tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7913657941628752485.post7279927120229530486..comments2023-12-27T10:09:56.358-08:00Comments on Prepare Yourselves For A Settlement: Taste the doom... Jesus, imaginary combat and Bill Clinton's semen... We suck...John Brown of Kansashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18002786990196430306noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7913657941628752485.post-33343492160549361072008-03-25T10:09:00.000-07:002008-03-25T10:09:00.000-07:00We totally suck, John. Sorry, I haven't responded ...We totally suck, John. <BR/><BR/>Sorry, 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.<BR/><BR/>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.<BR/><BR/>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.<BR/><BR/>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.<BR/><BR/>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.<BR/><BR/>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.<BR/><BR/>Same as it ever was. Maybe we'll learn some lessons, this time.Ben Sutherlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14193389264010365448noreply@blogger.com