Looking for outrage to feed the base

I knew it as soon as I saw it. In fact, at the Super Bowl party I was at, we predicted it and joked about it. Of course I was hanging out with a bunch of liberals. Quite predictably, Coca Cola's Super Bowl add featuring America the Beautiful being sung in different languages by a culturally diverse group of people has generated right-wing faux outrage designed to appeal to the bottom rungs of the GOP. Even worse, the commercial featured a gay couple. Let's be honest....the people who are outraged probably couldn't sing the words to America the Beautiful if their lives depended on it. This is about bigotry, pure and simple. Our country was built on the backs of immigrants and continues to depend on their labor, menial and intellectual, to move forward as the greatest country on earth. The far right wing of the GOP however depends upon outrage to keep it relevant. Sad.

From Talking Points Memo:

Former tea party congressman Allen West even took time to write a blog post during the game to voice his displeasure. For West, the ad started out strong enough.

"Then the words went from English to languages I didn’t recognize," a troubled West wrote, calling it "a truly disturbing commercial."

"If we cannot be proud enough as a country to sing 'American (sic) the Beautiful' in English in a commercial during the Super Bowl, by a company as American as they come — doggone we are on the road to perdition," he wrote.

Michael Patrick Leahy over at Breitbart was offended, too.

Not only did Coke use "a deeply Christian patriotic anthem whose theme is unity – in several foreign languages," but Leahy noted that the "ad also prominently features a gay couple."

Fox News commentator Todd Starnes doesn't like hearing foreign languages during the Super Bowl either.

Couldn't make out that song they were singing. I only speak English.

— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) February 3, 2014

So was Coca-Cola saying America is beautiful because new immigrants don't learn to speak English?

— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) February 3, 2014

Coca Cola is the official soft drink of illegals crossing the border. #americaisbeautiful

— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) February 3, 2014

The ad even inspired a #BoycottCoke hashtag on Twitter.

I think I may drink two Cokes today just to show my support.

 

Posted with Blogsy