October 5, 2012

"I’m asking you to keep believing in me."

Is this a religion?

ADDED: From the same article:
Before the president took the stage, Madison congressional candidate Mark Pocan, Mayor Paul Soglin, outgoing U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin set the tone for the afternoon, encouraging attendees to get out and vote.

While at the beginning of his speech Obama took shots at Romney, he mostly stuck to talking about his vision for the country and urged the crowd of young supporters to vote in November.

College aged voters showed up at the polls in historic numbers four years ago to propel Obama into office, and Thursday he again pushed for their support.
So there was no pretense at all that this event had anything to do with educating young minds, exploring political ideas. It was unabashedly a get-out-the-vote effort... right down to demanding that the students acquire tickets by going to the campaign website and providing their email addresses and phone numbers (which, from what I've heard, were immediately used to spam the students with pleas for donations).

58 comments:

Matt Sablan said...

Don't stop believing

Pastafarian said...

Hold on to that fee-eeling

Balfegor said...

et omnis qui vivit et credit in me non morietur in aeternum . . .

crosspatch said...

It absolutely IS a religion. Logic plays no part in the discussion. It is about faith. Go into the Daily Kos sometime and question one of their memes. You will be treated just as any other fundamentalist community treats anyone who questions their beliefs. You will be attacked and then ostracized.

Mark O said...

For those who believe.

Even a modest skimming of the New Testament would highlight the ideas of "hope" and "transformation" and the Old Testament talks of a "change" of heart.

There is nothing about Obama except faith, which the Epistle to Hebrews defines as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

You might be late to the Church of Obama. There is no other way to salvation.

Sorun said...

Classes should be canceled on election day also so the students have ample opportunity to votes, I mean, vote.

khesanh0802 said...

If it were anyone else I would take the statement at face value. With our amateur president i think you have it the nail on the head: he believes himself at least a minor deity.

chickelit said...

Is Santa Claus a religion?

karrde said...

@Balfegor,

I don't know if that reference is perspicacious or mean.

Anyone lesser than the original person who made that claim comes off kind of hollow saying anything like "believe in me."

Not just Obama. Anyone.

Patrick said...

"I’m asking you to keep believing in
me."


The substance of faith is a hope in the unseen.

Matt Sablan said...

"So there was no pretense at all that this event had anything to do with educating young minds, exploring political ideas."

-- Are you shocked, SHOCKED to find there is gambling going in here?

Patrick said...

Their faith is strong, but he can only fall short for so long...

coketown said...

If you believe in Obama, clap your hands! Clap! Don't let Tinker--I mean, Obama's campaign, die! Clap!

coketown said...

O! I do! *clapclapclapclapclap* I do believe! I believe in you, Obama! *clapclapclapclapclap*

Curious George said...

"So there was no pretense at all that this event had anything to do with educating young minds, exploring political ideas. It was unabashedly a get-out-the-vote effort..."

Was their ever any doubt? Paid for by taxpayers of the state of WI.

yashu said...

The future must not belong to those who slander Obama.

Jerome said...

It does not appear that the young minds of Madison are educable;

http://networkedblogs.com/D4YQc

gloogle said...

So looking forward to November 6. Romney by 10.

Wince said...

Notice the student campaign worker who introduced Obama urged students to vote early by saying.

"You don't have to miss class on Election Day."

But you had to miss class on Get Obama Reelected Day.

Tim said...

"So there was no pretense at all that this event had anything to do with educating young minds, exploring political ideas."

After four years, this wasn't *completely* predictable?

Character shows.

Alex said...

garagey mahal is #1 adherent.

Tim said...

"I’m asking you to keep believing in me."

Well, yes, of course, since there is nothing left but the possibility of *believing*, as the four-year road test of the least experienced man ever nominated and then elected president proves he's as empty of results as he was of experience.

Shocking.

Patrick said...

Garage, quit clapping. Coketown was making a joke.

Tim said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tim said...

"...right down to demanding that the students acquire tickets by going to the campaign website and providing their email addresses and phone numbers (which, from what I've heard, were immediately used to spam the students with pleas for donations)."

Duh.

NO ONE could have seen that coming, could they?

Rabid dogs bite.

Liars lie.

Grifters grift.

The incumbent is as hollow as a log devoured by termites.

November '12: intelligence test.

Don't over-think it, and don't fail.

Mark said...

Not "Stay the course" or "Keep focused on making tomorrow better" but "Believe in me."

Me, me, me.

I really wonder how he's going to handle not being President any more.

Matt Sablan said...

"I really wonder how he's going to handle not being President any more."

-- Start a charity/foundation, spend time with his family, campaign for surrogates who served him well (even if only in private with the party bigwigs.) Just like most other presidents.

test said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
test said...

Coketown said...O! I do! *clapclapclapclapclap* I do believe! I believe in you, Obama! *clapclapclapclapclap*

I know that one! It's the claptrap theme!

Hagar said...

James Taranto at the other WSJ is in good form today.

Anonymous said...

A religion? Well, there were suggestions of that even before the election. Remember?

Darrell said...

So you have proof of fraud since this visit was listed as a Presidential visit, not a campaign stop and as such, will be billed to taxpayers.

Nice.

Mark said...

Matthew, I really hope you're right.

garage mahal said...

Garage, quit clapping. Coketown was making a joke.

I said before I'll probably vote for Jill Stein. Looks like Obama will win Wisconsin easily. Why not?

Balfegor said...

Re: Matthew Sablan:

-- Start a charity/foundation, spend time with his family, campaign for surrogates who served him well (even if only in private with the party bigwigs.) Just like most other presidents.

Oh you know if he loses this time, he's going to go all:

What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what is else not to be overcome?
That Glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me.


I'll show you! I'll show you all!

edutcher said...

Clap if you believe in fairies.

PS The markets don't, apparently. When the job news came out, the Dow was up about 90, until everyone looked under the hood, and then agreed with Jack Welch that there's something very Chicago going on.

Dow closed up only 35, S&P , NASDAQ both lost.

BarrySanders20 said...

They have the Messiah thing, and the deliverance from bondage, and putting all trust in government, and making an evil other, and passing the collection plate and promising miracles.

But it's not a true religion until someone gets smited.

BTW, has anyone heard from Crank lately?

Paul said...

And you are shocked Ann that progressives would make the whole event a political stunt?

Ann, are you that naive?

And now you wanna invite Ryan?

They won't without sabotaging it to become an anti-Romney event. That is just their nature.

coketown said...

*clapclapclapclapclapclap*

victoria said...

Duh.


Vicki from Pasadena

aka John said...

It was unabashedly a get-out-the-vote effort... right down to demanding that the students acquire tickets by going to the campaign website and providing their email addresses and phone numbers (which, from what I've heard, were immediately used to spam the students with pleas for donations).

Were you surprised by this? With all the gimmicks that the Obama campaign has used the last 2 years for asking for money, you are still surprised by this?

Nathan Alexander said...

I really wonder how he's going to handle not being President any more.

He's going to do everything he can to stay in the spotlight and complain about how he wasn't given a fair chance, and how everything good that happens in the next 8 years should be credited to him instead of Romney.

Nathan Alexander said...

I wish he would be smart enough to lay low and remove himself from politics for at least a decade, but we already know he isn't anywhere near as smart as George W. Bush.

BarrySanders20 said...

No sweat if he loses. He could run again in 2016.

chuck said...

It sounds like an excellent educational experience to me. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if the costs were covered out of student fees. Some things you just can't learn in a class room.

chuck said...

It sounds like an excellent educational experience to me. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if the costs were covered out of student fees. Some things you just can't learn in a class room.

The Crack Emcee said...

Is this a religion?

[Rolls eyes, clinches fists, grits teeth, and then walks away shaking head,...]

The Crack Emcee said...

When Romney's president, the next term's big question will be:

Is he in a cult?

mccullough said...

BarrySanders20,

It would be great if Obama loses and runs again in 2016.

The comparisons to Lincoln and FDR were absurd, but I'd love to see a cover of Time (if it's still around in 2016) with a super-imposed Grover Cleveland moustached on Obama.

chickelit said...

The comparisons to Lincoln and FDR were absurd, but I'd love to see a cover of Time (if it's still around in 2016) with a super-imposed Grover Cleveland moustached on Obama.

He should just grow out that moustache he's been suppressing for so long and run as Cantiflas.

Balfegor said...

Re: Crack Emcee:

Is he in a cult?

Look, I don't see how this is even a question. I may be misremembering how you've defined "cult" in the past, but I'm pretty sure you included evangelical Christianity in the category, if not mainline Protestant Easter-and-Christmas-only Christianity. If that's the standard for cult-hood, the answer is trivial: yes.

The question then is does that matter?

DADvocate said...

Funny how the college generation is apparently eager to burdened with enormous amounts of debt from which they will receive little, if any, benefit. I suppose they're supposed to believe in Obama's magical claim that if the rich people pay their FAIR SHARE everything will be goodness and light. And, we will all be poor.

They'll turn us all into beggars, 'cause they're easier to please.

The Crack Emcee said...

Balfegor,

Look, I don't see how this is even a question. I may be misremembering how you've defined "cult" in the past, but I'm pretty sure you included evangelical Christianity in the category, if not mainline Protestant Easter-and-Christmas-only Christianity. If that's the standard for cult-hood, the answer is trivial: yes.

The question then is does that matter?


No, I clearly define religion vs. cultism, while poking at both - I'm an atheist, what would you expect?

It's the rest of you who don't seem to have given the matter much thought,...

Balfegor said...

No, I clearly define religion vs. cultism, while poking at both - I'm an atheist, what would you expect?

I'm an atheist too -- but I drop Mormonism squarely on the religion side of that divide (I might not if Joseph Smith were still alive, though). What is your line of division there?

Dan said...

Anybody know what songs they played before Obama came out? In Las Vegas, they played a couple of R&B love songs. What did they play in Wisconsin?

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

A religion. Tune into NPR. With any luck, you'll find a touching Obama homily. 'The unemployment numbers confirm what I said a year ago that the recovery was on track,' said one commentator. 'What does that do to Romney's line about unemployment,' said Judy Woodruff. It's touching really.If Romney loses, I'll console myself that we do have freedom of religion in this country (the Obama vote just exercised it).

The Crack Emcee said...

Balfegor,

I'm an atheist too -- but I drop Mormonism squarely on the religion side of that divide (I might not if Joseph Smith were still alive, though). What is your line of division there?

The leaders of cults being dead or alive makes no difference - Scientology's L. Ron Hubbard is dead, too.

This is one of my points:

You guys don't have a clue about the landscape - which is bad enough - but then you not only diss and challenge me, but go on TO DEFEND what you don't understand.

It's just insane,...

The Crack Emcee said...

Balfegor,

And one more thing:

When a guy is busted repeatedly for running a confidence scam where he claims to find gold in the ground, then claims an angel told him where to find gold in the ground (but nobody else can look at it but him) and he corrals his suckers - I mean "followers" - from a place so notorious for "spiritual" gullibility it's known as "the burned over district" (AKA those nutjobs would fall for anything) any growth from this - his latest lame operation - can only be called a cult.