Michael Wolraich's picture

    Lost in Boehner Land

    At last, Democrats launched their counterattack. For two years, Republicans have joyfully demonized President Obama, his wife, his daughters, his pastor, his staff, his casual acquaintances, and various socialist subversives running amok in Washington. The only Obama associate to escape withering defamation has been his dog Bo.

    With the election only weeks away, Democrats finally decided to get mad as hell. They chose to vent their belated fury on the well-groomed head of House Minority Leader John Boehner. In an ad called Boehner Land, the Democratic National Committee accused Boehner of associating with miscreants like "tobacco lobbyists" and "Wall Street." In a voiceover, an unnamed "Washington lobbyist" alleged that Boehner has "a lot of relationships in this city."

    Reading about these dark deeds, you may be wondering, "How do you pronounce Boehner?" You are not alone. According to a recent Fox News poll, 55 percent of Americans have never even heard of John Boehner. The problem with the Democrats' Boehner Land strategy, however, is not Boehner's obscurity. Glenn Beck has made a fortune transforming unkown bureaucrats into villainous masterminds, but unlike the Democrats, Beck knows how to tell scary stories. What's missing from Boehner Land is any sense of imminent danger. Blocking financial reform is not nearly as threatening as Republican warnings about euthanized grandparents, fascist dictatorships, and terrorist babies. If Democrats want to imitate Republican defamation tactics, they need more imagination. Economic collapse? World War III? Giant man-eating Republican squirrels?

    Alternatively, they could man up and quit running for cover whenever Glenn Beck yells "Socialist!"

    And for the record, it's pronounced Bay-ner.

    My book on right-wing paranoia, Blowing Smoke, will be published in October. For updates, click the I Like button on the book's fan page.

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    Comments

    o god you're right.  it's just not effective. it's so yesterday.

    at the very least, they could've warned that he'll a) privatize your social security and give your money to wall street, b) fight to end your tax cuts and keep only the ones Bush put in place for the rich and c) promote the building of mosques next to all national monuments --

    oops scratch that one.  that's for the republicans to use when they make theirs about pelosi.  


    "They could man up and quit running for cover?" I wish they could, Genghis.


    Nah, I think I'll wait for the adult film version... Seriously, 'Boehner Land'? Who do they have running their ad campaign? Beavis and Butthead?

    You said Boehner. Heeheehee


    i think boner is closer to how it would be in German, and boehner is a deutschamerikaner. 


    Boehner is probably an Americanization of Böhner. That vowel sound is somewhere between the long o and long u sound, unless you're in München, in which case you get something like the long a (those crazy Bavarians).


    But how does one develop a political tactic to counter His Holeyness Beckus a' Dickus ?


    Call him out loud and clear for what he is and what he represents--as the country once did, eventually, to Joe McCarthy. The Beck-Palin Variety Show is the most potent and pernicious political force in the country right now, but Obama and most of his fellow Democrats act publicly as if it didn't exist. Eisenhower tried the same ignore-him-and-he'll-will-go-away tactic against McCarthy. It didn't work.


    But Boehner, McConnell, Armey and the rest have been playing their McCarthy act for a few years and the Democrats have chosen to ignore them which in turn gives them the legitimacy they seek with the public. Reason being if they were so far off base Democrats would have been attacking them. So because Democrats have refrained from challenging them, they must be right. If you don't believe me, go ask a tea-bagger or birther.


    Exactly. I'm not bothered by the Democrats going after Boehner, but they way that are going after him indicates that they still don't get it.


    I think the McCarthy analogy is apt. How long did it take for him to get called out? I'd say about 4 years. How long have Beck & Palin been performing their act? Palin's only been on the scene 2 years, so maybe (optimistically, I'd say), we only have 2 more years of dealing with her. Does it depress you that we might have another 2 years of this nonsense? Would it depress you more to consider that Limbaugh has been going (more or less) strong for a couple decades now? (It depresses me.)


    Yep, it was four years. And the political climate became a fair bit more toxic by the end than it is today. So put in your art smock, it's going to get a lot muckier around here.


    They could just outright call him Herr Boehner.  Maybe put some subliminal red and black logo in the background.  Or get some skinheads to endorse him.  Or some big time CEO with a german accent.

    The Dems have just never learned how to slide a shiv in between the ribs.


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