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Monday, November 5, 2012

David Mamet's Stirring Appeal to the Better Nature of Voters

Posted by on Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 3:47 PM

David Mamet's appeal to Jewish Obama voters is terrible writing. This could basically be a comment on a Time magazine article. It's full of weird conspiracies involving our "freedoms" being taken away:

Will you tell [your children] that, in a state-run economy, hard work may still be applauded, but that it will no longer be rewarded?

Will you explain that whatever their personal beliefs, tax-funded institutions will require them to imbibe and repeat the slogans of the left, and that, should they differ, they cannot have a career in education, medicine or television unless they keep their mouths shut?

Note the lack of facts. I think Mamet might define "state-run economy" as "an economy in which David Mamet has to pay slightly larger taxes" and that whole second paragraph appears to be about how Mamet is losing work now that he's gone crazy. But it's the last paragraph that really says it all to me:

Please remember that we have the secret ballot and, should you, on reflection, vote in secret for a candidate you would not endorse in public, you will not be alone.

I like to think that Romney would be touched by this show of secret support. After all, he's kept most of his policies, his tax returns, and his budget a secret.

 

Comments (16) RSS

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1
In re "the slogans of the left", I think he's talking about evolution.

As for hard work, the hardest working people I know are among the least rewarded ... and always have been.
Posted by RonK, Seattle on November 5, 2012 at 4:08 PM
mrbarky 2
"...vote in secret for a candidate you would not endorse in public, you will not be alone."

The fate of the republic is in your hands! Our freedoms are at stake! But you can go ahead and act like a sniveling little coward and pretend you voted for the other guy. Wolverines!
Posted by mrbarky on November 5, 2012 at 4:17 PM
Fnarf 3
In reality, the difference in degree of state control over the economy, i.e., "socialism", Obama and Romney are about 1% apart at most. There are no non-socialist candidates, and haven't been since, I dunno, Charles Evans Hughes almost a hundred years ago. Every successful (by modern standards) economy in the history of the world has been socialist AND capitalist both. They're not mutually exclusive. If it wasn't for "state-run economies", Mamet, like everyone else, would be slopping the hogs at 4 AM and hauling buckets of water a quarter-mile from the creek every day. And dying at forty.
Posted by Fnarf http://www.facebook.com/fnarf on November 5, 2012 at 4:21 PM
4
Is this some right-wing rag? Right-wing Jews have some nutty stuff out there. They represent a pretty small fraction of society, and even less of reality.
Posted by podcaf on November 5, 2012 at 4:59 PM
eclexia 5
Wow, a direct appeal to the Bradley Effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_eff…

Posted by eclexia on November 5, 2012 at 5:12 PM
6
The response to each question here is perfect.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/art…
Posted by cary on November 5, 2012 at 6:08 PM
Fred Casely 7
Needs some fucking profanity.
Posted by Fred Casely on November 5, 2012 at 8:06 PM
8
Really, votes should just be for closers.
Posted by Gerald Fnord on November 5, 2012 at 9:26 PM
9
Did Mamet's courtship of his own insanity start with Pidgeon fucking?
Posted by Fears_Of_The_Spanish_[Language]_Prisoner? on November 5, 2012 at 10:07 PM
10
So, if I'm understanding the basic thrust of Mamet's argument correctly, if Obama is re-elected, the result won't just be slightly higher taxes on the super-rich and slightly lower cuts to Social Security and Medicare, it will be a wholesale transformation of the country into Cuba del Norte. Whatever drugs he's doing, I want some. I, too, sometimes feel the need to escape reality, and the first installment of The Hobbit doesn't come out for more than a month...
Posted by PCM on November 5, 2012 at 10:52 PM
Lord Basil 11
Mamet is 100% correct. In a state run economy, there is no liberty, no work, no incentive, no individuality. Everything is decided for you by the Utopian Statist. Mamet is prophetic in what he says, and there are echoes of Mark Levin's "Ameritopia" in his comments.

There are too many freedom loving American patriots still living wishing to return to the America I fought for in Vietnam. Americans do not want socialism and fascism, homosexuality and abortion, pot smoking and Sharia Law. That is a simple fact.

That is why I believe the result of the election tomorrow will be akin to this:

http://www.270towin.com/2012_election_pr…

The Kenyan Marxist homosexual nightmare will end tomorrow, and freedom will return to America.
Posted by Lord Basil http://lordbasil.blogspot.com/ on November 6, 2012 at 1:16 AM
12
Anyone who can lump "socialism and fascism, homosexuality and abortion, pot smoking and Sharia Law" into the same category is gloriously wackadoodle. Ah, bless.
Posted by duffellduffell on November 6, 2012 at 5:31 AM
13
I agree with Lord Basil @11: Freedom in America means no pot smoking, no homosexuality, no abortion, and no religious rights for Muslims. When everyone is straight, sober, Christian and has sex only only when it is open to reproduction, then--and only then--will we all be free!
Posted by Clayton on November 6, 2012 at 7:10 AM
Knat 14
@6: Thank you for sharing that.

@11: Oh my God, look who floated up from Rapture to grace us with his wisdom! How go things in your Randian utopia, you crazy sea cucumber?
Posted by Knat on November 6, 2012 at 10:44 AM
venomlash 15
@11: Cool story bro.
Posted by venomlash on November 6, 2012 at 11:08 AM
16
@11 (Lord Basil): I know what you mean. I, too, want to return to the America you fought for in Vietnam -- the America that had just passed the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, Medicare, and Medicaid; the America that still had effective labor unions and high-paying manufacturing jobs; the America whose minimum wage had a third more purchasing power than today's; the America where Glass-Steagall prevented American banks from crashing the economy; the America where community colleges were virtually free and state four-year colleges were actually affordable; the America whose health-care costs hadn't yet started skyrocketing to nearly double those of Canada... I would fight for that America, too (although I'm not entirely clear on how fighting in Vietnam advanced the cause).

Excellent deadpan parody, by the way, right down to the "Don't Tread On Me" avatar-photo-thingie!
Posted by PCM on November 6, 2012 at 1:38 PM

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