esrosedotblog

I am not a Republican.

I was once back when we first moved to Lower Bucks County Pennsylvania.

It was the only way to be even a minor player in local politics. I joined the local GOoPers in controlling the town and the lower County and got on the inside of it all where all the fun of politics is.

I have never gotten over it. I have always yearned to be a player. One way or another I kept my hand in and as I have mentioned ad-nauseum I still play the game with the local condo association.

My Dad got bitten by the bug and I caught it from him. I went with him on his forays into the Township trolling for votes. I stood with him on election day watching him work. He found himself through politics and so have I.

I have only run for office a few times. I have had a number of appointive positions. But always, always, always, I have been in the pool with all the other fish. Not a shark but maybe a pilot fish.

I had decided that this election cycle would be a bust. My last one and look at the layout. Almost pre-ordained nominees, stupid issues, a set of foregone conclusions.

But look now. Fun. From out of nowhere. And from the old fogies. The stuck in the mud GOP comes alive.

Potential G.O.P. Convention Fight Puts Older Hands in Sudden Demand

Stewart Spencer for fucks sake. A neighbor in Palm Desert. Charley Black.

Suddenly a contested convention means that all the old style politics of hands on, face to face, trading horses, courting favors are into play. The life blood of the old style democracy in action. Blood, sweat and tears.

It makes me so happy.

I am not a doom sayer so I will not say that this is my "last" election. My Dad did that for years. "Well, I think this will be my last car" or whatever. None of that.

But the fact is that this is probably my last one, the one that I am most likely to enjoy.

It is almost worth turning back to a Republican for it. A life time pivot.

But maybe the bleachers are a better bet.

I am sure not likely to get very excited about Ms. Clinton. I will be dutiful and pull the lever. But there is no juice in it.

Labels: politics, public life

Some television archeology today with the story of the "famous" Buckley/Vidal debates.

The Best of Enemies (2015)

I suppose that I saw most of these. They occurred in the midst of the party conventions of 168. The stormiest election year of my life.

The film does pretty well at covering the history and the enmity between the arch conservative Willam F. Buckley and Gore Vidal.

Both were major league pricks and putting them together in the pit to debate one another was a masterstroke for ABC which had the ass end of election coverage and needed something with a jolt.

They got it.

The documentary is fun and insightful and not worth a second look if such an opportunity came along. Which is unlikely.

I would give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, politics

I truly remember Wendell Willkie running for President.

Today, I find that I must have been three years old or, perhaps, I remember his sort of being around just after that.

But he faded fast.

Before Trump or Fiorina, There Was Wendell Willkie

My Dad was a devout Democrat and so I am sure that the Willkie name was not being used in a positive way. Maybe that was the hook. My Dad was also quite outspoken about his opinions. You could not escape them. I remember his very distinctive stance, the chin out and the ending of the assertion with "that's right". Apples and trees and not falling too far. Here I am, much the same.

I was not even sure why, suddenly, the name and face and memory came to life so vividly. Perhaps that is what they mean about people of a certain age doing better with past memory than where the car keys are right now.

One thing for sure, it does indicate that a taste and interest and politics came very early for me. At my Daddy's knee.

Labels: life, politics

Below, in an earlier post, I discuss the relative joy of the Demo-candidates.

I should give equal time and say that as far as I can see there is no fun in GOPville.

If I go down the list of the 20 something people who are running for the nomination, only Trump comes closest to being fun. But he is more comic fun, amusing. The kind of joke that keeps running and fuels itself. Trump trump trump. Ha ha.

But he is not fun. He is too much connected to his self-image. No self deprecation that I have seen.

What about the rest of them?

Let's work from this. Sing along Dorothy.

Who is Running For President?

BUSH: No fun here. He is desperately trying to be not-George and so he has pretty much abandoned the true bad-boy charm that even I admired.

CHRISTIE: Can be fun. Fat fun. He is the fat guy who is always laughing at the party to redirect the attention from his obesity to his possible charm. None is evident. And Christie is a bully. Bullies are no fun.

CRUZ: Flat out not fun. Not even mildly amusing. Not even as a target of derision. He is a sharp nosed noise maker with nothing inside.

In no particular order.

FIORINA: Actually has charm and a sense of humor. Even about herself. But they have now cosmeticized her to such a degree that she seems frozen. Look. She was a CEO. A successful one. I think, once, a happy warrior. No more. A mask.

GILMORE: The only funny thing about him is that no one, not one fucking one person, knows who he is. What? Gilmore?

GRAHAM: The sissy boy. A closeted homo. Which in its way can be amusing but not when he is running for President. He is the one the old ladies in the church chuck under the chin. I know. I used to be one. Has a anyone else inferred he is gay? You heard it first here. At least a southern sissy. Of which there is nothing sissier.

HUCKABEE: He is so scary and self involved. A bad accident on the highway. Keep moving. Nothing to see.

JINDAL: This is fun. He is not though. The fun is watching a black man posing as a white supremacist. Turning the tables. What? An Indian is not black? Ask the Indians how that works please. I mean the Indian indians not the American kind. I had two business partners who were of Indian heritage. They were brown. They were smart and they suffered some discrimination. Jindal has it uphill in this regard. I do not think he can make it. In the South he can be seen by blacks as one of them but I do not think this will hold up in the white "bible belt".

KASICH: Simple. Easy peasy. I would vote for Kasich in a minute and, if he is nominated, would be hard pressed not to pull his lever. Especially with Hillary on the other side. I made this line bold so that some of you who read this who play for the other team will see that I am not all that one sided. Yeh Kasich.

PATAKI. A bureaucrat. A good one. But boring as toast and probably as cold as toast too. A maybe, like Kasich. I like governors.

PAUL: Save us please Higher Power from a Paul presidency. Under that curly head lies a damaged brain. He is Ron Paul's son after all. He can never recover from that. The sins of his fathers and so on. Also, pure libertarians are extremely boring people. They are ideologues. The polar opposite of the commies who are also no fun at all. I have known a few in my time. The real thing. No laughs.

PERRY: Should he wear the serious glasses or take them off? Or should he hold them in his hand. This is about the depth of the ex-Texas Governor. Texas is different enough that even Ann Richards the Demo-ex-governor didn't have enough gravitas for it. She was a lot more hilarious than Perry though because she had great material and knew she had the comic gift. Used it well.

RUBIO: I take a little pause here as I think that he has something potentially for high office. He is a bit of a snot and all that. Not very likable. But he has some bona fides and he has the chance at some Hispanic votes.

SANTORUM: All I can think of is the line that Dan Savge came up with, that his last name sounded like the medical name for what leaks out of a well fucked asshole. Sorry. Very offensive language here. But it always makes me laugh. The other thing his name makes me think of is "sanctorum". A humorless blob of right wing god warrior flesh. But I like the asshole definition best.

Did Trump. Trump, trump, trump!

WALKER: he looks like a mean son-of-a-bitch to me. The eyes. Close set. I do not think that works for him. And it goes with the venomous snaky talk. He is a mean bastard, I think.

So that is it. A compendium of rascals on the right.

Have I left any one un-offended here?

Look. Politics is a nasty business and if you don't like my talk then you will have to move to higher ground. No passion there. Too bad. You are missing the mud fight.

Remember. I am from the mid century MIT where we had the annual "glove fight"(See photo--this is from 1964, eight years after me but the same squash and squalor in the mud). Now gone. Sophomores on one side with red gloves, freshman in the other side with blue gloves. The idea was to have as many of the other's gloves as possible at the end of a period of time. Which seemed like an eternity. Always played on muddy ground, specially prepared for the day.

Pandemonium. Violence. Extreme cruelty in some cases.

These were also the days when the Sophs depantsed the Freshmen. Yes. So, on the mud field, it was not only gloves but bare asses.

Somehow I survived both years and mostly kept my glove and my pants. I yelled a lot and made motions of violence and stayed with the other friends who were of the less violent persuasion.

That is politics. No surprise that the guys who "won" the glove fight, collected the most opposite gloves, were also the ones who had the high cum ratings and were the best at school politics. I was in another tier. I got ahead through sly avoidance of the fray and worked the sidelines. At the end I chaired the biggest annual tie and tail dance. No mud. Just the victory dance.

What does that have to do with these political mudslinging days?

The ones who will emerge at the top are the ones who will slyly work the margins. Watch Kasich. Watch Pataki. They have done this before. Executive positions in large states. They know how to count the gloves.

Labels: GOoPers, politics

More GOoPer malfeasance.

I suppose it is unfair that this all got exposed but he has put himself on the line for scrutiny.

A top GOP 2016 contender is 'living above his means'

Embarrassing but there it is.

Ambition is a bitch and I can see how priorities would get a little skewed.

I do not want a country that can only elect rich people. That is not the point. The issue is that his spending habits go against all the railing and ranting about other people. Welfare spongers and the like.

Like Fiorina who I have written about below, exposure to the big time is one of the first qualifiers for elective success and some just fail out of the box.

Living within one's means is a frequent tirade on the part of the wing nuts.

OK. Let's apply that equally, all around.

Rubio is an interesting guy but it might be a mistake to take him too seriously. A lot of these guys are gunning for something other than the nomination. Publicity. Notoriety. Groundwork for a serious later try for the position.

Or, maybe just the gabble of attention. That is a lot of what politics is about. Sure issues, but it takes people who need to be in the spotlight.

My own personal experience in politics was clearly about "look at me". I admit it. A lot of folks don't.

I got into a field, management training, where I did some good and managed to be in the limelight, three days at a time with captive audiences.

There is a buzz. And nothing wrong about it. Just make sure that the thing can be sustained. If it takes talent, have that. If it takes the support of a big organization, have that. If it takes money, well, you better have that too. I got paid for being a star. Politicians do too. A different paymaster but still.

Labels: money, politics, republican whack jobs

We do not get to see huge landmark events in recent politics.

But this is a shocker to everyone.

Eric Cantor to Step Down as Majority Leader

It is a precipitous fall in a "take it for granted" career. He was thought to be the successor to Boehner. Not now.

Experts seem to differ on what happened. One is that the nasty right got him right where we would like to see someone of his ilk gotten. Another is that in an open primary a lot of Democrats crossed over to give Eric a big black eye.

Whatever the case, it is an interesting development and probably not good news.

It is almost laughable to think of Cantor as a liberal voice but he was that for his party. One of the few. They will now be an endangered species. And anyone seeking to moderate, to work with the Obamas, will be seen as a traitor to a newly amplified cause.

For Democrats, in the short term, it is just a pain in the ass. His power is gone and it took only a day for the rabble to eat him whole. Scrambling to take his place. No one to work with now. A new face.

In the longer term it is just one more step in the long retrenchment of the GOP into a minority party with little to say for itself but archaic negativity and mossback points of view.

It cannot be good news for them.

Time will tell.

I suppose there are some factors that will reveal themselves on closer reporting. Evidently Cantor's electorate thought him insufficient. Whether that is in his loyalty to the tea partyish thinking or his neglect or them as "his people" is not too clear. Maybe the Democrats did take revenge with crossovers.

Maybe it is a lot simpler than that.

Cantor has always struck me as a supercilious bastard. A priss. A dogmatist without any core. Perhaps even a poseur. An empty shell.

It does seem that he took things a little for granted a little too long in his district. Tip Oneil always said that people expected you to ask for their vote. Simple enough. But a lot of guys get busy with being the GUY to remember that. A bit too big for their boots. In need of an ego trim.

Cantor strikes me as that kind of guy.

A jerk who needs to get jerked out of his seat.

Whatever the case, I do not think that he will standout in history for much of anything but ambition. Ego. To be the guy. And that is a pretty low bar to cross.

Labels: GOP, politics, right wing, world class assholes.

I don't pay much attention to guys like Ted Cruz.

They are shit stirrers and chronically counter-dependent people and when they get elected they make a big stir and then they are gone. Loudmouths, showboats, know nothings.

His day will come just like all the rest.

But there is something in the air about this guy.

Perhaps it is the incredible transparency of today's media scrutiny. But I don't think so.

He elicits some hate from his closest allies. He is simply not liked. Period.

There are often guys who are difficult and controversial. But some people love them. I, for example, am deeply stirred to the negative by Rudy Guiliani but my friend Youssef in the gym (who also liked George Bush) actually admires Rudy and looks forward to seeing him on the tvs in the gym even though there is no sound. I, on the other hand get enraged at his smarmy smile.

Cruz? No one likes him. I read stories about his behavior to people in the way, in the Congress, everyone.

I even believe some people who arouse my negative passions are interesting and I like to read non-political stuff about them. I will surprise you and say that George W. Bush is one of those people. I really like his post election attitude and, to tell you the truth, what I know of his off line behavior in the White House he was a very likable, affable and generous character. And I believe it. I like reading the stories. His human side.

Not Ted.

Look at this.

Ted? Oh Yeah. Immense Asshole.

I know there are people like this but how do they get elected? How do they get people to work for them? Of course, in life, I have seen that some people do not mind working in an abusive negative space. I don't get it but you can always find a power whore who will go along with it.

I have seen this kind of guy come and go. The vantage point of a geezer. Be patient. He will get his. Maybe he is already getting it.

Labels: politics, republican whack jobs

I am doing crossword puzzles and shit because I have more free time.

Or, a better use of my time.

What was I doing with the time for x-words? I was using it up on political blogs.

Since the election I have been tapering off the usual stops on my URL circuit.

I find that I have little interest in the continued games in DC and I seem to be indifferent to the kinds of issues that seem to exercise others all to hell.

I do watch the Obamas to see them do their thing and note that they are able to administrate rather creatively in the face of a legislative branch that does not want to govern. Old news but refreshing to watch. I don't much read the letters from The White House. They have my support on everything. Why write a letter.

I finally unsubscribed to the shadow Obama campaign. Not interested in them particularly and I don't think there is much for them to do anyway.

I don't read polls. About what?

Here is another thing.

Name the issues. The NSA thing? I pretty much support their effort. The traitors and their pseudo journalistic apologists? I figure the less said about them the better as it is mostly about attention.

Immigration? Yes. I like the proposals. But the effort is going to be sunk in the House.

College loans? They will work it out.

Guantanamo? He is going to starve them to death and I don't mean the ones on strike. Do I worry about the injustice there? Some. But I figure that most of the "mistakes" are rectified. And if they are not then the cops know something that I do not.

I am not paranoid about secrets. I do not worry about the financial predators. I am an investor. I should watch out for myself.

And so on.

I am totally not interested in the campaign for 2016. Nada. Hillary? They are already doing the Clinton conniving thing and I am still not interested in being a part of their support. God bless her work at State. I try not to be cynical and see it as the best campaign decision she could make. If that is what was going on, she fooled me and we got the benefit. No cost.

I sound like a republican don't I?

Sorry. No way. But there isn't anything that I am in a sweat about.

So why take up a lot of time with it?

So most of it is internet time.

I haven't slighted my other activities. In fact, the MIT thing is starting up now. Any day.

I gotta go now. I need to finish today's puzzle which is actually Wednesdays. I am going slow. A startup.

Labels: life, politics

NOT A HERO

Ed Koch is dead at 88.

That means that, technically, he is not a hero.

Remember my hero thing? Live to be 90 and be a power of example.

Ed fails on both counts.

When I was young, Ed Koch was a fiery liberal. He stood at the edge of the 60s and ranted and he was able to get elected as a congressman.

He even played the fucking guitar.

A lot of people thought and still think that Ed Koch is/was gay. OK. You don't have to say if you are or not.

But if you are the mayor and there is an epidemic among gay men in your city, a firestorm, then you cannot, you must not, refuse to help them whether it is because you fear your own outing or because your internalized homophobia is so fierce that you simply are immobilized.

Or worse, you decide that helping the plague's victims is not good politics. It might get in the way of your power and your re-election.

I have read few defenses of Koch in this area. It is indefensible. The facts are clear. He ignored dying gay men.

In my book that is a pretty deep chasm to cross to become a hero.

But forget about that for a moment.

He was a shit to people. He was an arrogant bastard who stepped on many people on his way to the top including shedding all his liberal postures.

Was he a complicated man? Yes. Did he do some good things? Sure.

But dicks don't figure in my pantheon.

Rest in peace Ed, if you can. You left a lot of unfinished business here.

There is a new documentary just out as he took his last breaths. A big break for the producers.

Labels: heroes, politics

CLIFFHANGER

Grand Deals Give Way to Legislative Quick Fixes

I haven't written about the "fiscal cliff" because there wasn't any. Or if there was one we wouldn't go over it.

Actually, I did write that there was no real threat.

I know that the wonks on the left think this process is horrible. They want what they want. They blame their own president for giving things away.

They ignore the fact that this is a democracy. Yeh. I know, a republic. This is how things work. We voted the two parties in there. It is the result. Trial and error.

The NYTimes laments the absence of a "big bargain".

Fuck.

We don't need that. We have fixes and working along the close line that can be found between parties and beliefs.

It isn't supposed to be clean and easy.

Clean and easy is Putin saying that there will be no more American adoptions. Bang. The russkies are back to one man rule.

The Brits parliamentary system? Even messier.

I am an American. I breathe the same air as you and them. We make mistakes.

Yes. I know. People get hurt when these things are thrashed out. The safety net suffers. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes things get better before they get worse. For a long time.

At a certain age I can see the arc of it.

Right now, things are tough. But they will work out. They always do.

Weep and moan if you wish.

I am glad to be here and proud of my country and too bad for you if you think it is a mess and unworkable.

Get busy. Write a letter. Pound some pavement. Get active. That is how it works. We do it. There is no them. Just us.

Labels: America, democracy, politics

FLOW

Today's article on Obama's fluency along the linguistic spectrum in the US.

It is interesting that some are outraged that he would do this. To step out of the straight jacket of traditional political persona.

Obama and Racial Politics

In a multiethnic, multicultural America where Hispanics are the largest ethnic group and Asians are the fastest-growing minority, national politicians also will have to be fluent in multiple ways of speaking. For too long, sounding presidential meant sounding like a white, middle- or upper-class straight man (with modest leeway for regional accents). In 2012 and beyond, it’s going to take a lot more than that to win over the hearts and minds — and ears — of the American people.

Labels: politics

WAIT A MINUTE!

If you are inclined toward boycotting as I am then this will interest you.

A Guide To Consumer Brands Helping Bankroll Right-Wing Attack Ads

If you are not, forget about it.

I am shocked to see that some brands I support are also supporting right wing PACs or the GOP,

I wear New Balance to go to the Gold's gym.

I am delighted to have the Coachella Festival in my neighborhood. Jeez. I thought this was just some young people with time on their hands putting on a "show".

I used to stay in Marriott all the time and would still do that today even though I knew them and that they are all Mormons and give a shitload of money to anti gay causes especially Prop 8.

I m good on the other brands on the list. I would not wipe my ass with Angel Soft, the ones with babies, because for years I worked for a competitor. The one that has puppies. Now, I actually use house brand paper products at my supermarket.

So there is nowhere to hide. The New Balance shoes really really work for me and you know that I have this lifetime deal at Golds where I pay 99 dollars a year membership.

So I guess I am not a good boycotter.

I suppose that I could say I am for free speech which I am and actually, boycotting seems more of a right wing kind of thing than on my side.

Another one of those self defeating things that liberals do.

Labels: politics

NADA

No postings today.

No movie.

Nothing to report unless unless you want to hear about the Friday cleaning. Or the rainy day.

Certainly you don't need to hear about my hangnail that still hurts after a trim and now with the bandaid holding it down.

Not too much actually is going on to report. Just uncertainty about the dog walk. Rain throws things asunder.

Nor would you really be interested in my project to get both John and my credit cards, Medicare, insurance and other id's together on one sheet of paper so if we have a wallet loss we are not shit out of luck.

No need to tell about how I took a longer than usual nap, involuntarily, or to relate the saga of John realizing I had not put the current insurance info in the Volvo or into each other's wallets. Found them in the payment envelope from July.

I had decided to omit the long story of not getting my tax bill then going on line to find it and, thinking it would be easier to just pay it with a credit card, discovered the bastards add a service charge for credit card payments. 45 bucks. Never again. And how I got the mailing address on the bill corrected. They sent it to the old owner's place and, keerist, nobody knows where it is. Old Penny McKee who owned the place is sitting on it or it is in the forwarding bin at the post office.

Well, I asked them to change the mailing address. I don't know that they did.

You probably don't want to hear how beautiful Booker is in his new haircut. You have heard enough of that.

The phone calls. THree or four like any other day.

I am reading the Steve Jobs bio. Very good. Funny and very honest I think. He was not perfect. But I am only 150 pages in and besides you can read it yourself. I still have the extra book if someone wants it. Leave a comment!

There is more but since I am not going to write about it and you really don't want to hear about it I will just go on to the next thing which will either be a Coke and pretzels (this is Booker's wish) or perhaps the walk if it is not raining. Maybe I will start dinner prep but there isn't a lot of prep as there are hamburgers tonight. The best. Coleslaw too.

I guess the Coke break. Some internet stalking to find something to be outraged about. Perry's planes? Herman Cain's women or his dirty campaign manager (crooked dirty). Maybe the latest Romney flipflop.

Naugghhh.

It is the same old story of pots calling kettles black.

You don'wanna'hear it!

And I don't want to write it.

Nada today.

Labels: blogging, Booker, gay life, politics

SEXTING

Weiner Admits Sending Inappropriate Photos and Lying

It amazes me that men in the public eye, intelligent, able to be elected to office, have this blind spot about two things. One is sex and that they can get away with what "normal" men can not. The other is the sinkhole of the coverup.

In this case, literal.

Anthony Weiner is an internet flasher. He admits to sending pics of his pubic region to women on line. Email. Special delivery.

A flasher.

Now. I have to say that I am first to defend people's right to use the internet for sex. Or to send porno to one another. But not to stalk, not to overpower, not to direct unwanted attention or photos.

All that.

The old guideline. Did anyone, including me, get hurt? In this case, probably, if the attention was unwanted. And Wiener sure hurt himself.

And this is so lame. A photo of gray undershorts? His shaved chest? Come on. if you are going to send something to someone who doesn't mind seeing it, go all the way.

It is true. Americans are really hung up about sex.

At least he is not, at this point, planning to resign. A sort of "fuck you" to the prudes and Aunt Sallies. Good for him. But can he hold out? Probably not.

Labels: Democrats, politics, thought police

STICKING YOUR LOGICAL HEAD UP YOUR ILLOGICAL ASS

A new term. Epistemic Closure.

It is everywhere. And used mostly to describe conservative Republicans. Here is a long, tedious explanation of what it means.

Will the Real Epistemic Closure Please Stand Up

I love terms like this. I will probably not use the term but I love the discussion.

This article tells on and on what it is NOT and what it is. After lines and lines of blather it comes up with this.

You may not want to wander into this deep grass but let's say that this term, epistemic closure, can describe the right's view of climate change, evolution, the effects of taxation (trickle down), and many other issues which now have been so thoroughly drained of actual logic that they are walking in a thoughtless desert.

The latest example is the case where the Republican leadership actually thought that the public would like the Ryan budget proposal which tampered with Medicaire. They even believed it despite strong data from their own polling people.

What GOP Leaders Were Thinking on Medicare

You will note that this argues that epistemic closure was not to blame in this case but the articles argument illuminates the point.

Deeper grass.

Labels: philosophy, politics, republican whack jobs

MAYOR

I like Rahm Emanuel a lot.

I usually do not like Politico very much. They are often looking for a way to slam or undermine.

But I do like this profile they did of Emanuel.

Rahm Emanuel's Rules For Victory

Obama made a great choice when he picked Emanuel as Chief of Staff. The two men could not be more different in temperament. And that is the point. Obama is best when pushed by people who have rapport but difference. He needed a guy who could work hard and get the job done.

I do not imagine that the White House position had a lot to do with his election as the Mayor of Chicago on the very first bounce.

I think it has to do with the work he did when he got there to become a part of the city and to match his profile with what the like and need.

He is very smart.

And good. At what he does and how he treats other people. There is a video with this. Take a look at him work the podium. I love the part where he kisses his son. Just an aside but also to the point. Good.

Labels: Administration Obama, politics

NO COMMENT

The first meeting of the Senate Tea Party Caucus on Thursday attracted just four senators — out of 47 GOP members — willing to describe themselves as members. The event was as notable for who wasn't there as who was. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), once a tea party favorite, has for now declined to join the caucus, whose first meeting was organized by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican whose campaign sprung from the small-government movement, has said he's unsure if he'll join. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) showed up to address the group of activists, but then hustled out of the room, ignoring reporters' questions about whether he was in or out.

Some comment.

There are two ways to look at this.

One is to exhibit a bit of schadenfreude but I will eschew that as I just finished emailing with a friend who is inclined towards tea and I want to keep some comity going.

The other way and more common visionish, is that this is the typical reaction of professional politicians. Use, pander to, lie to win over and then, after election, abandon.

This is an old story in the Democratic Party.

Senators are institutions among themselves. The Senate is a collection of fiefdoms. They are a black hole of self interest for the most part.

Gay people know this. All the happy horseshit at election time and then foot dragging once elected.

Welcome to the party, Teas. Mark Rubio? A member of the club already.

Labels: Democrats, politics, tea party

CITIZEN'S PICK

If you read the news and blogs, you will read that the loss of some Democratic Governor seats all but assures a skewed redistricting toward the GOP.

But not in California. We voted that shit out a couple of years ago.

Citizens picked to draw political boundaries

This is a somewhat complicated process but one which insures clean deliberations. That is not to say that the parties won't try to get next to them somehow.

I am proud of my state.

We may not have any money and are headed into another debt ridden fiscal year but we have a new, clean way to get our districts right and that includes, incidentally, the State assembly.

Details are here: We Draw The Lines

Incidentally, the original beast, the Gerrymander, was invented in my last home state of Massachusetts. Actually a Commonwealth.

Labels: California, elections, politics

SAME LINE OF THINKING

In Losing the Midterms, There May Be Winning

If it goes against the Demos it will fit the pattern of other biennial elections. Clinton had the same. Truman before that.

Both sailed with it. Tacking. Against the wind.

I said below that Obama is a canny politician. He can do a lot with a bi-partisan government. Well, we have to say that it would be tri-partisan with the creeping politicization of the Supreme Court.

Running the whole thing is no picnic as we have seen since 2008. Political success requires conflict.

We have had plenty of that but the difference between governing and running will become very clear to the GOopers if, as seems likely, they will take control of the House.

First, they will not have a huge majority. Second, they will have to be in synch with a probable Demo-Senate.

And the Presidential veto to say nothing of the bully pulpit.

I don't think that things will change with the conditions of majorities and minorities. It is all too fluid.

I don't like it. I would appreciate a period of amity and congeniality. But then what? No issues, no decisions, no active electorate.

And then there is 2012. What a great thing for Obama to run against. A "do nothing Republican" Congress in the mode of Harry Truman and Bill Clinton.

Remember, Clinton humiliated Newt and Obama can do the same to Orange John who is not very canny about much of anything and is already embroiled in a tussle for leadership with the likes of Eric Cantor. Easy targets.

Labels: Administration Obama, politics

THE BASE GETS ENERGIZED

D.S.C.C. Has Record-Breaking Month

Well, at the end, we tend to come together.

And it is the end game that matters most anyway.

I, myself, am about to vote this weekend.

So, I am ready to have my vote bought.

Just kidding.

I have been reading about some breaks in the meme. You know, the one that says it will be a disaster for the Democrats.

Labels: Democrats, politics