Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

A dilettante blog from the great progressive state of West Virginia.

Everybody saw this coming.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Republicans in disarray!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2014 / La Lucha Continua…With A Sideways Reason To Keep Fighting From The (A) Good Doctor

La Lucha Continua…With A Sideways Reason To Keep Fighting From The (A) Good Doctor

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Serendipity works sometimes.  My friend David Dobbs publishes a near-daily newsletter of three or four fascinating essays or articles to read.  (You can sign up here.) Today he took me to a writer I’ve only occasionally glanced at in the past, Sadie Stein, (may have to change that)  for a piece that comes to a climax with a vision of a young, fictionalized Joyce Carol Oates, TA-ing her first class.  Trust me; it’s worth a look. (It’s over at the Paris Observer, itself a venue I chance upon more than seek out — might want to change that too.)

Contemplating the various joys of full-body immersion in student fiction was fun, enough so that I clicked through to Stein’s archive, and there, just below the bon-bon of a post to which David had directed me, I came upon her entry for Tuesday.  Mostly (though not entirely) she hands the microphone over to William Carlos Williams, and a poem, which, thus acknowledged, I herewith steal:

Election Day

Warm sun, quiet air

an old man sits

in the doorway of
a broken house–

boards for windows
plaster falling

from between the stones
and strokes the head

of a spotted dog

George_Wesley_Bellows_-_Man_and_Dog_(1905)

The dog and the man deserve better.  The struggle continues. It will not end easily, as Tuesday’s results remind us.  But to mix references and speakers of very different histories, the arc of the moral universe is long.  But that we can conceive of the idea of justice allows us to bend that arc towards the just end.  (And yes, I’m feeling my Anselm just a bit today.)

Image:  George Wesley Bellows, Man and Dog, 1905.

Reader Interactions

116Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    I love Bellows.

    Wrestlers, floor scrapers.

    Also Williams. That poem reminds me (though not for any good reason) of Bob Creeley, who I miss in the world. I was lucky to become friends with him in grad school. Maybe it’s because I used to see him all the time in the park walking the biggest fucking dog you’ve ever seen.

    Best one-eyed poet ever.

  2. 2.

    Tom Levenson

    @BGinCHI: Creeley is missed. Didn’t know him myself (I met him once, but just in passing). But a lot of my friends and acquaintances in the Boston poetry community were friends, and I’ve picked up on their sense of personal loss. The writing speaks for itself.

  3. 3.

    BGinCHI

    @Tom Levenson: There is a book by Charles Boer on Charles Olson (called, “Charles Olson in Connecticut”) that no one seems to read. Which is sad as it’s a great book about Olson and Buffalo, as well as a bunch of other contemporary poets.

    Highly recommended.

  4. 4.

    jake the antisoshul soshulist

    We can never forget, the arc of history does not bend toward justice by itself, we must ever vigilantly bend it that way ourselves.

  5. 5.

    Tom Levenson

    @BGinCHI: I’ve seen that one — read part of it. (One of my buddies is a huge Olson devotee. Not as much as he is a Duncan disciple, but still…)

    And, if anyone out there is lurking, let me use the space to tell you to run, not walk, to your nearest bookstore that can get you Olson’s Call Me Ishmael. A great piece of writing on its own terms, and as sharp a diagnosis of the American dream/pathology as you’ll ever read.

  6. 6.

    BGinCHI

    @Tom Levenson: I second that, Tom. There was lots of hype about Philbrick’s “Why Read Moby Dick” and deservedly so, but Olson is so far out ahead it’s not funny.

    I also highly recommend Olson’s memoir called “The Post Office.” It’s about his father and is just terrific.

    Ps. Duncan wears me out as a grown-up. Younger man’s game….

  8. 8.

    BGinCHI

    It only now occurs to me that Joyce Carol Oates is from a shitty little town (Lockport) just a skip and a jump from Buffalo.

    It’s in her early stories all over the place.

    Home of Gambino Ford.

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    @BGinCHI: Of course poultry-themed poetry resonates with me, but I had no idea JCO was from Lockport! My hubby is a Buffalonian, and I got the grand tour of Lockport once. Quite a place.

  14. 14.

    Political Realism

    Keep on struggling to fly, losers. Everytime you think you’re about to take off, the Koch Brothers will smile, lean over, and clip your little wings.

    Last night provided a blueprint for a Permanent Republican Majority in the Congress and State Legislatures. What’s more, a possible path to the Presidency in 2016.

    First: pass an unprecedented amount of conservative legislation (gutting global warming programs, cutting economic regulations to the bone, repealing ObamaCare and replacing it with market-based solutions, a new flat tax, etc etc) so much so that Obama will be forced to issue a record number of vetoes. I think we should throw in defunding planned parenthood just to troll Democrats into babbling about abortion again, nominating more Wendy Davises, and running more Leena Dunham ads.

    Turn up the heat in the culture war–divide married women from single women, and draw enough Latino men away from the Democrats to win as was done in Texas last night by making it seem that the white, college educated upper class feminists that run the Democrat Party want to emasculate them (this will tie in nicely when Hillary becomes the Democrat nominee).

    Next, blame Obama and the Democrats for being “obstructionist” and “unwilling to compromise”. Nominate an outsider like Snyder or Walker in 2016 that will promise to “clean up the mess in Washington”, “run the government like a business” and “change the tone in DC”. This will also tie in nicely when the Democrats run Hillary Clinton, who was been in DC for 24 years by 2016. She will be seen as an obstructionist insider playing political games, while (say) Rick Snyder is an outsider who can just Get Things Done.

    The Koch Brothers will fund this theme to the tune of hundreds of million, if not a billion, dollars.

    Twenty-sixteen should be loads of fun!

  15. 15.

    gogol's wife

    I thought I could safely read the Arts section of the NY Times, but noooo . . . A huge review by Michiko Kakutani of Chuck Todd’s 518-page book on Obama, “The Stranger.” (no h/t to Camus) I read the first paragraph out loud to my husband, with Todd’s litany (unquestioned by Kakutani) of Obama’s failures: “Income inequality is worse than ever . . .” My husband (very mild-mannered) yelled, “Whose fault is that????” I couldn’t get any farther.

    I hate them with the fire of a thousand suns.

  18. 18.

    Lolis

    @Political Realism:

    Anyone who thinks any political majority will be permanent is completely oblivious to history and human nature. I’m very much looking forward to 2016 as well.

  20. 20.

    Howard Beale IV

    The Koch Brothers will fund this theme to the tune of hundreds of million, if not a billion, dollars.

    Even the Koch’s have to travel. Their personal security forces won’t be able to protect them 100% from long-range snipers.

    What is the Koch Industries Business Continuity Plan should one or both of the brothers be incapacitated?

  25. 25.

    Political Realism

    BTW, see Koch Industries new public relations campaign? Advertising fixes everything…EVERYTHING.

  29. 29.

    Political Realism

    Sorry, meant Kansas State Police. Koch Industries is based in Kansas.

    I expect the IP address of Howard Beale IV to be subpoenaed shortly.

  34. 34.

    Howard Beale IV

    @Political Realism: To who are you going to report it to, especially since an explicit threat was not made? Indeed, you’re going to be the one who is going to be in trouble for filing a false report.

  37. 37.

    Political Realism

    @ Howard Beale IV

    The Kansas State Police.

    The threat was implicit.

    I hope you have a good lawyer.

  42. 42.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @gogol’s wife:

    It must be closing time at the cheetos store

    Let’s just hope Mom’s washing machine is working, because there are a lot of footie pajamas that need to be washed.

  50. 50.

    Political Realism

    Hillary will be painted as old hat. Yesterday’s news. Washington insider. Divisive.

    Snyder could run as the wave of the future, outside the beltway, a real unifier, a businessman who got things done in Michigan and can do the same for DC.

    Who do you think wins in that case?

  53. 53.

    BGinCHI

    @Gin & Tonic: I love their beers.

    They of course make Pumking, the undisputed king of pumpkin beers.

    And if people come on here hating on pumpkin beer again I’m handing out wolf tickets.

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    @Political Realism:

    Who was the last Republican to become president who was an actual outsider? Not someone who sold himself as an outsider to gullible people, but an actual outsider.

    Sorry, but your own money men don’t want an “outsider.” They want someone who’s part of their club who they can sell to the rubes as an outsider. Why do you think Sarah Palin got dropped like a hot potato by the Republican establishment? She’s not the right kind of people.

    Rick Snyder didn’t go to an Ivy League school. He’s dead in the water as far as the Republican establishment is concerned.

    ETA: The Koch brothers went to MIT. You really think they’re going to give the time of day to some schlub who went to the University of Michigan? Much less Scott Walker, who couldn’t manage to graduate from college at all? Puh-lease.

  57. 57.

    JPL

    OT.. .I have a son who lives in a right to work state. He has been a consultant, or temp for one of the large employers. He just signed on with the large employer and the other firm refuses to pay him his accrued vacation. Since it’s a right to work state they can fire you on will and not pay you vacation or if you leave with out the proper notification they can refuse to pay you accrued vacation.

  59. 59.

    Political Realism

    @Mnemosyne

    You know who else didn’t go to an Ivy League school?

    Ronald Wilson Reagan.

  61. 61.

    cckids

    @Political Realism: You are a delusional twatwaffle.

    I hope you realize you are cheering everyone here up. You remind us of the 2012 campaign, with your OMG UNLIMITED CASH fapping, and your panting fascination with Walker, Snyder & Kasich is a scream. The dullest, most nondescript lineup since the last Knights of Columbus convention. Enjoy!!

    This, too, shall pass. :)

  62. 62.

    dmsilev

    I’m morbidly fascinated by the fact that someone can be _proud_ to be a semi-intelligent meat-puppet dancing to the tune of a couple of multi-billionaires.

  64. 64.

    BGinCHI

    @Political Realism: They certainly don’t teach you how to steal an election by collaborating with the Iranians and then selling arms to the Iranians in order to break several laws in the ivy league.

    Also he was probably too fucking stupid.

  67. 67.

    Mnemosyne

    @Political Realism:

    See, I knew you would say that. What movies was Rick Snyder in, again? What fan base did he have before his entry into politics?

    Sorry, Rick Snyder’s a nobody from nowhere and won’t get the time of day from the establishment Republicans. And that goes double for Walker.

  76. 76.

    cckids

    @BGinCHI:

    Also he was probably too fucking stupid.

    I remember Reagan boasting somewhere that he’d never gotten a grade higher than a “C”.

    I mean, Jesus, not in PE? Grammar? Not (gasp) American History? Nothing?? Sad.

    Sadder that he was proud of it.

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    Invasion of the Body Snatchers up on EPIX at 8. As in NOW. Remake by Philip Kaufman with Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum.

    Fine social commentary for me, after the election night massacre.

    Or, on TCM: Meet John Doe (Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwick; Frank Capra film) at 8, with Bullitt to follow.

  80. 80.

    BGinCHI

    @Elizabelle: I like Bullitt. Directed by the same guy who did The Friends of Eddie Coyle, one of the most under-appreciated films in American film history.

  81. 81.

    Political Realism

    @Mnemosyne

    We were all assured that the path to the New Democratic Majority(tm) was through babbling non-stop about consequence-free sex. It turns out not all women are Leena Dunham. Imagine that…

  84. 84.

    Elizabelle

    @BGinCHI:

    Director is Peter Yates. I have not seen Bullitt or Eddie Coyle. Yet.

    Did see “Breaking Away.”

    I used to get Peter Yates and Peter Weir mixed up …

    This pod people movie is pretty good. Set in San Francisco. Can catch Bullitt after and have an all SFO evening.

  86. 86.

    Mnemosyne

    @Political Realism:

    Awww, does PR still haz a sad because he can’t find a woman to marry him? Funny how they all run away screaming as soon as you tell them that only a skanky whore would use birth control, so there’ll be none of that in your house.

  90. 90.

    Belafon

    Something we have to figure out how to fix: Michigan Dems Got More Votes and Still Lost (Daily Kos link): Democrats outvoted Republicans 1,536,812 to 1,474,983, but the Republicans will control the state House by 63-47. Republicans received slightly more votes for state Senate, 1,527,343 to 1,483,927, but will control the chamber by 22-11.

  92. 92.

    fuckwit

    One more thought before I finally drift away from commentary/blogs for a few more years…..

    50-state strategy. That’s what we need. Bring back Howard Dean. Give him the keys to the bus.

    On the ground, precinct by precinct, door-to-door, neighbor-to-neighbr organizing. Like the unions did way back in the day, and like the christian fundamentalists did to bring the Rethugs to power in the Reagan/Bush years.

    We better start now. Redistricting is in 2020. 2/3 of the states are controlled by Rethugs!! That means yet another 10 years of a locked-in Rethug House… unless we start now.

    Also, I don’t want to see a single more fucking ad in my in box asking for fucking money. Not one. I’ve not given a dime this cycle because it’s ridiculous, in a Citizen’s United world, a sucker’s game, wasting all that money on ads, straight profit for the media monopolies, so they can use that money to lobby for bigger monopolies (goodbye Net Neutrality). Fuck all that noise.

    Anyone emailing me asking for help phonebanking or door-to-door’ing, I’m in. Anyone asking for money (and yes, that even means you, Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren) goes into my trash folder. I don’t have any money to spare, and if all you think I am is a cash register, I got nothing for you.

  93. 93.

    Mnemosyne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Yikes! I’m way down in Los Angeles, but I hope they find your friend. Did they already try calling the local emergency rooms to see if maybe someone of his description ended up there? I’m not sure what the current HIPAA rules are about that.

  95. 95.

    Howard Beale IV

    @fuckwit: The key is we need to neutralize the money. Make it so that its of no value in a political campaign. And that is the hardest part. Unfortunately, it is going to require a new party to make it happen. In other words, let the other parties piss the money down the drain-the third party is 100% consistent with their platform.

  105. 105.

    Belafon

    I don’t know if any of you saw the Slate article about race in the elections, but it makes a point that we Democrats will have to figure out how to deal with. The article talks about what receives the blame for blacks being poor, blacks themselves or external forces. Here’s the important paragraph:

    In the white South, 42.4 percent blame blacks exclusively, compared to just 18.8 percent who blame discrimination, and 38.8 who blame both. That’s a lopsided 69/31 split between the two exclusive positions. Outside the white South, 27.7 percent blame blacks exclusively, 34.4 percent blame discrimination, and 37.9 percent blame both, a much narrower 45/55 split between the exclusive positions.

    White Democrats outside of the South have been shifting more and more towards external forces, while whites in the south have not. And that ratio for white Democrats in the South is what White Republicans outside of the South feel.

    This portends the fight we are going to have over the next couple of decades. And the more Democrats try to help equalize the playing field, the more Southern Democrats will move towards Republicans. The final paragraph:

    What all the above boils down to is that blaming blacks for being poor remains broadly popular in America today, and that taking note of continued discrimination is not. A modest majority of Democrats outside the white South disagree, and this creates a political fault line that Republicans have repeatedly exploited across the decades, with no end in sight. When conservatives get too crude — as was the case with Cliven Bundy, for example — this threatens to upset the apple cart, and appearances must quickly get restored. But it’s the crudity, not the underlying attitude of blaming blacks, that has fallen out of favor. This would hardly surprise a Southern gentleman of this or any other century. It’s just the way things are supposed to be. Always have been. Why ever change?

    If we are going to keep from sliding back into the early 20th century, it’s going to take a lot of work.

  112. 112.

    magurakurin

    @BGinCHI: That is so weird. I just watched an episode of The Rat Patrol on YouTube last night. I hadn’t seen or really even thought of that show since probably around 1970, I remember seeing it as a kid…in re-runs I think, but I was pretty little, so not sure.

    I didn’t come away with the feeling it was a pretty good show, but I did get a kick out of watching it. Especially the ending scene where two Rat Patrol guys go off together with this English nurse, she’s actually already the girl of the star but the new guy, an English man doesn’t know that. The English guy asks her to go for a drink and the girl asks her guy “to join them.” I was like, wow, a World War II threesome in a 1967 TV show…cool.

  114. 114.

    Howard Beale IV

    @Political Realism: Tor, VPN and multi-layer proxies will make their work rather challenging, But you never though that people would use those technologies, did you, you mouth-breathing slackjawed cephalic?

  116. 116.

    dance around in your bones

    @Political Realism:

    Enjoy your gooey substance surrounded by a flaky crust –
    with durian topping, stinky and just wrong. I hope you see the light one day, though I hold out little hope.

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