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In reply to the discussion: Fuck. [View all]I hate liars
(165 posts)That scene was one of the most blatant appeals to raw emotion and misplaced patriotism I've ever witnessed. I was already fed up with what was mostly pablum up to that point, but when Obama introduced the soldier, my reaction to that cynical, manipulative section of his speech was a simple "fuck you".
Only two things stop me from condemning Obama completely over this:
1. He didn't start the wars that caused so much human misery in Afghanistan and Iraq (but he sure took his time winding them down)
2. If a Republican were giving the SOTU, I know we'd see the same damned spectacle, but with more fawning praise for our "brave men and women"
It would be different if such sentiments were sincere. But among the assemblage at the SOTU, it's just a cynical cover for war profiteering and juvenile neocon fantasy-fulfillment, aimed at us, the rubes.