The Dyspeptic Tank
Saturday, June 12, 2004
It would be piling it on too excessively for the Republicans to again use the Rooseveltian theme "Happy Days Are Here Again" for their National Convention in September. The Late Gipper could do so, if only to counter the deep clinical depression (and stoic sense of honor) of the Carter years. "Happy Days Are Here Again" was appropriate for that era because everyone was shutting their senses to grim reality and ingesting vast amounts of cocaine. Today it would just seem ironic, in light of our (ostensibly) chemical-and-sex-free administration.
No, the Republicans need to get back to their basic principles. For their new campaign song, I suggest an up-tempo country version of "Strange Fruit," played perhaps by the Charlie Daniels Band to the tune of "Cotton-Eyed Joe." ¶ 4:51 PM 0 comments
No, the Republicans need to get back to their basic principles. For their new campaign song, I suggest an up-tempo country version of "Strange Fruit," played perhaps by the Charlie Daniels Band to the tune of "Cotton-Eyed Joe." ¶ 4:51 PM 0 comments
Friday, June 11, 2004
Ronstock '04 is almost over--only the cleanup remains. The Right Wing necrophiliacs (is there any other kind?) lined up by the tens of thousands to slobber over the shrivelled remains of the man who made us all feel so good about doing bad. Ronnie took us from the Brechtian reality of the Carter years to a fantasyland that Disney would have called
hallucinagenic. The Grover Norquist brigade wants to put the Great Confabulator on the ten dollar bill, chisel his Doodyesque likeness on Mt. Rushmore, and rename the Pentagon after him.
Sure, we should put his picture--on Food Stamps. We should sculpt his face on a mountain of surplus Federal cheese, to be left on the Mall in Washington to be licked by homeless veterans and feral dogs. We should put his name on something synonymous with his policies and philosophy--the Fresh Kills Landfill, Three Mile Island, or Death Valley. We should change the unfortunate expression "senior moment" (which I detest, for obvious reasons) to "pulling a Reagan."
But why build more monuments? The National Debt he spent us into will outlast the Pyramids. The bloodbaths of El Salvador and Beirut will long live in memory--of those who lived. His sensitivity to AIDS patients was monumental, in a negative way. And as sensible for foreign policy? "Arms for Hostages," "Star Wars: the Boondoggle," and (who could forget?) "I've just signed legislation outlawing Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." Plus, he made us feel great about driving really big cars again.
Despite all, I am convinced that Reagan believed all the hooey he so winningly spouted. He lived and acted and died in a state of innocence. It's just that from the greatest innocence often emerges the greatest evil. The Old Man is at peace now--I only wish that we were.
P.S. to Sandra Day O'Connor--John Winthrop was NOT a Pilgrim--he was a PURITAN. The Puritans of those days HATED the Pilgrims. The problem with all the Puritans TODAY is that they THINK they're the Pilgrims!
¶ 1:24 PM 0 comments
hallucinagenic. The Grover Norquist brigade wants to put the Great Confabulator on the ten dollar bill, chisel his Doodyesque likeness on Mt. Rushmore, and rename the Pentagon after him.
Sure, we should put his picture--on Food Stamps. We should sculpt his face on a mountain of surplus Federal cheese, to be left on the Mall in Washington to be licked by homeless veterans and feral dogs. We should put his name on something synonymous with his policies and philosophy--the Fresh Kills Landfill, Three Mile Island, or Death Valley. We should change the unfortunate expression "senior moment" (which I detest, for obvious reasons) to "pulling a Reagan."
But why build more monuments? The National Debt he spent us into will outlast the Pyramids. The bloodbaths of El Salvador and Beirut will long live in memory--of those who lived. His sensitivity to AIDS patients was monumental, in a negative way. And as sensible for foreign policy? "Arms for Hostages," "Star Wars: the Boondoggle," and (who could forget?) "I've just signed legislation outlawing Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." Plus, he made us feel great about driving really big cars again.
Despite all, I am convinced that Reagan believed all the hooey he so winningly spouted. He lived and acted and died in a state of innocence. It's just that from the greatest innocence often emerges the greatest evil. The Old Man is at peace now--I only wish that we were.
P.S. to Sandra Day O'Connor--John Winthrop was NOT a Pilgrim--he was a PURITAN. The Puritans of those days HATED the Pilgrims. The problem with all the Puritans TODAY is that they THINK they're the Pilgrims!
¶ 1:24 PM 0 comments
