Hakenkreuzin'
A coworker who probably meant well trotted out that obnoxious comparison, Bush=Hitler in conversation today.
This is a dastardly canard IMHO....flinging it about always sounds foolish and overwrought. Yes, Bush has a contempt for due process and he is a callow power worshipping son of a bitch...but that doesn't make him a potential dictator by any means.
And besides, in a weird an unpleasant way it unconsciously reinforces the otherwise delusional conservative claim to strength by comparing their President to a genocidal world class dictator.
Moreover the Bush=Hitler thang is rhetoric straight out of the neocon playbook. Serious post-Trotsky neoconservatives are always equating all sorts of dubious phenomena to the Holocaust. From the Berlin Wall to trade policy these guys have been tracking it all back to the Nazi hakenkreuz one way or another for years.
I stand athwart the swastika and cry "ENOUGH"!
I for one do not wish to live in a republic where the words "Holocaust" or "Nazi" have become debased Orwellian terms that do naught but reinforce the speaker or writer's partisan agenda.
Friday, May 30, 2003
Thursday, May 29, 2003
The charisma Notes (third in a soon to be abandoned series)
It's always funny to discover that ruthless people like Karl Rove are often simpleminded hero worshippers.
There Karl Rove was on the History Channel last night extolling the strenuous virtues of Teddy Roosevelt without so much as a wink at the audience.
The irony was thick in the air like incense.
It is said in hushed whispers down in DC that Rove has always idolized George Bush Jr. from the git-go. So it is none too far fetched to presume that Bush and Roosevelt are somehow happily conflated in the vasty reaches of the Rovian mind.
Of course it is hard to imagine George Bush Jr. charging up San Juan Hill bullets pinging around him...it's hard to imagine him even volunteering to charge up San Juan Hill happily or otherwise. One doubts George Bush has read as many books in his life as TR read in a single month of his cluttered Presidency.
Teddy had a vast reservoir of invective for easygoing trust fund babies like Bush Jr. he called them eunuchs, cowards, frauds, and a host of unprintable things. He held a special bitter contempt for ivy leaguers who declined to volunteer for combat duty in war-time.
But we live in debased times so it is a sad day for America when a sneaky shirker like George Bush is on the verge of being enrolled in the Presidential secular pantheon.
Bush is in the end Karl Rove's idea of a rough rider...and that speaks volumes about that malevolent vacuity of Karl's mind.
Maybe, the only charismatic spell Bush is required to weave is over Karl Rove and only Karl Rove...the whole charisma thing begins and ends there.
Think about that.
Of course, Karl embodies certain contradictions as well....he professes to idolize Senator Mark Hanna, President William B. McKinley's svengali like manager who was shoved aside forcibly when Teddy Roosevelt ascended to the Presidency.
Well...clearly reconciling harsh contradictions aren't a Rovian priority in any way. Which will make it all the sweeter when Rove gets his inevitable comeuppance. Like L. Sherman Adams and Don Regan, he WON'T see it coming.
It's always funny to discover that ruthless people like Karl Rove are often simpleminded hero worshippers.
There Karl Rove was on the History Channel last night extolling the strenuous virtues of Teddy Roosevelt without so much as a wink at the audience.
The irony was thick in the air like incense.
It is said in hushed whispers down in DC that Rove has always idolized George Bush Jr. from the git-go. So it is none too far fetched to presume that Bush and Roosevelt are somehow happily conflated in the vasty reaches of the Rovian mind.
Of course it is hard to imagine George Bush Jr. charging up San Juan Hill bullets pinging around him...it's hard to imagine him even volunteering to charge up San Juan Hill happily or otherwise. One doubts George Bush has read as many books in his life as TR read in a single month of his cluttered Presidency.
Teddy had a vast reservoir of invective for easygoing trust fund babies like Bush Jr. he called them eunuchs, cowards, frauds, and a host of unprintable things. He held a special bitter contempt for ivy leaguers who declined to volunteer for combat duty in war-time.
But we live in debased times so it is a sad day for America when a sneaky shirker like George Bush is on the verge of being enrolled in the Presidential secular pantheon.
Bush is in the end Karl Rove's idea of a rough rider...and that speaks volumes about that malevolent vacuity of Karl's mind.
Maybe, the only charismatic spell Bush is required to weave is over Karl Rove and only Karl Rove...the whole charisma thing begins and ends there.
Think about that.
Of course, Karl embodies certain contradictions as well....he professes to idolize Senator Mark Hanna, President William B. McKinley's svengali like manager who was shoved aside forcibly when Teddy Roosevelt ascended to the Presidency.
Well...clearly reconciling harsh contradictions aren't a Rovian priority in any way. Which will make it all the sweeter when Rove gets his inevitable comeuppance. Like L. Sherman Adams and Don Regan, he WON'T see it coming.
Newsircus Maximus
My grey haired old mother called Channel 25 the local Fox affiliate, "a blood and guts station".
This was a pretty safe observation given the fact that the 10pm News was blathering on about a stabbing somewhere...
I told her to call up their 1-800 snitchline and in her best little-old-lady voice report the detonation of a five kiloton nuclear device in Lexington's Depot Square.
I then made her a ten dollar bet that the Fox 25 operator would ask if there were any witnesses while simultaneously dispatching a reporter and news van-just in case.
***
All heavy handed kidding aside, Channel 25's local news operation is a model of gruesome prurience...when it isn't a stabbing, a shooting or better yet a nice bloody explosion it's unselfconscious puffery on behalf of some Fox entertainment program.
Prurience is said to be the advance guard of illiberalism.
Fair enough, but it also promotes an anti-rational superstitious agenda wherein the universe is divided between a constantly changing pantheon celebrity godheads and the prospect of sudden graphic violence.
Thus we are supposed to be impressed that Jennifer Lopez visited Ben Affleck's ancestral duplex even as vacation houses spontaneously detonate in New Hampshire and rip tides drown toddlers in Connecticut.
Channel 25's news room just can't wait for an asteroid to collide with the earth...no doubt they've already got the garish graphics stored on their hard drives and a list of local astrologers and gossip columnists to consult when we enter the annihilation orbit.
My grey haired old mother called Channel 25 the local Fox affiliate, "a blood and guts station".
This was a pretty safe observation given the fact that the 10pm News was blathering on about a stabbing somewhere...
I told her to call up their 1-800 snitchline and in her best little-old-lady voice report the detonation of a five kiloton nuclear device in Lexington's Depot Square.
I then made her a ten dollar bet that the Fox 25 operator would ask if there were any witnesses while simultaneously dispatching a reporter and news van-just in case.
***
All heavy handed kidding aside, Channel 25's local news operation is a model of gruesome prurience...when it isn't a stabbing, a shooting or better yet a nice bloody explosion it's unselfconscious puffery on behalf of some Fox entertainment program.
Prurience is said to be the advance guard of illiberalism.
Fair enough, but it also promotes an anti-rational superstitious agenda wherein the universe is divided between a constantly changing pantheon celebrity godheads and the prospect of sudden graphic violence.
Thus we are supposed to be impressed that Jennifer Lopez visited Ben Affleck's ancestral duplex even as vacation houses spontaneously detonate in New Hampshire and rip tides drown toddlers in Connecticut.
Channel 25's news room just can't wait for an asteroid to collide with the earth...no doubt they've already got the garish graphics stored on their hard drives and a list of local astrologers and gossip columnists to consult when we enter the annihilation orbit.
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
The Charisma Notes: (Second in a soon to be abandoned series)
Democracies cannot make effective propaganda. True propaganda
requires total control of all sources of information. Therefore according to
Jacques Ellul's famous dictum when a democracy does make effective propaganda,
it ceases to be a democracy.
Now the core of my argument is, that "we" (broadly defined as them whut
didn't vote for Bush) are still living in a democratic state no matter
how tattered the democratic spirit may be lately.
So if you are a preening, greedy, arrogant class warrior and
notorious nabob like G.W. Bush, how do you make yourself popular and beloved?
True propaganda is impossible in America ("For the moment" smirks Dr. Rove)
so the only option left is that ephemeral quality called charisma.
Charisma is what substitutes for raw propaganda in a functional
democracy.
Charisma is a fleeting ineffable quality for the most part...some
personalities have it others have to smear it all over themselves like
ointment. It's powerful stuff though short lived especially in today's multi-mediaverse.
It is also no prophylactic against the peculiar vagaries of
history....everyone should remember that.
As I've said before, charisma is thought to be a commodity at least in
America circa 2003. Others will argue that charisma is a particular
quality that cannot be measured or replicated.
But let's face it, Karl Rove and a host of political handlers are
preparing election 2004 on the notion that charisma can be manufactured to
precise specifications.
Like most commodities though, charisma is subject to the whims of
supply and demand, mostly though it's price goes up over time like rents or
mortgages. This is entirely understandable, the price of television time alone
spikes sharply in an election year as cash hungry networks gouge parties and
candidates for all the market will bear.
Charisma costs money.
Which brings us to an interesting and heretofore little commented upon
quote in Time Magazine from a few weeks back: A "Senior Administration
Official" was openly chortling that the GOP would have "More money than God" in
campaign 2004.
Overlooking the nauseating pagan idolatry inherent in that quote...we
can guess that the President and his handlers are reasonably certain to
have MORE than a quarter of a billion dollars on hand for the campaign.
And that is in "hard money" never mind the soft money donations to the
RNC and it's shadowy ideological puppets. Some of you may be plainly
horrified at this prospect-I'm not, I've openly predicted that within a decade
presidential campaigns will cost a billion dollars up front.
No...this two hundred and fifty million dollars plus is a kind of
perverse signifier, it costs that much money to make a saintly strong decisive
statesman like leader out of such gruesome clay as George W. Bush.
You can take it also as a sign of just how scared they are despite all
the truculent talk of fifty state sweeps and historic galaxy wide
realignments.
So look for more daring flights to aircraft carriers and odd pictures lining up George Bush's noggin as the fifth head on Mount Rushmore...because truth be told the President has only two speaking styles, bored and incoherent. So whatever Bush's campaign may be, it won't be built on his scintillating speaking style.
It's always been this way though, even for the guys with natural ease at the podium and every prospect of a walk in the park. Look at the Great Senescence himself the Imperial Reagan, he needed every penny he could raise in 1984 to stave off a minuscule challenge from...Walter Mondale.
Time have changed little since then, idealogical warfare has become even rougher and pricier...but the commodification of charisma proceeds apace.
Democracies cannot make effective propaganda. True propaganda
requires total control of all sources of information. Therefore according to
Jacques Ellul's famous dictum when a democracy does make effective propaganda,
it ceases to be a democracy.
Now the core of my argument is, that "we" (broadly defined as them whut
didn't vote for Bush) are still living in a democratic state no matter
how tattered the democratic spirit may be lately.
So if you are a preening, greedy, arrogant class warrior and
notorious nabob like G.W. Bush, how do you make yourself popular and beloved?
True propaganda is impossible in America ("For the moment" smirks Dr. Rove)
so the only option left is that ephemeral quality called charisma.
Charisma is what substitutes for raw propaganda in a functional
democracy.
Charisma is a fleeting ineffable quality for the most part...some
personalities have it others have to smear it all over themselves like
ointment. It's powerful stuff though short lived especially in today's multi-mediaverse.
It is also no prophylactic against the peculiar vagaries of
history....everyone should remember that.
As I've said before, charisma is thought to be a commodity at least in
America circa 2003. Others will argue that charisma is a particular
quality that cannot be measured or replicated.
But let's face it, Karl Rove and a host of political handlers are
preparing election 2004 on the notion that charisma can be manufactured to
precise specifications.
Like most commodities though, charisma is subject to the whims of
supply and demand, mostly though it's price goes up over time like rents or
mortgages. This is entirely understandable, the price of television time alone
spikes sharply in an election year as cash hungry networks gouge parties and
candidates for all the market will bear.
Charisma costs money.
Which brings us to an interesting and heretofore little commented upon
quote in Time Magazine from a few weeks back: A "Senior Administration
Official" was openly chortling that the GOP would have "More money than God" in
campaign 2004.
Overlooking the nauseating pagan idolatry inherent in that quote...we
can guess that the President and his handlers are reasonably certain to
have MORE than a quarter of a billion dollars on hand for the campaign.
And that is in "hard money" never mind the soft money donations to the
RNC and it's shadowy ideological puppets. Some of you may be plainly
horrified at this prospect-I'm not, I've openly predicted that within a decade
presidential campaigns will cost a billion dollars up front.
No...this two hundred and fifty million dollars plus is a kind of
perverse signifier, it costs that much money to make a saintly strong decisive
statesman like leader out of such gruesome clay as George W. Bush.
You can take it also as a sign of just how scared they are despite all
the truculent talk of fifty state sweeps and historic galaxy wide
realignments.
So look for more daring flights to aircraft carriers and odd pictures lining up George Bush's noggin as the fifth head on Mount Rushmore...because truth be told the President has only two speaking styles, bored and incoherent. So whatever Bush's campaign may be, it won't be built on his scintillating speaking style.
It's always been this way though, even for the guys with natural ease at the podium and every prospect of a walk in the park. Look at the Great Senescence himself the Imperial Reagan, he needed every penny he could raise in 1984 to stave off a minuscule challenge from...Walter Mondale.
Time have changed little since then, idealogical warfare has become even rougher and pricier...but the commodification of charisma proceeds apace.
Friday, May 23, 2003
Moon over Menotomy
My local democratic committee hosted a event last night headlined by none other than former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. A host of locals showed up which was gratifying given the fact that it was a rainy night in a suburb so notoriously sleepy that you can't get a mortgage without a doctor's note proving you have narcolepsy.
The truth is, events like this though necessary , are always an iffy proposition after losing an election...everyone is dispirited and the local party committee has little on offer to attract an audience.
But what the hell, Reich played his part like a trouper and rallied the audience with skill.
It helps though having many admirers in town though, liberals just lu-uv Robert in this neck of the woods.
And why not? He is an impressive guy, an economist, magazine publisher (the American Prospect, which all should read) and a former Cabinet officer.
What is not to like?
Reich is well informed, funny even charismatic person in his own right, I wasn't with him in the gubernatorial primary, but lets give the man his due...he can talk some sh*t.
No doubt he has not abandoned his dreams of elective office in this state...so from his perspective it's all good.
However Reich is so confident and even charming in his own way I wonder what kind of a radio talk show host he'd make for our side.
Like all good politicians he fields questions with aplomb which is no small skill for a talk show...it's a shame that he has only an anemic bimonthly radio gig on NPR.
I don't agree with Reich 100% but he is both smart and funny, we need to get him on the radio.
It's not enough to have Robert Reich on our side, we've got to create a situation where he inflicts the maximum political damage on our opponents.
Think about that...
My local democratic committee hosted a event last night headlined by none other than former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. A host of locals showed up which was gratifying given the fact that it was a rainy night in a suburb so notoriously sleepy that you can't get a mortgage without a doctor's note proving you have narcolepsy.
The truth is, events like this though necessary , are always an iffy proposition after losing an election...everyone is dispirited and the local party committee has little on offer to attract an audience.
But what the hell, Reich played his part like a trouper and rallied the audience with skill.
It helps though having many admirers in town though, liberals just lu-uv Robert in this neck of the woods.
And why not? He is an impressive guy, an economist, magazine publisher (the American Prospect, which all should read) and a former Cabinet officer.
What is not to like?
Reich is well informed, funny even charismatic person in his own right, I wasn't with him in the gubernatorial primary, but lets give the man his due...he can talk some sh*t.
No doubt he has not abandoned his dreams of elective office in this state...so from his perspective it's all good.
However Reich is so confident and even charming in his own way I wonder what kind of a radio talk show host he'd make for our side.
Like all good politicians he fields questions with aplomb which is no small skill for a talk show...it's a shame that he has only an anemic bimonthly radio gig on NPR.
I don't agree with Reich 100% but he is both smart and funny, we need to get him on the radio.
It's not enough to have Robert Reich on our side, we've got to create a situation where he inflicts the maximum political damage on our opponents.
Think about that...
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Time's Arrow, or Ghod save us from our Friends...
I've been meaning to comment (or more appropriately lay the smackdown) on Joe Klein's well meaning "advice to democrats" feature in Time Magazine dated may 19 2003.
I read on the all the kewler sites that Messr. Klein is not a typical DC media whore...that he is capable to enunciating certain liberal principles.
And who knows maybe he is, but this feature article is useful only as a compendium of Capitol Hill cliches' and cherished dish about democrats and democracy in general.
His main thrust is the democrats must "reform" the way they run for President if they wish to win.
He goes on to suggest the current democratic presidential aspirants must come across as more patriotic, must project affability, and "kill the consultants".
No offense Joe but my nine year old niece could come up with suggestions just as banal and she'd throw some pretty crayon renderings of flowers and horses free of charge.
The tone of the article seems to be, smile, wave the flag more and shoot Bob Shrum and somehow magically the democrats will get fair treatment from the mighty media monolith.
Quote the olde misanthrope "what rubbish!"
This is truly hilarious because Klein's advice is little more than the sort of boilerplate hogwash that would be served up by any Junior grade image consultant.
Never mind the fact that the incumbent President is the complete captive of a svengali-like superconsultant...and you can forget about flag waving and smiling a lot...both fruitless activities if the democrats don't have a chance at decent news coverage.
The political parties have never been less relevant, they hang on as fund-raising flags of convenience and are in danger of becoming quaint and inane like the Ohio State Navy or American Broadcasting Company. It's the news media that sets the terms of debate and calculates the score cards today, the dems are at a disadvantage in this environment simply because they lack strident champions.
Quite frankly, it's not the democratic party that needs reform it's the news media. A few more outlets willing to give us a break and little less advice from naive' well meaning insiders like Joe Klein is what we really need.
It's hopelessly fatuous articles like this that make me long in spite of my better judgement for a liberal network, radio show something anything!
I need to be pandered too...I hear it feels great!
I've been meaning to comment (or more appropriately lay the smackdown) on Joe Klein's well meaning "advice to democrats" feature in Time Magazine dated may 19 2003.
I read on the all the kewler sites that Messr. Klein is not a typical DC media whore...that he is capable to enunciating certain liberal principles.
And who knows maybe he is, but this feature article is useful only as a compendium of Capitol Hill cliches' and cherished dish about democrats and democracy in general.
His main thrust is the democrats must "reform" the way they run for President if they wish to win.
He goes on to suggest the current democratic presidential aspirants must come across as more patriotic, must project affability, and "kill the consultants".
No offense Joe but my nine year old niece could come up with suggestions just as banal and she'd throw some pretty crayon renderings of flowers and horses free of charge.
The tone of the article seems to be, smile, wave the flag more and shoot Bob Shrum and somehow magically the democrats will get fair treatment from the mighty media monolith.
Quote the olde misanthrope "what rubbish!"
This is truly hilarious because Klein's advice is little more than the sort of boilerplate hogwash that would be served up by any Junior grade image consultant.
Never mind the fact that the incumbent President is the complete captive of a svengali-like superconsultant...and you can forget about flag waving and smiling a lot...both fruitless activities if the democrats don't have a chance at decent news coverage.
The political parties have never been less relevant, they hang on as fund-raising flags of convenience and are in danger of becoming quaint and inane like the Ohio State Navy or American Broadcasting Company. It's the news media that sets the terms of debate and calculates the score cards today, the dems are at a disadvantage in this environment simply because they lack strident champions.
Quite frankly, it's not the democratic party that needs reform it's the news media. A few more outlets willing to give us a break and little less advice from naive' well meaning insiders like Joe Klein is what we really need.
It's hopelessly fatuous articles like this that make me long in spite of my better judgement for a liberal network, radio show something anything!
I need to be pandered too...I hear it feels great!
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Rest in GOPeace....
So Christie Todd Whitman is out at the E.P.A. huh?
Well it's a miracle she lasted as long as she did.
Now she joins the tattered ranks of promising republican pols who were worked to death and then run off the Arbusto Family Plantation.
Yup...birdbrained Christie could've been Vice President of the U.S.A. at one point, but like a host of other main chance GOP politicos she hooked up wit the Bush juggernaut thinking she could negotiate from a position of strength.
On paper this strategy looks good...She was a successful northeast Republican Governor from a state the party needed...telegenic accomplished blah blah blah.
Alas with the Bush Family NOBODY is ever considered an equal, it's either indentured servitude or exile to the Phantom Zone.
In Whitman's case, she had the bad fortune to get the E.P.A. portfolio. This is an agency that is guaranteed to be held in contempt by the regime based on their cartoonish middle school notions of governance.
She bore up under 18 months of humiliation until her credibility lay in ruins all over the district......there is nothing left to do but enter the fabled 12 step dignity recovery program and hope for the best.
It is an eclectic crew in there with giddy Paul O'Neill in the center seat...soon enough they'll be joined by Colin Powell and the wreckage of his presidential ambitions.
What a Bush Administration is always good for is the relentless destruction of GOP cadres and personalities with potential....GWB and his family's insane anti-governance sentiments extends even to members of their own party.
Either that or Bush is simply crude and selfless.
So Christie Todd Whitman is out at the E.P.A. huh?
Well it's a miracle she lasted as long as she did.
Now she joins the tattered ranks of promising republican pols who were worked to death and then run off the Arbusto Family Plantation.
Yup...birdbrained Christie could've been Vice President of the U.S.A. at one point, but like a host of other main chance GOP politicos she hooked up wit the Bush juggernaut thinking she could negotiate from a position of strength.
On paper this strategy looks good...She was a successful northeast Republican Governor from a state the party needed...telegenic accomplished blah blah blah.
Alas with the Bush Family NOBODY is ever considered an equal, it's either indentured servitude or exile to the Phantom Zone.
In Whitman's case, she had the bad fortune to get the E.P.A. portfolio. This is an agency that is guaranteed to be held in contempt by the regime based on their cartoonish middle school notions of governance.
She bore up under 18 months of humiliation until her credibility lay in ruins all over the district......there is nothing left to do but enter the fabled 12 step dignity recovery program and hope for the best.
It is an eclectic crew in there with giddy Paul O'Neill in the center seat...soon enough they'll be joined by Colin Powell and the wreckage of his presidential ambitions.
What a Bush Administration is always good for is the relentless destruction of GOP cadres and personalities with potential....GWB and his family's insane anti-governance sentiments extends even to members of their own party.
Either that or Bush is simply crude and selfless.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)