Once again Mr. Romney has failed to demonstrate that he is a human being in this latest media 'crises' that is unfolding. In case you missed it, back in '65 then high school student Mitt Romney got a few boys together to cut the hair of another boy who was sporting a look Mr. Romney found disagreeable. The boy who got his hair cut was new to the school, he dropped out not long after and died a few years ago here in Seattle.
I am not going to spend a lot of time discussing the crass behavior of a 17 year old. Boys will be boys and, as Ray Davies crooned, "he married Betty Lou back in 65 / when you had to be butch to survive", being effeminate made you a target of all sorts of ridicule and violence in those days.
Its not the past but the present that Mr Romney's actions ought to be examined. Those of us who came of age during Watergate know it isn't the crime, its the cover-up that gets you and Mr. Romney's "I can't recall" leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of those of us who watched Mr. Ehrlichman say the same thing some 150 times during the hearings. While it seems hard to believe that Mr. Romney wouldn't remember the incident at all it is even worse if he actually did manage to erase it from his mind. What does it say about his character that he could so thoroughly forgot such a sordid action on his part? Mr. Romney had a great opportunity to demonstrate to us his humanity; imagine if he had hung his head and said how ashamed he was for his actions, how sorry he was that he had never attempted to make amends, and that he carries the guilt of that event around forever and uses it to make him strive to be more tolerant of others. The real Romney was what we saw; the blank look and the bland apology, "I don't remember but I am sorry for any hurt that was caused" accepts no responsibility and offers little solace.
Mr. Nixon had a number of fine qualities; he worked hard and he was smart. What everybody felt he lacked was a moral center, a sense that certain things were right or wrong on the merits of the thing, not how they affected Nixon. Mr. Romney, who also works hard and is smart, does not come off as a paranoid or that he feels persecuted but he behaves as if he is slumming when he deals with other, less well-connected, people. Mr. Nixon resented the owners of the country club, Mr. Romney owns the country club, yet both of them demonstrate in their different ways that the ethos that guide others do not pertain to them.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Reversal of Fortune
I don't usually like the whole imaginary change of realities as an excuse to write something but a couple of items in the news lately have compelled me to indulge in a moment of sick-fun fantasy.
Imagine a world where the Limbaugh-loving ultra-right wingers are opposed to private gun ownership. It could happen; think if the secular humanist liberals really didn't care about human life, as they are portrayed ad-nauseam by Limbaugh and co., and they were taking aim with a 30.06 instead of a pen at all the hypocrisy of the Republican Party. Might be those same Republicans would feel differently about AK-47's in the hands of Democratic "bird" hunters and start screaming on the airwaves about the need to limit the number and power of guns in the hands of outraged and sometimes, gasp!, misguided citizens. In no other way do I want to change reality; other than granting this brief moment of sanity regarding gun laws Mr. Limbaugh spews the same hateful garbage he does in real life.
Last week there were two, not merely one stupid awful tragedy but two, children who were killed when they fired a handgun in a car, one boy killed his sister and another boy killed himself. The mind boggles at how this could happen. The children were left alone long enough to get out of their car-seats and get a gun that they must have known was there. The parents, leaving the children long enough to do all of this, didn't think to take the bullets out of the gun in order, I presume, to be ready to defend themselves from some external threat they must have felt was eminent. Now just think of the kind of comments a Rush Limbaugh would make about these events were he in favor of gun control, picture the gigantic red face and vituperative abuse he might pour forth! But now that I am at this point I am choking on the kind of hateful remarks that are Limbaugh's stock in trade. Though it might be nice to indulge in some smug self satisfaction about the idiocy of carrying loaded guns around that children can so easily access, I can only imagine the utter grief and guilt that must be overwhelming the parents of those children. Instead of working myself up into a frenzy of outrage at a policeman showing such a colossal lack of judgement and insisting on him facing criminal charges, not to mention losing his job, I see him standing with his son, the killer, at the grave of the little girl they both loved. What can the father say? That it isn't the boy's fault? Just an unfortunate accident? The lives of the survivors will be forever altered and not likely in any positive way. Instead of vilifying we ought to sympathize, instead of displaying hate I am gratified that the media is leaving those families alone to grieve in whatever peace they may find.
Hard to see Mr. Limbaugh approving of this passivity. Where is my gumption, he might say, to take on an issue that I believe in so strongly? Am I just a yellow-bellied chicken for sitting quietly by while innocent children die because of stupid laws? Perhaps I am, perhaps it is the whole of civilizations' idea of mature behavior that is wrong when it attempts to see more than one side of an issue and then to behave with tact and humility.
I think it was T.S. Elliot who said "this is how the world will end, not with a bang but with a whimper", but it might very well end in a rant that everybody takes to be an intelligent argument. Most of the time I think Mr. Limbaugh is funny, a weathervane of the absurd. Mr Limbaugh is the cultural heir to Archie Bunker and in some ironic way he serves as a warning to progressives that the culture war will never be completely won. Alarms are supposed to sound obnoxious but if left on too long we stop paying attention. Mature people cannot afford to ignore the rants of Mr Limbaugh and his ilk, they warn us of the chaos that is always present and that we might slip into.
Imagine a world where the Limbaugh-loving ultra-right wingers are opposed to private gun ownership. It could happen; think if the secular humanist liberals really didn't care about human life, as they are portrayed ad-nauseam by Limbaugh and co., and they were taking aim with a 30.06 instead of a pen at all the hypocrisy of the Republican Party. Might be those same Republicans would feel differently about AK-47's in the hands of Democratic "bird" hunters and start screaming on the airwaves about the need to limit the number and power of guns in the hands of outraged and sometimes, gasp!, misguided citizens. In no other way do I want to change reality; other than granting this brief moment of sanity regarding gun laws Mr. Limbaugh spews the same hateful garbage he does in real life.
Last week there were two, not merely one stupid awful tragedy but two, children who were killed when they fired a handgun in a car, one boy killed his sister and another boy killed himself. The mind boggles at how this could happen. The children were left alone long enough to get out of their car-seats and get a gun that they must have known was there. The parents, leaving the children long enough to do all of this, didn't think to take the bullets out of the gun in order, I presume, to be ready to defend themselves from some external threat they must have felt was eminent. Now just think of the kind of comments a Rush Limbaugh would make about these events were he in favor of gun control, picture the gigantic red face and vituperative abuse he might pour forth! But now that I am at this point I am choking on the kind of hateful remarks that are Limbaugh's stock in trade. Though it might be nice to indulge in some smug self satisfaction about the idiocy of carrying loaded guns around that children can so easily access, I can only imagine the utter grief and guilt that must be overwhelming the parents of those children. Instead of working myself up into a frenzy of outrage at a policeman showing such a colossal lack of judgement and insisting on him facing criminal charges, not to mention losing his job, I see him standing with his son, the killer, at the grave of the little girl they both loved. What can the father say? That it isn't the boy's fault? Just an unfortunate accident? The lives of the survivors will be forever altered and not likely in any positive way. Instead of vilifying we ought to sympathize, instead of displaying hate I am gratified that the media is leaving those families alone to grieve in whatever peace they may find.
Hard to see Mr. Limbaugh approving of this passivity. Where is my gumption, he might say, to take on an issue that I believe in so strongly? Am I just a yellow-bellied chicken for sitting quietly by while innocent children die because of stupid laws? Perhaps I am, perhaps it is the whole of civilizations' idea of mature behavior that is wrong when it attempts to see more than one side of an issue and then to behave with tact and humility.
I think it was T.S. Elliot who said "this is how the world will end, not with a bang but with a whimper", but it might very well end in a rant that everybody takes to be an intelligent argument. Most of the time I think Mr. Limbaugh is funny, a weathervane of the absurd. Mr Limbaugh is the cultural heir to Archie Bunker and in some ironic way he serves as a warning to progressives that the culture war will never be completely won. Alarms are supposed to sound obnoxious but if left on too long we stop paying attention. Mature people cannot afford to ignore the rants of Mr Limbaugh and his ilk, they warn us of the chaos that is always present and that we might slip into.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Thank the Santorum
Rick Santorum is publicly waging a culture war. Whatever the issue Mr Santorum can be counted on to take the regressive, anti-choice viewpoint regardless of how absurd the absolutist traditional view may be and no matter how settled the modern view is. He has a lot of support which we all knew, but pretend not to, and his supporters are happy to get out of the closet and into your face, or into any other body part they think needs regulating. As a staunch believer in free speech I certainly approve of the radical fringe making their opinions known but more than that I welcome it; what better way to see the absurdity of Mr Santorum's attack on choice than to hear it spoken in the light of day, or on some news source other than Fox? What better method can be constructed for careful examination of the right-wing conservatives belief that America should be flung back to the 19th century than to hear them state it publicly?
Stopping the building of nuclear weapons was a very important issue for me. I marched, wrote letters and raised money for nuclear awareness causes, in particular to protest the most expensive and the most egregious of all weapons system; the nuclear submarine. Armed with enough firepower to kill every human being on the planet, two or three of these multi-billion dollar super killers roamed the oceans ready to deliver a thousand year death sentence to civilized humanity if ordered to do so (Think of Mr. Santorum having That kind of power at his fingertips!). Every 4 years or so one of these subs would publicly show itself at our very own Seafair celebration and oh! how the ire in the anti-nuke community would rise! The outrage poured out upon the sailors, who responded with courtesy and thought-provoking analysis of their own occupation, the Navy and fair officials who allowed this abomination to be displayed in our own backyard! In response the defenders of the doomsday machines shot back the absurd and unintelligible rationale for having the subs along with some nasty personal comments about the folks protesting. What I hoped for was More displays of nuclear weapons.
Like the Soviets we should have MX missiles roll down Greenwood Avenue during its Seafair parade. In every city for the 4th of July the anti-nuke folks should have demanded the government display the deadly result of the billions Americans spent on our national defense. We paid for them, lets all get a good long look at the bombs we built and then we can explain to our children why we need these more than schools and healthcare. A good friend of mine who worked in the Peace movement told me that after every time a sub visited membership in his organization increased. Like a visit from a nuclear submarine Mr Santorum is letting us see clearly the danger lurking close at hand.
The American people are benefiting greatly from hearing and then taking some time to imagine the kind of world Mr Santorum sees for us, a place without a right to privacy, where government can tell you what you can do in your bedroom, with your body, and very likely your soul. Freedom isn't free and every now and then it seems to be necessary to be reminded of how fragile freedom is. Thank God for Mr. Santorum's aggressive attack on the American way of life, we needed a wake up call.
Stopping the building of nuclear weapons was a very important issue for me. I marched, wrote letters and raised money for nuclear awareness causes, in particular to protest the most expensive and the most egregious of all weapons system; the nuclear submarine. Armed with enough firepower to kill every human being on the planet, two or three of these multi-billion dollar super killers roamed the oceans ready to deliver a thousand year death sentence to civilized humanity if ordered to do so (Think of Mr. Santorum having That kind of power at his fingertips!). Every 4 years or so one of these subs would publicly show itself at our very own Seafair celebration and oh! how the ire in the anti-nuke community would rise! The outrage poured out upon the sailors, who responded with courtesy and thought-provoking analysis of their own occupation, the Navy and fair officials who allowed this abomination to be displayed in our own backyard! In response the defenders of the doomsday machines shot back the absurd and unintelligible rationale for having the subs along with some nasty personal comments about the folks protesting. What I hoped for was More displays of nuclear weapons.
Like the Soviets we should have MX missiles roll down Greenwood Avenue during its Seafair parade. In every city for the 4th of July the anti-nuke folks should have demanded the government display the deadly result of the billions Americans spent on our national defense. We paid for them, lets all get a good long look at the bombs we built and then we can explain to our children why we need these more than schools and healthcare. A good friend of mine who worked in the Peace movement told me that after every time a sub visited membership in his organization increased. Like a visit from a nuclear submarine Mr Santorum is letting us see clearly the danger lurking close at hand.
The American people are benefiting greatly from hearing and then taking some time to imagine the kind of world Mr Santorum sees for us, a place without a right to privacy, where government can tell you what you can do in your bedroom, with your body, and very likely your soul. Freedom isn't free and every now and then it seems to be necessary to be reminded of how fragile freedom is. Thank God for Mr. Santorum's aggressive attack on the American way of life, we needed a wake up call.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Now Thats Democracy
I heard the other day that there are plans being made to draft Jeb Bush for the nominee at the Republican Convention this August if there is no clear winner after the primaries, which seems likely. I can't imagine that going over very well at the Romney or Gingrich camps certainly but I would think that it might also anger all the people who went to the halls, listened to the speeches and talked with other folks before finally casting a vote. We have a process for picking a candidate and regardless of how odious I personally find them doesn't the fact that they have garnered so much support from rank and file Republicans entitle them to something better than a "thanks for coming but we have our winner"? To be clear, its not that Romney or Gingrich have anything to complain about for themselves, regardless of how much money they spent, but I think their supporters have and if this were to occur their voices would be silenced. I guess when you think about it, a bunch of elites deciding what is best without regard to the people who listened, considered then spoke, is pretty much the norm when it comes to the Republicans.
When you get right down to it the Republicans are doing the economy a favor by running a jobs program where the product they are making is completely useless. They will have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising and travel to pick a candidate and in the end will simply anoint someone who didn't spend a dime. I know they dislike Keynes so I am a little surprised that they seem to be following his model for recessionary spending, though even Keynes might have balked if what was produced turned out to be a bunch of hateful television commercials.
To recap; they ignored the will of their own people and spent a bunch of money for nothing. Vote Republican!
When you get right down to it the Republicans are doing the economy a favor by running a jobs program where the product they are making is completely useless. They will have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising and travel to pick a candidate and in the end will simply anoint someone who didn't spend a dime. I know they dislike Keynes so I am a little surprised that they seem to be following his model for recessionary spending, though even Keynes might have balked if what was produced turned out to be a bunch of hateful television commercials.
To recap; they ignored the will of their own people and spent a bunch of money for nothing. Vote Republican!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Do the Republicans Really want to win?
In every state, in every bar and conference hall, in every high level meeting with political 'leaders' and conference and think tank the Republicans have repeated one mantra and have had only one stated goal; Beat Obama. They may talk about overspending sometimes and they certainly say how bad everything is (without saying much about how they would fix it except for giving More money to rich people) but other than beating Obama there is nothing that truly unites the Republicans. So how come they are going about it so poorly?
Gingrich says he is the true heir to Reagan while trashing Romney, and Reagan's famous 11th commandment, with everything he's got. Of course Romney, and nearly every professional (by professional I mean the country club/chamber of commerce set)Republican in the country is busily trashing Gingrich but its hard to blame anybody for being opposed to a self-proclaimed bomb-thrower. What is hard to miss is how poorly the Repub's are going about accomplishing the only goal they have for this election and so the question comes up; are the Repub's completely incompetent or are they losing on purpose?
The first is obviously the most attractive in that it fulfills all of my predictions of the hubris of the Repubs' and its easy to see that it could be true based on the evidence. The party is being split into three by orthodoxies at war with each other; the Libertarian wing at war with the Social Conservatives in regard to drugs, school prayer and gay anything and at odds with the professional or business folks for their disdain for ANY spending, including things like education or infrastructure improvements that might aid in a country's being able to do business. The Social Conservatives often feel as if they are being paid lip service by the professional Repub's in election years and then completely ignored once the election is over, much the way minorities feel about the Democrats, and for good reason. The country as a whole will not stand for prayer in school and illegal abortion no matter how loudly the Social Conservatives yell and the professional Repub's know this and so will not stake much capital on accomplishing that which they know cannot be accomplished and will diminish their power in the country at large. The Republican Party has been heading for an internal revolution for a long time due to the absolute certainty that each of these parts has in their own infallibility but are they really so certain of their own perfection that they are willing to fail so spectacularly at the only goal that every Republican is in agreement about? I have to wonder.
So lets examine the other possibility, that the Republicans are Trying to lose. They are not very hopeful that the economy is going to turn around in any big way, and of course they are in a good position with their majority in the House to thwart anything that might improve it, and so why should their guy be in the hot seat when the election time bill-paying comes due? Much better to be out of power and trash Obama for his failures. The international scene is very much in flux, the whole Middle East is in rebellion and looking like it is going toward a government run by and for Muslims', an outcome that pays very big dividends for the religious right in America. They can point the finger at Obama for losing the war for democratic government in the Middle East while stoking the fears/dreams of their own stalwart believers in the heady brew of Armageddon. The professional Repub's can let the other two wings fight it out and let on of them get stomped in the general election and when they lose show them how foolish they were to follow their orthodoxy at the cost of holding office. While at the same time its a good bet that the Democrats will be tired out and whipped by reality and the republican controlled House of Representatives with the aid of their good buddy the Supreme Court.
Its not too crazy of a theory and the Republicans have four years to prove I am right, because certainly they are going to lose to Obama this November.
Gingrich says he is the true heir to Reagan while trashing Romney, and Reagan's famous 11th commandment, with everything he's got. Of course Romney, and nearly every professional (by professional I mean the country club/chamber of commerce set)Republican in the country is busily trashing Gingrich but its hard to blame anybody for being opposed to a self-proclaimed bomb-thrower. What is hard to miss is how poorly the Repub's are going about accomplishing the only goal they have for this election and so the question comes up; are the Repub's completely incompetent or are they losing on purpose?
The first is obviously the most attractive in that it fulfills all of my predictions of the hubris of the Repubs' and its easy to see that it could be true based on the evidence. The party is being split into three by orthodoxies at war with each other; the Libertarian wing at war with the Social Conservatives in regard to drugs, school prayer and gay anything and at odds with the professional or business folks for their disdain for ANY spending, including things like education or infrastructure improvements that might aid in a country's being able to do business. The Social Conservatives often feel as if they are being paid lip service by the professional Repub's in election years and then completely ignored once the election is over, much the way minorities feel about the Democrats, and for good reason. The country as a whole will not stand for prayer in school and illegal abortion no matter how loudly the Social Conservatives yell and the professional Repub's know this and so will not stake much capital on accomplishing that which they know cannot be accomplished and will diminish their power in the country at large. The Republican Party has been heading for an internal revolution for a long time due to the absolute certainty that each of these parts has in their own infallibility but are they really so certain of their own perfection that they are willing to fail so spectacularly at the only goal that every Republican is in agreement about? I have to wonder.
So lets examine the other possibility, that the Republicans are Trying to lose. They are not very hopeful that the economy is going to turn around in any big way, and of course they are in a good position with their majority in the House to thwart anything that might improve it, and so why should their guy be in the hot seat when the election time bill-paying comes due? Much better to be out of power and trash Obama for his failures. The international scene is very much in flux, the whole Middle East is in rebellion and looking like it is going toward a government run by and for Muslims', an outcome that pays very big dividends for the religious right in America. They can point the finger at Obama for losing the war for democratic government in the Middle East while stoking the fears/dreams of their own stalwart believers in the heady brew of Armageddon. The professional Repub's can let the other two wings fight it out and let on of them get stomped in the general election and when they lose show them how foolish they were to follow their orthodoxy at the cost of holding office. While at the same time its a good bet that the Democrats will be tired out and whipped by reality and the republican controlled House of Representatives with the aid of their good buddy the Supreme Court.
Its not too crazy of a theory and the Republicans have four years to prove I am right, because certainly they are going to lose to Obama this November.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The Current Republican Woes
We have been deluged by the news of the recent landslide Republican victories in the House and less so in the Senate and while it would be idiotic to suggest that these victories were not very significant, even in an historically incumbent-bashing off-year election, I think the Republicans are not going to do so well in the next election.
The Congressional elections formed a perfect storm for the Republicans that will not be repeated. The gutting of campaign finance reform launched a never-ending stream of negative ads that allowed the Republicans to wage a national campaign against Pelosi and Obamacare while not having to back a specific candidate. The Republicans are incapable of backing a single candidate, the only thing that unites them is that they are not Democrats.
The Republican "car" has in the driver seat the business class that has always sat at the wheel. They have changed direction somewhat, requiring government bailout in such a fantastic and public way, but the business class has always looked to government to "pave the way", by building projects meant to aid in the doing of business, and in removing obstacles, such as legislating tariffs. That they expect these things while simultaneously complaining of government has been useful to keep others in their car satisfied and thereby get themselves elected. There are two other groups vying for directional control that is the cause of the cars' erratic course. On one side there are the social conservatives; claiming Christian values they don't want to spend a lot of money feeding the poor or helping the homeless but they very much want to see homosexuality outlawed and prayer in school mandated and maybe a flag-burning amendment. This is in contrast to the growing Libertarian bunch reaching for the wheel on the other side who have taken seriously the verbal trashing of government and want nothing to do with an engaging foreign policy. The only federal spending they are in agreement with is for defense and they are opposed to government regulating the private lives of individuals.
The Republican car may be currently driving down the middle of the road but that is due only to the social conservatives and the libertarians pulling in equal measure in opposite direction. Once they are obliged to agree on a single candidate with a cogent agenda will we see their car weaving and lurching. We can only hope they are cited for reckless driving by an intelligent police/electorate and have their licenses/seats suspended for awhile.
The Congressional elections formed a perfect storm for the Republicans that will not be repeated. The gutting of campaign finance reform launched a never-ending stream of negative ads that allowed the Republicans to wage a national campaign against Pelosi and Obamacare while not having to back a specific candidate. The Republicans are incapable of backing a single candidate, the only thing that unites them is that they are not Democrats.
The Republican "car" has in the driver seat the business class that has always sat at the wheel. They have changed direction somewhat, requiring government bailout in such a fantastic and public way, but the business class has always looked to government to "pave the way", by building projects meant to aid in the doing of business, and in removing obstacles, such as legislating tariffs. That they expect these things while simultaneously complaining of government has been useful to keep others in their car satisfied and thereby get themselves elected. There are two other groups vying for directional control that is the cause of the cars' erratic course. On one side there are the social conservatives; claiming Christian values they don't want to spend a lot of money feeding the poor or helping the homeless but they very much want to see homosexuality outlawed and prayer in school mandated and maybe a flag-burning amendment. This is in contrast to the growing Libertarian bunch reaching for the wheel on the other side who have taken seriously the verbal trashing of government and want nothing to do with an engaging foreign policy. The only federal spending they are in agreement with is for defense and they are opposed to government regulating the private lives of individuals.
The Republican car may be currently driving down the middle of the road but that is due only to the social conservatives and the libertarians pulling in equal measure in opposite direction. Once they are obliged to agree on a single candidate with a cogent agenda will we see their car weaving and lurching. We can only hope they are cited for reckless driving by an intelligent police/electorate and have their licenses/seats suspended for awhile.
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