Nostalgia For GW?

Written by: Maurice Doubleday on Sep 16, 2008 9:46 AM EDT

There seems to be a pattern with Republicans since Eisenhower. When one big term goes by you find yourself relieved until another 2 termer comes in. Eisenhower was a schmuck to say the least, virtually turning America into a parking lot and dorm area for bomb makers. When Kennedy was elected it was a new sunshine. Nixon came in in 1968 and was so mean and stubborn about Vietnam that you ended up getting nostalgia for a sane Republican like Eisenhower. Nixon came and went and Carter had some good ideas but didn't have the experience or courage to fight for them like he should. Opening the door for trickle down Reagan. Who presented a white, puritan America so brazen in its complacency and neglect that you missed Nixon and his brave discussions with Mao-Tse Tung and Leonid Brezhnev.

Then along came George W. Bush. Bill Clinton's era of intelligence and curiosity went out the window with this mush mouth. Yes. Making me more fond of the days of the Great Communicator.

I can only imagine what will make me nostalgiac for this particular President.....

Anger Is A Gift

Written by: Maurice Doubleday on Sep 15, 2008 12:52 PM EDT

Since when is anger a fringe movement? There was a time when energy and anger were the essence of politics. Groups of people didn't follow McCarthy to New Hampshire in 1968 because they were in a happy place.

And that's the opposite vibe I get from Gaye Symington. Although she has different ideas she has sloth-like energy when discussing them or showing how important they are.

There's a lot to be angry about in Vermont. It's a part of grief. Let it out.

This Is God's War?

Written by: Maurice Doubleday on Sep 12, 2008 8:31 AM EDT

“Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God..”

-Sarah Palin

There are so many holes in that sentence you could play Connect Four. But it does raise some questions in its rhetorical skeleton. This is truly a right wing argument straight from the play book. A certain synchronicity has been achieved here but not by Palin and McCain. More like Palin and the “enemy”. Zealots that are intent on God's mission and believe that jihad/war is justifiable and part of the Holy Plan.

This is scary on two levels: it shows that there is still a strong group of politicians who are dangerously hawkish and willing to use God as a sponsor, and it defies the separation of church and state by suggestion.

To indicate that somehow George Bush is in cooperation with a judaeo-christian manifest that allows the executive branch to violate the Constitution is the biggest puzzle to me. The McCain campaign is the “straight talk express”...what is more straight talk than the law and integrity? Within true secular government a leader wouldn't even dare to try an argument for war as God's work because God doesn't make wars. God doesn't teach at the public schools. When he did we had royalty! We had a revolution in the late 18th century to prevent people like Sarah Palin from feeling the need to inject their relationship with their God into the practicality of government and community. We declared our independence from a ruler who felt he represented God's wishes. To further prevent this from happening the forefathers wrote the Constitution. Fairly ambitious for heathen deists.

So when I see the quote above I just have to ask -- how is it Islamic extremists don't feel the urge to sue for plagiarism?

9-11-2001

Written by: Maurice Doubleday on Sep 11, 2008 9:41 AM EDT

My daughter was 3 months even when I woke up late from a codeine hangover thanks to bronchitis. There they were. Constant slow motion shots of planes and buildings. What was this? I  sat in fear as I recognized finally that where I married my wife had been blown to bits. Stupidly I drove to Boston for errands. No idea that the planes came from Logan I was stopped and searched near the Tobin Bridge. Fortunately they were cool with me and 45 minutes later I was on my way.

See, I knew 30 people below 14th street. The ashen grey footage of Third Avenue scared me like a snuff video. The buildings where I saw the most beautiful view in the world was gone. It was like blowing up Mt. Fuji. Bostonians don't fly and New Yorkers are at orange alert.

Sadness creeps as I watch my city die. The toughest couldn't stop their God's will.  But why not the Grand Canyon or Mount Rushmore. Why not evacuate the planes in one airport and hi-jack it. No honor in that. We had our apocalypse, now watch "American Idol".

The Great Lipstick Controversy pt.2

Written by: Maurice Doubleday on Sep 11, 2008 7:35 AM EDT

Enough. This lipstick debacle has to end. Apparently “lipstick on a pig” is some sort of political cliché that has been used by Republicans at least twice on record. Including our Vice President Dick Cheney (not a standard of politeness to live up to, given) and John McCain himself. At first I believed it was a true blunder on Obama's part to use the analogy so soon after Sarah Palin's not-so-funny joke about hockey moms. But now it's just political hype to distract the Obama-Biden campaign from the issues.

This kind of insincere indignation on McCain's part is the worse part of all. Since when he is so sensitive to women or any minority? This is the same man that kept Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday from being a legal holiday on a federal basis...allowing his home state of Arizona to ignore it.

Obama calls these attacks phony. Which considering the history of Republican trickery is an easily won argument on his part.

I think if McCain is the guy with so much integrity, he would let it go and ask his base to do the same. But that's a dream that I doubt will come true.

The Great Lipstick Controversy

Written by: Maurice Doubleday on Sep 10, 2008 9:00 AM EDT

Barack Obama's comment recently about a lipstick on a pig could be a bigger mistake than expected. The press is all over it and despite John McCain's blunder of such in October 2007, it might not go away considering the timing of Sarah Palin's “hockey mom” allegory. It proves he's human yet it also indicates a certain sexism that might resonate louder than expected.

Vermont Democrats And Their Need To Rise Up

Written by: Maurice Doubleday on Sep 8, 2008 8:03 AM EDT

It's frustrating to be a Democrat in Vermont on a local level. The past 3 gubernatorial campaigns have been so bland that it was hard to get up and vote for the primaries and increasingly harder to show up in November. The Vermont Democratic Party is a strong unit with a great history. But it is no longer the party of Phil Hoff, in which bravery was the trademark. The Dems in Vermont have mired themselves in such politeness toward the issues that it's hard to get fired up about the true problems in the state. Vermont clearly is an Obama state...they just need to understand the “urgency of now”.....

Sarah Palin -- The Anti-Feminist

Written by: Maurice Doubleday on Sep 6, 2008 6:59 AM EDT

There seems to be a lot of hub-bub surrounding McCain's running mate -- Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. Despite questionable credentials and even more questionable issues surrounding her as a fair executive...Gov. Palin also had the audacity to call upon fellow women to feel empowered because she was taking over for Hillary Clinton.

This is nonsense. All of the policies that Palin presents is exactly why we need a woman in executive power. Or at least a feminist guy from Illinois.....

My Favorite DNC ....

Written by: Maurice Doubleday on Sep 5, 2008 9:39 PM EDT

Bill Clinton sowed it up for me with one line.

"We need a President with intelligence and curiosity."

This is the closest I've seen anyone actually hint at the word "reactionaries". It just laid there. Waiting for its applause, I clapped at home like watching a ball game.

I believe Obama has those two qualities at hand and is probably the best candidate since JFK to truly represent it.

-Maurice Doubleday

Giuliani (if he were a threat)

Written by: Maurice Doubleday on Feb 3, 2008 2:30 PM EST

Of all the arrows aimed at Rudy's moderate side during the Republican primary I wonder why no one asked him why he endorsed Mario Cuomo over George Pataki in the 94 NY gubernatorial race?

Too late in the game. But it would it have been fun to watch him stammer thru that!!!