Russo Does It Again: Tea Party Parking Lot

Hi there! As the second interviewee featured in this clip – the kid with the fedora – I would like to point out that Tim’s editing work has completely removed my comments from their context, and I suspect he might have done similarly to other protesters he interviewed. Most importantly, he deleted the segment of our impromptu interview where I freely admit to not knowing much about President Obama’s personal life. As a student with limited time I don’t feel it’s fair to expect me to know these kinds of things, and in any event a discussion of President Obama’s personal life is irrelevant to debating his policy and legislature. Tim should have focused on attacking the arguments we put forth rather than engaging in ad hominem attacks.

Hey Eric,
While I’m fairly certain I detect some smugly patronizing overtones, I freely concede that yes, President Obama was born in America – Hawaii, to be exact – is very much a US citizen, and won the presidency fairly in a display of the power of democracy to self-correct.
With that being said, my criticism of Tim’s method remains. Perhaps you’ll note that he didn’t bother to ask me what I actually think of President Obama? If he had, I might have said something to the effect of “His efforts in ending discrimination towards the GLBT community, religious minorities, and racial minorities are admirable. I fully support his plans regarding ‘going green,’ and I think his foreign policy approach will do wonders for America’s image abroad. Nonetheless, I think that his stimulus act stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the importance of the free market.” Tim would seem to have mistaken my lack of knowledge concerning President Obama’s personal life as indicating that I am some kind of young-earth Creationist, gun-ownin’, good ol’ boy Republican. On the contrary, I’m staunchly atheist, I have never owned any armament beyond a Nerf blaster, and I’ve lived in a city my entire life; politically I would consider myself a classical liberal.
The point of this protest was to stimulate discussion on what I’m sure you will agree is a staggeringly important issue, and all I demand is some degree of respect. After all, President Obama’s promise was bipartisanship, and I’m certain you’ll agree that your self-aggrandizing pompousness does little to further this cause.

@5 Tim, I think you’re coming at this from a preconceived angle, that I was in some way informed about President Obama’s place of birth and nonetheless have convinced myself that he was not born in the US. I can say in complete honesty that I wasn’t even aware it was an issue on the table prior to this; also, to the very best of my memory, I did say something to the effect of “I’m not really very well informed about President Obama’s private life” following the bit where I cited the New York Times (incorrectly) as my source. And, I don’t really recognize nationalism as a legitimate philosophy: I consider everyone a “world citizen” and I believe that President Obama’s status as a citizen is irrelevant. As I’ve said before, I’d be insane to deny he was elected and is in power legitimately, and I attended the protest acting on the assumption that it would be about President Obama’s stimulus act, not his legitimacy as president. That’s where I’m afraid your video isn’t completely honest: Although other attendees very possibly DO dispute President Obama’s citizenship, the protest was arranged exclusively in response to his stimulus act. It seems to me that your tactic of exposing your interviewees’ ignorance on non-related matters rather than addressing their arguments does in fact constitute a logically-invalid ad hominem attack. While pointing out people’s shortcomings is definitely amusing, it can’t be confused with actual political criticism.