As we watch Hillary Clinton slowly, but surely lose her bid to run as the Democratic nominee for the presidency, things keeping getting dumber. Here are three low-lights from the past few days...The former Iowa chair for Obama got pissed off at Bill Clinton's campaign tactics on behalf of his wife, The Monster. Gordon Fischer invoked Monica's blue dress, stating that Bill's remarks were a "stain on his legacy, much worse, much deeper than the one on Monica's blue dress." Any time someone mentions Clinton cum, a media firestorm reignites.
That's right, it's over ten years after Moncia slobbed knob and we're still talking about Bill Clinton's semen.
Former Clinton strategist and Skeletor-looking shit-slinger James Carville decided that Bill Richardson's endorsement of Barack Obama was an act of political disloyalty.He made his point over the Easter weekend, comparing Gov. Richardson to Judas. For you heathens out there, Judas is the dude who sold out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Bill Richardson = Saviour Killer. Carville ain't sorry. He thinks he hit a home run on the Judas thing.
Hillary Clinton described a risky landing in war-torn Bosnia. Sniper fire, running (heads low) to the "base". It was the kind of shit that apparently would pass with some dummies as foreign policy experience (if it were true). Oh, but it came from The Monster's mouth. It isn't true. Not even close.
Hanging out with Sinbad on a plane, shaking a few hands, accepting a present from some random Bosnian kid, and smiling like crazy doesn't sound much like the dangerous mission Hillary described from the stump with a "I'm so fucking full of myself I could explode at any moment" look on her face.She lied. Dangerous mission = bullshit. Now, the campaign is trying to cobble together some sort of explanation for the whole fib. Not compelling.
Meanwhile... Just in case you missed it. We hit the 4,000 mark for U.S. deaths in Iraq and we are going to have to choose between leaving the place or sticking it out as the number climbs. The economy seems to be hinting that we may very well be in an actual recession. China is laying the smack down in Tibet, Medvedev is grumbling about NATO expansion, and a host of other important things that don't involve Bill Clinton's semen are happening.
Barack Obama mentioned "silly season" in one of the debates, referring to our tendency to discuss matters of triviality and to focus on "gotchas" during campaigns. Silly season is in full-swing. An Obama guy, a Clinton guy, and another lie. Nero, bust out the motherfuckin' fiddle.
Oh, and I don't blame Fischer, Carville and The Monster. Not really. In a perfect world, no one would get into a lather over Fischer's semen reference. In a perfect world, we'd roll our eyes at the Crazy Cajun. In a perfect world, no one would particularly curious about fish stories involving a trip with Sinbad, a kid and Sheryl Crow from twelve years ago.
So, do I blame the media? Do I hate them for feeding me this shit day after day while real issues go completely ignored? A little. Mainly, I hate you. Yeah, you. And me. The collective "we". We ask for this shit. We eat it up. We watch. We read. They know it. If a real discussion about a serious issue could draw an audience that would attract those car advertisements, we'd be watching smart people talking about smart things.We prefer silly season. Thus, we deserve our punishment. We deserve the insult of constant exposure to the simplistic and foolish. We deserve the consequences of an uninformed citizenry. We deserve these days and, just to borrow a line re-popularized in the wake of Jeremiah Wright, our chickens will eventually come home to roost.
We suck.
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We totally suck, John.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I haven't responded to your thoughtful comment, yet, way. I've been superbusy, yesterday and today. I'll see if I can get to it, tonight.
The hopeful fact out of all of this is that the dudes who aren't so inclined to substitute a power grab for more thoughtful engagement (other than Joe Biden and Ron Paul, both of whom have their own problems in leadership roles, but both of whom were more thoughtful than the rest of their packs) seem to be winning their respective primaries. I didn't anticipate that, at all. This time, last year, I was looking forward to a Clinton/Giuliani election. As the world turns, I suppose. I have my own issues with Barack and McCain. But they are definitely the less power-hungry and less scary of the other probably options.
And the media seems to be catching up with the idea that maybe their own behavior may have something to do with the low quality of public discourse. Maybe we'll see some course correction, out of that. We'll see.
The best part for me, though, is watch the various power-obsessed fools in America and abroad getting plenty of deserved criticism for their behavior. Carville and McCaullife have been needing a cumuppance for quite awhile, and Pelosi's trip to Tibet, I think, is the first time that I've been impressed with anything she or the Democratic leadership in Washington has done, that I can count. And Bush, Cheney, and Rove have, of course, been in deep shit for quite a long time, now.
We're definitely in for a different period of politics, I think. The question I have is whether it will be a period where some thoughtful, engaged debate and discussion will take root and guide things, more, and how long we will play these stupid political games during elections when the stakes are so high.
The irony is that so many people rationalize the games because, they say, the stakes are too high for debate. I, frankly, do not understand that mentality at all, anymore, except if people have finally decided that they know what they're going to believe and nothing, not even bothersome facts and stronger arguments, will shake their beliefs. That is when politics becomes dangerous. And that is the period we have been witnessing, I think, largely because 9/11 and the war (not to mention the contentious election of 2000) convinced people that there was no time, anymore, for thinking. What we needed was action, no matter how foolhardy, arrogant, and failed it might be.
Same as it ever was. Maybe we'll learn some lessons, this time.