MSM is ignoring the fact that Obama has been consorting with an alleged traitor (known to some as “JM” or “JSM3″) – someone who “gave aid and comfort to the enemy” while he was a POW. Although his family (father and grandfather were Admirals) and friends (including a former Air National Guard pilot whose inaction – some would call it “looking the other way” or “coddling terrorists” – led to the 9/11 disaster) claim that he served honorably, they conveniently overlook the taped “confession” this ex-POW made while in the Hanoi Hilton.
In addition to working with this alleged traitor on one or more Senate bills, Obama has been brazen enough to appear AT LEAST TWICE!! on the same stage with this person – on Prime Time TV!!1!1!
If the MSM were not in the tank for Obama, they would investigate “JM” and the allegedly treasonous act(s) he performed while a “prisoner”.
I only hope that Erick Erickson at Red State has the energy to investigate this, so that the American people do not suffer.
Comment by QrazyQat —
October 14, 2008 @ 4:20 pm
This is wingnutty, but it’s not more wingnutty than the theory that Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy and childbirth to cover up for her daughter. Proof? She won’t release her gynecological records!
Well, that rumor was started by the GOp in Alaska, so I guess it does qualify as wingnut. Course it is odd that the hospital, which has online records of all births, doesn’t have a record of the child’s birth there. Odd that her pregnancy didn’t show like she did in her previous births, to the extenet that no one around her knew she was pregnant even at 7 months. Odd.
Now I wouldn’t insist she turn over her birth records, but she is the one, after all, who insisted her political opponent make public his marriage certificate to coutner her accusation that he wasn’t married to his wife. And then when he did said it was faked. Some might say that what’s good for the goose…
Comment by Nell —
October 14, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
That she would do that is quite weird
I thought it was weird until I learned more about Todd Palin and his enthusiasm for the Alaska Independence Party. Seems it’s pretty important to him that his children be born in Alaska, at least as important as the health or convenience of his wife.
True, some women would have begged off the speaking appearance in the first place. But then, those kinds of women would also probably say no to becoming a candidate for vice president if they had Palin’s limited experience and qualifications.
Comment by Tom Hilton —
October 14, 2008 @ 4:36 pm
He’s not just completely despicable; he’s also totally gutless. What a surprise.
Comment by Von Rex —
October 14, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
cdsdz, you need to have a “sexual relationship” with a chainsaw.
Comment by Jesurgislac —
October 14, 2008 @ 5:26 pm
Four and a half years ago, Moe Lane summarised his differences with the Catholic Church and finished:
I read the thread, and Moe’s response to it. Moe’s turned into a horror in the past four years.
Comment by lemuel pitkin —
October 14, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
So 9 is serious? I’d pegged it as satiric fake-troll for sure.
Comment by Prozac The Clown —
October 14, 2008 @ 5:53 pm
Thank you Mr. Henley,
for taking the low road and reading Red State–I would’ve read the Enquirer myself at the drug store, but this week I’m all stocked up on amyl nitrate and roofies so don’t need to leave the house. Considering what the Pugs will do with this story makes me feel twice as high! So you’ve saved me money, too! Thank you!
It’s beautiful, really: they won’t be able to leave the meme alone, they’ll be calling into Rush Limbaugh, grabbing Bill O’Reilly off the bar he’s slumped over, shaking him awake and saying, “Bill! Obama’s gay, we have the proof! It’s the PROOF, Bill!”
Which is great, because when they bring this turd out of the gutter and smear it over the airwaves, people will be all like, “What the fuck are you fucking fucks fucking?” Hopefully the allegation is true, because when things are true, our first instinct is to kill the ones who tell.
Comment by y81 —
October 14, 2008 @ 6:03 pm
Glad to see the wingnuts come out and insist that (i) there is something funny about Sarah Palin’s pregnancy (Proof? She won’t release her gynecological records!) and (ii) anyway, she mismanaged her pregnancy, it being part of each of our jobs to ensure that the women of America manage their pregnancies in a manner we approve.
I want Henley to release his wife’s gynecological records. I don’t know if I can trust the man without knowing the details of his family’s pregnancies.
Comment by Matt Weiner —
October 14, 2008 @ 6:07 pm
So 9 is serious? I’d pegged it as satiric fake-troll for sure.
Well, someone using that string of letters posts a lot of repulsive stuff at various places — there’s a theory that it’s not serious but honestly it’s almost as repulsive to say it as a joke. Here’s one of the more disgusting comments.
Comment by Idi Amin's Last Meal —
October 14, 2008 @ 10:17 pm
So, is this Choir Director’s death going to be more Mena, Ark., air-strip for Cocaine Air, or Hillary shot Vincent Foster?
Also, assuming this was a violent death, of an Afro-American, in a major city — had to be a lover’s quarrel. Yup. Uh-huh. Exactly.
I think the RedState peoples have been watching too many Tyler Perry movies (aside: TP, almost as gay as Lindsay Graham).
Comment by Arthur Freyen —
October 14, 2008 @ 10:32 pm
cdsdz, that’s hilarious.
it’s so kooky, it’s like out of a 70s urban myth.
this is why america is turning away from the wingnuts – they’re spouting 30 year old racial hatred and ignorance and they can’t even be bothered to acquaint themselves with reality any more. and not everybody is willing to look like a total jackass just to keep up the illusion that their claims make any damn sense.
Comment by Bob Weber —
October 15, 2008 @ 12:45 am
Wow, that’s really kinky! Because if you believe other wingnuts, Frank Davis is actually Obama’s father ! Add incest to the list!
Comment by W Action —
October 15, 2008 @ 1:30 am
Take a deep breath and go make some Obama voter I’D calls. I teach at an urban high school. There is nothing Red Staters, Freepers an assorted knuckle draggers can say that Obama hasn’t heard before. He went to school in Hawaii, where a black man rates not only below white, but also below Native, Japanese and other Asians. If a Hawaiian tells you s/he’s not prejudiced they’re lying. So Obama’s got his emotions under control, he’s been dozened to death and he expects you to be mature enough to also ignore this completely predictable sh** by the losing campaign. It’s their death rattle.
Comment by W Action —
October 15, 2008 @ 1:39 am
Oh yeah, before I forget… PUMAs? If the nominee were Hillary, your new BFFs would be lezzing her big time with only three weeks to go. Wise up.
Comment by Lynn Gazis-Sax —
October 15, 2008 @ 3:00 am
I don’t see why, since it’s Andrew Sullivan who’s making the silly demand. On the other hand, I suppose asking for Sullivan’s wife’s gynecological records wouldn’t be terribly useful.
And on yet a third hand, I think Matt Weiner has it right, in comment 16, about which farfetched Obama conspiracy theory the one about the faked pregnancy most resembles.
Comment by Lynn Gazis-Sax —
October 15, 2008 @ 9:39 am
Oh, and on the whole Enquirer story. On the one hand, I disbelieve, of course. The Enquirer may get its occasional mark (e.g. the Edwards affair), but it also routinely has headlines that prove way more dramatic than the evidence in the story and stories where the main or only evidence is people willing to anonymously say bad things about some celebrity.
On the other hand, at this point? The Enquirer is head and shoulders over the National Review, in its credibility as a source on Obama. At least, when the Enquirer has stories based on flimsy evidence, they tell you in the body of the article that what they have are people making claims for which they’re not willing to go on the record. While the Corner, these days, trumpets every crank theory as if it were firmly proven truth. And the Enquirer’s pretty much in the business of rounding up seamy rumors against everyone (they spent weeks printing rumors about Sarah Palin, and for all I know may be doing so still), while the National Review is now in the business of applying to Obama a McCarthyist standard that its own favored candidates would never stand up to.