Achilles’ heel
More at Wordnik from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition.
It all started with this comment on a post on Facebook, in response to this article about Al Franken:
Medium.com: A Survivor’s Defense of Al Franken
I said:
“Speaking as a survivor of multiple assaults (including date rape, workplace assault, and one where the guy subsequently tried to make me his mistress), I have to agree with the author of this piece. When we hold Roy Moore and Trump to the same impossible standard the GOP used on Bill Clinton, I’ll pay attention to this level of whataboutism.
This is a seriously dangerous precedent and you should be mad as hell that the GOP are abusing your vulnerability as a survivor.
This isn’t remotely the same. Not even a little bit.
Personally, I can’t WAIT for the investigation.”
One responder tried to make it all about them. I called bullshit.
This is what we face in November:
House & Senate Composition/Predictions and Historical Data
I want you to take a good long look at the seats up in 2018 and what’s likely to happen, come 11/6.
And then I want you to go read The Crucible. Like, now. It’s going to be important in a few paragraphs.
Oh, you remember reading it in high school? That’s swell. Have a look at the summary, right here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crucible
Maybe you haven’t said Franken should go for what he allegedly did, but it is absolutely impossible to separate the man from the office.
So how did that conversation go? I bet you can guess.
“You people are always calling for each others’ heads over this or that.”
“You people…” And that would be?
“Democrats and Republicans.”
Jews and Christians?
“What? You don’t know a thing about being an American Marxist….” [thinly veiled antisemitic remarks about white Jews and entitlement deleted because it’s only barely relevant, except there are plenty of Republicans who are also Jewish. I mean, look at the White House! I mean, there’s Ivanka and…“]
An aside, because if you’re paying attention, you already know I’m Jewish. Ironically, the name Marx may even run in the family, though you have to go fairly far back in our family’s history to find the German connection.
Here’s another thing. Not all Jews are Zionists. Tarring us all with the same brush is how six million of us died in the last World War, all across Europe. So going toe to toe with an avowed “Marxist” is eye-opening.
Breathtaking. Simply amazing.
But I digress.
To continue:
You are not understanding what I mean when I talk about The Crucible. I’d call that willful ignorance.
“Who’s talking about The Crucible?” Are you trying to tell me this is McCarthyism?
I am.
You’re damn right, this is McCarthyism, You do know the vast majority of blacklisted authors and artists were of Jewish descent. If you can’t see that because while you’re busy hollering about Al Franken (who, by the way, is ALSO Jewish), you’re too blind to see.
I’m no snowflake. I’ve been studying the conservative takeover for the last 16 years, and I know precisely where this is headed. You’re a fool if you don’t see it, too.
If you think that the Right haven’t suddenly figured out the democratic Achilles Heel in our political structure, you deserve every fascist repercussion that’s coming in the next 11 months. If you think it’s awful now, just hand on to your tight twisted britches.
Roy Moore, an admitted pedophile, will take his place in the Senate alongside Trump, this December, and a solid sixty-seat majority awaits the rest of the senate in a little over 11 months.
That’s not mythology. It’s fact, based on voter obstruction, lying, and bullshit like this so-called liberal who believes this isn’t somehow about politics.
[Every one of the flipped seats is in a state that went for Obama in 2012 and for Trump last year. The naïveté is simply breathtaking.]
“When did I ever call you a snowflake? And again, when did I ever say this was about politics? I’m not talking about the fascist takeover of the US. We can’t put the responsibility for that on the shoulders of one woman…”
No?
“I’m saying “well she’s a friend of Sean Hannity, and she’s in show business, and it wasn’t that bad anyway” is wrong. We should be saying “Wow, I wish that he hadn’t done that and there’s no excuse for it.”
Show me where I said it was okay that he did.
“You never SAID it, but you’re changing the subject to what you think is more important.”
[See? Not interested in hearing what I’m saying, because it’s all about their perspective. And still not getting my point, because of willful ignorance.]
I am saying that this is EXACTLY what Hannity is doing. It’s Roger Stone’s wet dream to find a way to dislodge Democrats before the next election, so they can rig even more seats in favor of the GOP. And with this bullshit, they’re going to figure out how to make it happen.
I’m saying that’s the precisely what Hannity and company want. And they’re going to get it because people like them are ignoring the inherent danger because they’re making it about them and NOT about where we are as a country.
As you might have guessed, this is not a black and white (or Jewish and Christian) issue.
Franken apologized. Leeanne Tweeden accepted it and even said Franken shouldn’t leave office over it. That’s a damn sight more than Roy Moore did. In fact, almost none of those recently accused have admitted wrongdoing. Clarence Thomas is still on the SCOTUS bench and Trump is still in the White House, and we will pillory our own while the GOP laugh their asses off at us because they will win at ALL COSTS.
So yeah, it’s political. It’s impossible for this NOT to be political. From one survivor to another.
“Not “our own”, your own.”
No, OUR own. The difference between a fascist and an anti-fascist is…?
Let’s get this straight: The Democrats keep losing because the GOP have waged a 40-year war against liberal policies and every so-called liberal has bought their BS hook, line, and sinker.
And that’s where I dropped the mic on the post.
Gore wasn’t a weak candidate. Jeb Bush handed his brother the keys to the White House and a conservative Supreme Court refused to stop him.
Clinton won three million MORE votes than Trump, losing by a suspiciously low number in swing states that only unhackthevote.com is investigating, because the GOP won’t give up for any reason, and so Trump sits in the Oval Office (when he isn’t playing footsie with Putin or another round of golf on his private golf courses) and the rest of the GOP destroy what’s left of our social safety network with impunity.
That’s been the goal. There is no Reichstag fire coming. It already happened, on 9/11. It’s been game over for almost a decade, but the body’s still moving even though the head’s been severed.
And frankly, it’s all irrelevant. Did anyone notice that Hannity’s no longer under threat for losing his job? Anyone at all?
I am telling you 2018 will be the last election we get. Once there are 60 seats in Republican hands, they can rewrite the Constitution and cut EVERYONE out of the process, whether we like it or not. There IS no 2020 election. Get your eyes off the prize and start paying attention to this year’s primaries. They’re going to start up in the beginning of the new year. Everything has to be about 2018.
11 months, and a couple of days. That’s all.
So you go on and hold Al Franken responsible, push for his removal from the Senate (because even if you don’t think that’s what you’re doing, it’s what will happen), and enjoy the descent into an authoritarian theocracy.
Let’s have Pottersville for everyone, and to hell with Bedford Falls.
Merry Fucking Christmas.
Peace, out.
—
PS: This JUST hit Twitter.
If you think assault can’t be weaponized, you’re not paying attention.
Washington Post: A woman approached The Post with dramatic — and false — tale about Roy Moore. She appears to be part of undercover sting operation.