So I heard that some folks in Arkansas got something in the mail from the RNC claiming that liberals want to ban the Bible.

Um. Ok.

Here's an actual picture of what the controversy is about:

(click to enlarge)

In my travels about the blogosphere, I was surprised to see that several right-wing bloggers seemed upset about this, and suggested that the RNC should apologize.

These people have taken leave of their senses.

Let's put this in context: It's a direct mail advertisement. In order to be effective, the cover of ANY mass mailing MUST do something to encourage the recipient to open it up. If it ends up in the trash without being read, it's a waste of money. A good technique is making an exaggerated - but technically true - statement that will be further explained on the inside of the mailer.

It's no different than cover story pull-quotes on magazines, like, say, Time, Newsweek, Cosmo, or the National Enquirer. It's not a summary judgment handed down by the Supreme Court, it's a verbal tease to make you read the whole thing.

It's disingenuous to say that the RNC is implying that the Bible will be banned based on that image. You might as well say that they imply that Arkansas is going to pass a law allowing men to hold hands, because that's the literal interpretation of the other picture.

The picture on the right is a SYMBOL representing legalized gay marriage. The picture on the left is a SYMBOL representing the removal of the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. Both of these SYMBOLS are explained on the back of the mailer. There's no possiblity of confusion here that isn't willful. You might as well claim that Zell Miller meant his "spitball" metaphor literally, too.

By the way, here are some things NOT to compare this to:

1) A Bush=Hitler sign at a protest, which does not include notes explaining the specific similarities

2) Forged memos broadcast by CBS which were presented as being literally true.

3) Bullshit e-mails that claim Bush is going to re-instate the draft, when they offer no evidence to support their claims and omit the fact that the ONLY existing bill to re-instate the draft is sponsored SOLELY by Democrats

The RNC has NOTHING to apologize for with this mailer, and I, for one, am NOT going to run for cover on this issue. The "outraged" leftists can shove it as far as I'm concerned. Especially those f***s at NPR who, last Friday, compared this targeted mailing of a bit of flashy advertising to Dan Rather's deliberate attempt to pass off forged documents as verbatim truth on national television.

I'm more than a little disappoointed in the Conservatives who are going weak-kneed on this subject. People who I THOUGHT had spines of steel are caving to leftist PC thuggery for reasons I cannot begin to fathom.

Oh, and for the record, I'm agnostic on both the gay marriage and "under God" issues. I'm defending this because I simply don't see the need to apologize for a successful direct mail campaign.

Posted by: Harvey at 09:23 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 525 words, total size 4 kb.