Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Another hard day - drinking in the sun...
Around 3:00pm afternoon I loaded up a big cast-iron cauldron with ice and cheap beer, and then went out onto the porch to lay in the sun, and casually peruse Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail in 1972.
First I had to deal with a vicious young Pit Bull, who made me very nervous with his persistent gnawing on my bare feet. But after I pacified the brute, by giving him a tattered glove to slather his teeth upon, I got down to serious business.
The 72/04 parallels in the (D) primary seemed very obvious when Dean was the front-runner, but ever since his collapse, that talk has faded away, and few people seem to have considered why exactly Dean did get defeated, and why JK is the (D) candidate.
One thing is FOR SURE - JK isn't The Candidate because of his vision, leadership, policies, or his ability to Turn People On. In fact, JK has an almost magical ability to Turn People OFF, while at the same time convincing EVEN DEMOCRATS that he is nothing more than a self-serving Flip-Flopper, who would sell his soul to Satan, or whoever else was the highest-bidder, for the opportunity to ascend those last few steps to the Oval Office.
Ok, I'll admit it - I DON'T LIKE JOHN KERRY. But I don't really think that I'm alone, and if I had to guess, I would say that there are a lot of other (D) like me, who are still wondering how this guy got to be our candidate.
My thesis, as it is, is that the demise of Dean, and reflexive ascendancy of Kerry, has everything to do with 1972, and that, consequently, even though the "McGovern" candidate of the (D) party got the ax, we still have a lot to learn from the results of the '72 election, and we are still likely to repeat them.
And when I sober up a bit, I may actually try to back all of this up with some facts, but for now, I have that dirty bitch Mr. A screaming in my ear to POST NOW, and so I will let this go, in whatever shape it is.
First I had to deal with a vicious young Pit Bull, who made me very nervous with his persistent gnawing on my bare feet. But after I pacified the brute, by giving him a tattered glove to slather his teeth upon, I got down to serious business.
The 72/04 parallels in the (D) primary seemed very obvious when Dean was the front-runner, but ever since his collapse, that talk has faded away, and few people seem to have considered why exactly Dean did get defeated, and why JK is the (D) candidate.
One thing is FOR SURE - JK isn't The Candidate because of his vision, leadership, policies, or his ability to Turn People On. In fact, JK has an almost magical ability to Turn People OFF, while at the same time convincing EVEN DEMOCRATS that he is nothing more than a self-serving Flip-Flopper, who would sell his soul to Satan, or whoever else was the highest-bidder, for the opportunity to ascend those last few steps to the Oval Office.
Ok, I'll admit it - I DON'T LIKE JOHN KERRY. But I don't really think that I'm alone, and if I had to guess, I would say that there are a lot of other (D) like me, who are still wondering how this guy got to be our candidate.
My thesis, as it is, is that the demise of Dean, and reflexive ascendancy of Kerry, has everything to do with 1972, and that, consequently, even though the "McGovern" candidate of the (D) party got the ax, we still have a lot to learn from the results of the '72 election, and we are still likely to repeat them.
And when I sober up a bit, I may actually try to back all of this up with some facts, but for now, I have that dirty bitch Mr. A screaming in my ear to POST NOW, and so I will let this go, in whatever shape it is.
