On That Whole Nazi Plot Thing

I read Gawker daily, but not because I like it—more because I feel like I have to take it into my system despite the yucky taste. Kinda like multi-vitamins. I generally hate (yah, yah, strong word) most of the bloggers because 1) they don't do their research and 2) they're super self-important (hi, NO ONE CARES that the crappy restaurant around the corner from your place of business got shut down, Sheila).

The one writer I appreciate in those parts? Alex Pareene, who used to be the editor of Wonkette. Because he gets it and has something to say. Por ejemplo, in a post about that whole "let's kill Obama!" plot this week:

"There was a tendency in New York, among liberals used to assuming that the elections are all stolen anyway, to assume the Obama campaign was doomed before it began because of his blackness, plain and simple. There was, similarly, a dark speculation, sometimes in the form of macabre joking, sometimes serious paranoia, that Obama would not survive the campaign if he got too close to the prize. What that didn't take into consideration was that as he looked more and more electable, more people liked him. Honestly, some thought Iowans were more likely to shoot him than vote for him. Then he proved them wrong, and the paranoia lifted, slightly."

This is right-on. Obama's biggest early supporters probably had the least faith in his ability to actually, you know, WIN. Thing is, though, I don't think this was just a liberal New York sentiment. If I recall correctly, I had a convo with K and C when they were visiting about the scary, scary, wtf issues of assassination, and they had the fear coming from Pittsburgh by way of Baton Rouge. Going into this election season, the idea of blue states and red states was stronger than ever, and I, for one, totally bought into those bullshit classifications. When Bush was reelected—and won all of the states he'd won in 2000—it reinforced a sense of divide: These are the people who get it (go, blue!) and these are the ones who don't (sigh, red). It's not that leanings don't exist, of course—it's just that they're not as unbending as they've seemed in the last four years. And that's really refreshing, especially for people who want to vote for Hope but didn't think there was any.

Read the rest of Pareene's post here, and be grateful for what scraps of Gawker smartness remain.