Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When we show up, we win.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

He really is that stupid.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Everybody saw this coming.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Let there be snark.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Heaven Help Us

Reader Interactions

109Comments

  1. 1.

    newtons.third

    I really like the pseudo-BP logo with his name. So I assume that he will be in favor of BP bailouts.

  2. 2.

    Zifnab

    I honestly can’t figure it out by looking. He could be a blue dog or he could be a full blown GOoPer. It’s so hard to tell.

  3. 3.

    Svensker

    Quick- Democrat or Republican?

    Is that a trick question?

    I like how he’s threatening to “bring new blood to Congress”. Since he keeps mentioning he’s a veteran of I-rak, that sounds a little scary.

  7. 7.

    Phil

    Democrats or Republicans? What difference does it make John? The party for the far left “progressives” is coming to an end, we’re taking away the keys. It’s all over for you “progressive” pieces of shit come November. The clock is ticking, tick tock tick tock.

    Then we’re throwing your ideology into the dustbin of history where it belongs.

    So if you think no one listens to you or Krugman now John, then boy are you going to be depressed come November.

  10. 10.

    Morbo

    Ugh, all the new candidate ads (presumably the candidates, too) suck badly. Jay Riemersma’s running one that is basically: “Hey, remember when I played football? Vote for me!” And apparently the campaign is too embarrassed to put it on his Youtube channel.

  11. 11.

    Ahasuerus

    Just checked out his website. The issues section emphasizes infrastructure improvements, FDIC regulation reform, free trade agreement renegotiation, and local business boosterism. There is no mention of any of the typical hot-button issues of today’s conservative movement, and no mention of either major political party. Odd.

    I’m guessing he’s neither Republican nor Libertarian, as there don’t seem to be any dog-whistles on that page. My guess is he’s a nominal Democrat, possibly a social liberal but squarely in the fiscal conservative Blue Dog camp.

  12. 12.

    Guster

    My guess is Democrat. Annoying enough to be Republican, but not quite effective enough.

  16. 16.

    TimB

    Democrat. I didn’t even look at the video but a Republican’s truck would have to be red white and blue with prominent flags.

  17. 17.

    sparky

    based on the anti-incumbent “jobs” i pick D, but who knows. for all it matters this could just as easily have been an ad for the pickup truck. come to think of it, the pickup suggests R, unless the Ds have already co-opted that image. yuck.

    either way, thanks for neatly demonstrating the poverty of thinking in the US of A continues apace, though imo lewis black is more fun to watch.

    yes, i’m serious.

  20. 20.

    Glen Tomkins

    A Democrat

    Obviously. He’s not waving a gun around. There’s not even an implication that his opponent needs to be gunned down.

    What a wimp! Bound to lose.

  21. 21.

    MikeJ

    @sparky: He’s in the Missouri bootheel. Everybody there drives a pickup. This isn’t a guy in St. Louis trying to prove he’s folksy, this is a guy in East Bumfuck, who probably painted the truck he already had.

  22. 22.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    Dear RWNJs, quotation marks are not used for emphasis. Rather, they denote a suspicion of authenticity or inaccurate usage. Try BOLD or italics next time.

  23. 23.

    Face

    OT, but whatever:

    The Today show devoted 10 opening minutes (read: the time usually devoted to its “biggest” story) this morning to tell us it’s hot in July. No joke. 10 full minutes to let us know how unusual it was that July is a month that often brings 100+F to parts of the US.

    Please shoot me now.

  24. 24.

    stuckinred

    I drive a 66 chevy longbed fleetside with a “Vietnam Vet for Obama” sticker on it. Problem?

  26. 26.

    Ash Can

    Since he so bravely declines to indicate his party affiliation in his ad, I had to look it up. Dem from rural Missouri. Whaddya know.

    It’s fitting that this comes right after a thread about the “civil war” on the left. The fact is, there are parts of the US where a Tommy Sowers is as good as it’s going to get. We can piss and moan about the blue dogs/conservadems until the cows come home — and I’m one of those who do — but the fact is, getting an Alan Grayson or a Jan Schakowsky elected in a district like this is a pipe dream (actually, more like an acid trip). And with the Congressional makeup that results, miracles ain’t gonna happen.

  27. 27.

    stuckinred

    @Face: Uh, since it was a record 103 in NYC it is sort of news. The NYT has it on the front page, imagine.

    “The Northeast faced a fourth day Wednesday of a record-breaking heat wave, after triple-digit temperatures tested power supplies throughout the region and tried the patience and resilience of anyone who dared to venture outside. “

  28. 28.

    jayjaybear

    Phil: History belongs to us. Little by little, year by year, the US becomes more liberal. Picture it: 1783. A new republic, founded to secure the rights and liberties of rich white men (preferably of solid British ancestry). Women can’t vote and are, in fact, property just slightly above chattel slaves. Black people are either chattel slaves or highly restricted “free” folk. Only white men can vote, and there is no law against imposing a poll tax or literacy test, which means that not all white men can vote.

    Today, all adult citizens of the US can vote. Women are no longer property. Neither are black people. And gays and lesbians are starting to come up to full equality with straight people as far as how the government treats them.

    History has a liberal bent. It may take a LONG time to get there, but it’s always in that direction. Your kind may be able to temporarily take power and grind your “lessers” under your heel, but in the long run, we win. Enjoy your slide into irrelevance and obscurity.

  31. 31.

    Face

    @stuckinred: Last time I checked, there was a record amount of oil leaking into the Gulf, a record deficit, a probable record number of foreclosures in states like Cali and NV.

    But I’m so glad they must tell us that it’s hot in July. I bet people will actually physically melt now that its approached a temp 20 degrees colder than a typical Vegas day in June/July.

  32. 32.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Phil:

    So if you think no one listens to you or Krugman now John, then boy are you going to be depressed come November.

    That may be so, but hardly on our own behalf. I, personally, am doing fine, and will continue to be in fine shape regardless of who wins the political wars.

    But the millions of people thrown out of work during the past few years, with no prospects of even crummy jobs in sight – they’re going to be not just depressed, but desperate.

    Maybe you could spare some compassion for them.

    Did you know that there are 4 million fewer private sector jobs in this country now than when Bush took office? And of course, thanks to normal population growth, there are an additional 20+ million people of working age fighting over the jobs that remain.

    Mission accomplished.

    Yeah, I’ll be depressed if the GOP wins big in November. You should be, too.

  34. 34.

    stuckinred

    @Face: So get off this blog, get off your ass and do something besides being a fucking media critic.

  38. 38.

    stuckinred

    OMG! Even Firedoglake is in on the heatwave hysteria!! Can’t they have another post on Israel instead???

  39. 39.

    Ahasuerus

    @Punchy:

    Pete Townshend would be so proud.

    And with my first LOL of the day, the outlook becomes a little bit brighter…

  40. 40.

    Balconesfault

    Does it help a campaign to run photos of your female opponent looking like she just had the worst day of her life?

    I know you’re supposed to try to make your opponent look like shit, but I wonder sometime if women watch these attack ads where a female politico has obviously the worst public photo ever featured, and turn sympathetic to her, and consider the guy running the ad to be a uncompassionate asshole…

  41. 41.

    BenA

    @geg6:
    Speaking of Scott Brown… he’s getting hammered, absolutely hammered, over the oil spill (at least during Red Sox games). My guess is he doesn’t have a 70% approval rating anymore.

  43. 43.

    Staging a Comeback

    @Phil:

    It’s all over for you “progressive” pieces of shit come November. The clock is ticking, tick tock tick tock.

    November will be difficult for Democrats, but the demographics are going to make it an impossible generation for GOPers. Sucks to be you, Phil!

  44. 44.

    mr. whipple

    ALVIN GREENE HAS A JOBS IDEA…. In South Carolina, Alvin Greene has withstood pressure and remains the actual Democratic nominee for the Senate. This week, he talked a bit about the kind of job-creation efforts he’d like to see implemented. (via Taegan Goddard)

    “Another thing we can do for jobs is make toys of me, especially for the holidays. Little dolls. Me. Like maybe little action dolls. Me in an army uniform, air force uniform, and me in my suit. They can make toys of me and my vehicle, especially for the holidays and Christmas for the kids. That’s something that would create jobs. So you see I think out of the box like that. It’s not something a typical person would bring up. That’s something that could happen, that makes sense. It’s not a joke.”

  45. 45.

    Alex S.

    @jayjaybear:

    I would agree, except for the “age of Reagan” (1980-2008). The conservatives couldn’t stop the social progress though, but economically, I think we went a few steps back, and ended up just before dismantling social security and medicare. And it’s still part of the conservative agenda, simply because they’ve got a plan to turn back time and they’re following it step by step. But health-care reform was a giant loss to them. They’d have to redefine health-care again before they can continue their plan (redefine it from a right to a privilege, or in other words, to kill the mandate).

  46. 46.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    The party for the far left “progressives” is coming to an end, we’re taking away the keys.

    Wait, the Democratic Party became a party of far-left progressives, and none of you told me?

    And now it’s apparently going to end, and I missed the whole damn thing!

    What was it like?

    ___

    Edit: Reading that again it’s possible that “Phil” meant party in a different sense. Hard to tell with the mixed metaphors, since neither a political party nor a house party are things you can drive, generally. In which case I’d ask the same though: Damn, there was a party and the country became all progressive and I didn’t even hear about it? I can’t leave you people alone for a minute.

    I bet you really trashed the place though ;) Got universal health care, right? Right? Right??

  47. 47.

    Staging a Comeback

    @BenA:

    My guess is he doesn’t have a 70% approval rating anymore.

    The minute you get elected, your approval rating goes down by half. that’s just politics.

    The Scott Brown situation reminds me of Norm Coleman. After Paul Wellstone died, Minnesotans decided to see what another direction might look like, so they voted in the integrity-challenged Coleman right afterwards. When he was up for re-election they looked at him and thought, well, so much for THAT, and came back to their progressive roots with Al Franken. For similar reasons, I suspect Scott Brown will not survive the ’12 election cycle.

  49. 49.

    GregB

    I get a kick with the Republicans who think that their electoral victories are the most earth shatteringly important revolutions in the world that signify how much the nation loves them and their ideologies.

    When it comes to electoral losses they chalk it up to Black Panther intimidation.

  50. 50.

    Staging a Comeback

    @mr. whipple:

    In South Carolina, Alvin Greene has withstood pressure and remains the actual Democratic nominee for the Senate. This week, he talked a bit about the kind of job-creation efforts he’d like to see implemented. (via Taegan Goddard)

    If I had one brother in jail on trumped-up charges, and another brother in South Carolina, I would work to break out the one in SC first.

  51. 51.

    donquijoterocket

    @Phil:
    Alright another scared child whistling itself past a graveyard. You wingers may make your traditional midterm minority party gains,but if you expect to achieve majorities especially vet-proof majorities you need to seek some help for those delusions. You’d learn more if you paid attention to anyone other than the typical right wing shriekers.You wingers spend so much time blathering to each other you forget how tenuous your hold on reality is. Guys like this twit are part of the reason why.

  52. 52.

    jrg

    Phil cannot wait for the GOP to be back in charge. When that happens, the government will stop spending money!

    OK, OK, that’s not really true, but he can make believe that the deficit is comprised of pixie dust… Or at least complain about a BJ that happened back in ’93 when the loons manage to double the debt again with free giveaways to Iraqis. Happy days will be here again!

  54. 54.

    LarsThorwald

    @jayjaybear:

    Add to that the demographic trends in this great nation. Yes, the Republicans may win in the short term in 2010 or even 2012, but the long view bodes ill for the Tea Party types, and the recent retreat by the GOP into right-wing ideology. The numbers bode ill for that model no less than it boded ill for the Know-Nothings of the mid-1800s. By 2050, whites will no longer make up the majority of this land. Given the large numbers of conservative whites in the upper end of the age actuarials, the passage over time of the Boomers will lead to a decline in the political power of white male seniors.

    As Paul short-sightedly said, tick-tock.

    Well, Paul, you are right: Tick-tock indeed.

  59. 59.

    pk

    Quick- Democrat or Republican?

    How about ugly repulsive idiot irrespective of party. Maybe its just me, but there is something vomit inducing about pretty boys with bibles.

  60. 60.

    wasabi gasp

    For bonus cockle warming, Tommy’s commercial is hankering for a red blooded cast of combat bible-waving creeping zombie war dead.

  61. 61.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    Years ago, my mother gave me a bullet…a bullet, and I put it in my breast pocket. Two years after that, I was walking down the street, when a berserk evangelist heaved a Gideon bible out a hotel room window, hitting me in the chest. Bible would have gone through my heart if it wasn’t for the bullet.

    The genius of the early Woody Allen covered any subject you can bring up, as if to order.

  62. 62.

    Seanly

    @Staging a Comeback:

    SC is not that bad. Take away the blue hairs driving 15 mph in the left lane, the crazy bible thumpers and even crazier libertarians and it’d be a good state. Oh, wait, that’s about 80% of the white population…

    As a Clemson grad, I like being in the state for getting to the occassional Clemson football game, but otherwise it is pretty much a petri dish of typical Republican governance aka a disaster. Wife and I are hoping that I can get a transfer to NW in a few years.

    btw, was that a solid silver bible or something? Armor plating? WTF was that?

  63. 63.

    danimal

    OMG! Even Firedoglake is in on the heatwave hysteria!!Have they blamed it on Rahm yet?

    If Rahm would just twist some arms in the senate, a climate change bill would pass and summers would be more bearable.

    Wasn’t that hard, was it?

  64. 64.

    Svensker

    @Face:

    I bet people will actually physically melt now that its approached a temp 20 degrees colder than a typical Vegas day in June/July.

    Your average Vegas house prolly has pretty good A/C. Our average Jersey shack has window units in the upstairs bedrooms, nada downstairs except fans. Add to that frequent power brownouts with threats of blackouts and 102 temps and it becomes interesting to us.

    Also, all the news people live here, so here is the center of the known universe.

  65. 65.

    Dork

    Does a combat Bible have a self-destruct mechanism, so to avoid capture and certain burning or library-shelving by the enemy?

  67. 67.

    DanF

    The fact that he served in Iraq makes me think he’s a Democrat instead of a proud member of the Fighting 101st Keyboard Republican. Like Ash Can and others said above, in rural MO, a blue dog is about as good as it’s gonna get, and much than lock-step GOPer.

  69. 69.

    Jim C

    “I will force Congress to fix the bad trade deals…”

    I’d love to hear him elaborate on just how he’s going to “force” Congress to do anything. I’m sure it’s straight out of the John McCain “Cut the B*llsh*t” playbook – and just as effective.

  70. 70.

    Jay in Oregon

    @Punchy:

    So a guy 25 or older still goes by “Tommy”?

    Remember when the right would get the vapors over the notion that William Jefferson Clinton might allow himself to be called “Bill”?

  71. 71.

    elmo

    @stuckinred:

    Problem? Only that you appear to have stolen my truck. :)

    Kidding, actually — I drove a 68, not a 66. Loved that truck.

  72. 72.

    Howlin Wolfe

    @Phil: Bubble* boy, how long do you think an ideology, such as yours, based on falsehoods, unsound logic, negative emotion, and slavish obedience of authority, is going to last? You call this freedom? It’s more like cheering for a football team. You don’t know how to argue; all you can do is insult the people you perceive as supporting the “other team”. I know it makes you feel big and important, but your efforts, combined with other poor slobs you think like you, will only result in flushing our country, and perhaps our whole civilization, down the crapper, viz, the economy wrecked by the wars, Wall Street, housing bubble, and tax cuts for the rich people you so idolize to the point of idiocy. So, STFU.

    *He is Bubble Boy because the conservative movement’s tribal ideology is a bubble, inflated by the heat of media interest, but only held together by a transparant skein of bad logic, distorted facts and hate and fear. It may create a violent explosion when it pops.

  75. 75.

    60th Street

    Since none of the Founding Fathers are sitting in the back of his truck and he’s not standing on the hood firing a machine gun into a haystack, I’d say Democrat.

  76. 76.

    russell

    OK, so I checked Sowers site. His top issues were:

    1. Build out tech infrastructure in his rural area
    2. FDIC reg changes to help out small community banks
    3. Changes to free trade legislation to keep manufacturing jobs in the US

    These all seem like fine goals to me.

    The ad is basically just a way to punch the necessary tickets for his area:

    Truck: check.
    Military: check.
    Jesus: check.

    Not how I roll personally but I’m not from rural MO. The “combat bible” thing is weird but the dude seems perfectly sane on the issues.

  77. 77.

    joeyess

    @Phil: Let me be the first to say, if I ever have the pleasure of meeting you, I’m gonna punch you in the fucking neck.

  78. 78.

    David Hunt

    @Staging a Comeback:

    November will be difficult for Democrats, but the demographics are going to make it an impossible generation for GOPers. Sucks to be you, Phil!

    Actually, I think I’ve figured out the long-term strategy that Phil’s fellow-travelers have worked out to keep themselves going: Just make sure that only the right people can vote. All those “people” that are on the demographic rise are obviously not Real Americans. Once Phil’s folks are back in control of Congress and the Presidency, they can make sure that voting laws restrict the franchise the Right People.

    Or to put it in a less snarky way, voter suppression is the friend of party that’s massively unpopular with the proles. I’m confident that at least part of the purpose of the “papers please” anti-Immigration law in Arizona is to scare a large percentage of the Hispanic population away from the polls in November for fear that they’ll be harassed, arrested and/or deported some random Spanish speaking country. I’m also sure that there’ll be Republican “observers” at the polls in heavily Hispanic areas demanding to see all sorts of proof that voter was not bused in from Mexico and shuttled to 20 different polling stations by 9 AM. That’s probably standard, but the Arizona law gives them another blade to draw in this particular political knife-fight.

  79. 79.

    joeyess

    what Dems never seem to understand is this basic fact: This is tribal politics. They can wave the bible, drive a pick-up, emphasize that southern drawl and wear blue jeans and roll up their sleeves all they want. If there is a (D) behind their name, the passengers of the Glenn Beck-Insane-Train wouldn’t vote for them if you held a gun to their children’s head while they were in the voting booth.

    Why bother pandering to them? That particular demographic is dying, if happy (in a purely political sense) to report.

    Literally.

  80. 80.

    Sly

    Quick- Democrat or Republican?

    My gut reaction was the Anti-Masonic Party, but then I remembered that they didn’t have pick-up trucks in the 1830s. Armored Bibles? Dunno.

  82. 82.

    Ash Can

    @russell: This. And his incumbent Republican opponent evidently has had a sane moment or two in Congress herself. He comes off as just another goofy Christianist in his ad, and I wouldn’t expect him to be another Bernie Sanders or anything, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if this were the only way to get votes in that neck of the woods. Not a terribly attractive technique, but it beats putting an actual goofy Christianist in office.

  83. 83.

    joeyess

    BTW. If I were in combat with that guy, in a fox hole and under heavy fire, and were to look over and see him reading that titanium-bound fairy tale, I would have hit him in the nuts and pointed out that using his rifle would be a better solution to our present problem. Regardless of his rank. But, that’s just me.

  85. 85.

    EDantes

    All the dem ads need to do is start down memory lane:

    Reagan deregulation and defunding of the SEC and FDIC
    –> Savings and Loan collapse
    Contract on America screams that solution to financial corruption is MORE deregulation
    –> Manufactured housing loan collapse
    Gramm and cronies, ban ALL oversight of new derivatives starting a mortgage fraud frenzy.
    2003 – Bush admin ignores warning from appraiser association that banks have gone completely corrupt and are strong arming them to elevate appraisals, Bush responds by cutting applicable federal oversight staff in half.
    –> Financial system collapses and the taxpayer gets screwed by wall street

    There is a difference. Sure, the dems sat on their fat asses, but the republicans were fucking cheering on the rape of the country.

  87. 87.

    debbie

    @Balconesfault:

    I know you’re supposed to try to make your opponent look like shit, but I wonder sometime if women watch these attack ads where a female politico has obviously the worst public photo ever featured, and turn sympathetic to her, and consider the guy running the ad to be a uncompassionate asshole…

    My guess is that the kind of man who would run such an ad doesn’t believe the little lady should have left the kitchen in the first place.

  88. 88.

    russell

    Not a terribly attractive technique, but it beats putting an actual goofy Christianist in office.

    Might not be a “technique”. Could be he’s a goofy Christianist *and* sane on the issues.

    I’d have a problem with him if he decided to get all dominionist once in office, other than that I don’t much care if, who, or how he worships.

    If the full metal jacket bible thing is catnip to his peeps, fine with me. Everybody’s got their own thing.

    He looks pretty sane on the issues. Other than that, I don’t care about the cultural signifiers. If you run for office in NYC, you have to eat deli sandwiches and kiss some babies. If you run in rural MO, apparently you have to drive a truck, wear jeans, and carry a metal bible.

    Chacun a son gout.

  89. 89.

    artem1s

    @Sly:

    does it strike anyone as odd that the troops in Iraq have armored bibles but can hardly get armored vehicles? WTF?

  90. 90.

    D-Chance.

    If he’s brandishing the cross, he’s Republican, cuz Democrats are Commie atheists, don’tcha know… also, the pick-em up truck is a dead giveaway. Red State Republican all the way.

  91. 91.

    patrick

    So a guy 25 or older still goes by “Tommy”?

    Tommy Shaw of Styx
    Retired General Tommy Franks
    former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer (Fran Tarkenton’s successor)….

  95. 95.

    60th Street

    He’s a VoteVets candidate

    Part of DCCC’s Red to Blue Program

    From Show Me Progress

    …he was one of the top three students when he graduated with a Masters in Public Policy from the London School of Economics. Currently, he is finishing his PhD in Government there. He wants to use that knowledge to bring jobs to the poorest district in the state and one of the ten poorest districts in the country. For example, he wants FDIC regulations for small banks reformed. Local banks did nothing to deep six this economy, but their FDIC insurance has gone up 20 times…

    Definitely not a Republican

  96. 96.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Punchy:

    So a guy 25 or older still goes by “Tommy”?

    Well, lessee here. In Alabama, there’s a Representative named Bobby Bright; in Mississippi there’s Bennie Thompson; there’s Kenny Marchant from Texas; and there are any number of women in Congress named Judy and Kathy and Debbie and Ginny and Betsy.

    Not forgetting Senators Johnny Isakson (GA), Patty Murray (WA) and Debbie Stabenow (MI). And you know they’re all at least 30.

    I agree, these nicknames come across as rather juvenile, but if Tommy Sowers prevails he certainly wouldn’t be alone.

  97. 97.

    ricky

    Oh no!!! A veteran thumping his Bible running as a Democrat. Quick, point me to a cliff.

  100. 100.

    SRW1

    @stuckinred:

    Let me be the first to say go fuck yourself.

    Jebus, have mercy on the guy. How many more times do you want him to do that. He so exhausted already, he’s barely making any sense.

  102. 102.

    The Populist

    It’s all over for you “progressive” pieces of shit come November. The clock is ticking, tick tock tick tock.

    Dipshit. I know you are trolling for a reaction but the ideology soon to be in the dustbin of history will be your conservative one.

    An ideology built on distrust of people and hatred of change and progress is always going to fail with the majority once they SEE what kind of havoc you idiots have bestowed upon America.

    They may not see it now but just wait. The same people who came out for Obama (as much as he’s been a disappointment in many areas) will be back and they will put the nail in your fucked up belief system soon enough.

  103. 103.

    Sean

    Heaven Help Us

    “Heaven Help Us?”

    I think you’re barking up the wrong crucifix.

    -S

  106. 106.

    Geeno

    @Bill E Pilgrim: My fave Woody Allen quote of all time: “Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it has been the cause of far less unhappiness than has the lack thereof”

  108. 108.

    Granfalloon

    @jayjaybear:

    A fortiori, history has to have a liberal, progressive bent.

    I just don’t see how the current right-wing thinking could possibly create any kind of history. Their political philosophy – swagger around, stomping the crap out of anyone not like you until something bad happens, and respond with out-of-proportion tyrannical force – cannot possibly sustain itself. It’s only a matter of time and numbers until it consumes itself.

    An illustration: Most scientists agree that any extraterrestrial (stay with me here) advanced civilization that would visit us could not possibly be warlike for the sake of war. They could not get that far by being lunatic warmongers. For the above reason, a civilization run by a succession of Palins could not possibly survive to create a history over the long-term. It is self-destructive. Accordingly, history must, at least writ large, have a liberal progressive bent. Otherwise, it would rip itself up and start again until it got it right.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks