December 7, 2003
Eminem "Threatens" the President
One thing you gotta admire about right-wingers is their skill at picking one idea or talking point and getting everyone on their team to drive that one angle home, thus dictating the parameters of debate.
Recently their think tanks decided the newest angle should be something called "Bush Hate". This means that in order to avoid actually engaging Democrats on the issues, they all focus on this notion that the Dems are wild-eyed lunatics, driven purely by an irrational hatred of Bush as a human being.
Needless to say, this is asinine. Of course Democrats and liberals all hate Bush. If one side's guy gets in, the other side hates him, that's how it works. Does the right think anyone has forgotten how fervently they despised both Bill and Hillary?
But right-wingers have become so fond of this angle that now they're even using obscure Eminem lyrics to bolster their case, namely this line from "We As Americans", one of the Straight From the Lab bootlegs currently floating around:
I don't rap for dead presidents/
I'd rather see the president dead..
Golly, how frightening. Not only has the Secret Service been called upon to investigate this horrifying threat, but righty bloggers are trumpeting this as evidence that liberal Bush Hate now threatens the very life of the President.
Makes sense to me. We all know Eminem represents the Hollywood liberal establishment, always hanging at James Carville's house with Al Franken and Aaron Sorkin. Seriously, I'd be surprised if he was even registered to vote, or could name 3 of the Democratic candidates. This line about "the president" probably indicates nothing about Eminem's opinion of this particular Chief Executive, he would have spit it just the same whether Bush, Gore, or Bronson Pinchot was in office.
When I used to teach, one day a couple of boys were trading mother jokes in the hall, and a teacher walking by was aghast. After berating one boy for talking about his friend's mother that way, the boy looked up and explained, in the tone of someone helping a toddler with arithmetic: "I'm not saying anything about his mother. I don't even know his mother. I'm just talking about 'your mother'!"
This Eminem line should not be taken literally as a threat to the President any more than mother jokes should be taken as criticism of the specific woman who is actually your mother. He's not saying anything about this President, he's just kicking a line about "the president".
(right-wing blog link via Oliver Willis)
Posted by jsmooth995 at December 7, 2003 11:19 PM
The "Bush Hate" phenomenon has been pretty interesting, mostly fueled by the media of course. The secret-service was probably called upon to join the force behind that other, longer-standing "Eminem Hate" phenomenon.
Posted by: Jon at December 8, 2003 2:48 AM
either people are REALLY sensitive or REALLY stupid. i'm inclined to think they're both.
Posted by: Britni at December 8, 2003 8:13 AM
i don't get it. doesn't this lyric imply that he doesn't want to see the president dead--as in "i'd rather lick ass than spit for cash?"
Posted by: gsquail at December 8, 2003 2:12 PM
Jon- wait a minute... according to right-wingers the media is liberal...what's the deal?
qsquail --- what?!?
Posted by: pexdiggy at December 8, 2003 5:12 PM
enima isnt the first rapper that threatened to kill George W. on a track. i dont wanna drop names but shit, paris, tech and like 6 other detroit rappers(that arent from suburbs outside)
secret service needs to do smoe underground rap listening if they are worried about rappers
Posted by: liam at December 9, 2003 5:26 AM
I agree with any ideaology that demonstrates how obsurd the rights thinking is. As far as the anology between eminem and the "your mother" statements, not so much. There have been Eminem joints in the past where the president was mentioned specifically. Secondly, I think to assume someone of that level of success is ignorant enough to say something of that nature not to press buttons when they make their living doing so is almost an acknowledgement of hate. Plus the continuing statements about dukes keyboard driven tracks. C'mon Dawg they ain't that terrible, every major cat in the game has pretty muched rocked one or more. I'm not a huge Eminem fan but I've heard enough material that apparently other people have not to lend any type of legitamacy to this statement. Cat may be from the burbs, but if nothing else maybe this one line may prompt suburban youth to vote against their parnets wishes out of pure idolism. We can only hope...
Posted by: Cane at December 10, 2003 5:02 PM
for fucks sake its eminem! he's fuckin legend he says what he wants to say and doesn't give a shit! he doesnt name any presidents just the twat G W thinks the world revolves around him. G B is the most powerful man in the world, rather than fussing about some rapper,fix iraq!
Posted by: oli macey macleod at December 11, 2003 12:17 PM
Be glad you live in a country where it's still possible to be fed up and say so! Our president is dumb and fat, but you'll get erased from the the net if you make a comment about it.
Another Bush wannabe that think he is the bomb!
Posted by: a mad dog at December 12, 2003 3:02 PM
Fuck Bush...EMINEM FOR PRES. HAHAHA get over it..
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