Interestingly, Michael Gerson doesn’t have any nostalgia for Barry Goldwater’s 1964 campaign for the presidency. In fact, he thinks it was a disaster that was brought about, in large measure, because Goldwater declared an intraparty war on Republicans who made accommodations with the New Deal. And he sees the same thing happening now as the Natives take out their long knives and go stalking big game like Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Although he only mentions him once, I’m quite certain that he’s more concerned about the future of the other senator from Kentucky. You know, the one who thought it would be a good idea to put the Southern Avenger on his congressional staff.
This Southern Avenger:
While a member of the City Paper’s stable of freelancers, Jack wrote in support of racially profiling Hispanics, praised white supremacist Sam Francis, blasted the House of Representative’s apology for slavery, claimed that black people should apologize to white people for high crime rates, defended former Atlanta Braves pitcher and racist John Rocker and Charleston County School District board member Nancy Cook after she said some mothers should be sterilized, argued that Islam was an innately dangerous threat to the U.S, professed that he would have voted for a member a British neo-Nazi political party if he could have, considered endorsing former Council of Conservative Citizens member Buddy Witherspoon in his bid to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham, compared Abraham Lincoln to Adolf Hitler and Ike Turner, and continued to profess the erroneous claim that the primary cause of the Civil War was not the fight over slavery, ignoring the decades of American history leading up to war and South Carolina’s very own Declaration of the Immediate Causes for Secession, which clearly note that protecting slavery was the preeminent motivation of state leaders.
Over the course of editing Jack for years, it was clear to me that when he spoke of Southerners, Southern values, and the Southern way of life, it was as if the South to him was solely populated by white people, and everyone else was an intruder or at best a historical inconvenience. Jack Hunter may have never railed against miscegenation, championed segregation, uttered a racial slur, or participated in a lynching, but it was my opinion then and it is my opinion now that Jack is the most common kind of racist, the one that doesn’t realize that he is one.
That’s Rand Paul for you. Serial plagiarist, self-certified ophthalmologist, and the guy who brought the Southern Avenger to the nation’s capital. I’d tell Mr. Gerson that he has nothing to worry about, but I’m not a Republican.
Keep pounding on those talking points, Booman. You’re shilling for Jeb Bush now. Just what we need. HRC + Jeb. Two members of the PermaGov royal families waltzing around the horrible truth of the Deep State.
That is what’s going to happen, you know. And you are part of it.
Congrats.
Maybe they’ll throw you a bone after they are finished with the Fix Feast.
AG
It’s interesting that your only defense of Baby Doc’s idiotic behavior and racist panderings is to try and change the topic.
Fuck that, Arthur.
You keep trotting out quotes from the Pauls about how the aren’t racist. You’re an apologist for a guy who published racist fucking newsletters for years, and his son who thought the Southern Avenger was a swell guy worthy of a nice salary. You want to know who these guys represent?
Those citizen snipers out in Nevada who put their scopes on the heads of BLM officers. And Stormfront. And the Klan. And every neo-Confederate who, unlike Goldwater, isn’t a principled constitutionalist but just wants all the darkies and their fancy “jazz” to get the fuck back to Cuba or wherever the fuck.
Rand Paul is a Grand Wizard in boat shoes sipping a goddamned mint julep.
A refined Glenn Beck without the Mormonism.
And he’s useless to me as a progressive because he doesn’t work with the progressives in the Senate. You know, he have some there now. Some of them even would like to work with him on the NSA and prison and sentencing reform and ending the War on Drugs. But, no, he doesn’t do any actual work. And he can talk a good game, but he ain’t letting his presidential ambitions take a hit by actually co-sponsoring anything with Bernie Sanders or Jeff Merkley or Tom Udall or Mazie Hirono or Sherrod Brown or Elizabeth Warren or Tammy Baldwin. Hell no.
Fucking plagiarist, too, which ought to irk you as a professional musician.
Give it up, man.
Ain’t nothing good coming out of PaulWorld.
AG just posted a diary here in support of the Nevada citizens who trained their guns on Federal officials. He said that was the reason the Occupy movement failed to bring on real change- not enough guns.
I wish I was kidding.
Occupy had a lot of problems – not the least of which was that it lacked a coherent long-term organization. It ended the way most spontaneous movements end. I seriously doubt that bringing firepower into the mix would have helped their cause. As someone who actually empathized with what Occupy was attempting to accomplish, I would have argued against resorting first to counterviolence if only because it would have alienated the very people they needed to get on their side. I’m no pacifist – not by a long shot – but I am anti-stupidity. When there is still the perception of a stable democracy among the bulk of the population, using violence will only serve to move others further to the side of the very authorities being protested against. Think about how the public viewed the New Left in the aftermath of the Weathermen, or Red Army Faction, 2 June Group, etc. Just my two cents.
Considering how much violence was done to Occupy protesters even when they did not, on the whole, resort to violence, if they had done a Bundy it’s a sure bet they’d all be dead now. When comparing right wing protest to left wing protest, you have to keep in mind that the former is privileged and the latter vehemently discouraged.
Exactly.
Why can’t you see that the Pauls do the Koch Brothers’ bidding? They are totally for the rich.
To take the racist, grifter, rich-man’s-lackey Pauls seriously requires a fantasy-prone personality at best.
To not do so takes self-made media blinders of epic proportion.
AG
Said Arthur ” See you in 2016″ Gilroy. Dude, you can’t even manage to flounce offstage convincingly – why would we take you seriously on any other topic?
I looked at BooMan’s post, and thought to come onto the comments thread to warn Boo thst he’s going to make Arthur Gilroy ‘s head explode.
Then I thought, in chronological order,
Then, I noticed these was one response posted, and thought, “It would be too rich if AG jumped right on with the first comment.” But, lo and behold…
Arthur…this blog is promoted as “A Progressive Community.” Why in the world do you tilt at windmills and VERY ANGRILY browbeat progressives for not supporting Rand Paul? He’s not a progressive, you know.
Also, too, Rand DID place the Southern Avenger on his Congressional staff. Sorry this embarrasses you and the movement you have chosen to align with, but that’s your problem, not ours.
But this is not a “progressive” community, centerfielddj. People who read Counterpunch are “progressive.” Y’all are dead middle centrist. Supporters of the Security State in the form of the Democratic Party and its corporate owners. Corporate owners who are equal opportunity employers. Toe their line and you OK with them. A Democratic Party which is supposedly opposed by the other centrist party, the Republicans. “Progress” would mean defeating the Permanent Government/Deep State as represented by both establishment parties, a Deep State which is essentially a new, technologically-enforced form of fascism. 1984 squared. Cubed, even.
1984 cubed is 1,709,531,904. The numerology of centrism. We’re in it, now., God help us all. One trillion, seven hundred and nine million, five hundred and thirty one thousand, nine hundred and four ways to go straight down the tubes.
I am not trying to change the minds of the people on this blog. Not all of them, anyway. One or two would be a win. Pas à pas, as the French say.
Pas à pas.
Step by step.
Step right up.
Next?
I dare ya.
Later…
AG
For someone who rails against the immoral use of violence by the state, your frequent choice of violent imagery to illustrate your lengthy posts is quite noticeable.
As is your odd choice to believe that the current dispute in Nevada between a deadbeat rancher and the BLM is the beginning of the Second American Revolution. You will be disappointed.
Nice trolling, though.
I have no problem with violence in self-defense, centerfielddj. None whatsoever. People who do have that kind of problem tend to either die young or get robbed blind. Bullies can be backed off by effective resistance, and that is really all the PermaGov is. A gigantic bully. That’s why I support those ranchers. Although it may be temporary…they won. I went down to Zuccotti Park near Wall St. during the occupation, just to take the pulse of the occupiers. They were disorganized. All talk. And they were scared, too. Whether by the use of nonviolent tactics or armed resistance, real organization and real belief is vital. They were not ready for Bloomberg’s goons and they were routed. The ranchers were not. Chalk up one for the ranchers.
Chalk up one for the eastern Ukrainians too. They stood their ground and the Ukrainian troops sent to disperse them backed off. In fact, many of the troops joined them. Those troops in Nevada? They knew they were on the wrong side, many of them. Push comes to shove? As above so below. Sometimes you just have to set your feet and take the gamble. You don’t agree? Best of luck in the future.
Later…
AG
taking the side of Putin’s ethno-thugs now? That’s a new low.
From the best source that I have found for a rational view of what is going down in eastern Ukraine, The Vineyard of the Saker. He is an ex-U.S. military analyst, and he makes good sense. Go read the entire site. I dare ya.
Mostly women, seniors and coal miners armed with ax handles. And you call them “ethno-thugs!!!???” You have fallen off the ledge, Booman. These people simply do not want to be part of Ukraine anymore. If there was a fair plebiscite held in eastern Ukraine there seems to be no doubt that it would lean heavily torwards joining Russia. They have chosen Russia. Are they correct in their choice? I doubt it, but they have no third choice. The real ethno-thugs are on the side of the Ukraine government which is a creature of the Nato powers. You defend the Deep State/PermaGov in all things now, and you are wrong as acid rain.
AG
Hell, a week or so ago AG was blathering on about how Russia is trying to establish hegemony in the region, has expansionist desires that need to be stopped by the U.S., and he supported Rand Paul’s Op-Ed in Time which pushed back on Putin. Now he supports Russia taking more land from Ukraine?
All over the place, he is.
I presume you mean my post What will happen to the Ukraine? Read on.
Apparently you cannot even read, let alone read on.
Here is a good summation of what I said…my quite jaundiced view of all sides of this mess.
Does that read as though I want the U.S. to interfere w/Putin? In a contest between two crooked systems, the only people for whom I am rooting is the Eastern Ukraine civilians who should be free to make up their own damned minds about which way they want to lean. They are outnumbered and out-gunned, so pure independence is not an option. Which set of criminals are more palatable to them, the crooks that they know and speak the same language or the ones that they do not know who speak Ukrainian and are themselves vassals of a Western European/U.S. alliance that could care less about what happens in Eastern Ukraine except insofar as it affects their economic imperialist plans?? I think that the Eastern Ukrainian people have chosen. If the Paulist approach were truly already in effect now none of this would be happening because without the military might of the U.S. Western Europe is a toothless wonder and the U.S. would be too busy trying to clean up its own 50 year-old mess to be saying much of anything about what happens beyond its borders.
More of that remedial reading comprehension you
areshould be taking would be my prescription for you, centerfielddj . Lots more.AG
Well, first, you gave glowing reviews for Senator Paul’s Time Magazine Op-Ed, which was titled “Sen. Rand Paul: U.S. Must Take Strong Action Against Putin’s Aggression.” So there’s that.
You’re routinely upset when major powers impose their power to gain control over independent people and nations. It seems completely reasonable to infer that you were displeased with what Putin and Russia are doing.
I also inferred something from this:
“The Russians are going to take the eastern side. Watch. Kiev will be something like Berlin before the wall fell.”
The lead-up to the Berlin Wall was horrible. I thought you agreed. Sorry I failed to understand that you weren’t expressing horror at this outcome. I’m also sorry I forgot that you admitted that you had no alternative suggestions for what NATO should be doing, just that WHATEVER they do or have done, they’re wrong.
I agree that the U.S. and NATO have done plenty wrong over the years, but your complaints about them often lack proportionality, and are frequently unprincipled. Your complaints also habitually stray from the facts. Like here.
I got yer “ethno-thugs.” Right here!!!
An eastern Ukrainian woman stepping in front of a western Ukrainian armored personnel carrier and stopping it with her sheer will.
Which are the ethno-thugs and which the people?
Open your eyes and get real.
AG
So let me see, when Tim McVeigh killed all those people, we should really blame the PermaGov, shouldn’t we? He wouldn’t have had to blow up the federal building if they hadn’t put it there in the first place.
So, AG, have you already abandoned your position from a week ago? You laid it all out on maps and everything- Russia’s expansionist goals needed to be stopped, you wrote.
As long as you can claim Obama and the PermGov are wrong, I guess it’s OK for you to take positions which are diametrically opposed?
I’m sure you’ll come up with some attack-filled response which fails to respond to the question. It’s what you do.
How can one family of ranchers who refuse to pay “rent” to use government land be in the right?
The sensible talk I heard from the government employees trying to diffuse the situation certainly weren’t the bullies. The paunchy, threatening, fuzzy thinking Bundy family and their celebratory militia cohorts were the bullies.
To put it in a more proper perspective.
Bundy refuses to pay a land use fee, therefore denying the public (U.S. Citizens) their due compensation. He is a thief.
That’s just nuts, Arthur. Most of what I read here is violently opposed to the Security State. I come closest to supporting it because I support the goals and even I am thoroughly in opposition to it’s tactics and methods, i.e. random spying and gratuitous torture. If there is anyone to the Right of me on the Security State he/she is remarkably quiet.
Progressives consist of Social Liberals and Economic Radicals. I am one of the latter and am willing to go along with the former because I believe in “Live and Let Live” aka “Whatever floats your boat”. Same sex marriage? Plural marriage? Legalizing Marijuana? Legalizing Heroin? Free government supplied Heroin? None of that is for me, personally, but it’s OK with me if you want it and I’m certainly against discrimination based on sexual orientation or race. But for me, economic issues are paramount. If anyone supports socially liberal candidates that are corporatists, I’m against them.
I’d love a viable third party and a fourth party too where all those far right wingers could wash each other’s sheets. But the reality is there are only two viable parties. And sadly both are in the hip pocket of Wall Street.
If you support the mainstream Democratic Party you support the security state that it has helped to establish and grow. There are no two ways about this. Sorry. I wish it were otherwise, but it is not. The weak palliatives that Obama has been forced to mouth in the name of political expediency are band-aids applied to a major cancer. Nothing less and nothing more.
AG
I’ll agree with that, but I don’t see any Republican including Ron and Rand Paul doing anything either.
With your eyes wide shut? How can you see?
AG
Well, you are the expert on seeing with your eyes screwed tightly shut, Arthur. Why don’t you tell us? How do you do it?
“Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now I want to understand
I have done all that I could
To see the evil and the good without hiding
You must help me if you can
Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what is wrong
Was I unwise to leave them open for so long”
As a progressive and a Democrat since before Booman was born, I can only hope that the GOBP decides to nominate Aqua Buddah or Tailgunner Ted, and set themselves back another 50 years.
I’d pray for it, but I’m an atheist, too.
Of course, what’s probably gonna’ happen is that the crazies will fail to coalesce around any particular loon, and we’ll end up with someone like Homunculus Walker: Very beatable, but not nearly as much fun.
Oh, and who the fuck is Gilroy, and why should I care?
I am through with the PermaGov. I am more than through with its mass media complex. I would be very happy to have a real, effective opposition from the left, but there is nothing even remotely “effective” coming from the left. Just empty, middle class posturing and talk leavened with some occasional weak “Oh boy!!! let’s occupy a park!!!” stuff from the children of that middle class. Whoever succeeds in facing down the massive police forces of the encroaching centrist government is OK with me. This sort of thing is going to continue. I am sorry for the U.S. now. It has totally lost its way. So have you folks. But you don’t have to worry about Rand Paul. No matter how right or wrong you may be about him, his father and their real beliefs, the media is in full non-personing howl now. Booman’s post of a few days ago (It’s Bash Rand Paul Day) was actually mistitled. It should have been called “It’s Bash Rand Paul Spring.” And probably summer, fall and winter as well. The centrist media are…and will increasingly be…on him like white on rice. They just mildly mocked his father and then basically ignored him in the debates because he was never a real threat to the PermaGov, but Rand? More and more Americans are seeing through the PermaGov scam, and Rand Paul is the single major national pol who threatens it.
You can join the howl and rationalize your beliefs about his “secret” racism, etc. all you want, but you cannot deny the truth of that statement.
So it goes.
See ya in 2016. And beyond.
Later…
AG
I am disappointed by your lack of true radicalism, Arthur. Why not threaten to see us in.. oh say 2040? Think what a terrible punishment your extended absence would be!
It is surprising that you speak with such glory, guts and grit about the Rands. The both just seem (and sound) like insipid, pompous pricks to me.
Rand Paul’s idea to invent a personal “professional accreditation agency!
Poppy Paul’s i pretense of “scholarship” disguising truly racist rants!
What self-important fatuous fools they both are. If they be your heros, AG, fine but please don’t foist them onto us.
OK, but here is a question for you. There are many many many such questions that could be asked of Senator Paul, but I want to focus on one thing at a time. And this is a serious question, so I will refrain from insults.
Do you agree with Senator Paul that a fetal personhood amendment would end abortion in the United States?
Jack is the most common kind of racist, the one that doesn’t realize that he is one.
Bullshit.
Chris Haire, wrote an article sharply critical of both Hunter and Paul, denouncing Hunter for having asked Haire, long before the current controversy had erupted, to remove from the internet dozens of past columns that Hunter said no longer reflected his views. Haire called the request cowardly and said that Hunter had made it solely for appearances–to help Paul in the 2016 presidential campaign.
He knows exactly who he is. That leopard doesn’t change it’s spots.
This is the sure clue that Michael Gerson is neither a pundit nor a conservative libertarian ideologue but a GOP political operative devoid of philosophy and seeking only to serve power.
That is to say that he is a pure propagandist for the establishment. And likely knows very little about how Kentucky politics operates. And in this case if his views are widely spread in Kentucky might reduce rather than improve McConnell’s chances.
In his own words: