...you mean that the future leaders of our military constituted "the enemy." I believe that's exactly what he meant. The groups that make up the bulk of the democratic party are many and varied but doesn't include the demographic making up the majority of west point cadets.
Which is the whole point as to why I have no big issue with using that phrase other than it being ill concieved due to PERCEPTION, not reality.
You're right, the west point cadets if you have to give them a likely political ideology, would probably be mostly conservative minded. Traditionally the military, especially the more hardcore within it (which I’d imagine those actually attending a place like west point would be), are considered stereotypically conservative. Its that reason why this statement….
Your analogy is bit off....
Is false. Its not a false analogy. In the realm of POLITICS Barack Obama was going into a place that was essentially filled with his ideological “enemies”. He was the Cowboys (Liberal) going into Washington (Conservatives). Now, the use of that term is wonderful fodder for those that don’t like Matthews to jump upon and over exaggerate, but its honestly not a big deal. It’s a term used OFTEN when using analogies. People trying to imply that Matthews honestly actually believes West Point Cadets are literally “an enemy camp” is akin to as ignorant of a view point as those that thought Limbaughs “I want Obama to fail” comment meant he literally wanted harm to come to America.
For all that the right likes to scream and yell about Political Correctness…this right here is essentially political correctness. We can use “enemy” as an analogy for a group that is generally opposed to another group in every facet of our lives, even politics at times, and yet in this case we’re going to get mad that he used it about military guys. OOOOO, he hates the military, he thinks they’re the enemy, grrrr.
Bull****.
I want to see reverend or any other conservative military person in here tell me to my face they don’t believe the majority of the military likely leans right.
Okay.
Now if they lean right, that would put their ideology opposed to……whose?
Barack Obama.
Therefore if Barack Obama is entering an arena that is primarily filled with those directly opposed to his ideology than an analogy could be made that he’s walking into “enemy territory” or an “enemy tent”, IE a hostile crowd (in this case ideologically hostile rather than outwardly hostile), IE a crowd that is not likely extremely receptive to his views.
No different than when the Cowboys go into Washington and it’s “enemy territory” or when a conservative says “Liberalism is the enemy”. In both cases these people are not literally implying nor meaning that Washington, or “liberalism”, is literally the enemy of the united states, are terrorists, are people we’re literally at war with. It’s a turn of a phrase. Its an analogy. War analogies are long common in our society.
Was it a bad use of the phase? Most definitely. It’s not smart, even if it’s a common type of phrase, to tie such rhetoric in with the troops. But it was a bone headed move more than a malicious one. Additionally, unlike most times where that phrase would be more appropriate, in general a military crowd is going to be at the least respectful no matter what. It would’ve been more apt if he was speaking before a Tea Party Protest or the NRA, in which the respect and decorum is not quite as ingrained as in the military and thus would’ve likely actually felt hostile based on more than simply a very, very reserved crowd.
And seriously….did you not listen to the Meadowland for years before Eli won a Super Bowl. Sometimes even it sounded like an Enemy Camp when it came to Eli
No links to the basement. Based on response I'm guessing you were intending to paste the eli comments here and messed up
