Bread and Circuses

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 20:08:54 GMT

Election Wrap-Up

While it's too soon to tell for sure, it appears the Democrats are headed for 232 seats in the US House. The Senate is divided 49-49-2. Those numbers are exactly what I predicted. The governorships are divided 28-22. I had said the Dems would be at 30. Some would say my prediction for govenorships was mistaken, but personally I blame voter error.

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 19:29:39 GMT

The Craziest Woman in Congress

The forces of Evil had an enormous setback in the midterm elections last night, but the news was not so good in Minnesota. Our beloved governor, Tim Pawlenty, was reelected. The man's against roads and public transit and, you know, college. Tuition at the University of Minnesota has gone up over 50% in four years, but that's okay, because education isn't important, anyway. Also, Michelle Bachman was elected to the House of Representatives. She will, without a doubt, be the craziest person in Congress. There was a time when she wouldn't have been, but then the guy who challenged Chris Matthews to a duel retired from the Senate.

It bothered me all campaign, that the Democrats couldn't run an ad which conveyed just what a lunatic she was. I couldn't come up with an idea, either. Well, showing the footage of Bachman in a church talking about how she was "hot for Jesus" and how women should be obedient to their husbands might have helped, plus maybe quoting her explaining how God told her to run for Congress...well, that might have helped a little, but it wouldn't really have scratched the surface.

And the word is out: Despite the President's saying last week they were both doing a great job and Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney are there for the duration, Rumsfeld is getting shoved in front of the train. Which makes me wonder: Can Cheney be far behind? Heh. Just kidding, Cheney. Don't have me killed.

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 20:28:50 GMT

Predictions

Just for the record, I have a prediction on today's elections. I think the Democrats will win 232 House seats, 30 Governor's races, and 49 Senate seats, with the Republicans holding 49 seats, and two independents in the Senate, including Joe Leiberman. Given how often Leiberman votes with the Republicans, and given that this is the second time in three Senate races where most Democrats voted for his opponent, and most Republicans voted for him (the first time national Republicans were on a mission to oust liberal Republican Lowell Weicker with a more conservative Democrat), I am not at all sure he will vote to confirm a Democratic majority leader.

If Leiberman has no plans to seek a fourth term, I'm certain he'd cast a tie-breaking vote for a Republican Senate leader.

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 16:52:23 GMT

Revenge of the Nerds 4: Nerds Trapped in the Beltway

A weird moment today. I was watching Reliable Sources, and Michael Medved was on shilling for the Republican party line. I was confused. Do the Republicans have a movie out? And why's he on CNN, period? He was a terrible film critic. But apparently he's a talk show host now. Democrats take a lot of heat for being supported by celebrities. But what does it say when the Republicans hire someone who devoted his life to flattering celebrities as a political figure? Is this nerd really the best they can get?

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 15:21:27 GMT

Senator Allen and His Thugs

Yesterday, a Virginia constituent asked Senator George Allen to answer for his personal behavior in his first marriage, and his unwillingness to unseal his divorce records. I don't generally favor politicizing the personal behavior of candidates. But Senator Allen has made personal behavior an issue. Senator Allen has launched attacks on Navy Secretary Jim Webb for the fictional sexual behavior of characters in his military novels, novels which have received raves from George Will, John McCain, the Weekly Standard, and the National Review, among other conservative institutions. Senator Allen has to play by his own rules. If the behavior of fictional characters in Webb's novels are fair game, then the actual behavior of Senator Allen is certainly fair game.

What was the response of the Allen campaign to these honest questions? Three Allen staffers grabbed the Virginia voter, one grabbing him by the neck and badly choking him, endangering his life as they dragged him out of the room, and then pushing him to the ground in the hallway outside.

George Allen has storm troopers working for his campaign, ready to physically attack anyone who, unforgivably, asks him a question. Virginia voters, you may want to get your affairs in order before you go to an Allen rally. You could get hurt.

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:14:32 GMT

I've been sick for a week, and haven't felt much like posting. I'm better (?) now. A new poem:

In the Business District

Suits are walking down the street, wearing their people.

Gray suits with their matching men, shoes with tassles

for men who think their job is nothing but hassles,

a black suit and tie for a man whose image is evil.

The men in suits don't look right or left.

They are as blinkered as carriage horses,

as shuttered as one bereft,

as trapped as the stars in their courses.

I don't want to be owned by my work,

my days spent bent over a desk like a jerk.

I feel a chill in the air, and it's hard to say

whether it's weather, or a sense of dismay.

Or just the daily trauma of doing the unappealing,

with a bottle at home to drink myself into feeling.

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 18:58:58 GMT

Why Aren't Senator Allen's Pants on Fire?

An extremely credible woman, Pat Waring, has come forward as yet another person confirming that George Allen used the "n-word" in the 1970s. She remembers George Allen putting on red shoes while he was giving a speech full of the use of the "n-word", just before a rugby game her husband coached. That's a significant amount of specific detail. (If they could break down her story it would be here: Red shoes are rare; they've always been rare. Even in the 1970s, proof could be found as to whether he had such a pair of shoes, for instance. Allen's camp is not offering any.) The reasons these stories are important are two-fold: It reflects on his basic character, particularly when set against numerous mutually contradictory stories regarding the "macaca" flap, and the apparent anti-Semitism reflected in his denial of his mother's Jewish origins, and his mutually contradictory stories trying to explain that. It seems like whatever his racial issues, they are not a thing of the past. But of nearly equal importance is the question of his honesty, or rather, his lack thereof.

It seems like George Allen's picture should be set against the classic politician joke:

"How can you tell a politician is lying?"

"His lips are moving."