As I said to a friend of mine yesterday, the capacity of the American public to engage in massive self-delusion seems to know no bounds.
Case in point: Fred Thompson, Republican frontrunner!
Thompson is all over Iowa, talking about his humble beginnings, natch, in places like Music Man Square, a museum full of picket-fenced and hay-baled settings based on the rural-Iowa-as-utopia musical The Music Man.
Look, it's none of my beeswax if the Repubs want to nominate him. They seem to fall pretty hard for that "aw shucks" act. It worked for Reagan, and for W. In fact, I think at the times those two were elected there was very little else that WAS working for them, so it might be safe to safe that as far as Americans are concerned, a pick-up, a pair of cowboy boots, and whiff of le shirt-collar bleu, however improbable, is just about ALL you need to con the electoral college.
It is interesting to me, however, that Democrats are smacked down pretty hard whenever they are perceived to be condescending to be one of the people. Witness the harsh treatment of John Edwards, who is a perfectly fine and upstanding candidate, even if he does obsess about his hair.
The hair obsession doesn't phase me. C'mon, I date a musician. What does bother me, though, is that Edwards, whose positions are solid, and whose campaign focus is right on, is dismissed as a light-weight, whereas Thompson, who has so far dodged stating a position on just about every issue except one, is being slavered over like he's John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Abraham Lincoln all rolled into one.
And what's the essential, urgent, high-priority issue on which Thompson has rushed to press his agenda in these dangerous times of ours?
Gay marriage. He's agin it.
Yes, and the whole country just sunk a few millimeters lower into the abyss of lost integrity and moral wrongity-wrong-wrongitude.
Oh, and by the way, lovers of Thompson, before you go and burden the country with another election based on appealing to the "git 'er done!" demographic, I beg you to consider this:
The Music Man is a story about a swindler who convinced a whole town that he was what he wasn't.
Think about it.
15 comments:
This country is smart enough to not elect an actor for crying out loud!
I mean again...
FT is 2008's Wesley Clark, but for the Republicans. He'll be gone by New Hampshire.
"whiff of le shirt-collar bleu..." Funny.
... but Edwards is ALSO against gay marriage!
Oh-oh, the 'git'er done' wagon is a comin' down the street, oh-oh, please let it pass by me.
SkyDad: Could they at least elect a non-terrible actor? I mean, the dude who played Gopher? Really?
Grant: I've heard the Wesley Clark comparison, and I am skeptical. Clark didn't rocket into first place, did he? Clark had some good positions, he just was 1) teeny-tiny, and 2) terrible at expressing himself.
Jess: I meant Edwards as a comparison of someone who was being blasted for his "phony" man of the people position, while Republicans of similar wealth are given a pass. Also, I think there is a world of difference between Edwards's position on gay marriage and Thompson's. I do not mean to legitimize his Edwards's position, which I do think is a mistake, but it is also important to stress that he favors the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, and that he also would not stand in the way of a judicial process that would force one state to recognize the laws of another regarding gay marriage, which is exactly what Thompson's proposal is targeting.
Kristi:
O-ho the "git 'er done" Wagon is a-comin' down the street,
Oh, please make him skip my door!
O-ho the "git 'er done"
Wagon is a-comin' down the street,
I'm so afraid what we are all in for!
Everyone finds faults in Democrat candidates, but no one finds fault with Republican candidates, except for non-Republicans of course. And since when did they matter?
Michael: Hm. I feel you are mocking me.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/05/31/thompson/index.html
The link above will lead you to a picture of Freddie's wife, (keep scolling down) who is 4 years younger that Freddie's daughter. Yes, sir, now that's a traditional marriage.
Now Mrs. Thompson may be a very charming, warm, intelligent person, I don't know, but she sure looks like a bimbo. Can you image her as First Lady? How is Freddie's staff going to manage her?
You go girl! Again your wit and your brains make your blog a winner!
And your dad has a good eye and a good point.
I was talking to a republican member of our extended family in Iowa about Thompson's popularity. he said straight up it was more a reflection of how dissatisfied with the rest of the candidates most GOP's are. He described Thompson as an empty vessel whose popularity will decline in direct proportion to how much more people see of him.
Thompson reminds of the of lecherous old teacher who oogles anything with a pair of boobs. It embarrasses me to no end that he still claims he is from TN. He should in fact be forced to tell everyone that he lives in Hollywood or NY or Washington DC because that is where he sepnds most of his time.
Have you seen Kucinich's hot babe of a wife? Yowza!
http://www3.turkishpress.com/i-u/SGE.UWK50.131206074602.photo00.quicklook.default-167x245.jpg
Thompson may have a career ahead of him for informercials. I mean... haven't you seen his videos? I don't know about President though.
I keep a GnR CD in my disc bank for exactly this purpose. It's great to get the rage out. I suggest... Your Fucking Crazy - I think it's track 6.
Did Thompson have cancer or something? He looks really really bad. It's our actor worship mentality that gave this guy any career in politics.
Maybe when Wilford Brimley dies, FT can take over on the "I have diabetes" commercials. Not that it matters whether or not he HAS diabetes, because he's just an actor.
I'm constantly amazed at how the trend among repub candidates has been toward folksy stupid cowboys who drawl their way through fractured grammar and incoherent babble, yet the dems always seem to have these Rhodes scholar-types who are educated, informed, and able to utter coherent sentences--even two in a row or more! Why is that? And why do so many Americans turn away from the intelligent well-spoken Gore and Obama and cling to stupid fake-cowboy morons like GW and FT?
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