5/3/04
There is a frustration that is deeper than the frustration you normally feel towards things you loathe. It is the frustration borne out of the belief that nothing is even shocking to you anymore. I have taken a long break from discussing anything political on this blog, perhaps to the relief of my small, disturbed following - but it is the season to start asking yourself if you still plan to live here in mid-November.
Even though the delivery mechanism is flawed, I jibe with Janeane Garofalo most of the time - tonight on the "Daily Show" she said that voting for Bush is a deep character flaw. I don't agree with her that George W is an End of Days Evangelical (I think he's too dimwitted, and frankly, too interested in his own comfort to be psyched about the apocalypse) but she does strike a deep chord in me when she talks about the Dumb and Mean everyday Americans willing to keep that insufferable twit in office.
But again, my frustration: there is just so much bad stuff emanating from our current administration that it fuses together into a sort of indistinguishable mess. There's no one subject to concentrate your rage. Just this week, there were pictures from American torture camps, more revelations about Bush's blood lust for Iraq PRE-9/11, the disintegration of Fallujah, the anniversary of the "Mission Accomplished" horror-show, and disturbing testimony from Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz, who didn't have the slightest idea how many Americans had been killed in the war.
But it's just another week, y'know? You probably got bored reading that paragraph. I got bored writing it. The American populace, and indeed, MY BRAIN, has been so exhausted by the constant state of stunning lies, miscalculations and mean-spirited vitriol cascading out of our government, that I'm finding it hard to give a shit anymore. I'm definitely finding it hard to care about America anymore. The fact that this presidential race is close is a disgrace. And if Bush wins in November, I don't know how me, my wife, or my future family can live here. It won't even be a decision made in rage, it will be calm and obvious.
Before this year, I'd never heard of the phrase "brazen it out." Simply stated, it means you're going to stick to your guns, keep repeating the same shit louder and louder, and be the last asshole standing, even though you're deadly wrong. Someone used it to describe this administration, and I realized that "brazening it out" is the end of dialogue, nuance and art.
I wonder how progressive, sensitive Americans felt in 1973, when the President was dismantling the Constitution and brothers were being flown home in body bags. I wonder if it felt like this.
Posted by irw at May 3, 2004 11:09 PMHi Ian. At the risk of being un-invited from my regular viewing of your weblog, I would like to share some of my thoughts with you. I am a registered Democrat, come from a long line of Democrats, and I think of myself as a progressive, sensitive American. And I voted for George W. Bush in 2000. And I plan to vote for him again this year. I voted for him in 2000 mainly by default. After campaigning for Bill Clinton and viewing him as the answer to our prayers back in 1994, I was disappointed by him and his policies time and time again. To be honest, the Monica Lewinsky fiasco was the final insult. I mean, I campaigned and hoped and dreamed for this????? I am sure parents of young children all around the country (Democrats and Republicans alike) appreciated having to define fellatio to their young children and explain exactly why the President states it is not sex. Thanks for not keeping it in your pants, Bill! Perhaps if he was not so concerned with being blown by his intern, Osama bin Laden would have been defused in advance.
I digress! In 2000, Al Gore was not much of an option. The man is an automaton!! I am a Democrat, yet an independent thinking Democrat, and I could not justify voting for Al Gore. Hence, my vote went to Bush, and I dare say the same scenario is being played out yet again with John Kerry. What kind of an option is Kerry? I would have voted for Howard Dean, but my Party did not consider him viable. I do not find George Bush as objectionable as you, and I believe that his decisiveness was and is necessary in the post-9/11 world.
I don't think equating Bush with all things evil is the solution. And I think that there are a lot of Democrats who share my line of thinking. Believe me, I used to think that Janeane was right on point. She was preaching to my choir! Now, I tend to think of her as a whiner disassociated with the reality we live in.
If anything, perhaps my comments will lead to some interesting responses. I don't mean to anger anyone -- just sharing my thoughts. Thanks for the opportunity to do so! Take care!
To Laurie: I make no apologies for Clinton. He will never be President again. But George Bush's lies are getting people killed. How anyone can forgive that and not Clinton simply baffles me. We have skyrocketing unemployment, an unplanned and disastrous occupation of a country we should never have entered; an occupation that is increasing, not decreasing, the terrorist threat to America. Gallup polled the iraqis and 71% of them want us out--86% of the non-Kurds want us out. Saddam didn't have any weapons. Any five year old would have known that the moment the army invaded and didn't get something nasty immediately launched at it. Bush has exploited 9/11 for partisan political gain, cracked down on civil rights, pandered to his corporate buddies at the expense of both budget balancing AND free enterprise, outsourced our jobs, done away with environmental and consumer protection, and alienated America from most of the World. If that isn't evil, what is? I don't know what you have against John Kerry, but given the incumbent, it seems a no-brainer to me to give someone else a chance---heck, other than Adam Sandler or Osama Bin Laden, I'd pick just about ANYONE.
To Ian. Bush isn't America. America's still the greatest country in the World, and the crooks in DC don't get to change that, however bad they are. America's bigger than the stupid-ass Government. America is amber waves of grain, the Grand Canyon, Louisiana Gumbo, New England Chowder, Rocky Mountain microbrew and Tennessee whiskey. Eagles and bears and buffalo. Hollywood, Nashville, Seattle and Broadway. America is--you know, good stuff.
Check out www.dailykos.com my favorite political blog, full of grassroots activists working to get rid of Scrappy Doo and the war party, both the White House and Congress. You can post your political diary entries there, and know that you're not the one going mad. I'd love to see some of your writing there.
Remember--if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
What you are experiencing, Ian, is shock and awe.
OMG... if I only had the time... but trust me, I'll find the time later today. And by then, the comment section should really be interesting reading.
I've been lurking on your weblog for a while, and have enjoyed it. However, I seldom have time to comment. As for Bush, I think he'll win, and watching this Frontline program on PBS last week convinced me of it: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/ You can view it online when you have an hour to spare.
If you're truly serious, I'd start shopping for another place to live. Or, stay here and stay vocal...this period of misery will be but another brief blip in the annals of history. Someone like you needs to be around to write about it.
I will try to remain rational when discussing this. Laurie, you have issue with parents explaining the meaning of fellatio to their children. Why is that worse than explaining the meaning of lies? and of mass murder? and WMDs(and lack thereof)? and hatred? and environmental degredation? and human rights abuses? Because that is what Bush has brought to this country and to the rest of the world. I cannot conceive how ANYONE would give a rat's ass about Clinton getting blown by an intern versus Bush stuffing young Americans into body bags by the hundreds and killing Iraqis by the thousands based on a fallacious claim. I mean, I seriously just don't get it.
Okay. I didn't even use the "f" word. Yet.
By the way. Josie and I scooped ice cream together at High's in Norfolk, VA when we were seventeen. I think that is so cool.
Okay, back to the political discourse.
Please don't misunderstand me. I am not placing Bill's indiscretions on the same level as mass murder! I was just trying to make the argument that the soccer moms who ushered Bill Clinton into Washington may have been a bit disillusioned by his activities while in office. He made himself look like a fool and made a joke out of the White House! I think that Clinton was responsible for many Democrats'decision to leave the party. And it is not just because he was blown by the intern.
Yes, discussing war and mass murder with my child is far more difficult than discussing the President's sex life. (However, I would have liked not to have had to discuss Clinton's sex life at all!) I had a hard enough time explaining to her why the Twin Towers were destroyed and why all the people inside were murdered.
My point: If the Democratic Party wants to escort Bush out of the White House, it will have to offer up more charismatic and viable candidates than Gore the Automaton and Kerry the anti-Bush. In my opinion, Kerry has not stated clearly his plan to end the war and turn things around. Do you think that he has? I would be happy to vote Democratic again, but I am not going to vote Democratic just for the sake of voting Democratic.
Just my opinion. It is OK to agree to disagree. We'll see what happens in November.
Me again. One other thought I'd like to express. I used to think a lot like you do now, believe it or not. I can distinctly remember the abject misery I would feel when Reagan was reelected (and I was most definitely convinced that Reagan was evil incarnate!), and when Bush I won. I also remember screaming through the halls of my law school with other Democrats when Clinton won -- so elated that I could not think or see straight. But, you know, Piglet is right. America is much bigger than the stupid-ass Government. And that stupid-ass Government is so much more a sum of its parts than one man. What you really need to worry about are the Supreme Court Justices! Ha!
Hope I have not raised anyone's blood pressure too much. Have a good night.
Laurie, if you believe we need to worry about the Supreme court justices, then for God's sake VOTE DEMOCRAT, ANY Democrat. Unless you're interested in Chief Justice Ashcroft deciding what rights you have for the next 20 years.
George is a proven failure. At EVERYTHING. So far, all you've said against Kerry is that he's an empty suit to you. Isn't an empty suit better than someone who lies his way to a disastrous and unnecessary war to make his crony capitalist buddies profitable?
Or perhaps, having been burned and hurt by Clinton, you're afraid that you might trust and believe Kerry only to get shocked and hurt and taken by surprise when and if he turns out to have feet of clay like the others? I'll grant you, with George Bush, you'll never have to worry about being shocked and surprised by that...
The bonus of being too busy to sound off today... is others already said it well. Bush screwed it up - his chance is over, he proved he couldn't do the job well. Some of our supreme court justices are ready to retire - vote democrat and they may get the chance to do so sooner rather than later. While Clinton changed the definition of sex for me... who cares, I'd rather my daughter consider blowing someone to be sex anyway. Someone mentioned to me maybe I should write, this past week i've written a nasty to the idiots that felt the need to censor Ted Koppels reading of the lives lost since this war/conflict began. I've written a thank you to Aaron Brown and Lou Dobbs, these guys not only present well, Lou Dobbs is a kick ass moderator. I'm thinking Kerry needs to choose Edwards, then we get Hilary... see where this could go - right to the first woman V.P. or possibly President... have not done the math.
Regarding Norfolk, VA. I was born at Langley air force base, Dad was in the army and while I was concieved in Germany they sent my mom my arrival. spent my summers vacationing in Hampton, VA.
More rambling.
Was at an event Saturday night, second event in six months where i've heard Jen Cass sing. As I stated on an earlier post, If I like the sound a piece of music, then I pay attention to the lyrics. This girl sounds good, writes well and plays well. I had a chance to ask her when the songs I enjoyed Saturday night will be recorded...Jan. 2005. I live in a very republican town, she played a song called Dear Mr. President mid set and got a standing ovation. She stated before singing the song she'd never played it live and might tank it half way through... she didn't. People are pissed off regardless of how they generally vote. April was a bit too costly in terms of dollars spent on Iraq and more importantly in terms of lives lost.
Time for me to shut up... just one more note.
I enjoyed kents photos of the wedding festivities- thanks for sharing what looked to be a great time had by all.
Unless you pick Canada, you will probably find the comfort of international Bush haters to be fleeting. For instance, I can't imagine any peace loving individual not having a hard time with France's role as the Despot Home Depot. I'm sure just about every homicidal dictator of the last 40 years has filled his cart with French goodies for their people. (Fighter jets, missiles, chemical agents)
I will not vote for Bush this November, because he hasn't earned it. I may leave the Presidential chads undesturbed. I won't be leaving when Bush wins, which I'm sure he will. I'm going to mingle amoungst my unsuspecting conservative friends and try to shine a light on the bullshit. I am still shocked at how so many Republicans simply picked their team and quit thinking.
may i gently and respectfully remind everybody that shortening the name of our country to "america" can sound like arrogant fingernails on a chalkboard to the rest of the world, especially the millions of people hailing from the "other" americas (i.e. north [canada] and latin [central and south])? "united states" is specific and doesn't bulldoze over the existence of latinoamerica, etc. i realize that 99 percent of ian's readers are sensitive, educated people who don't intend to insult their fellow non-USA americans. but many people from other countries infer such use as presumptious and, unfortunately, typical of us. obviously bush's idiotic slurred pronunciation ("amurrica") doesn't help. p.s. LAURIE: thank you for your frank and gutsy candor, esp considering most of your audience here. props for that! here goes: what is so wrong with kerry? do you prefer bush's vietnam era activities (avoiding real service) to kerry's (in nam's jungles despite similar hoity-toity connections)? do you prefer bush's plan to "end the war" (which he already did one year ago! yay!) to kerry's (which at least recognizes that we're up to our eyeballs)? do you prefer a born-again christian who panders to the scary far right, to a low-key wasp who believes in separating church and state? i could go on but it would bore anyone still reading this comment...
I am baffled by those who continue to support Bush despite the apparent deception his administration used to get us into war in Iraq. Bush is not inherently evil. But I believe he does lack intellectual curiosity and is easily manipulated by those around him - Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney, and Rove - whose motives are more questionable. The arrogant swagger of the whole lot is as embarrassing as Bush's inability to speak using compound sentences.
By the way, Ian, I'm a newcomer to your blog and have really enjoyed it. I believe we may have had some mutual friends at UNC. I dated James Roven for a time and my roommate, Jon Stout may have been a friend of Tessa's. Anyway, small world.
George Lakoff has a theory of why conservatives see blow jobs as worse than going to war on a lie, as well as what kind of thinking drives American politics generally. http://www.santafe.edu/sfi/publications/Bulletins/bulletin-fall96/lakoff.html
Not to beat a dead horse, but just one more word about this whole Clinton-blow-job thing...I still...STILL...just cannot understand why people get so upset about it. The only rational conclusion I can reach is that people who cannot bear the thought of Clinton (or, quite possibly, anyone) receiving head simply cannot accept the existence of human sexuality in some very basic way--there's some sort of loathing and horror of this tableaux as though it were unnatural and disgusting. People will quickly retort that no, it's the fact that he was cheating on his wife and blahseblah etc., however we KNOW that Clinton is not the first, nor even the second, and realistic people might even say he's probably not the third, President to ever stoop to sexual trangression. Yet, JFK continues to be universally lionized, and you don't seem to hear conservatives bashing Thomas JEFFERSON, do you? It just makes me insane, it really does.
And furthermore all the truly horrific and difficult-to-forgive acts that Bush II has been responsible for are somehow passed off as necessary for our 'security.' I could cry.
Lyle: re: "America" - I feel the same way about "Carolina." I can't believe South Carolina has the audacity to include "Carolina" in its name when they're clearly beneath us...
Kelly: Welcome!
Laurie: to me it's simple - it sounds like you've been sold a bill of goods about Kerry from your news sources. I'd encourage you to really look at what he stands for - versus what Bush stands for - and tell me your conclusions. We live in such a reductivist society that it's easy to fall for the catchphrases, and when that happens, bad people win.
About 1973? Yeah, it felt JUST like this. Only then we got to see the pictures and count the body bags.