Republicans have found themselves in an uncharacteristic moment of self-reflection these days, but unsurprisingly, none of this involves actually looking at themselves. At their Charlotte retreat, they gazed into the mirror, declared themselves fairest of all, and went home to continue shaking down billionaires and jury-rigging elections in their favor. You see, each unpopular policy, [...]
As the campaign season enters its final phase, I’m struck by the curious languor of the Republican campaign; they’ve stopped advertising in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and Mitt spent his bounce-free post-convention week on a boat. Of course, this could be a case of children being too quiet, but it’s increasingly apparent that for whatever reason, [...]
I thought about li’l Bobby Jindal, potential VP pick, this morning when I realized that it was 32 years ago today that I personally benefited from “something called volcano monitoring.” For a year or more, Mt. St. Helens, our other mountain, had been bloated and gassy, lately alarmingly so. Armies of those big gummint whatchamacallits [...]
I was initially too lazy to post today, but then I started trolling the intertubes, and danged if I just couldn’t help myself. The stupid is really burning today. For example: Rand Paul Now lil’ Rand is considerably more attractive than his Papa, which couldn’t hurt (except for that unfortunate white-fro on the top of [...]
I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. –Lady Bracknell, in Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest“ Many observers have long commented on the anti-intellectualism that pervades American politics, but given the events of the past several [...]
Just because there are higher incidences of things like toothlessness, obesity, gun ownership, illiteracy, wheeled homes, and Rush Limbaugh devotees in the Old South than elsewhere in America, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad place, but merely that it might not be the very best source of intellectual enlightenment at this rather pivotal moment in [...]
It seems as though, after having spent a generation creating cardboard cutouts to deceitfully sell that which could not be sold any other way, Republicans have entirely tossed out any slogan beyond the hallowed Caveat Emptor, and just started peddling the cardboard in place of the real thing. I don’t want to pile on poor [...]