Pool Parties and Politics

I spent all day at a seven-year old’s birthday pool party. It was refreshing to spend some time around people (young children) that haven’t been damaged and aliented into an appropriate cynicism. Their time will come…but it’s not here yet. Thankfully, they are not yet old enough to read crap like Byron Calame’s defense of sniffing Hillary’s panties or the DLC’s rigorous defense of Joseph Lieberman.

Reading stuff like that will take all the joy out of a birthday pool party. It’s a bottom line fact that our efforts are seen as “The Return of Liberal Fundamentalism” by our erstwhile allies on the center-left. Meanwhile, the Big Foot reporters at the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Time, and Newsweek, think it’s okay to continue to paint Hillary as a fringe liberal and her husband as a philandering political liability.

It’s enough to make someone discouraged. If anyone wonders why I spend so much time mocking Big Foot reporters, it’s because they show us so little respect. I don’t need to put up with shit like this:

MATTHEWS: Ann Coulter, you’re the first to speak tonight on the buzz. The president’s performance tonight, redolent of the best of Reagan — what do you think?

COULTER: It’s stunning. It’s amazing. I think it’s huge. I mean, he’s landing on a boat at 150 miles per hour. It’s tremendous. It’s hard to imagine any Democrat being able to do that. And it doesn’t matter if Democrats try to ridicule it. It’s stunning, and it speaks for itself.

Mission accomplshed. That exchange about says it all. It sums up both the fatuous nature of television discourse on national politics and its right-wing slant. That Ronald Reagan belongs in the pantheon of great Presidents goes unquestioned. Ann Coulter is taken seriously. George W. Bush looks fabulous in a flight-suit.

The DLC says, “We deplore this purge effort because Joe Lieberman is an outstanding and respected U.S. Senator.” Well, we deplore the lack of progressive voices in the Senate and all efforts to eliminate primary challengers to our established politicians. Where is the DLC complaining about the lack of primary challengers to Sherrod Brown and Bob Casey, Jr. Where are their complaints about the primary challenger to Lincoln Chafee? Does the DLC think Joe Lieberman should have a free ride to the nomination just because he is “outstanding and respected”, as they put it? Shouldn’t the Democrats of Connecticut make the ultimate decison? And why should they deplore whatever that decision is?

The media and the Washington establishment have no problem accepting raving wingnuts like Tom Coburn, Mike DeMint, and Peter Sessions. But, Russ Feingold is considered a radical. And rather than paint Hillary as a pro-war corporate sponsored status quo candidate, they continue to justify calling her a liberal and checking her underwear drawer. Calame says:

Learning that the Clintons spent 70 percent of their weekends together over the past 17 months was surprising and interesting to me, even though some readers criticized the paper’s tabulation effort as artificial and pointless.

Yes, it is fascinating to know that on 70% of the weekends over the last year and a half there is at least a chance Hillary got laid by her husband. I don’t think that knowledge is artificial or pointless…I think it is prurient and gross. It serves no public interest. How often has John McCain spent enough time alone in the bathroom to masturbate over the last 17 months? Anyone care to interview his friends and staffers and try to make an educated guess? Because we don’t need a another serial wanker in the White House. No sir. Not with North Korea, Iran, and the Sunni insurgency to worry about.

It’s Sunday. The Christian day of rest. I’m glad I got to spend some time away from this culture rot with some kids that are too young to be offended or disillusioned by the disgrace of it all.

Author: BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.