16 August 2005

Mid-August Musings: Political Edition

Whatever happened to that Karl Rove story? Maybe some members of the press are digging into some deep stuff and are bottling it up until it all checks out, but I'm thinking it's more likely they've given up with trying to keep the public's attention, and after all, that's all that news really is these days: entertainment and ratings. Speaking of which, you get more incisive reporting from Jon Stewart's The Daily Show than from any other network or cable "news" source, and Stewart's show is a comedy (I don't have cable but I catch when I'm near cable). Stewart is about the only person reporting on political figures who will actually call them on their bullshit. Repeatedly.

Meanwhile, it seems that Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside Murder, Inc.'s headquarters -- I mean Bush's ranch -- has brought out all the idiots (apparently Crawford has about fifteen village's worth). First there was the guy with the shotgun who threatened the protesters by shooting off a round or two and then declaring he was getting ready for "dove season." A moron indeed.

Then there's the pickup truck driver who mowed down the row of crosses commemorating dead U.S. soldiers. This action has three possible motivations:
  1. Drunk driving
  2. disrespect for the fallen soldiers
  3. disagreement with the protesters who erected the signs
Drunk driving of course could play a factor in both #2 and #3 as well. I wonder if anyone is setting odds on how long it will be before a Bushie supporter tries to kill a protester.

We're only two years into Iraq. What will protests and counter-protests look like as we slog through years 10 through 12, as our dear Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, has predicted? And will we open up a second front in Iran?

Leading now to two questions:
  1. When will the draft return?
  2. Will this fall leave many College Republican groups unable to field intramural softball teams as their members rush off to support their President at the local military recruiting center?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice write up mass! definitely in agreement :-)

Cupcakegrrl said...

I heard on Air America's Morning Sedition (the only good thing about my long commute to work)that historically, drafts have been beneficial to anti-war movements. When the rich kids start having to go to war, the conversation at the Country Club Sunday brunch becomes a little terse. People stop buying the Congressman at the next table the mimosas he's accustomed to. Eventually he gets the hint, and the tides of war change.
The country club image is entirely mine, but the theory is Marc Maron's. (He can use the country club image if he wants- my gift.)
Mass, if you don't listen to Air America, you should start. At least that show, 6:00- 9:00 am.

cs said...

I am almost never up before 7:30 a.m. and after that it's a rush to get the kids situated and us off to work. However, I will try to get the radio alarm tuned to Air America and maybe absorb subliminally.

I'm with you on the draft: once it starts, the mood will change on campus and in country clubs.

Cupcakegrrl said...

cupcakegrrlAir a

Cupcakegrrl said...

Please excuse the previous comment if you see it before I delete it. We are having computer problems at work and that somehow posted itself before I intended.

What I was going to say is that Air America is great but even I realize that some shows are a little too left of center. And Jeaneane Garofolo, who I like, can be appallingly strident on her evening show. I'm saying this so if you listen and she's screeching unpleasantly or someone else is talking crazy talk, you don't think I was trying to sell you on either of those things. A lot of it's great. Some of it sucks.
I guess you could describe many things that way. Life in general, for example...

cs said...

There's no such thing as too left of center. ;-)

Patrick J. Fitzgerald said...

Patience is a virtue in a town lacking virtues...my guess is the real Karl shitstorm will begin to hit the fan two weeks before the grand jury issues indictments in early October.