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.
That’s exactly the line I made it to! I was laughing too hard at that point to continue on so I decided to come back here to see what kind of excellent comments there would be.
I think AG knows I would never besmirch the Coltrane legacy. Hell, I think I’ll just put on my IPOD right now and take a high speed ride with Trane’s Countdown.
I like Sarah Palin, and I’ve heartily enjoyed her arrival on the national stage. As a career classroom teacher, I can see how smart she is — and quite frankly, I think the people who don’t see it are the stupid ones, wrapped in the fuzzy mummy-gauze of their own worn-out partisan dogma. So she doesn’t speak the King’s English — big whoop! There is a powerful clarity of consciousness in her eyes. She uses language with the jumps, breaks and rippling momentum of a be-bop saxophonist. I stand on what I said (as a staunch pro-choice advocate) in my last two columns — that Palin as a pro-life wife, mother and ambitious professional represents the next big shift in feminism. Pro-life women will save feminism by expanding it, particularly into the more traditional Third World.
I don’t know whether or not it was rerun, but did anyone else watch the Frontline last night about Lee Atwater?
While I generally knew Atwater’s history, it was fascinating to me to see some of the inside story about the genesis of our current Republican politics of fear and smear.
on November 12, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I despise Atwater with such vehemence that I resisted watching.
There are few people that I have more dislike for. When he died, it made me pretty pleased.
I share your feelings about him. The most interesting parts of the show to me were, firstly, seeing how his methodology is still the dominant one followed by his party, over twenty years later. Honed, of course, by Karl Rove; who is heard from several times in the course of the show. The second interesting thing to me was how differently people viewed him, depending on their political bent. And lastly, hearing from those such as Michael and Kitty Dukakis and Bob Dole who still, to this day, seem to have open and painful wounds which were inflicted directly by Atwater’s tactics.
But perhaps the most telling thing about him was what happened after his death and his purported epiphany about how much he had hurt people and his “efforts” to make amends. He had told a good friend that a Bible he was given had become his rock, something which he depended on every day to help him get through his mental and physical struggle. He said he read it every day for strength. He used it to guide himself down the difficult path of his attempted redemption. And after his death his wife, on going through some of his personal effects, found the Bible, still wrapped in its plastic, unopened and untouched.
He had told a good friend that a Bible he was given had become his rock, something which he depended on every day to help him get through his mental and physical struggle. He said he read it every day for strength. He used it to guide himself down the difficult path of his attempted redemption. And after his death his wife, on going through some of his personal effects, found the Bible, still wrapped in its plastic, unopened and untouched.
Jesus. That’s such a powerful metaphor for the current Republican Party that it’s almost hard to believe that it’s a true story and not an urban legend. Did his wife actually tell the story, or was it reported second-hand?
There was so much to take in during the show but my recollection is the story was related by a friend of Atwater’s and it had been told to him by Atwater’s wife. I think he was a musician. And, ironically, he was African American. As I recall, it was the very last thing in the show. And then it faded to black. To me it was such a fitting wrap-up of the whole Atwater narrative. After telling it, his friend put it something like this, “But that was Lee. Spinning it all the way to the end.”
A snippet of this was also part of the Frontline trailer for the show.
it’s available online at pbs frontline. and people like addington, probably most accurately described as sociopaths, don’t have epiphanies, imo.
spin till the end…yeah. that works.
on November 12, 2008 at 1:10 pm
She is nothing but a reflexive contrarian. Since Sarah Palin is condemned by anyone with a brain in their head, for Camille, that makes her AUTHENTIC and REAL.
Now, what Palin actually is is a thief. She has stolen clothes from a Republican donor, 50K from the people of Alaska and 10K in taxes from the US Government.
I wrote Camille a letter. She is just like Leonard Bernstein in 1968, hosting a party for the Black Panthers. The Panthers were considered “authentic” because they were ignorant, coarse, and had guns. For many stupid people, like Bernstein (in social matters, not music), having a gun makes you authentic. Being unable to speak in a well-articulated manner also makes you authentic. If you cannot speak and have a gun, you are authentic^2.
Of course, for anyone with a brain in their head, the Panthers where thugs with guns who couldn’t talk clearly.
That’s Paglia. She is impressed by heavy weaponry.
Pathetic.
on November 12, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I have a great idea. Why don’t you have a big party, and invite all your effete, pretentious academic friends to meet Sarah Palin, the engenue of real-experience? Wouldn’t that be choice? All of those effete liberal panty-waists, meeting the heroic manly moose-slaying Sarah? A cultural Armeggadon!! You can call your party Radical Wilderness Chic.
But, sorry, you are 38 years too late, or is it 80? This was done by Bernstein, with the whole Radical Chic thing, where he had the big party with the Panthers. As I am sure you remember (since you were probably a guest), Leonard Bernstein had this party, and invited the Real People of the day to the party. But didn’t it end badly, with a hold-up or something?
The main effect of that party, however, was to make the veneration of coarseness itself a hysteria. So with your amazing love for this Palin creature. She is NOT a Holy Innocent, nor is she a Wilderness Savant. She’s really just a little cheat. The whole $175,000 wardrobe was not the aberation, that was the real Sarah. Familiarize yourself with her expense account situation. She cheated the people of Alaska by about 50K, and then she didn’t declare that on her taxes. Sarah’s interest in life is getting access to money, and getting hers, and, here’s what’s amusing and tres tres amusement n’est pas mon Cheri, she doesn’t even care if it’s obvious as all heck and gone that she is a thief. That’s why I love her, myself.
Bring her on.
And with your love of authenticity, have you considered taking up wood-chopping?
Sorry. I tried but I just couldn’t finish Paglia’s wanking.
I am, after all, eating my lunch. And what she is serving up is just plain indigestible.
Hah! You couldn’t look away!
Yeah, I caved. I rationalized it because I was done with my sandwich. What can I say…..I’m weak!
I couldn’t help it. I just had to look one more time.
Sarah Palin……….the John Coltrane of politics.
Sheeeeeeeeyyyaaaaaattt, what has she been smoking?
She owes The Trane an apology.
Based on your courage to continue reading, I made it as far as this line:
If Palin and her pro-life ilk is what is going to “save” feminism, count me out.
That’s exactly the line I made it to! I was laughing too hard at that point to continue on so I decided to come back here to see what kind of excellent comments there would be.
reading that made me stupider.
It’s hard to fit so much concentrated wrong into one essay, and she does it with such awful style too.
Sarah Palin……….the John Coltrane of politics.
Damn–puff, puff, pass.
Heh. Just don’t repeat that around AG without proper context or “/snark” indicator or I seriously believe he’ll hurt somebody.
And I may be next in line…just on general principle.
:<)
I think AG knows I would never besmirch the Coltrane legacy. Hell, I think I’ll just put on my IPOD right now and take a high speed ride with Trane’s Countdown.
one minute she trashes dohrn, the next minute she begs us to bring back the psychotics to american poetry.
her problem has always been this two faced hypocrisy.
pro life feminists will save the third world?….dumbass moron.
i cant believe UoP pays her to talk out of her ass and her mouth at the same time.
how do i get that job?
I like Sarah Palin, and I’ve heartily enjoyed her arrival on the national stage. As a career classroom teacher, I can see how smart she is — and quite frankly, I think the people who don’t see it are the stupid ones, wrapped in the fuzzy mummy-gauze of their own worn-out partisan dogma. So she doesn’t speak the King’s English — big whoop! There is a powerful clarity of consciousness in her eyes. She uses language with the jumps, breaks and rippling momentum of a be-bop saxophonist. I stand on what I said (as a staunch pro-choice advocate) in my last two columns — that Palin as a pro-life wife, mother and ambitious professional represents the next big shift in feminism. Pro-life women will save feminism by expanding it, particularly into the more traditional Third World.
What, no starbursts? For shame, Camille.
I don’t know whether or not it was rerun, but did anyone else watch the Frontline last night about Lee Atwater?
While I generally knew Atwater’s history, it was fascinating to me to see some of the inside story about the genesis of our current Republican politics of fear and smear.
I despise Atwater with such vehemence that I resisted watching.
There are few people that I have more dislike for. When he died, it made me pretty pleased.
I share your feelings about him. The most interesting parts of the show to me were, firstly, seeing how his methodology is still the dominant one followed by his party, over twenty years later. Honed, of course, by Karl Rove; who is heard from several times in the course of the show. The second interesting thing to me was how differently people viewed him, depending on their political bent. And lastly, hearing from those such as Michael and Kitty Dukakis and Bob Dole who still, to this day, seem to have open and painful wounds which were inflicted directly by Atwater’s tactics.
But perhaps the most telling thing about him was what happened after his death and his purported epiphany about how much he had hurt people and his “efforts” to make amends. He had told a good friend that a Bible he was given had become his rock, something which he depended on every day to help him get through his mental and physical struggle. He said he read it every day for strength. He used it to guide himself down the difficult path of his attempted redemption. And after his death his wife, on going through some of his personal effects, found the Bible, still wrapped in its plastic, unopened and untouched.
A deceiver and a liar to the end.
He had told a good friend that a Bible he was given had become his rock, something which he depended on every day to help him get through his mental and physical struggle. He said he read it every day for strength. He used it to guide himself down the difficult path of his attempted redemption. And after his death his wife, on going through some of his personal effects, found the Bible, still wrapped in its plastic, unopened and untouched.
Jesus. That’s such a powerful metaphor for the current Republican Party that it’s almost hard to believe that it’s a true story and not an urban legend. Did his wife actually tell the story, or was it reported second-hand?
There was so much to take in during the show but my recollection is the story was related by a friend of Atwater’s and it had been told to him by Atwater’s wife. I think he was a musician. And, ironically, he was African American. As I recall, it was the very last thing in the show. And then it faded to black. To me it was such a fitting wrap-up of the whole Atwater narrative. After telling it, his friend put it something like this, “But that was Lee. Spinning it all the way to the end.”
A snippet of this was also part of the Frontline trailer for the show.
it’s available online at pbs frontline. and people like addington, probably most accurately described as sociopaths, don’t have epiphanies, imo.
spin till the end…yeah. that works.
She is nothing but a reflexive contrarian. Since Sarah Palin is condemned by anyone with a brain in their head, for Camille, that makes her AUTHENTIC and REAL.
Now, what Palin actually is is a thief. She has stolen clothes from a Republican donor, 50K from the people of Alaska and 10K in taxes from the US Government.
I wrote Camille a letter. She is just like Leonard Bernstein in 1968, hosting a party for the Black Panthers. The Panthers were considered “authentic” because they were ignorant, coarse, and had guns. For many stupid people, like Bernstein (in social matters, not music), having a gun makes you authentic. Being unable to speak in a well-articulated manner also makes you authentic. If you cannot speak and have a gun, you are authentic^2.
Of course, for anyone with a brain in their head, the Panthers where thugs with guns who couldn’t talk clearly.
That’s Paglia. She is impressed by heavy weaponry.
Pathetic.
I have a great idea. Why don’t you have a big party, and invite all your effete, pretentious academic friends to meet Sarah Palin, the engenue of real-experience? Wouldn’t that be choice? All of those effete liberal panty-waists, meeting the heroic manly moose-slaying Sarah? A cultural Armeggadon!! You can call your party Radical Wilderness Chic.
But, sorry, you are 38 years too late, or is it 80? This was done by Bernstein, with the whole Radical Chic thing, where he had the big party with the Panthers. As I am sure you remember (since you were probably a guest), Leonard Bernstein had this party, and invited the Real People of the day to the party. But didn’t it end badly, with a hold-up or something?
The main effect of that party, however, was to make the veneration of coarseness itself a hysteria. So with your amazing love for this Palin creature. She is NOT a Holy Innocent, nor is she a Wilderness Savant. She’s really just a little cheat. The whole $175,000 wardrobe was not the aberation, that was the real Sarah. Familiarize yourself with her expense account situation. She cheated the people of Alaska by about 50K, and then she didn’t declare that on her taxes. Sarah’s interest in life is getting access to money, and getting hers, and, here’s what’s amusing and tres tres amusement n’est pas mon Cheri, she doesn’t even care if it’s obvious as all heck and gone that she is a thief. That’s why I love her, myself.
Bring her on.
And with your love of authenticity, have you considered taking up wood-chopping?
It’s beginning to look like the Dem’s, possibly at Obama’s urging, might take a knee on this one.
It seems like they are slowly lining up on Joe’s side of the fence.
Don’t know about you but that would kinda piss me off.
A big mistake that they will regret later??? This is one case where the blogosphere would get no pleasure from being able to say, “I told you so!”.
Sorry, couldn’t get past the third paragraph where she said Obama was still an unknown and his victory was a “roll of the dice.”
Democrats never win. Republicans lose and Democrats just end up in office by accident.
I read something by Paglia before, so I’m not going to read this one.
Camille Paglia isn’t “Wanker of the Day,” she’s on permanent duty.