09-15-2009, 02:28 PM
Beware...rant warning!
Back in the 1990s, I was involved in college protests against the first Iraq war and was turned off by all of the trust-fund radicals who would disrupt events by claiming that George HW Bush was Hitler incarnate and wishing for a Saddam victory in Iraq. And a few of my leftie pals believe b.s. like a faked moon landing and a 9/11 government conspiracy.
Many of my Republican friends and colleagues feel the same way about how the "Red State rubes" (as one local conservative columnist calls them) have hijacked their party in the sake of ideological purity and anti-intellectualism. Compare the satire Idiocracy with behavior at some of the recent town hall meetings...scary and sad.
Both parties have long had their share of fringe crackpots and lunatics but they were kept in check by sensible leaders in each party, an informed public and an aggressive media. Now, the TV and the Internet would rather shock and titillate than inform. Journalists who used to call these weirdos to task are getting laid off by the thousands and ordinary Americans are too busy or too concerned watching Dancing With the Stars or Monday Night Football to get involved in meaningful political discussions.
Look at all the attention that gets paid to that redneck Congressman from S.C. who yelled at the Prez last week. Even the staid NY Times devoted a headline to the continuing soap opera several days after the event. Whoopie freakin' do. When the news media and politicians stop paling around and begin to seriously dissect meaty issues that really affect me instead of celebrity gossip masquerading as politics, then you can count me back in.
Back in the 1990s, I was involved in college protests against the first Iraq war and was turned off by all of the trust-fund radicals who would disrupt events by claiming that George HW Bush was Hitler incarnate and wishing for a Saddam victory in Iraq. And a few of my leftie pals believe b.s. like a faked moon landing and a 9/11 government conspiracy.
Many of my Republican friends and colleagues feel the same way about how the "Red State rubes" (as one local conservative columnist calls them) have hijacked their party in the sake of ideological purity and anti-intellectualism. Compare the satire Idiocracy with behavior at some of the recent town hall meetings...scary and sad.
Both parties have long had their share of fringe crackpots and lunatics but they were kept in check by sensible leaders in each party, an informed public and an aggressive media. Now, the TV and the Internet would rather shock and titillate than inform. Journalists who used to call these weirdos to task are getting laid off by the thousands and ordinary Americans are too busy or too concerned watching Dancing With the Stars or Monday Night Football to get involved in meaningful political discussions.
Look at all the attention that gets paid to that redneck Congressman from S.C. who yelled at the Prez last week. Even the staid NY Times devoted a headline to the continuing soap opera several days after the event. Whoopie freakin' do. When the news media and politicians stop paling around and begin to seriously dissect meaty issues that really affect me instead of celebrity gossip masquerading as politics, then you can count me back in.