Don’t Forget 1996
While conservatives are laughing themselves silly over Chicago’s failed bid to host the 2016 Olympics, deluding themselves into seeing their own rabid hatred of Barack Obama reflected in the eyes of the IOC, let’s take a step back here. Putting aside for the moment that Rio is an excellent choice to host the 2016 games, if I was on the International Olympic Committee, I dunno if I’d be so keen on hosting the Olympics in the America either. I don’t know how much American news the Swiss receive, but if they saw one of the gun-toting mobs of tea baggers holding signs of the President’s face Photoshopped with a Hitler mustache, it probably wouldn’t do much to help them forget that the last time the United States hosted the Summer Olympics, a right-wing domestic terrorist planted a bomb in the middle of the Centennial Olympic Park.
If you take a look at Eric Rudolph’s statement on the Olympic Bombing, it looks like something that could have been written yesterday :
Even though the conception and purpose of the so-called Olympic movement is to promote the values of global socialism, as perfectly expressed in the song Imagine by John Lennon, which was the theme of the 1996 Games even though the purpose of the Olympics is to promote these despicable ideals, the purpose of the attack on July 27 was to confound, anger and embarrass the Washington government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand.
I’m not saying this is why the IOC didn’t chose Chicago, but if I had to chose a venue for the Olympics, the recent explosion in right-wing lunacy would certainly make me think twice about whether or not it’s safe for the United States to host another Olympic Games.
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This is the most cogent, articulate, exemplary observation of world politics I have seen today. You made me rethink my position – and I am a Chicagoan opposed to the 2016 bid. This just goes to show how the villagers affect American jobs every day with their wingnuttery.
Comment by I heart Schadenfreude — October 2, 2009 @ 8:55 pm
[...] Don’t forget 1996 — The Talent Show reminds us that the last time the Olympics were in the US, a domestic right wing terrorist bombed them. Conservative America has not gotten any less crazy since then (no matter how much my conservative friends may be in denail about their own fellow travelers). The IOC surely had that in mind. [...]
Pingback by Jay Lake: [links] Link salad wakes up in its own bed for a change — October 3, 2009 @ 5:30 am
Salt Lake City, 2002 Winter Olympics.
Comment by scott m roberts — October 3, 2009 @ 6:17 am
Actually, it’s funny you say that… That’s exactly why Rush implied Chicago lost out on its bid. Because Obama’s been going around the country talking bad about the United States for the past year, you see… and if you had to listen to 9 months of how horrible America is, would you award it the Olympic games??
Comment by Eric — October 3, 2009 @ 10:17 am
Salt Lake City was chosen as the site of the 2002 games prior to the Atlanta bombing. Also, it was mainly chosen because they were bribing members of the IOC.
Comment by greg — October 5, 2009 @ 9:00 am
Hi from Switzerland — to answer your question, we receive a lot of American news. This is a small country where not too much happens, so our coverage of what is going on elsewhere is typically excellent. ;)
It is also fairly common for Swiss people to watch foreign news and TV shows on the Internet, and CNN comes for free with satellite and cable TV.
Polls in Switzerland shortly before the 2008 US election have shown that roughly 97% of the Swiss population would have voted for Obama, had we been given the choice (and this is in a country where the biggest political party is conservative, and nearly everyone is white).
While this number has gone back considerably after the election (we’re still waiting for that withdrawal from Iraq, and we’re not very happy with what’s going on in Afghanistan either…), we do get upset when we see the teabaggers’ weird claims, or when we see someone best described as a Nazi sympathizer (such as Glenn Beck) assert that Obama is a Nazi.
I doubt the decision was political (Switzerland is too proud of its (alleged) neutrality); certainly it was not about Obama talking bad about the US (we KNOW that no country, including our own, is perfect, and the nature of the Swiss political system (direct democracy) makes sure that both good and bad sides of anything are openly discussed — we don’t have the impression that Obama has been running around the world saying America sucks, and we tend to like him for telling the truth when he does mention something could be improved).
If anything political did contribute, it is that quite a few Swiss don’t trust that the US has already fully recovered from being run by someone who believes in starting wars of aggression, telling lies about his opponents to the world, and torturing those he merely suspects of any wrongdoing — Rush, go blame yourself.
Comment by Bernhard Rosenkraenzer — October 5, 2009 @ 11:07 am