== Come on… must we? ==
The verdict has been declared… at least by one political seer. “ It’s over: Jeb Bush will be the GOP nominee in 2016.”
Oy! And with Hillary the democratic heir-apparent — and with the next-generation George P. Bush running for office in Texas… and rumors of Chelsea Clinton — where does that put us, dynasty-wise?
Mind you, I have very different opinions of these two clans, one of which oversaw twin eras of absolutely perfect mis-rule and ruin for the United States, without a single positive outcome in any metric, while the other is recalled as generally effective and decent — if fraught with a few personal flaws.
Still, do we really want this?
Way back in 2007, I suggested a bit of theater to put it all in satirical perspective. Picture a black-turtleneck-clad greek chorus holding up alternating pictures as they chant. The first round consists of just one phrase as they hold up one placard, labeled “1980” — that shows the gipper with Bush Sr.
The second round repeats showing 1980, then the same pair again, labeled “1984.” Then 1980 and 1984 with one more added… Bush Sr. alone in 1988… You can envision each round getting longer as we then add Bill Clinton twice, then Bush Junior twice, each time reiterating a chant that adds one more layer…
REAGAN-BUSH!
REAGAN-BUSH!
BUSH,
CLINTON,
CLINTON
BUSH,
BUSH…
…CLINTON?
That last chant would have shown Hillary 2008. We’d then repeat the whole thing culminating in her second term. Then repeat again for 2016 showing Jeb… and Jeb again in 2020… and then… Chelsea?
Read the whole script here: Reagan Bush, Reagan Bush, Bush Clinton…
And yes, history passed that scenario by. Though… why not resurrect the work of satirical art, updated and revised? All that’s needed is to interrupt the repetitious chant with a double pause while the chorus offers a respite of two hosannahs… O-Bah-mah! O-Bah-mah! … before going back to the rhythmic Battle of the Dynasties.
If any street theater types want to pull off this satire, I can offer the whole script.
To be clear… I have no major beef with Hillary Clinton. And Jeb does seem to be the least awful of his calamitous clan. Still, as I said earlier… oy. We don’t have to do things this way.
== “Ostrich” conservatives! There are places for you! So lift your heads ==
I have mentioned before that among the crucial demographic of “ostrich conservatives” — millions of decent folks who are in desperate in denial over the hijacking of their once-intellectually rich movement go giants like Goldwater and Buckley — are waking up and lifting their heads to confront its veer down insanity lane. Ashamed of the War on Science and the abandonment of any pretense of support for small business or fiscal responsibility — or even common sense — some genuine discussion is happening at THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE Magazine.
Another Goldwater-Buckley type wrote to me about the Hoover Institution:
“Interestingly, some good climate scientists are (or at least were) Republicans (Jim Hansen, Richard Alley, Kerry Emanuel, and some folks at the Hoover Institution, like George Shultz, who helped to fight the Tesoro/Valero/Koch initiative to undo AB32, and who gushes over his Nissan Leaf. Unlike most of these thinktanks, that’s actually (mostly) a center of legitimate conservative thought, of the old-style conservatives, not Tea Party. It is certainly disheartening to see the disappearance of the oldstyle moderate Republicans, like Sherwood Boehlert or Olympia Snowe.”
Alas, in the Murdochian push to reclassify “libertarianism” as purely anti-government, rather than pro-competition, the Powers that have done the hijacking are foisting on us ravers like Judge Andrew Napolitano, whose recent rants – based 100% on concocted falsehoods – against Abraham Lincoln clarify their purpose. To ensure that “government of the people, by the people, for the people SHALL perish from the Earth. Hm… I wonder why billionaire feudal-lord inheritance oligarchs would want that….
== political miscellany ==
When May I Shoot a Student? An essay in which a Boise State University professor comments (tongue in cheek I hope) about the many advantages of Idaho’s (soon to be) new law allowing guns on university campuses. A work of art that will make simultaneously laugh and cry…. What a crazy country we live in!
How to respond to people who claim the ACA didn’t originate from the GOP. Better yet just repeat this to republicans. “Obamacare was your… own… damn… plan.“
TO THE BRINK 