Eugene Robinson is an editor at The Washington Post and commentator for MSNBC. I don't agree with everything he says, but I appreciate his well-reasoned arguments and subtle humor. In this article, he states clearly and concisely what many of us have been saying for months: this campaign for the presidency is reaching new lows each day in nonsense and irrelevance. What do you think?There's something maddening about this presidential campaign. It has become irrelevant whether anything the candidates say actually makes sense. All that matters is how their words will "play" with voters who are presumed to be too stupid to realize that they're the ones being played.
The nonsense du jour is the "proposal" by Republican John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton to suspend the federal gasoline tax. I put the word proposal in quotes because it's obvious that neither candidate is serious about this. They both must know that it won't happen, and they both must know why it shouldn't.
Read the full story over at the Washington Post. And if you like Robinson's work, shoot him an e-mail at: Robinsoneugenerobinson@washpost.com
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6 comments:
It is crazy, but is it unique? I think we've seen this for some time now in politics. The "swift boating" of Kerry is a good example. . . Gore's internetcomment. Totally irrelavent bullshit.
I could challenge almost anyone I know to tell me the difference between Obama, Clinton and McBush/McCain's Iraq policy and nobody could, but ask them what Rev. Wright said last week and they could tell me half a page of quotes.
sagacious: Well said. I decided not to watch the news tonight, not even Keith Olberman and Countdown, my favorite. Instead, I read a book. And your comment about the swiftboating of Kerry is personally hard for me to take. While vp Dick Cheney was getting not one but 5 deferments, while dubya was getting daddy to enroll him into a cushy pilot program so he wouldn't have to go to Vietnam or fight on the ground, Kerry was volunteering twice for service and saving American lives. And he still walks with a limp from a gunshot to his leg to show for it. And that sorry democratic party stood by and let Republicans and the corporate media fry him. That's when I decided not to be a democrat. Although i've helped a couple of local democrats to get elected, I've never considered be a democrat, after what they did to Kerry. As you probably know, They also did the same thing to Max Cleland, a Senator from Georgia, a state where I used to live. This guy lost both legs in Vietnam. You're right-- what they did to Kerry and Gore, one of the smartest guys around, was nonsensical and ludicrous too. Be well; and i'm coming to visit you over at sagicioushillbilly.
Gore was a pompous ass who couldn't related to the common worker. Kerry told lies and sold out the veterans, when he got home. Read up on your history, buddy.
Hey, Anon: It's interesting that you didn't respond to what I said about yo boy Cheney and dubya being too chickenshit to go to war. As for Gore, you're trying to put the elite tag on him, just as the corporate media and right-wing Republicans are trying to do now. Instead of listening to talk radio crazies like Limbaugh and Savage, get a dictionary and look up the word elitist. It means the best and brightest among us in various fields of endeavors. We could certainly use more elitist around the White House, ones who won't throw our veterans into a civil war between tribesmen whose history we don't know, language we can't speak and names we can't pronounce, don't you think?
And you say Kery sold out veterans. First, at least he went to war, something the guy you probably support (Bush) didn't do. Second, you said he lied about veterans. Go check your own history. You're referring to a US senate hearing where he served as a spokesmen for an anti-veterans group. There he relayed to the committee what soldiers said at their conference about what they did in Vietnam: Burn villages, some with old people and children in them, shoot unarmed people. Kerry didn't lie; He simply told the committee what Vietnam vets told him. Stop listening to Limbaugh, read up some more on Kerry and get back to me.
Great point Daddy. Elitism is not neccessarily a bad thing. The founding father believed that it was the obligation of the elite to take on the task of running the gov't when they reached a point in life where they had thee time. It wasn't a priviledge, it was an obligation and burden. The concept of career politicians would be absurd to them. They believed that only the elite could be disinterested enoguh t effectively mange the will of the people and make decisions for the common good. Those inivolved in commerce, trade, craft, etc. had too mcuh of an agenda to govern.
Now, I don't agree with all of that, and I certainly don't do the concept justice in my three sentence brief, but really, with all the civility, good taste, manners and moral obligation that elite individuals were supposed to have and exhibit in the late 18th century, I can understand their premis.
I'm not suggesting that we ignore their oversights and transgressions, but mypoint is that simply condemning those who excell academically and financially as being too "elite" to lead is absurd. . . and hell, that pretty much excludes the right's favorite MoronMonkeyBoy Bush the Chimp. It doesn't get much more elite than that, and that's the down side of elitism if there ever was one. . . that a moron can be placed into such a position of power and then maniulated like a puppet by the real power elite.
sagacious: Amen.
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