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| The Republican campaign in one easy mock. |
I told Susan, more accurately I forced Susan to listen to my rant about the absurdity of all the hullabaloo being made about the so-called "debate" among seven Republicans who want to be president. It's June of 2011, the first primary is in February next year. What the hell?
The rant was along several lines: first, that we are all going to be subjected from now till November of 2012 with the endless blather of not only candidates, but the pundits, commentators, and other talking heads who are going to breathlessly keep score on who's ahead and who's losing. Second, all of this will be carried on in great seriousness, as if who is elected president is going to really make a difference in the lives of ordinary Americans. Third, all this election crap will be inescapable if you a) read; b) watch TV; c) are conscious during the next 18 months.
I tell you, brothers and sisters, as I think I have already, I'm done with believing that politics in this country is anything more than a continuing exercise into the ways and means of advancing the interests of global corporations, keeping the Pentagon happy, and swelling the already obscenely bloated fortunes of the fat cats. To me, it's lamentable naivete to believe otherwise. It basically makes no difference whatever who is the president or from whatever party. The agenda is the same for any of them.
Making it all even more painful is the utter vacuousness of the campaigns of I-don't-care-who. The whole purpose of whatever comes out of their mouth is to say nothing substantial. Nothing that could possibly be construed as thoughtful or challenging. And this is matched by the mind-numbing predictability of media coverage. It's a race, you see, and all we're interested in is who's ahead and by how much and who's behind.
Pardon me, but fuck it. Let me know when somebody proposes substantial cuts to the defense department, advocates stiff taxation on those who can afford it, or tells the American people the truth about the real state of affairs instead of blowing huge quantities of smoke up their butts.
Matt Taibbi is the guy to read during this coming ordeal . . . Here's what he had to say about the so-called GOP debate:
- The clear winner was Michele Bachmann, who kept her insanity bottled up very effectively, only lied once or twice, and made the rest of the group look like vacillating stooges.
- Man, I had forgotten in four short years how little there is in the way of actual ideas in presidential politics. Every single candidate last night was saying one version or another of the same thing: that the private sector rocks, the government sucks, we need to drill everywhere, reduce taxes and end regulation.
- Newt isn’t going to make it to the New Hampshire primary, which is too bad, because watching his hyper-macho intellectual ego be battered by the reality of losing to Michele Bachmann is going to be extremely entertaining while it lasts.
2 comments:
i can't bear to watch the convention itself, though in truth i never could, even with the dems, and even in the last presidential election. i watch mostly msmbc [and as of monday, current, with olberman's new old show] but even that gets tiresome. rachel maddow is one of my heroes but even she really likes the stuff, and last night was 90% about the gop 'debate.' but she always has an interesting spin on it. i sort of wish christine whats-her-name was running, since she'd at least introduce witchraft and masturbation into the debate and it would be fun to watch the others react.
i do thlnk it makes a slight difference if there's a dem or rep in the senate and white house--obama does less damage than any republican would. but yes, we have this splendid illusion that we really elect our presidents and we 'chose' obama, as if of the millions of americans only those 2 could possibly be considered to run the country. the lure of democracy...the further down the power line, the closer to democratic voting we get, so i have some faith in the ideals of small local elections. but still, come november, i'll play my part in the game, hoping that a democrat will kill fewer people than a republican......
I'm off and on with Rachel. I cannot take her constantly, although I agree with her about 95 percent of the time.
Agree with you that democracy is probably functioning at some attenuated level in some municipalities in this country. But that is as far as it goes, I think. I'm gonna be shut out here in OK, though. The state doesn't allow write-ins, and I ain't voting for Obama again. He's slapped my jowls too many times for that.
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