Richard Spencer

A Debate About Nothing

Posted by Richard Spencer on September 27, 2008

Jim, let me just make a point. I’ve got a bracelet, too…
~Barack Obama

This statement, better than anything else said, sums up Barack Obama’s performance at the presidential debate last night. Coming in a close second would be this exchange on the Georgia-Russia situation (or was it the Wall Street bailouts?):

LEHRER: You see any—do you have a major difference with what [McCain] just said?

OBAMA: No, actually, I think Senator McCain and I agree for the most part on these issues.

The bracelet comment was more poignant in that it reveals who Barack Obama could have been—and most definitely is not—as a presidential candidate.

I can’t say for sure, but I imagine the soldier’s mom who gave Obama the plastic bracelet imagines he’s something close to George McGovern or Ron Paul, or maybe even a real peacenik or antiwar Leftist. What she wants is a candidate to exclaim, boldly and genuinely, “Come Home, America!” And truly, Obama would be a fascinating candidate if he actually were any variation on the antiwar populist. Instead, he’s become an off-the-rack Democrat who’s brought an assortment of liberal interventionists, most notably Madeleine Albright, Susan Rice, and Joe Biden, on as advisers. The soldier’s mother, as well as all those who’re supporting Obama specifically because they want to end the war, still don’t grasp the fact that though Obama would get us out of Iraq a little bit sooner than would McCain, his plans is to redeploy these soldiers to Afghanistan and retain current troop levels in the region. The idea that Obama would want to shrink America’s worldwide military commitments is ludicrous--the opposite is true. 

Because Obama has gone this direction, all he was capable of last night was some me-too-ism (most notably with Georgia and the bailouts), a few “I told you so”s with regard to invading Iraq (which make him seem like he’s stuck in the past, re-fighting all those battles from 2003), and then, worst of all, some aping of GOP war-hawk rhetoric in a new context. Obama was essentially arguing that his opponent “took his eye off the ball” in Afghanistan and missed the real central front on the war on terror. Obama wanted us to believe that he would be best suited to enact a new surge in the land of the Afghans and expand a war there that is looking like it’s even more unwinnable than Iraq.

This is a losing rhetorical strategy (or is it a tactic?). And I have little doubt that Obama was beaten in last night’s debate. (But I can’t say for sure--the TV pundits will make the final determination of who the public should think won or lost, and I’ve cancelled cable.)

Regardless of who will be declared victorious, Obama’s abandonment of the antiwar Left means that we all just watched the Seinfeld of political events—a debate about nothing.

I’ve had my disagreements with Ross Douthat in the past; however, he’s right on the money with his depiction of the kind of big Zero Burger the presidential race has become: 

It’s the Russo-Georgian War all over again: McCain responds boldly/impulsively, Obama responds carefully/overcautiously, but they both end up saying roughly the same thing, and the pundit class goes back to obsessing about whatever shocking poll or web ad has been released that day.

Partisans on both sides claim that we’re staring into the abyss: If you listen to some conservatives, you’d think that John McCain and Sarah Palin are all that stands between turning over U.S. foreign policy to William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright; if you listen to some Obamaphiles, you’d think that a vote for McCain is a vote for fascism, or theocracy, or the Putinization of America. But if you watch the candidates themselves, and listen to them, the stakes seem much, much lower.

Whether Obama wins or loses he will be remembered as a what might have been. 


Comments

I have an even more embarassing belief that obama is actually more libertarian but is canny enough to hide it.

i thought Obama’s “bracelet” retort was to say, “McCain, you act as if you’re the only person that cares about the troops because you send them in harms way...I’ve got a bracelet too, and I don’t intend to do so as callously as you have”.

It wasn’t him saying, “me too”, it was him saying, “fvck you!”

Posted by j.d. on Sep 27, 2008.

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I can’t tell. Is Old Atlantic joking? How, prey tell, could Iran “destroy” America even if it wanted to?

Senator Obama is nothing more than an evangelizing voice of liberalism; a pencil-pushing desk jockey pretending to be a warrior but has no idea what that means.  He is the voice for the feminists, the abortionists, the sodomites, and the globalists.  He is a card-carrying yuppie whose only principle is opportunism.  How in the hell is he now a candidate for the presidency?  Mr. Buchanan in his recent article on America’s rendezvous with destiny has it all wrong: we, the American people sitting in front of our TV’s and our season-ticket seats and stuffing our stomachs with crap from MacDonald’s and of tolerating the intolerable education system, and pampering our children into little spoiled yuppies or barbarians have deserved the political situation we now face.  We have not been responsible citizens: we are too busy self-indulging and so, it is the Barack Obamas and the John McCains we now have to choose from.  Almighty God, when do we wake up out of this soporific nightmare?

“I have an even more embarassing belief that obama is actually more libertarian but is canny enough to hide it.”

If I believed something as absurd as that, I’d be embarrassed, too.

Both of these knuckleheads believe it our duty to project military muscle around the world, and in particular, the Middle East.

Both of these knuckleheads are crusaders, believing we can create a 50-60’s style government on the current tax structure.

Neither of these knuckleheads have a simple clue about how the President they are so earnestly trying to replace is leaving them a Treasury stocked with I.O.U.’s. wrapped in cobwebs. Both deserve to win it.

The $700 Billion Bailout Crisis is, in no small measure aimed at securing the interests of the Foreign Investors who, if frightened, could precipitate something quite like a Weimar Bake Sale for the American Citizen. Accordingly, the American Citizen, at this moment, if they were so inclined, could grab the Establishment by the short hairs and make them listen. However, the average citizen stubbornly refuses to either understand or seek an understanding that their government is a hostile power and, in fact, sociopathic and clinically insane. The government, at best, thinks of itself as a benevolent force, doing the best it can or , at worst, provides a venue for easy money where haste and waste are fine.

We’d have better luck if we were fighting real fascists instead of fascists flying the flag of liberty and democracy.

Obama is about as Libertarian as Pol Pot. He makes the common mistake of believing the current government and system is the same one that allowed him to advance as he has. It isn’t. He and his glib pal Joseph Biden will try and run a Tammany Hall Operation on a Modesto Budget. One could be wrong for feeling another Adlai Stevenson moment in the offing , but i doubt it and more importantly, there aint no Ike as an opponent.

McCain , for his part, thinks he’s Rooster Cogburn and will happily go out with both guns blazing while his Secretary of State Lieberman loads ammunition so as to insure this suicide is bipartisan. His Vice President will then take over and we shall then enjoy a veritable orgy of the kind of legendary stupidity that 50 years of Fast Food, Television and Public Education has made possible.
Personally, I hope she presides over the demolition derby in a Leather Bustier and Stiletto Heels. The bullwhip feels better if there is a little prurient sentiment behind it.

It would be well to remind ourselveves of the significance of those who would “advise” our prospective president.

In McCain’s case it is hard core neocons and in Obama’s soft core neocons.  Ergo, the only difference is how soon the bombs will begin to fall.  Both candidates campaign slogan should be; “An Echo, Not a Choice”.

Posted by dbriz on Sep 27, 2008.

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“He is the voice for the feminists, the abortionists, the sodomites, and the globalists.  He is a card-carrying yuppie whose only principle is opportunism”

he’s a democrat.  if that is what they want it’s their prerogative to vote for him.  it is and they will

A sage no less sagacious than William Kristol earlier today condemned as pointless McCain’s comic-opera buffoonery earlier this week - “suspending” his campaign and the debate to squeeze into tights and cape, tubbily flying to “rescue” the Republic from a disaster he helped stew up.

If a “Republican” that embedded in the current, corrupt machinery was left cold by McCain’s chaotic dumb show, we can be sure it fell flat elsewhere.

In the debate itself, McCain’s only substantive statement was that he would freeze spending. Obama deftly countered that’s taking a hachet to a job requiring a scalpel. Other than that he all but married himself to Iraq, promising little more than four more years of the same bloodletting. He was passionate, passionate, passionate about the Russia/Georgia dustup - a doubtful cause that leaves most Americans cold - and Iran getting the bomb. Obama said he would talk. McCain promised more tough-guy posturing to a nation sick of this crap.

So who really won?

“The soldier’s mother, as well as all those who’re supporting Obama specifically because they want to end the war, still don’t grasp the fact that though Obama would get us out of Iraq a little bit sooner than would McCain, his plans is to redeploy these soldiers to Afghanistan and retain current troop levels in the region.”

Nor do you, Richard, nor hardly any others, grasp the fact that Obama WILL NOT get the US out of Iraq any sooner than McCain.

Notice any time that he broaches the subject he talks about reducing the number of “combat” troops.

The large number that stay - for a very long time will do so well ensconced in fortified super-bases with ready access to pizza hut and good ol’ yankee culture - ie. porn.

Posted by paddy on Sep 27, 2008.

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I liked what mcCain said about spending but he didn’t seem to really mean it.  it was just rhetoric.  He should emphazise it more and obama should emphasize paying down the debt or balancing the budget or whatever democrats are allegedly good for.

Meanwhile, Obama get’s farther and farther ahead in the polls. The GOP’s voting base (whitey) gets smaller and smaller so stay tuned for a long (and perhaps permanent)period of Democratic rule.

Don’t misunderstand me—this is no great loss. The Republicans never did anything for whites or conservatives except steal thier votes with empty promises.

But it is bracing to think that even if Obama is as inept as Jimmy Carter (a very likely scenario) we will not be able to get rid of his high-tax, high-spend, black racist administration.

Bernie, Blacks won’t be the one electing Obama.  Whites still hold the keys to the Presidency.  Blacks are only something like 13% of the American population, and an even smaller percentage of states that matter in Presidential elections (Ohio is something like 7% Black, I believe).

Patrick:

I understand that blacks are a relatively small percentage of the electorate. However, the fact that they will vote almost 100% for Obama is no small matter.

Hispanics and Asians vote nearly 2-to-1 Dem and they are a rapidly growing part of the electorate.

Only whites vote majority GOP. Bush won very close elections with 55% and 57% of the white vote respectively in 2000 and 2004.

Given that black turnout will be even higher and more solidly Democrat this year, and the fact that changing demographics are working their magic, McCain will need about 60% of the white vote this year.

I doubt he will get this percentage and—what’s more—I doubt the GOP will get the 62% or 63% of the paleface vote they will need in 2012. After that, we are talking about Republicans needing 67% of the white vote.

Barring extraordinary circumstance (like Schwarzenegger running for governor in California) this means the GOP goose is all but cooked in presidential politics.

Again, no great loss but only Peter Brimelow ever really addressed this issue in any detail (in a 1997 NR cover story).

To add to my previous post, there are groups of whites such as gays, yuppies, feminists, affluent liberals, Jews (I am one so I am not saying this in a derogatory way), college students ...etc who are not going to even consider voting for the GOP.

So, while the right candidate and right circumstances can possibly push the Republican share of the white vote to 63% or so (I think Reagan reached this percentage in 1984) there are always going to be at least 35% of whites who will never vote for the Stupid Party.

We are at the tipping point of a very interesting time in presidential politics. For all my life the GOP has had the edge in presidential politics. Now the demographics have changed and the Dems will run the show with increasingly less of a right flank to protect.

McCain came across as an aggressive feisty, arrogant old man which is how America is perceived now by other nations and Obama’s style was more presidential, mature,conciliatory which is how America should be to get back to winning ways.

Bernie, you missed the subtlety of my point: the Presidential election is state-by-state, not national.  If Obama is elected, it will be by the Whites of Colorado, New Hampshire, etc.

I hear what you are saying Patrick. But even in states like New Hampshire the demographic changes are having an effect. If whites there go 52-48% for McCain the state could still go for Obama due to the small, but growing, minority vote.

Colorado, Virginia, New Mexico and Nevada used to be easy red states. Now, because of immigration, they are tending blue.

Heck, even Georgia and North Carolina are within reach for Obama (but they will still likely go Republican—this time).

Arizona would be as well but that is the McCainiac’s home state.

Much as I agree with most people on this site that Obama is (at least) questionable in terms of affiliations and qualifications, inasmuch as I am not looking forward to the end of the world (i.e. nuke war w./ Russia), I will vote for Obama because he is less belligerent than the neocon-coached Mccain-Palin ticket.

Barry’s gonna win.  Get over it.

Posted by derek on Sep 27, 2008.

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While Congressman Paul was still in the race, he would have gottem ny vote—because I perceived him as the magnet/collecting-point for None of the Above votes. Who, now, is the magnet for such votes such votes? Both McCain and Obama are unacceptable representatives of the degree to which their parties are played out at the national level.

I am afraid that Sertorius is right regarding the candidates and the majority of the American people.

The only thing that will save us is if we repent of our personal and collective sins and we then (with God’s help) re-establish the balance of power between the branches of government and between the Federal government and the states.  Once the balance is restored; we will be a true republic, not an a global empire.

If the above doesn’t happen; there will be a long decline, punctuated with periods of crisis.

Dear captainchaos, we should be glad that there are intelligent and decent Jews on our side like L. Auster, Paul Gottfried and others and, here specifically, commenter Bernie, and we shouldn’t pester them with tactless questions
herman the German

@ James,

Yes.  In general, I agree with you and this election is getting to look like more and more of a fraud with each passing day.  I’m beginning to think it isn’t even worth voting.

We will expand with socialism and militarism as long as there is money to do so. It is in our nature to do so. The socialists and neocons merely are that voice. America will stop expansion once the money runs out. The old right, America first types are such a small group that they are inconsequential. All we can do is watch the process unfold.

@ James

With every word you speak you further illustrate that the present-day America and world for that matter are run by frightening madmen.  I think LaRouche’s plan would work but that is contingent upon our psychopathic leadership giving up their World War III (or is it IV?) mentality.  The possibility of that happening seems fairly remote - but if it doesn’t happen we’re done.  BTW, I have known about Al Gore’s vileness for years.  Industrial growth is the one thing that might save us yet its almost a given that it will be stunted.

“Don’t misunderstand me—this is no great loss. The Republicans never did anything for whites or conservatives except steal thier votes with empty promises.” - Bernie

Bernie hits it straight out of the park with this.  The GOP has been nothing but an empty vote getter for whites.  A faux release for white displacement.  The GOP deserves a HUGE part of the blame of where we find ourselves in and how this country’s demographics have changed.  They were never interested in racial politics or preservation, “conservation” if you will, of our heritage and that of the founding fathers.  They were interested in power and greed.  F McCain and the GOP.  Bring on Barry and his brothas to end this misery faster so we can at least form a party that has whitey’s interests at heart.

Posted by Cyd on Sep 28, 2008.

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As well, Bernie’s words are accurate, though it is quite upsetting that many of his brethren are gentile hating opportunists that helped destroy a nation that opened its arms to wave upon wave of Jews when many around the world closed their doors.  Shame on them!

Posted by Cyd on Sep 28, 2008.

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@ James

Don’t misunderstand me: you’re right on when it comes to the analysis (where do you get the info).  Our politicians are Mafioso without the honor.  This system is not salvageable in terms of providing for us, and new wars seem to loom with each passing day.  Its a feeling of dread I have that from here on out, things look to get much, much uglier.  So like I said, is there any way we can avoid WWIII?

Republicans are a divided house.

Democrats have held control in congress for most years. Where the real power is at.

Republicans have held the Presidency where there is little power.

Republicans have been climbing with more Moderate Republicans, which is a liberal or one could say an Moderate Liberal in the Democratic Party equivalent.

There is a move for constitutional government in the party that is leaving the house divided. Best if the Republicans spend less time/money on Presidency and more on the power of congress with more conservative, constitutional leaders.

Does anyone even bother to monitor this website anymore?  Whoever is supposed to be doing that is either taking the weekend off, or is just plain incompetent, because “captainchaos” should be blocked from posting to this website.  Permanently.  His drivel only takes the tenor of the conversation (such as it was . . .) down to his own level.

@ Sartorius,

“He is the voice for the feminists, the abortionists, the sodomites, and the globalists. “
These could also describe his Opponent, McCain.

Oh yes, one mustn’t voice any topics that are viewed in “polite society” as too low brow and odious.  Leave that for the goose steppers, as these high brows are known to chirp on about.  Suppression of speech and thought along with offering false targets for public ire is the way of the new “conservatives”. 

Unfortunately, it is this delusional frame of thought that has gotten us squarely in the predicament that we find ourselves in.  We can deal with the reality of the situation or we can pretend to not notice that 99% of blacks are voting for Obama only because he is black. We can pretend that the GOP is the “white man’s” party, though it panders to all minorities in its slow and steady move leftward to appear “cutting edge”.  We can pretend that what really matters is to beat those damn Democrats because they are so much more different than Republicans in their platforms. 

The above reasons are why this is most likely the last legitimate attempt of the White House for Republicans.  Demographics are achangin’ and guess who is on the losing end despite their job well done at undercutting their white base.

Posted by Cyd on Sep 29, 2008.

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So is that what you get now for your cannon-fodder who gets killed for no reason? A plastic bracelet?

All the incites I provided, all my witticism, gone, as if they never were. (Sniffle, sniffle)

You would do well to stop hanging out with AEI types, I think, Spencer.

You would do well to stop hanging out with AEI types, I think, Spencer.

Posted by BedBug

They should change the name of AEI to EGI (the pursuit thereof).  You know, as in ethnic genetic interests, only it’s, er, not Whitey’s EGI that they are pursuing.

Capt Chaos, do you honestly believe there’s a “Jewish race”?

Where are you from?  The 19th century?

this isn’t VH1 “I love the 80s” no one cares about skinheads or white power or whatever it is you are promoting.  get your gang together and have a shootout with 50 cent and his crew then i’ll know your serious

Oh please. Basing an estimate of what Obama will be as President from the lies he says on the campaign trail is the ultimate FOLLY.

Obama was a leftwing community activist who followed and follows the Alinsky method. All his associates are hard-core leftwingers, including William Ayers and othres. His record is left-liberal a la Ted Kennedy.

Obama is a hard-core leftist, and his daily agenda will be in moving America in that direction. Aping GOP rhetoric to fool some people is a part of the scam, but a scam it is.

Posted by PJ on Oct 01, 2008.

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“I will vote for Obama because he is less belligerent than the neocon-coached Mccain-Palin ticket. “

With Obama we lose our prosperity, our values and our national security due to his fecklessness. The fact that he would meet without preconditions and cites (WRONGLY!) the disaster of JFK and Kruschev as a reason for it shows he misunderstands the world and history. A drunken sailor at the helm, and an arsonist as fire chief.

As for less belligerant, that is folly, as Obama has Clinton-holders like ALbright behind him who are more than happy to bomb other countries, so long as the connection to our national security is dubious enough to be viewed as ‘humanitarian’ and not selfish.

Also, the fact that Obama thinks the god-awful Ruth Bader Ginsberg is the best SCOTUS Justice is reason enough to disqualify him. Obama is a danger to our Constitutional rights.

Posted by PJ on Oct 01, 2008.

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“So, while the right candidate and right circumstances can possibly push the Republican share of the white vote to 63% or so (I think Reagan reached this percentage in 1984) there are always going to be at least 35% of whites who will never vote for the Stupid Party.”

Some percentage got brainwashed by academia and media. White liberals are the biggest threat to the nation’s future than any other group.

Politics is also about coalitions, and the coalition for freedom SHOULD be a majority but some of the disgruntled ones would rather lose 100% than compromise for the politically achievable portion of their goals.

“We are at the tipping point of a very interesting time in presidential politics. For all my life the GOP has had the edge in presidential politics. Now the demographics have changed and the Dems will run the show with increasingly less of a right flank to protect. “

This is a very dangerous precedent. A tipping point - yup - away from USA of our forefathers and towards becoming Canada/France etc. should the Dems win.

The job at hand is clearly to stop the most leftwing nominee in history - Barack Hussein Obama - from getting elected. Then following that push back in politics and institutions on the tide of left-liberal socialism.

Posted by PJ on Oct 01, 2008.

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“Capt Chaos, do you honestly believe there’s a “Jewish race”?” - Patrick Hall

Are Jews White?  Catch the debate here.

http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/are_jews_white/