Performative Politics
Nobody goes to Washington completely selfless. Oh sure, everyone loves to talk about how they want to be a service to the people. Some will put on the humble pie act. Others will speak longingly about how they want to do the people’s business and make the lives of their constituents better. I’m sure a large part of them actually believes that.
At some point, they realize they have to gain more power to do the things they want to do. There are multiple ways to do this. The less ambitious bide their time. They actually work day to day for their constituents. They figure it will get them reelected and with every passing election they will gain more power. Such thoughts are so quaint.
A second kind comes in with big ideas. They gain notoriety quickly with those big ideas and it can be somewhat difficult to distinguish them from the glory hounds. Obviously, most people immediately think of AOC, but Bernie Sanders fits under that category as well. They usually don’t get what they want but they help steer the conversation in a productive way.
Then, there are the Thomas Massie’s of the world. John Pavlovitz already covered serious ground on the picture above. I’ve enjoyed his writing for some time, but I suspect he knows he has been used in this instance. Underneath the picture read the caption, “Santa, please bring ammo.” I suppose Massie could love his guns that much, but I suspect that John knows perfectly well that a love of guns wasn’t the point of this Christmas card.
This picture was about performative politics. It was about the fact that Matt Gaetz, Majorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert are getting all the headlines. How do you get yourself in there? Well, you take a picture days after a school shooting with timing so crass you can’t help but get your fifteen minutes of fame. Or should we say infamy? As Martin Short’s character in the Three Amigos said, “infamous means more than famous.” Well, Massie certainly qualifies. Except he’s bringing a butter knife to a gun fight. Greene, Gaetz, and Boebert are pros at this. They’ve made a living of getting people to know who they are without actually accomplishing anything.
That’s the difference between performative politics and what people like AOC do. They become famous and powerful and yet no one can name a single thing they’ve actually done or actually proposed. The idea is to own the liberals. Massie certainly won this round. He’s provoked outrage. He’s inspired a number of writers to condemn his stupidity. He’s dumb, but he’s not so dumb.
And as long as news coverage continues to be about elections as horse races and whatever is the most outrageous thing today, this will continue to be the goal of politics. Informative coverage of what is actually being DONE in the halls of government was once the hallmark of both local and national news, but it takes well-informed, educated, adequately paid, embedded reporters to produce it. And it takes ‘broadcasting in the public interest’, rather than ‘broadcasting to make as much money as fast as possible’…
1All the Rs have is performative a******ry. As somebody else said, if Ilhan Omar and her family posed for a picture heavily armed, to celebrate Eid, there’d be panic in the streets.
2That Massie “White Christmas” family photo has also inspired numerous memes that may make people stop and think what is actually portrayed. Here is an example:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FF6u0IdXsAURtii?format=jpg&name=small
3Jesus went from “Prince of Peace” to “Prince of Piece”? There should have at least been a memo about this!
Something – I don’t know what – suggests to me that if the exact same photo had been done with a non-white group of folks that the GQP would have taken a very different perspective on the picture.
4“Journalism” in the era of cable news has jumped the shark of both sides past the horizon to a new planet where the emperor has no clothes is a daily acceptance.
Massie should have been unmercifully mocked, but not for the gunz photo op masquerading as a seasonal card. No. Not that. How about that copycat motif borrowed from NV Teabagger and gun totin mama to the Bundy Dildo Brigade, Michele Fiore. Or, how stupid is he? Lordy when someone borrows a bad idea from 2014 Michele Fiore, that is nuclear level stupid.
5That’s my Congressman. To go with my two “distinguished” senators – Mitch and Rand Paul.
6What baby Jesus really wanted from those three Arab gun merchants, but only got gold, frankincense, and myrrh instead.
7Yes, well, a Christmas card bristling with weapons a week after the Oxford High School massacre was, uh, bad timing, but the political press has more important outrages to cover. Like Kamala Harris’s preference for old-fashioned wire headphones instead of Bluetooth.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2021/12/06/kamala-harris-is-bluetooth-phobic-495343
Also, she bought an expensive piece of cookware.
8Looks like the youngest daughter is fixing to shoot off momma’s nose.
9OOPS!
Uncharacteristic: they’re all exercising good trigger discipline. Although if I was the guy in the red plaid shirt, I’d think carefully about my relation with the woman on the right, on the couch. She’s one sneeze away from pointing her rifle at his head.
As someone who grew up poor what impresses me is the thousands of dollars worth of weaponry in that picture. Daddy seems to have a fully automatic belt-fed M60 there, and the last time I checked those cost more than $20,000. Think of how many homeless could be fed and clothed adequately for winter with that. Or how many women fleeing domestic violence could get set up with an apartment, basic furniture, and enough food to survive until they can get secure again.
But I’m not a Christian, so obviously my priorities are skewed and satanic. Clearly it’s better to set up a machine gun nest to gun down the poor and non-Republican.
10@ Wyatt_Earl,
11Sorry for you having to put up with Massie, but that makes us neighbors. I’m in John Yarmuth’s district.
Colorado’s Whoring Boobalert and her kristmas card photo of her 4 brats with assault rifles.
https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=28182885&width=800&height=450
Wonder where the child molester dad is?
12Right on cue. Boebert is on message.
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