Bush loyalists reveal the unvarnished America

CSPAN is a treasure trove of wonders. Washington Journal, the 7am – 10am call-in show, receives its share of crackpot callers. A few days ago, a transcript (credit: Sinfonian/Blast Off!) of a call into Washington Journal by an obviously disturbed individual made the rounds of blogspace commentary. Atrios was particularly impressed.

This "housewife" began

I'm going to vote for President Bush because, after all, you know, God made us there, you know, in His image, free from any black color and all [Host looks up, surprised]....

Click through for the rest of the incredible ride.

Some time ago (August 2003), I posted this, also a Washington Journal transcription.

CSPAN: Memphis, Tennessee, our next caller, good morning.

BUSH LOYALIST: Good morning. Yes, I'd like to say that I totally support George Bush as he reshapes the Middle East. People don't understand it's necessary that we throw all these countries into chaos, and kill all the Arabs as much as possible, so that we can have a greater Zion in that area, and have more glory and power for the United States of America.

CSPAN: Thank you for the call.

Note the intense Bush support. Back in 2003 I asked, "Why is it that George W. Bush inspires such loyalty from this warped crowd?", and lamented the "bizarre spread of Zionist-American religious right extremism promoting a new kind of final solution".

I still wonder how it is that Bush has locked in this most extreme cross-section of reactionary America – those holding the most rabidly racist views along with a willingness to give them out loud to a national audience. George W. Bush has called out kooks of this strain in droves. How? Why?

Today I will engage in some new speculation on this matter. I recalled an article I read in American Demographics magazine a very long time ago. It dealt with of all things, bug spray and low-income consumers. But it's something that's stuck with me. A bit of searching unearthed a quote from this article in American Demographics for Nov. 1991:

Psychographic marketing techniques helped Raid roach spray marketers discover that the reason low-income Southern women were the heaviest users of roach spray was that "a lot of their feelings about the roach were very similar to the feelings that they had about the men in their lives," said the advertising executive on the account. They said the roach, like the man in their life, "only comes around when he wants food." The act of spraying roaches and seeing them die was satisfying to this frustrated, powerless group.

Here's my speculation – Bush engenders, in essentially powerless people who are vulnerable to his propaganda, feelings similar to what they get with a spray weapon in their hands while exterminating insects.

There are oh so many of those little devils – brown people, followers of Islam.... George W. Bush promises to spray them back, put them down. He's been molded to fit in the hand and give just the right satisfactions. Meanwhile, Democrats like Kerry are just leechy wimps who'll eat you out of house and home while giving everything away to the insects.

My hypothesis is that this is a technique through which the Republicans control people of different races and cultures with low resources to act against their own interests by turning them against each other. Bush becomes the satisfying exterminator of terrorists and other leeches. The targets are dehumanized through racist transmogrification into insects while a thick layer of supernatural belief forms a barrier through which no rational thought can go.

It's just speculation. Anyone have further thoughts?