'... But you told us not to be hasty. Ought we to tell you anything so soon? Would you think us rude, if we asked what you are going to do with us, and which side you are on? '
'I am not going to do anything with you: not if you mean by that "do something to you" without your leave. We might do some things together. I don't know about sides. I go my own way; but your way may go along with mine for a while.'
'I am not altogether on anybody's side, because nobody is altogether on my side, if you understand me...'
I followed the Republican convention tonight, becoming more angry by the minute. 2004 all over again, the DNC having boxed itself into a trap of its own making. On the blogs, Democrats are gleeful over Palin's performance, split between those who see her as a loser and those who see her as a winner. All I see is another bat-shit crazy conservative ideologue who cleans up nice, but this one as much a creation of the Left's penchant for self-immolation as the Right's lust for total control over bodies and the body politic.
I will not vote Republican, insulting Hillary's work by giving Palin my support. Sorry, feminist solidarity doesn't mean being stupid. I don't want her attacked and I sure as fuck do not want her in power. I will not pretend that McCain and Palin are anything except radical conservatives who will continue down the path of destitution, desolation and destruction the Movement Conservatives have followed since Goldwater. What they want for the country and the world is wrong and all the penny-ante party infighting passing as fighting corruption up in Alaska will not change that basic fact. Their very perception of reality is diseased, fearful and violent. They may very well be lovely people one-on-one, but I don't care about the soul of a politician. I care about their objectives and their votes.
But the DNC has shoved an illegitimate candidate in my face, and that, too, is not something I will support. The Democratic nomination was a farce writ large. The methods used to win, the impulses encouraged and the allies enlisted in the aide of trying to use a slack election cycle to kill off political rivals, render their candidate anathema to me. The tactics the Obamacans embraced are now endangering the Democrats' bid for control of the government. As with Gore and Kerry, they are running as hard as possible from the policies and personalities that could actually secure a victory. Obama won the nomination by attacking his own party, decrying the value and worth of our partisan positions, joining with the mainstream press to attack not just a rival, but the core contituency of the Left. The entire party is being made to pay for his narcissism. Denying that this is happening won't make it go away.
I no longer have a dog in this fight. My candidate and my concerns have been asked to exit the stage. There is nothing I can do that I am also willing to do to affect the outcome in November, so I'll be spending the next ten weeks or so on the sidelines, picking apart the cultural baggage and writing political theory.
Anglachel
7 comments:
The Republicans are scary in their single solution for every ill. Let the rich and their companies do their job. This is exactly what Bush did and what brought us to the edge of the abyss. The Republicans want to do it again and this time they call it change.
As opposed to the commentary on PBS, they liked Palin and her speech, I find her sppech to be small, soulless, lacking any inspiration, issueless and school yard name calling. it seems that our "experts" ought to go back to school and read speeches by Hillary, Bill, JFK, FDR and of course, MLK.
It is shocking that about 50% of the population believes those white lies and this bunch of pretenders.
Sadly, Obama doesn't represent anything either. His economic plan is a joke. If enacted he will have to borrow heavy billions from the Chinese. It lacks reality and imagination. It is a pack of liess. Foreign independence in 10 year, as my mom used to say, only if hair will grow in the palm of my hand. And he knows that it's a lie.
After the primary in South Carolina, I decided that I will never vote for this guy. He is a hate monger, a racist and a liar.
We actually don't have a Democratic party anymore. The ideas live on, but not in the Obama organization.
In this election I want both candidates to loss.
GREAT post! Thanks. I'm with lakelobos. I want both candidates to lose. Can't y'all arrange that?
Anglachel,
With every day that goes by, I'm increasingly convinced that the big honcho Republicans [Rove, et al.] don’t want to win this time. They want to prove that even Democrats can't make "big government work", and will soon be drowning US in Grover Norquist’s bathtub.
Some [many?] of the big “Dems” are clamoring to get in on the action.
I'm right there with you on the sidelines, Anglachel, the tsunami is on the horizon, and I can’t find a way out.
If Obama's going to win he's going to have to run a real campaign, not just cruise to coronation (abetted by the fawning media) as he had expected.
I couldn't listen to Palin's speech but I watched the rapturous reception on stage. she brings a lot of energy to a party-and a candidate- that should have been left by the side of the road back in the spring, given what it represents.
why is it that most AAs are Democrats, yet it was Repubs who put AAs in the first real high profile offices (Powell and Rice?)
why is it that most Latinos are Democrats, yet it was Repubs who put a Lation in the first real high profile office (Gonzo)?
why is it that more women are Democrats, yet the woman is running on the Repub ticket?
why is it that most GLBT are Dems, yet Cheney's daughter has a baby with her wife and is embraced by the party?
why is it that Dems are the party of choice and inclusiveness, yet a pregnant teen can walk on that stage last night and be embraced wholeheartedly?
I'm not saying that Rice or Gonzo are praiseworthy for their accomplishments, or acted in any way to pave the way for other AAs or Latinos in politics. I'm NOT. Mary Cheney and Bristol Palin aren't really public figures (well, Mary did get a book deal).
But there is a big lesson here. the first one is that it should have been Hillary taking the stage at the DNC, if not as top of the ticket, at least as VP. the symbolism on stage last night said "family values" and inclusiveness in ways that all the Greek columns and soaring rhetoric of the Obama campaign will find hard to counter out there in those states where all those bitter people are clinging to their guns and religion.
It is beyond ironic that the idiotic Democratic Party threw away the most qualified candidate of a generation and went with the weakest,while the Republican Party embraces with ease a women as the future of their Party.Things are upside down and inside out.
Our country will suffer no matter what happens. We better all get prepared because we might be getting ready to go from really bad to really much worse.
Well, you've written here exactly how I feel. The Republicans are the reason this country is in the place it's in. I cannot vote Republican, and I do not want to vote for Obama, for all the resons you've stating, and more. It's a dilemma and I'm pissed that we've thrown away another four years, especially at my age when there may not be too many more four year periods, and waiting to see AT LEAST every child in this country with good health insurance, just to begin with!
I could never put in words what I thought about this race until I read what you've posted.
Not that I've actually put down in words what I feel, but I feel that you have hit the nail on the head with this post and really got into the reasons I feel so...blah...about what's going on in this race.
Thank you.
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