Nearly drowning out the sound of mortar shells being lobbed into the Green Zone, Hillary stumbled and slouched her way to the inevitable victory in Pennsylvania this week, saw her shadow, and promised America another 6 weeks of campaign tedium, to be interrupted only by the occasional wincing collective ”WTF?”. Along the way, Senator Clinton lobbed a few stink bombs of her own, including a concocted hypothetical about “obliterating” Iran if 1) the Ayatollahs ever were to produce nuclear weapons, 2) ever were to develope a nuclear weapon delivery system, and 3) decided arbitrarily to launch said hypothetical nukes toward Israel. Hill delivered 3 versions of her doomsday scenario over a 4 day period, each time ratcheting up the rhetoric until she had achieved the poetry of uttering “nuclear weapons”, “Iran”, and “obliterate” in the same taut sentence. See, Senator Clinton is tough, just like a guy, in fact just like that guy McCain who’s already making rosy campaign promises of more and bigger wars forever. And we all know by now that Clinton is able to throw back a straight shot of distilled spirits in the middle of the day, shoot a doe at 50 yards, and swallow her wad of Red Man without without even flinching, all as mere idle pastimes while she’s waiting for that 3 AM phone call from Osama bin Laden.
This new act, of course, is in sharp contrast to her little emotional meltdown in New Hampshire, but more importantly is designed to be in sharper contrast to the latte’ swilling Obama and his legion of effete You Tube babies, tree hugging limousine liberals, vegan Unitarians, and pointy-headed college professors who wouldn’t even know that a doe is a female deer were it not for The Sound of Music.
And were it merely an “act”, it would be tolerable, I suppose, in this day and age of craven say-anything politics. But I fear that it’s not an act. Hillary’s chem trail of toxic rhetoric concerning the Middle East stretches back to the days immediately following 9-11. And she had that little AIPAC gremlin crawling up her butt even as she was campaigning for Senate 8 years ago, obeisance to Israel being the holy grail of New York politics. No, I think Hillary, like McCain, would loooove to kick a little A-Rab ass if one of the towel heads so much as looked cross eyed at her. If this lady ever makes it to the White House, our only hope is to get her going on those whiskey shooters early in the day, have her passed out by dinner, and let someone else take that phone call.
It’s almost like I’m lying in wait for the latest bullshit “scandal” awaiting the Democratic candidate to follow the chimp into the offal…I mean, Oval office. After all, we’ve come off a week when the vein-popping McCain has evened the race with the dem fav Obama, owing presumably to the corroborative testimony of Betray-ous and Crock-o’-shit before Congress, to the effect that more dead guys piling up in Iraq is a) a good thing, b)an acceptable thing, or 3) and expected thing, take your choice. And since McCain is the daddy of the surge, is it any wonder that the sheeple have collectively scratched their butts, poured a Bud, and said “See? It’s working…sort of!”?
Meanwhile, Osama…I mean OBAMA, apparently has stepped on his d**k again with some throwaway comment about Pennsylvania blue collars voting against their personal interest in favor of the guns & gays gruel served up heartily by the Repug christo/fascist propaganda fear machine. Perhaps he could have nuanced it a little better, but his point was clear: in times of economic crisis, regular folks turn to that whichever gives them comfort.
On cue, Hillary seized upon the moment, reminiscing about the time Daddy first showed her how to obliterate a squirrel with a 4-10 shotgun, and her abiding faith in the Almighty. Also on cue, Barack spun his apology tires trying to explain the obvious. But too little, too late. Blue Collar Reagan Democrats revolt! Can Obama connect with the working drones as they hose down their motor boats in anticipation of perch and trout season? Will Hillary pull a Kerry and contrive a photo-op with a pellet-riddled migratory bird? Will McCain’s increasingly expansive grin actually cause his face to explode? Will Obama repudiate, reject, AND denounce his latest gaff and gin up his gun/god cred by spraying duck pins at the Allentown Park-and-Bowl with bird shot? An increasingly bored electorate awaits the answer.
Ok. A quick addendum to my post below. Here are a few more websites worth visiting for alt-takes on the news. And how could I have ommitted RollingStone when mentioning current events mags. Matt Taibbi’s pieces are worth the subscription price alone. His profane, no-bullshit P.O.V. is rivalled only by Mark Morford of www.sfgate.com
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/campaign2008
http://www.liveleak.com/
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/263.html
Also, while Marshall McLuhan (a confession: I never “got” him) was required reading in college, the book that introduced me to “new journalism” was Harlan Ellison’s obscure classic The Glass Teat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_Teat) It hit my pot-addled brain like a Hendirx guitar solo.
Also, if you have no understanding of general semantics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_semantics), stop everything and return to “GO”. It explains the language barrier between man and reality.
Also required reading in the era of televison is Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Postman), brought to you by the same guy who brought you LBJ’s infamous “daisy” campaign ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKs-bTL-pRg). Still can’t believe Johnson recited the line “We must all love each other or die” when the Beatles were still singing “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
It’s been suggested by contributor “johnnywalk” that I invite folks to engage in a discussion of the media and it’s failing, especially in regards to covering politics in a post 9-11 fascist world, so here goes.
But first a confession: I seldom plunge into the fetid, rancid retention pond of “mainstream media”. Virtually all the information/background I seek is from select magazines (germaine to current events, Harpers and New Yorker specifically) or the web. Can’t recall the last time I watched a network newscast, or for that matter even tippy-toed in CNN-land. Should I want to sample the stale bread offered there, I go to Crooks and Liars or Media Matters. (http://www.crooksandliars.com/, http://mediamatters.org/) I personally find Media Matters a little too fastidious for my taste, engaging in a lot of nuanced nit-picking, without ever really dropping the hammer on the lying jackals of the press. More of a curt slap across the cheek with a white glove. That said, Media Matter’s founder, David Brock, has written one on the most significant books pertinent to the media-in-the-era-of-Clinton: Blinded by the Right (http://www.democraticunderground.com/books/02/brock.html) If you’re not familar with it, Brock lays out his conversion saga of being a former journo-hitman for the Gingrich S.S. in the 90’s, and his ultimate enlightenment. Media Matters is obviously his self-imposed penance.
Also indespensible, book-wise, is Mark Crispin Miller’s Cruel and Unusual (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Crispin_Miller), a heavily annotated and referenced book about the media’s complicity during the Bush/Cheney reign of terror.
This is less of an opinion blog and more of a conversation starter and I’m leaving much out here, on purpose, because I’m interested in your sources and alternet faves. Trashing corporate media is great sport, so have at it!
