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Ramblings From the Ragged Crumbling Edge Of The Reality-Based Community

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Dobson To McCain: Bite Me 

...whether the good Doctor James Dobson is actually a king-maker or only imagines, in the fashion of Rush Limbaugh, that he is one, the simple fact remains that he has been fairly vocal over the Republican presidential primary run to date. He has directed the laser-hot focus (in his mind, at least) of the teeming Focus On The Family" legions, in turn, on Rudy Guiliani and Fred Thompson, setting the fundie Jesus Phaser to "Molecularize" and contributing in his own small way to the destruction of two campaigns that seems destined to implode in any case. The word "apostate" never came up in his withering indictments, but the right set of eyes could track it down between the lines of blistering disapproval. Now, not very surprisingly, it is John McCain's turn to see the dancing red targeting dot of disapproval on his person...

The Republican nominating process is becoming a marvel to behold. It has become something of an axiom of GOP presidential politics that the nominee is the next person whose turn it is. John McCain, based on the brutal Rovian beating he received in 2000 followed by his complete surrender to Gee Dub in '04, was clearly the man most likely to be named "Next", but his own contrary nature (probably not one of the first traits one would look for in a president on the best of days) drove a pigiron spike between him and the right-wing punditry class that sees as its birthright the authority to actually declare who the next ticket leader is going to be. As a result, we have the almost once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see important core elements of the GOP base not just arguing but actually stealing and eating the eggs from each other's nests. There has been some testiness through the years, as there always is when the competition is for an open seat, but the growth in importance of cable TV, talk radio, and the plethora of chattering talking heads has elevated the game to some new strange level. To a degree not seen before, Republicans are drawing lines, taking names, and getting ready to kick some ass, but this time it is inside their own chicken coop - rather than outside in the barnyard - where they are getting ready to take it all down...

More power to 'em, I say. You go, Jimmy. Call it like it is. McCain is not a true believer; he is a strayer from the path, some bizarre desert-honed independent-minded loose cannon who cannot be trusted to deliver the sort of utopian theocratic state for which you have pined for these many years. A bitter fight to the finish, replete with all the bruised feelings and angry hearts that such a fight would entail, is just what is needed...

Keep fighting the Good Fight...
Posted by: Jack K. / 7:30 PM 0 comments

Monday, February 04, 2008

Workin' The Seamy Side Of The Political Street 

...it may well be that I should know who Stephen Schlesinger is, he being an ultra-A-list blogger type by virtue of his appearance on Huffington Post. Could be that, were I a real insider, I would have some better understanding of his C.V., but I don't. What I do know, based on this post, is that he is either a supporter of Hillary Clinton or a McCain supporter applying the first crowbar to any possible seam that may appear to exist between Barack Obama and that precious 'independent' vote that will be the ultimate battleground between whoever end up being the Democratic and Republican nominees in the '08 election...

As far as the Big Game coming up this fall is concerned, it really doesn't matter who is the Democratic nominee; many, if not most (hell, if not all), of the the questions posed in this post are going to present troubling days and grim sleepless nights for the fixers, mechanics, and spinmeisters tailoring the message for the Democrat. Neither Obama or Clinton has the length of service in the US Senate as John McCain. Neither of them has served in uniform nor been a "war hero", neither of them has so whole-heartedly supported the useless and botched invasion of Iraq as McCain, and both of them have taken more lenient, realistic stances on the treatment of illegal immigrants than has McCain, even though one of the reasons he is little better than vinegar in the mouth to most highly visible "True Conservatives"...

On the other hand, neither of them has been so ardent a friend and supporter of George W. Bush as John McCain has been over the last few years. Neither of them has to explain why their names are connected to the "Keating Five" scandal. Neither of them have to explain why they seem to suffer some confusion about their religious affiliation or connections. Neither of them have to explain their fondness for the continuation of George Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy after having previously opposed them, nor why they think that Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito are the epitome of jurisprudence in the Supreme Court of The United States. Neither of them have to explain a refusal of the right of a woman to have some say over when or where she is to give birth to a child...

It's a good thing, I suppose, that there are humble, hard-working servants to the public's need to know like Stephen Schlesinger out there to give us the high sign about the disturbing difficulties that an Obama candidacy would present for all of us stalwart left-wingers that might be susceptible to his siren song of "Change". Truth be told, however, pretty much anybody within sniffing distance of that shiny bright Grand Prize of an all-expenses-paid stay in the White House has all sorts of difficult testy questions to which he or she may need to provide answers. Singling out any particular candidate at this point in the game for this kind of treatment is little more than playing stickball on the seamy side of the street and looks a lot more like a leakage of oppo research than any sort of reasoned analysis of anything that looks like "The Issues"...
Posted by: Jack K. / 8:00 PM 0 comments

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Maybe You Can Be A Dynasty Next Year 

...I have to confess that the only absolutely truly pleasing Super Bowl outcome would be for the Seattle Seahawks to trounce whatever AFC team they might be facing. Had one shot at that so far; didn't work out. I care nothing about the the Giants and have grown tired of the elevation to God-like status of the head coach and quarterback of the Patriots, but I am an 'underdog' kind of guy (comes pretty naturally for someone who has spent a good portion of the last half century rooting for Pac NW teams - Notre Dame vs. Oregon State in the Fiesta bowl a few years ago was a howling at the moon experience for me) and tonight's outcome had me shouting at the TV in exultation. I'm tired of all the Patriots dynasty talk, and I would be more than happy to not listen to it for at least another year, if not forever...

I love a good game, and I love it when the underdog I picked because I don't have a natural favorite (and thanks, Michael Vick, for taking "dog in the fight out of the tool box when talking about football games) sends all the big time Vegas players off to bed with a desperate fear of what special hell tomorrow is going to bring. Since I'm one of those guys that the media tried and failed to label as "NASCAR dads" during the last election cycle, the biggest news of today for me is that - two weeks from today - it will be time for the next Daytona 500 and the start of the next...well I guess we now have to call it the Sprint Cup...season. There's three and a half feet of snow on the ground outside my door and the last two weeks of winter storms and closed highways has reduced the concept of 'sunshine' to being some sort of strange pagan ritual story; the idea that there is some place in the world where people can actually drive at speeds beyond 45 mph while bathed in moderately warm sunshine gives me hope. In the meantime, Go Giants....but only for this year....
Posted by: Jack K. / 7:41 PM 0 comments

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