be
Democrats
? From their perspective, there’s no room for a
minority
opinion in the party. Isn’t that
telling
? And isn’t it a piss-poor strategy in a democracy?
The Republican Party has gotten so crazy that people are trying to forget just how nuts the process was for choosing their presidential nominee. A bunch of nobodies thought, “If this black dude could get elected president, surely
I
have a chance.” Politicians like to sweep unpleasant things under the rug if it doesn’t suit their interest. Well, I think I need to lift that rug up and remind everyone of just how demented things were this past election cycle.
The Minnesota Twins
People who are serious candidates and could do the job of president are finding it
impossible
to get through the gauntlet of crazies. There is no better example of this than Tim Pawlenty, the first man to drop out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. When Tim Pawlenty started out, I thought he seemed like a bright and reasonable guy. Just like everyone else, I found him bland. He bored me to tears. He was kind of young to be
that
bland. It’s hard to be
that
young and white and boring as fuck. You’ve got to be around for a long time to be that fucking boring. Mitt Romney is that boring, but he’s had years to have all of his personality drained out of him. But boring is hardly a disqualification from the presidency. If that’s the worst thing you can say about a man, then he’d probably be one of the greatest presidents ever.
The two-term Minnesota governor was knocked out by a bat-shit harpy from his own state, a congresswoman with no legislative achievements to speak of whatsoever. Michele Bachmann
went there
. She appealed to the crazies who hate gay marriage, and the crazies who only care about abortion. I’m not speaking about people who happen to be socially conservative or pro-life. I mean the
crazies
. Michele Bachmann went for the lowest common denominator—and those are precisely the people who vote in straw polls, whether they’re left or right.
Let me quote Bachmann, because she once said something so telling that it really speaks to the heart of many in the GOP: “Those who are coming into France, which had a beautiful culture, the French culture is actually diminished. It’s going away. And just with the population in France, they are losing Western Europeans, and it’s being taken over by a Muslim ethic.” She often brings up the specter of Sharia, or Islamic law, being imposed in Europe by the burgeoning Muslim population.
Bachmann and people like her know perfectly well that the possibility of Sharia being voted in in the United States is zero. Muslims constitute less than 1 percent of the American population. What she’s playing on are fears of dark-skinned people “infiltrating” our society and imposing their perspective. So what is it that the Mexicans are bringing into the United States that’s so bad? When the Irish came, they brought Saint Patrick’s Day.
Every
politician walks in those parades. Italians brought pasta. Are Cinco de Mayo and tacos that much worse? She doesn’t have a problem with foreign people and their cultures. She has a problem with foreign
brown
people and their cultures. In her vision of America, Reagan’s “city on a hill” has become a gated community designed to keep out “undesirable” elements.
Newt Gingrich
Conservatives bitch that progressives think they’re all fucking stupid. That’s not true in the slightest. No Democrat would deny that a George Will or even a Dick Cheney is
bright
. Newt Gingrich certainly fits that bill. Gingrich is technically a very bright guy. He should probably be a professor somewhere teaching political science.
In 1994, Gingrich had a lot to do with the Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives for the first time in forty years. But he also had a lot to do with Bill Clinton looking so successful and earning a second term. Bill Clinton
Democrats
? From their perspective, there’s no room for a
minority
opinion in the party. Isn’t that
telling
? And isn’t it a piss-poor strategy in a democracy?
The Republican Party has gotten so crazy that people are trying to forget just how nuts the process was for choosing their presidential nominee. A bunch of nobodies thought, “If this black dude could get elected president, surely
I
have a chance.” Politicians like to sweep unpleasant things under the rug if it doesn’t suit their interest. Well, I think I need to lift that rug up and remind everyone of just how demented things were this past election cycle.
The Minnesota Twins
People who are serious candidates and could do the job of president are finding it
impossible
to get through the gauntlet of crazies. There is no better example of this than Tim Pawlenty, the first man to drop out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. When Tim Pawlenty started out, I thought he seemed like a bright and reasonable guy. Just like everyone else, I found him bland. He bored me to tears. He was kind of young to be
that
bland. It’s hard to be
that
young and white and boring as fuck. You’ve got to be around for a long time to be that fucking boring. Mitt Romney is that boring, but he’s had years to have all of his personality drained out of him. But boring is hardly a disqualification from the presidency. If that’s the worst thing you can say about a man, then he’d probably be one of the greatest presidents ever.
The two-term Minnesota governor was knocked out by a bat-shit harpy from his own state, a congresswoman with no legislative achievements to speak of whatsoever. Michele Bachmann
went there
. She appealed to the crazies who hate gay marriage, and the crazies who only care about abortion. I’m not speaking about people who happen to be socially conservative or pro-life. I mean the
crazies
. Michele Bachmann went for the lowest common denominator—and those are precisely the people who vote in straw polls, whether they’re left or right.
Let me quote Bachmann, because she once said something so telling that it really speaks to the heart of many in the GOP: “Those who are coming into France, which had a beautiful culture, the French culture is actually diminished. It’s going away. And just with the population in France, they are losing Western Europeans, and it’s being taken over by a Muslim ethic.” She often brings up the specter of Sharia, or Islamic law, being imposed in Europe by the burgeoning Muslim population.
Bachmann and people like her know perfectly well that the possibility of Sharia being voted in in the United States is zero. Muslims constitute less than 1 percent of the American population. What she’s playing on are fears of dark-skinned people “infiltrating” our society and imposing their perspective. So what is it that the Mexicans are bringing into the United States that’s so bad? When the Irish came, they brought Saint Patrick’s Day.
Every
politician walks in those parades. Italians brought pasta. Are Cinco de Mayo and tacos that much worse? She doesn’t have a problem with foreign people and their cultures. She has a problem with foreign
brown
people and their cultures. In her vision of America, Reagan’s “city on a hill” has become a gated community designed to keep out “undesirable” elements.
Newt Gingrich
Conservatives bitch that progressives think they’re all fucking stupid. That’s not true in the slightest. No Democrat would deny that a George Will or even a Dick Cheney is
bright
. Newt Gingrich certainly fits that bill. Gingrich is technically a very bright guy. He should probably be a professor somewhere teaching political science.
In 1994, Gingrich had a lot to do with the Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives for the first time in forty years. But he also had a lot to do with Bill Clinton looking so successful and earning a second term. Bill Clinton
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