GOP: NASCAR is contagious, but its fans are not
WASHINGTON ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ Being around NASCAR fans requires no inoculation. That was the word Thursday from Republican officials after they learned that a congressional committee’s Democratic staffers had advised aides to get vaccinated for hepatitis and other diseases before visiting NASCAR events in Concord, N.C., and Talladega, Ala. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said his committee aides were visiting health-care centers, detention facilities and other operations where they could be exposed to communicable diseases. He said the immunizations were routine for health-care workers…. “Democrats should know that there is no preventive measure yet designed to ward off the blue-collar values and patriotism that NASCAR fans represent,” said Linda Daves, the chairwoman of the North Carolina Republican Party. “If they aren’t careful, they just might catch some of it.”
I suppose this could, and probably should, be filed under “much ado about nothing”. Yep, there’s nothing like taking a little bit of information and then proceeding to twist it into something unrecognizable yet highly entertaining and long in propaganda value. Hey, the truth is all well and good, but it’s never won anyone any votes, has it? All one needs to do is to check out the current occupant of the Oval Office to confirm the truth of this theory. Yep, apparently nothing succeeds like excess- appealing to fear, ignorance, and the electorate’s baser instincts. The reality is that it’s much easier to react than it is to actually think about where we are and what’s happening. When we react, we allow someone else to frame the argument and propagandize as needed. The truth becomes what those in power need it to be. Thanks to Rep. Hayes for once again demonstrating that he’s certainly not above manipulating the truth for his own political benefit.
The brouhaha began when the House Committee on Homeland Security decided to study public health preparedness at mass gatherings. They advised aides to get immunized for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus and influenza before going to the UAW-Ford 500 in Talladega last weekend and the Bank of America 500 this weekend northeast of Charlotte, N.C.
The committee is examining whether the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is coordinating with state, local and private law-enforcement and health-care responders to prepare for possible mass emergencies.
Rep. Robin Hayes, the North Carolina Republican whose district includes the Lowe’s Motor Speedway, complained in a letter to the committee’s chairman about staff members feeling the need to get vaccinated before visiting his hometown.
Hayes and Thompson exchanged words in a CNN interview. Thompson told Hayes he “ought to be ashamed” of himself for using an effort to protect workers for a “few minutes of fame.”
Actually, this sounds like a failed audition for one of Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck if…” riffs. Hayes knows damn well that Thompson was in no way trying to demean NASCAR fans, Southerners, or anyone else. Politics being what it is, though, Hayes recognized a pitch over the fat part of the plate when he saw it. There was nothing overtly or implicit offensive about Thompson’s words, but it’s not what Thompson meant or was trying to do that’s important. No, the important thing is what a Republican completely devoid of decency and dignity can twist Thompson’s intent and words into.
The reality is that most people will believe what they’re told, so the majority of people who listened to Hayes probably came away thinking that Thompson’s a hateful, mean-spirited, bigoted SOB. Never mind that the truth of the matter is completely different. Indeed…the truth is what you make it.
