It feels very much as if they have all fallen face forward into their keyboards in a state of emotional exhaustion. We’re all just waiting now for the “inevitable victory” or the “miraculous upset” on the day, two weeks from today, when the fat lady sings.
Across the aisle the Republicans are managing to focus everyone’s attention on their squabbles and what seems to be their only issue…illegal immigration and all that that entails.
Since Democrats have temporarily stopped fighting with one another they ought to take aim at the November Enemy. Are these guys hot for the great Republican policies or not? Tax breaks for the rich? Privatizing Social Security? Health plans that favour insurance companies and big pharma? The notion that Iraq was a great idea and an enormous success?
At the risk of damaging The Data Port’s reputation for balance and even-handed reportage… We’d be suckers to vote for any of those clowns.
Now about the scorpions. Katherine and I share our home with two cats. We are also sharing our home with a plague of scorpions. Of the two cats, the oddly named Mr. Squeak is 19 pounds of “live and let live” but Ms Deborah, our the little gray huntress, has a nose for these rascals. She prowls around the house staring at electrical sockets, looking for long minutes under the desk at the tangle of computer cords, and into clutter on the floors of closets.
This started when she hopped to the top of the fridge and stared fixedly at a ceiling light fixture. Sure enough, when I turned on the light there was a scorpion trapped in the glass shade. Scorpion died of heat. Four days later another scorpion…and then one skittering across the bathroom floor.
Scorpions I can see don’t bother me, but the ones I don’t see are really upsetting. I was stung in bed one night…in the face, thank God, and not in any more tender location…and that really hurt.
What the hell is that cat staring at now?
3 comments:
Art,
I do not believe that all the CD8 candidates and their supporters have converged on the idea that Giffords really is the best candidate and was all along and it took a Tucson Weekly poll to illuminate our previous folly in thinking she might not be the best one. No, that’s not the case. However, Al Gore had an op-ed on Truthout.org a few days ago and he stated that the candidate who has the most money for TV ads is the one who usually wins. Maybe that’s true.
I'm not a huge believer in polls that I can't scrutinize because I took too many classes in Statistics. Maybe the TW poll is right on, maybe its flawed. I would just say that its sad when polls are self-fulfilling prophecies or in any way influence an outcome.
As for Giffords, the TW frontrunner, whatever “message” she's hawking has escaped me. On the positive side, she states that she will not support the privatization of Social Security. On the other side, she does not support universal health care and she seems to know very little about US foreign policy, certainly not enough to satisy me.
I am a lifelong Independent who registered as a Democrat a few years ago believing as many other people did that the Democratic Party had the most potential for reform. Well, six years have gone by and I haven’t even seen what could pass for damage control. Perhaps all kinds of things are going on in Washington that I’m not aware of. Maybe things would have been much worse without Democratic intervention, if in fact there has been any that hasn’t been reported. Either way, we have to look at results, and the fact of the matter is that the Democrats are failing miserably.
Take the health care crisis, for example. Health care is something that affects all 300 million Americans including every man, woman, and child. Would you not think that the Democratic Party would have a position? No, it’s left up to each candidate to figure something out and hawk it. Our TW frontrunner, Giffords, thinks we should be able to buy into Medicare at age 50. This is just so totally meaningless. How will she be able to make this happen? How much will it cost people? Will some people be excluded because they can’t pay? Is there enough support for this in Congress to make it happen? And so on and so on. See what I mean? This sort of thing is meaningless hogwash unless it is the position of the Party.
I don’t blame the candidates, I blame the Democratic Party. Their message for 2006 clearly is this, “vote for Democrats because we are the lesser of the two evils.” And this, “we must take back the House and the Senate.”
Well, I didn’t used to vote in primaries and I have voted mostly for Democrats, but I have also been known to throw away my vote when both parties were just too objectionable. I refuse to vote for a candidate who I really don’t like because the challenger is so much worse. I refuse to vote for a party that has no identity and nothing to offer just because it’s not as bad as the other party.
I’ve said it before and nothing's chaned. There’s a bad moon rising.
Liza...
I tried to respond about an hour ago and my comment seemed to disappear, so let me try again. More briefly this time.
I'm an old socialist. I want single payer health care and the nationalization of certain key industries, such as the petroleum industry. I'm not going to get that from any of the candidates.
I'm still going to vote for whatever Democrat wins the primary. Because whatever you may think about the Democrats there is still an enormous gap between them and the Republicans.
Social security, inheritance taxation, judicial appointments, habeas corpus, freedom of information, and so on.
Democrats as the lesser of two evils? You bet. By a long sight.
'gards,
Art
Art,
Two months ago, I might have agreed with you, but Lebanon was the last straw.
However, I understand what you're saying. If we think past their failures, there are some areas where the Democrats have held their ground, and we would certainly be worse off if that were not so.
You made your point, my friend. I never figured you for a socialist. Very interesting.
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