I've been a lurker here at Kos ever since a close friend of mine turned me on to this site back in January. I had been content to peruse the diaries and front page voraciously, occasionally tipping and on rare occasions commenting. This site has gotten me through the lows and given me somewhere to celebrate when things were going great (inasmuch as I live in a very conservative part of the country and can't necessarily share my enthusiasm for Obama and progressive politics with my neighbors comfortably).
Tonight, however, I felt compelled to bring my voice into the fray.
As I sit here typing, I am trying to avoid the temptation to turn off the television as Sarah Palin paints a ham fisted rhetorical equivalent of a Norman Rockwell. Perhaps I am testing the proposition that that which does not kill me can only make me stronger - while I am confident that it won't actually kill me to listen to her carefully processed drivel, it certainly is boring me half to death.
I am not writing to comment on Governor Palin in particular, but upon the the perverse spectacle that has been the Repug National Convention so far, along with its attendant press coverage.
There is nothing so pleasing as watching your opponent sabotage themselves, particularly when they do it with enthusiasm and cruelty. It is my opinion that the Republicans are setting themselves up for a major fall this Fall, as they attempt to run in two directions at once as fast as they can.
On the one hand we have the calls of MAVERICK MAVERICK MAVERICK, applied not just to the old soldier himself, but to his running-mate as well. It is almost as if the traditional media has a fetish for the word, letting it drip off their tongues at every possible opportunity like a submissive partner aching to please their elephantine Masters. But whether it is a GOP drum beater or one of the eager reporters or anchors who lets spill the magic word, all the heads nod in ecstatic agreement with nary a groan of protest to be heard. While not the only manifestation of this aspect of the soon-to-be-ill-fated Republican strategy, it is the most obvious and probably the most commented upon here.
Now, on the other hand we have the Mighty Lurch to Starboard, best demonstrated by our old friend Mitt Romney tonight (in some alternate universe he WAS selected by McCain as the number two and champagne corks are denting progressives' ceilings). In every sentence not taken up entirely by the sentiment that John McCain and Sarah Palin are m*vericks (I can't even bear to type it again, it fills me with such disgust) the elephants make a point of declairing how they are good, strong conservatives who will carry forth the conservative march into a new Golden Age of War, Sock Hops and Jesus.
Now I am certainly not the first to point out the mutual exclusivity of these two gambits, but I think it bears repeating that there are three possible outcomes:
- The so called "centrists" or "moderates" will fall in love with their m*averick-ful splendor and show up at the polls with glazed eyes and and suspicious bulges in their pants (if they are male). On the other hand, the winger base will sit this one out, reminded of the old soldier's naughty behavior in years past.
- The aforementioned centrists keep their clothes on and take a fright at all the right wing showboating and run screaming to Obama and Biden while the Party Faithful show up and put in their vote against abortion and for machine guns.
- The centrists run to Obama/Biden and the wingers get creeped out by memories of McCain's proud, naked m*verickness.
Of course there is the fourth possibility wherein the centrists AND the wingers swallow those parts they like while ignoring the rest, but I suspect that the Obama campaign won't let that potentiality slip by them without giving a solid nudge in one direction or the other.
And if they maintain the game plan they have embarked upon using the Obama campaign will paint McCain as another dried up reactionary who claims to be capable of engorging the nation with a flooding wave of spine tingling change, but in truth only is stimulated by war and money.
Well, friends, if you have read this much of my yammering I am astonished and pleased, but also embarrassed, as this is not the most orderly or well thought out of my writing. However, it has felt good to get the thoughts off my chest and finally partake of the life here in an active fashion. Thank you for your camaraderie and keep up the good fight!!!