Remember November - UPDATED

A new video produced by the Republican Governors Association is gaining a good bit of attention.  Facebook users may have seen ads linked to the RememberNovember.com website cropping up recently on their profile pages.   Hot Air has a post on the video linking an article in Time Magazine suggesting the underlying message o the video embraces the Guy Fawkes mythology.  I find this completely and utterly laughable.

Those unfamiliar with the Fawkes story should note it was a fateful tale of a few aggrieved Catholic Restorationists  who plotted to blow up in its' entirety the King James Court with kegs of gundpowder planted in the Houses of Parliament.  The plotters were captured and tortured heinously before they were all executed.  It was gruesome.  Having recently read William Harrison Ainsworth's novel Guy Fawkes, or The gunpowder treason: an historical romance in a book club I know a lot about the Fawkes mythology.  Never once did I pick up a suggestion in the video the Fawkes story was being referenced.  


Nevertheless Michael Scherer goes beyond merely suggesting this is the inspiration, he states it as a matter of fact:

Now, the Fawkes mythology has come full circle. The Republican Governors Association has embraced the symbolism of Fawkes, launching a rather striking website,  RememberNovember.com, with a video that showcases far more Hollywood savvy than one can usually expect from Republicans. Again, the Fawkes tale has been twisted a bit. This time, President Obama plays the roll of King James, the Democratic leadership is Parliament, and the Republican Party represents the aggrieved Catholic mass.

Scherer bases his entire premise on the fact that some Ron Paul supporters used the "Remember, Remember The Fifth of November" rallying cry from the Fawkes saga after the story was retold with Fawkes as the hero in the 2005 movie "V for Vendetta."    I have not seen this movie nor do I think it is even relevant.  Of course we may feel aggrieved but "Remember November" seems much more about voting in an election that just so happens to take place in November.  The Fawkes story has been mythologized over the years to such a degree it is now celebrated in the UK every November 5th with bonfires.  Surely this doesn't suggest that the citizens of Britain gather every year in hopes of finishing off the work Guy Fawkes left undone several hundred years ago, does it?  


Scherer betrays some bias in this bit found at the end:

One other note, RGA message wizards have intentionally not circulated this video on YouTube or made an embed version of it publicly available. (Swampland asked for, and was granted, special dispensation.) They want people to view it on their site, RememberNovember.com, in the hopes of building a grassroots army.

Building an army sounds so ominous.  When Barack Obama gathered his flock to his Organizing for America website to submit their names and emails that was all touted as a brilliant masterstroke.  This, after all, was the proof we were offered he had executive ability if I remember correctly.  Now we find out that this stood in place for his qualifications as Commander in Chief too.  What rubbish.

Times problem with the video is buried deep their references to ancient conspiracy theories and threats of violence.  They think it is effective, and  "showcases far more Hollywood savvy than one can usually expect from Republicans."  What to do when Republicans start showing polished savvy productions at a time when the Democrats are poised to have their hats handed to them?  Demonize it, of course:

Who would have guessed that Barbour would embrace the symbolic value of the same would-be mass murderer as the Wachowski brothers?

Embracing mass murderers, really?  They really do think we are all stupid.  Scherer is correct on one point though, the video can't be embeded or surely I would have included it here.  We should thank Time for getting the grassroots fired up and ready to go enlist in that army.  Perhaps we should invite them to the bonfire.

Oops spoke too soon, here is the video which is now embeddable:

We Will Remember from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.

I see via Memeorandum the left has really lost it with the Guy Fawkes meme. Protein Wisdom thinks this is a sign of desperation which would be laughable but for the fact it is another attempt to tell us all to SHUT UP:

Is the Left really this desperate? Is Scherer just trying to see how far he can dupe the Left into spreading such a ridiculous meme? I would venture the majority of TEA Party participants might vaguely recognize the name “Guy Fawkes” but not immediately recall the history. And Scherer makes his case for the Republican Governors “call to violence” from focusing more on how Fawkes’ story was adapted for the graphic novel turned into movie V for Vendetta — for most TEA Party participants, that itself would be even further from their attention.

Steve Benen has proof this is all a not-so-subtle call to violence from our Republican leadership. The proof, (giggle) Michelle Bachmann held a rally last year on November 5th. Michelle Bachmann has probably been at a rally once a week but that one in November was really about Guy Fawkes. Okay then, but it is us who made a right turn at crazy?

Josh Marshall added, "I find this completely bewildering. The Republican Governors Association is embracing the mantle of a 17th century radical who tried but failed to pull off a mass casualty terrorist attack to kill the King of England and all of Parliament.... Nothing shocks me anymore. But this shocks me."

It's a reminder that the Republican mainstream made a right turn at scary, and have arrived right at stark raving mad.

Dude, get a grip. Do you see bugs on the walls? Hear any voices? There's medication for this kind of paranoia. Be sure to take some when you get your health care in 2014