Fantasy Obama

Inspired by recent Republican debates, I was going to write a post on this exact topic. But Bill Maher said it better than I ever could, so check it out.

My favorite part:

Republicans have created this completely fictional president. His name is "Barack X," and he's an Islamo-Socialist Revolutionary who's coming for your guns, raising your taxes, slashing the military, apologizing to other countries, and taking his cues from Europe, or worst yet, Saul Alinski.

And this is how politics has changed. You used to have to run against an actual candidate. But now, you just re-create him inside The Bubble and run against your new fictional candidate. That's how Bush won in 2004 -- by running against John Kerry, a French war criminal.

And speaking of Bush, I know conservatives are saying, "Oh Bill, come on -- Democrats did the same thing to him." No. Say what you will about the Left's hatred of Bush. At least we were hating on the real guy. We didn't invent a bogeyman who tanked the economy, took us to war on false pretenses, and tortured prisoners -- that was the actual guy.

But run down the list of complaints about Fantasy Obama: He wants to raise your taxes (even though he's lowered them), confiscate your guns (even though he's never mentioned it), and read terrorists their rights -- yeah, like he did Tuesday in Somalia.

This "Fantasy Obama" to which Maher refers is apparently a big hit with the Barack-hating radical right-wing extremists who attend the GOP debates and who wouldn't vote for Obama if you held a gun to their heads. But do Republicans really think that General Election voters, especially Independents, will buy into this?