February 9, 2012 7:26 AM

If you see a political agenda in Clint Eastwood's "Halftime in America", you need to dial it back

[I]t might be a while before the right stops complaining about Chrysler’s Super Bowl ad. Karl Rove seems to be leading the charge, telling Fox News he was “offended” by the commercial, adding, “This is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics.” The complaints were part of a larger “conservative outcry” in response to the spot…. For Rove and the right, there are two principal concerns here — one related to policy, the other about themes. There’s a strong case to be made that conservatives are wrong on both counts…. But the thematic issue is just as interesting. At a visceral level, we know exactly why the Chrysler commercial rankled the right — it told Americans to start feeling optimistic again. We’ve reached a very strange point in the national discourse. Nine months before the election, many Republicans have adopted the line that hope itself is now partisan, and those sounding encouraging notes should be assumed to be partisan players. Stephen Colbert made famous the adage that “reality has a well know liberal bias,” but we now have a revised maxim for 2012: Optimism has a well known liberal bias, too.

I will freely admit that I LOVED this ad. Yes, I understand that Clint Eastwood is a committed Republican (he’s voted that way in every Presidential election since 1952). That said, if you’re one of the screaming ninnies on the Right who see evidence of Obama-loving in this ad…well, I’d submit that you really need to get over yourself. You’ve spent so much time infected with Obama Derangement Syndrome and wallowing in negativity that you’ve become a long-running episode composed of little but self-parody.

Eastwood was right to offer his lovely tribute to American resilience. “It seems that we’ve lost our heart at times,” Eastwood said. “The fog of division, discord and blame made it hard to see what lies ahead. But after those trials, we all rallied around what was right and acted as one. Because that’s what we do. We find a way through tough times, and if we can’t find a way, then we’ll make one.”

This is a partisan message only if one party embraces the role of advocating “division, discord and blame.” And, bless him, that’s exactly what Karl Rove chose to do. He grumbled on Fox News that the ad was “a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the president of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising and the best wishes of the management, which has benefited by getting a bunch of our money that they’ll never pay back.”

Since when is the expression of faith in America to be taken as partisan posturing? How is putting forth the message that America is strong, resourceful, and resilient an example of Eastwood starring in an Obama campaign ad in any shape, manner or form?

Evidently, expressing optimism and faith in one’s homeland is indisputable evidence of undeniable Liberal bias. REAL American patriots see the glass as half-empty.

Let’s be clear about what should be blindingly obvious to everyone- even Conservatives. Chrysler, in selling optimism about America, is not pushing a political agenda. THEY’RE TRYING TO SELL CARS.

Period.

End of story.

If the ad happens to inspire Americans to rise up, so much the better- but Chrysler’s a car company trying to sell their cars. If you see a political motive in that, I’d submit that you really need to turn off Fox News Channel and spend more quality time with your family.

It seems that Conservatives have become so hyper-sensitive that anything which doesn’t slavishly support their narrow agenda is automatically suspect and quite likely anti-American. Yes, it’s true; they’d attack baseball, motherhood, and apple pie if they felt it would help Conservative candidates poll better.

The idea that Karl Rove could have a rational, non-partisan opinion about virtually anything is, of course, absurd. The man would spin a ham sandwich if thought he could manage to score a few cheap political points. It’s silly, it’s stupid, it’s mean-spirited…and that’s what Rove does. He makes the late Lee Atwater lock like a frickin’ saint…and Atwater was the apotheosis and definition of evil, Machiavellian machinations disguised as politics. Rove has nothing positive to offer America, His politics is a zero-sum game. You win by destroying your opponent. Building is not in Rove’s vocabulary, because his methods are all about destruction. No wonder he sees Eastwood’s ad as an endorsement of Obama; anything that doesn’t expressly endorse the Conservative cause is de facto treason.

For Rove and his allies, Chrysler wants Americans to feel good about the future because it represents a form of political payback. That’s nonsense — Chrysler wants consumers to feel optimistic so they’ll buy cars.

The complaints themselves are telling. The right is so invested in its message — America is in decline, our best days are over, abandon all hope — that the very idea of optimism is quite literally offensive.

“This country can’t be knocked out with one punch. We get right back up again and when we do the world is going to hear the roar of our engines.” What does it say about the Republican message of 2012 when they hear this, shriek, and reach for the panic button?

The sad reality is that the GOP HAS no message, no plans, and no ideas. What they do have is an overabundance of anger and vitriol, in addition to a lack of integrity and simple human decency. Republicans had eight years of Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © that they could have used to prove the superiority of Conservatives ideas…and that they could govern. They failed spectacularly on both counts. NOW Rove and his fellow travelers would have us believe that they’re best equipped to lead us back to the light? Really?

They may be best equipped to define optimism and positivity as an evil Liberal plot to separate Americans from their freedoms. Beyond that, though, they’re empty shells, devoid of vision, ideas, or clues. If their idea of highlighting the superiority of Conservative ideas is to impugn one of their own, Clint Eastwood, and Chrysler for voicing optimism and positive sentiments about our future, Rove and his fellow ninnies deserve to be tossed on the scrap heap of history.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on February 9, 2012 7:26 AM.

Better to be thought despicable than to be...oh, never mind.... was the previous entry in this blog.

Mitt Romney 2012: Because sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words is the next entry in this blog.

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