Deathers

May 3rd, 2011

Inevitably, we now have “Deathers,” who believe that bin Laden was not killed yesterday. Some believe he was killed a while ago but was kept on ice until now. That makes no sense because (a) if Bush had him, he would have used him, and (b) if Obama was keeping him for political profit, he would have used him at a better time and would not have dumped the body–otherwise, why keep it around?

For those who might think bin Laden is still alive, that’s even dumber. Obama would have to be fantastically idiotic to leave bin Laden in a position where all he has to do is show up on tape with a newspaper dated after May 1, claim the news of his death is fake, and Obama would become such an object of ridicule and scorn that he would never, ever, ever recover.

No, neither theory makes the least bit of sense. Bin Laden is dead.

Which is why I expect future polls to say that at least 40% of Republicans don’t believe it.

  1. z
    May 3rd, 2011 at 15:09 | #1

    Osama is alive. According to Fox News «Obama bin Laden is Dead»:

    http://planetsave.com/2011/05/02/obama-bin-laden-is-dead-fox-news-is-a-horrible-disgrace-to-the-american-people/

    Is this a photoshop or really true ? If so, a new low for Fox.

  2. z
  3. Luis
    May 3rd, 2011 at 16:17 | #3

    The Fox title is genuine. They’re trying to pass it off as a typo. The thing is, those typos are (a) surprisingly numerous, happening on a regular basis, calling into question the network’s and their affiliates’ editorial acumen, if true; and (b) are, by sheer coincidence apparently almost always in error in a way that slaps Democrats. For example, when a Republican politician is caught in a dreadful scandal, his “R” designation is “accidentally” shown as a “D”–but never the other way around. Obama is always transposed with Obama, but “Boehner” is never spelled as “Bohner” or other variation which would be insulting to him.

    This is not to say that Fox never has actual typos. As they went to lengths to point out, other networks made similar flubs. And sometimes, Fox title slips (like the “Shibuya Eggman” nuclear reactor, or Iraq being identified as “Egypt” on a Fox map) are clearly a result of people in the networks being careless idiots. It’s just that Fox’s “typos” are so regular, and so consistently anti-liberal, that they have lost the privilege of having the benefit of the doubt, especially when the “typo” says something bad or insulting about liberals or moderates. However, it’s not such a great thing for them to have to say, “we’re not petty, we’re just stupid.”

    As for the anchor who said “President Obama is dead,” I believe that was indeed an accident–look at his co-anchor’s expression as he says it–but nonetheless may have also been a slip more Freudian than anything else.

  4. Troy
    May 4th, 2011 at 04:01 | #4

    the right is just turning into a cottage industry of bullshit.

    pick a subject, any subject, and you will find some conservative bullshitter stirring the shit.

    I think this is partially an affectation — performance art — to just deny meaningful debate by removing any commonality of reference to the rules of logic, practice of science, or accurate understanding of history, and to move the debate so far into dadaism that the serious stuff we need to address is submerged by all the bullshit.

    The internet is just serving as a multiplier of this bullshit. cf how email chains can just roll through.

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