Friday, February 10, 2006

Living Through Another Cuba

Wolcott unloads on Imus today.

I've only listened to Imus in passing, never seen the attraction. People on the Right accuse us lefties of being bitter and angry, but as a description it comes closer to Imus than anything. Frankly, I don't understand the need his listeners apparently have to reinforce their bigotries and hatreds.

My favorite depiction of Imus was in Howard Stern's movie Private Parts. When Stern was just joining NBC, Imus was the talk star, and was apparently pretty full of himself then. Stern was brought by for introductions, which Imus refused quite insultingly, leaving Stern standing there a bit taken aback. Astonished, really, at the rudeness of this fellow. Of course, Stern just went on his merry way, soon eclipsing Imus, and I would think, not really looking back. Best revenge indeed.

Of course, our pal at LL, Nick, is fond of calling Wolcott a turd. He's entitled to that opinion, but I find Wolcott's writing to be effective and lean; especially when he finds a target. In this column, he neatly eviscerates Imus in a couple of sentences, as if in passing.

And in fact, it is in passing, because toward the end he gets to the real meat of the post. He talks about Maureen Dowd's obsequious appearance on the Imus show, and then the all too common Democratic trait of not having the courage of their convictions; not having the balls to stand up and say something straight, without apologizing.

Not a problem I have.

But it's certainly a Democratic (AND democratic) problem when the members of the majority party don't have this namby-pamby trait. Shit, Trent Lott has never really apologized for any of his racist comments, let alone mere strongly held opinions.

years ago, Dukakis ran for President. No Really! A nice guy, fine legislator and all that, but not... inspiring, I guess. But during that campaign, the Bush team unloaded every bit of dirt they could. Sliming Dukakis' family and wife, impugning his patriotism (of course), misrepresenting his career, all the wonderful tactics we are so used to (Rove was a campaign team member for a while, unsurprisingly, until he did something so repulsive even Bush I couldn't tolerate it. Of course, Bush 2 has no such convictions). Dukakis team aimed for the high ground (that Civil Discourse the Republicans look for? This is what happens when you play by those rules), based on Americans' disgust with campaign tactics in general.

I grew very frustrated though; they missed the point. While it is very true that Americans were thoroughly fed up with the slime and degradation of presidential campaigns, underlying that is the American regard for someone who won't, or can't defend himself. Especially when the Bush team went after Dukakis wife. That doesn't play well in Ammurrica. late in the game, they started to respond, and the polls started to move up; but it was too late.

It's part of that weird, inexplicable Bush appeal, especially to his base that doesn't think too deeply, or read a whole lot; the bluster and tough talk.

well, back to the Democrats. So, absent kicking each and every one of them in the balls, sequentially, starting with That Fucker Lieberman (and I want two swings at Herb Kohl) , we have to let them know that there is nothing wrong with believing in your views and stating them forcefully. Paul Hackett is demonstrating that beautifully; Jack Murtha is, bless the man, not backing down (and who would expect that from a former DI?).

Feingold is doing a fine job; let's let him know. Letters and money, two great political motivators, my friends. Also, Kos and Atrios keep up with the current crop of challengers and upstarts who need and deserve support. Worthwhile to see who you like over there.

Maybe, with a little bit of work, we can build ourselves an Opposition Party that, you know, Opposes; that provides a real alternative.

Oh, and stay away from that slimy squeezebag Rahm Emmanuel and the DCCC, as well as anybody Bob Shrum is advising. Losers who always advocate becoming baby Republicans, a sure-fire losing strategy. Try the DNC.



Rant Over: Now the FRT!

1. Dead Man from the album “Live at Benaroya Hall - Oct. 22, 2003” by Pearl Jam Never a huge Pearl Jam fan. But this is an interesting- semi acoustic live set that gets pretty good.

2. The Black Crow Knows from the album “Element Of Light” by Robyn Hitchcock

3. Breakfast With My Shadow from the album “Aurora Borealis” by Cloud Cult Cloud Cult! One of my new favorite bands. what a show.

4. Last Dance from the album “Original Sin” by Mekons aaaaahhhhhhhhhh.

5. Creatures Of Habit from the album “Candy From A Stranger” by Soul Asylum


6. Keep It Tight from the album “Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the '80s, Vol. 9” by Single Bullet Theory

7. Pocket of Tears from the album “Collideoscope” by Living Colour

8. I'm Looking At You But Talking To Myself from the album “Utopia (Re-release Of Original From 1982)” by Utopia Todd and buddies go power pop.

9. Wearin' That Lived In Look from the album “Live At The Abbey Pub” by Sadies

10. Love Will Tear Us Apart from the album “Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 2” by Joy Division


Norbizness did fifteen, so I'm gonna too:

11. Death Drugs from the album “Rock!!!!!” by Violent Femmes

12. Gullible's Travels from the album “And The Horse They Rode In On” by Soul Asylum Another Soul Asylum. No fair. Clean up your act, iTunes, or I'm going to load some Hootie onto you. And none of us want that.

13. My Life from the album “Boingo Alive (Disc 1)” by Oingo Boingo

14. Puck's 6th Birthday from the album “Who Killed Puck?” by Cloud Cult Oh, so that's how you're going to play, huh? Well, I LIKE Cloud Cult, so This is just fine. Step out of line one more time, though, and you're getting 'My Humps'.

15. Drove Up From Pedro from the album “Ball-Hog or Tugboat?” by Mike Watt watt. Much better. Apology accepted.








I wish I'd said that, part several million:

Norbizness describes the Preznit:

If this country was like an 18-round hole of golf, he would have shot a 231, impaled three caddies with golf clubs thrown out of frustration, accidentally blown up the clubhouse, drained the water hazard to build a TGIFriday's, and severely injured his own testicles in the ball-washer.
Go read the rest of his Incompetence, Corruption, and Greed Round-up.

2 comments:

  1. Hey tc,

    Thanks for the link. For the record, Wolcott is a turd, but that doesn't mean he's always wrong (just mostly). ;->

    I actually agreed with most of his Imus column, though plodding through his ridiculously over-written prose and ridiculous analogies is always painful. I must have a masochistic streak, since I keep reading the man-- though only once or twice a month.

    Really, the two things that most bug me about Wolcott-- that makes him a turd in my book-- are his smug condescension and his blatant hypocrisy. Smug condescension always rubs me the wrong way, regardless of whether I agree with the viewpoints expressed, but when a smugly condescending pundit starts ripping on others for being smug and condescending... well, that's pretty turd-like to me.

    Not that you probably care, but just thought I'd throw that in there. Oh, and kudos for having some Oingo Boingo on your ipod. Saw them at the Riverside 18 or so years ago-- great show.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oddly enough, smug condescension is a fitting description of Krauthammer, I feel.

    The difference being that KH often willfully twists the facts to fit his preconceived conclusion. But he's marginally less transparent at it than, say, Cal Thomas.

    Has it been 18 years since Boingo were at the Riverside? I think that was maybe the first time they were there. I'm pretty sure I've seen them there twice. Extremely loud.

    ReplyDelete