The Mississippifarian

Attention must be paid. She’s not to be allowed to fall into her grave like a first wife. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a woman. She is the New England woman — she’s vital in New England. She’s liked, but she’s not well liked. A small woman can be just as exhausted as a great man. You can’t eat the primary and throw the caucuses away — a campaign is not a piece of fruit. We’ve never told the truth for ten minutes in that house. Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be? What am I doing in office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!

Actually, other than lifting one line from Death of a Salesman, Hunter doesn’t really delve into the Willy Lomanesque attributes of Hillary Clinton, but given how little tweaking those Hillary-ized quotes required, maybe he should have. And yes, I’ve been saving those until it’s all over, and believe me, it’s all over.

Death of a Politician, btw, is the title of a lesser known Richard Condon book from 1979, and it’s easily the rudest thing about Richard Nixon you’ll ever read. Condon, clearly a hard core Nixon hater, starts the book with police investigating the death of a politician found in a hotel room. Among the more interesting details are the scars on his back, the product of a lifetime of kinky sex and self-flagellation. The most gratuitous swipe was the revelation that this politician, while serving in the Navy and surviving WWII by playing poker, the “Nixon” character decides that it’s not gay if he lets other sailors fellate him so long as he gets paid. A bit of a period piece, but a must-have volume for the Nixon hater on your Christmas list.

 Amazon has copies cheap. 

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Harold Meyerson uncorks a deep analysis of the primary battles, delving into Greek mythology to explain the dynamics of the Obama revolution.

 

More common than children overthrowing their parent…was parents stamping out their children’s revolts. More revolutions fail than succeed. [My friend] called this the Cronus theory, after the Titan in Greek mythology who, on hearing that one of his children would overthrow him, swallowed them whole (except, unfortunately for Cronus, Zeus, who, sure enough, overthrew him).

In recent weeks, the specter of Cronus has haunted Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. It has appeared in two forms — the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and, counting two as one, Hillary and Bill Clinton. On Tuesday, Obama handily dispatched Wright. How exactly he will dispatch the Clintons — and whether they will persist in transforming themselves into their party’s two-headed Cronus — remains to be seen. 

 

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Limbaugh crowed about the success of his ploy all day Tuesday, featuring on-air testimonials from voters in Indiana and North Carolina who recounted their illicit pleasure in casting a vote for Clinton. “Some of the people show up and they ask for a Democrat ballot, and the poll worker says, ‘Why, what are you going to do?’ He says, ‘Operation Chaos,’ and they just laugh,” Limbaugh said Tuesday.

But Limbaugh called off the operation yesterday, saying he wants Obama to be the party’s pick, because “I now believe he would be the weakest of the Democrat nominees.”

He added: “He can get effete snobs, he can get wealthy academics, he can get the young, and he can get the black vote, but Democrats do not win with that.” 

We are so going to crush McCain, after which Limbaugh will endlessly yammer about how much he hated McCain while mocking every reform, every effort to salvage a nation left bankrupt and sundered by the politics of divisiveness and hate. [as opposed the Prince of Darkness's bad mouthing and sour grapes, or George Will's petulant victory dance.]

Meanwhile Christy Hardin Smith reminds us of Tim Russert’s blovial hypocrisy, and Phoenix Woman writes a post sure to gladden Flash’s overly tolerant, establishment-friendly centrist heart. (Carpetbagger has more on Russert’s calculated duplicity.)

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Steampunk slideshow up at the NYTimes.

Yes, it’s Science Fiction all over again, altho technically this costume-prone niche is called Science Fantasy. 

Mostly though I grabbed this picture because it looks like an alternative universe edition of Tild and Robin (with Baby Violet circling the earth with Smart Daddy in a steam-driven pachypram).

Mind goggling (gogoling?).

 

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In the name of fairness, the WaPost defends Scientology. 

No different, really, than their ongoing faith-based support for the bloody occupation in Iraq and our failed presence in Afghanistan.

And it’s just a coincidence that Tom Cruise’s picture is on the front page, being used to promote some gossip feature. Steamed punks aren’t near as cool as steampunk.

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I ignored this AP report on Al Franken’s taxes, as I’m sure many of you did, but if the tax thing is proving to be a problem, there is no more sure fire way of changing the subject than for Al Franken to quick set up a few debates with Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.

Jack’s a class act and won’t drag down the debate with any tax nonsense. He and Al can take the high road and discuss troop withdrawals, healthcare reform, etc.

Too bad Al’s busy hiding from Jack. Inevitability isn’t always the best strategy, you know.

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2 many links. 

more politics

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran (cont.)

Fired in Florida for wizardry

Obama means more oil

Self-identified Republican Nazi loses in Indiana

Berkeley ill-equipped to make moral judgments (Yoo too)

Full moon shining on Bush’s new library

business scum

Adidas awarded control over all stripes of all sizes and numbers

Suppressing the public good (for private gain)

The long drawn out death of the Strib

best quote

It’s September 12, 2001. You’re sitting in front of a TV, watching footage of the World Trade Center collapse over and over and over again.

All of a sudden, someone from seven years in the future walks out of a tiny temporal vortex, and tells you: George W. Bush is going to fuck this up so badly that in 2008, the United States of America will likely elect as president a black man whose middle name is Hussein and whose father was Muslim. Oh, and he also admits he’s used cocaine.

Jonathan Schwarz

And a post from Anil Dash that makes no sense to me whatsoever. Is the punchline the fact that the woman is from Iowa? I don’t get it.

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Thanks to Ed “Deets” for the hospitality last night. Finally met Taylor Carik (fucker!), and a few other bloggers. Had to leave early though as there was beer there and I am still studiously abstaining.

The new monastic lifestyle wears a bit, but I get by with a little help from my dealer.