I’ve been a bad, bad blogging girl

My apologies to my blogging friends...I have been a terrible reader and commenter as of late, and I can only chalk it up to the time of year. I'll get back to my rounds soon, I promise. I always struggle a little around this time, as we say goodbye to summer and a reluctant hello to winter. Actually, "hello" is not exactly what I want to say to winter, but I'll skip it...this time. I even missed making an entry yesterday, but the one I wanted to make required a little more thought than I was ready to devote to it, plus I wanted to see the outcome of yesterday's elections. Yeah, it's a political one...shocking, I know. I've got my usual Ken-is-on-a-business trip (a couple of days in Chicago) dinner of Eggplant Parmigiana put together, and can pop it in the oven when I'm ready. I put on the Ting Tings while I puttered in the kitchen ("That's not my name! That's not my name!"), and had fun dancing around and singing. Eggplant is a kind critic. Sheeba is not. He looked at me with wide eyes and started tearing around the house, but that's pretty typical for him, so maybe it wasn't me. :)

So, to the meat of this entry (although I'm going vegetarian tonight). Like many political junkies followers, I was interested to see what would happen with some of these races going on around the country. Many were calling it a referendum on President Obama's Presidency, but I think that's probably a bit of an exaggeration. Basing the success or failure of a Presidency on an off-year election seems a little silly to me. I don't know what the long-term impact of this will have...I suspect very little.

What was more interesting to me was the NY-23 race in which Sarah Palin endorsed the Conservative Party candidate, causing others to jump on the bandwagon and also endorse him. I found that interesting, because from everything I read, Doug Hoffman had little knowledge of or interest in that district. It seemed to me to be a typical kneejerk reaction to buzzwords, without bothering to do a little digging. Again, shocking! Palin's endorsement was apparently and inexplicably influential, causing the moderate Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, to drop out of the race. Limbocontin and others were quick to join in condemning the moderate Republican (Scozzafava didn't toe the party line with social issues), and that bloated gasbag went so far as to make a joke about her "bestiality" in dealing with RINOs (Republicans In Name Only). I thought that was pretty offensive, but that is nothing unusual coming from him.

The choice for voters then was the Conservative Hoffman and the Democrat Bill Owens, and they chose Bill Owens, giving the district a Democratic Congressman for the first time in more than a century.

This is fascinating to me, because I have to wonder if we are witnessing the death of the Republican Party as we know it, or possibly the ascension of a third, the Conservative Party. My personal opinion is yes to the former and no to the latter. Is this the Nader Effect writ large?

I don't believe that the GOP is really going to die off in my lifetime, but I believe its days are numbered if they continue with this platform. With people like Palin and Limbaugh unable to recognize that we aren't living in 50's-era America any longer--it wasn't all that great for anyone but middle class white males, anyway--and unwilling to broaden their tent to be more inclusive, I don't believe they can survive for long in an increasingly diverse America. Hey, like REO Speedwagon said, roll with the changes or shut the fuck up. (Well, they didn't actually say that last part.) There are all kinds of people in this country and world, and their exclusionary tactics are offensive to me. Right here at Nutwood, they have lost 100% of the residents' support, and although I remain fiscally conservative in many ways, I also believe that we are not helping our fellow citizens as much as we can, and I will never accept such a narrow view of social issues. They have lost me for good. And if they keep calling, they're going to get an earful pretty soon.

As for the Conservative Party, I think they overestimate their influence. Well, I suppose in the NY-23 race, their influence was fairly substantial...causing the Democrat candidate to win. If Scozzafava had stayed in the race, she may well have beat him, and the Republicans would have another Representative. But nope. So I guess in this case, I can say, "Thanks for the help, Palin!" Overall, though, the teabaggers are pretty much a tempest in a teapot. Glenn Beck may have up to 3 million viewers on any given night, but that's really not a whole lot in a nation with a population of 308,000,000. [whipping out her handy dandy Google calculator] Thank you, Google...I see that equates to less than one hundredth of one percent. I'm reasonably certain that the majority of people find him an imbecilic fucktard who is a complete and utter loon. Oh, and I also see that as of Tuesday afternoon, drooling idiot Michele Bachmann's call to arms to verbally assault legislators in the halls of Congress has garnered an impressive 25 participants.

As you can imagine, I find all of this extremely fascinating, watching the dynamics of these things play out. The hysteria of the Becks, Bachmanns, et al, is entertaining from a psychological perspective. It makes me feel a little like Alice in Wonderland at times, but at least in Wonderland that caterpillar had a hookah to share. Here, I just stare open-jawed at the TV as I hear the latest lunacy from these people, wonder if they've encountered that hookah-smoking caterpillar themselves, and then burst into laughter. If nothing else, it's sure good for a laugh!

It’s a free for all!

The infighting continues among the GOP, with some attempting to jockey into a position of front-runner for 2012, others trying to inject a calm voice of reason into the debate...and then there's Limbaugh. Sort of like "And then there's Maude!" Wouldn't you love to see how Maude would have dealt with Limbaugh? What a comedic goldmine that would have been! But I digress.

The latest brouhaha started with Mitt Romney commenting on only two Republicans appearing in Time's 100 most influential people in the world: Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh. He tried to make some joke about how maybe it was really a list of the most beautiful people rather than most influential. Silly Mitt. Obviously not, since Limbaugh is on the list! Many Palin supporters took offense at that, thinking that he was being dismissive of her qualifications. Silly Palin supporters. What qualifications? [grin] So a group of Palin supporters came out with this video:

I had seen it earlier yesterday, and when Ken saw it last night, we both started laughing. Not at the video, but at the continued snarky infighting going on in the GOP. But wait, there's more!

Colin Powell spoke Monday about the problems the GOP is facing, and believes that one of them is Limbaugh. "I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without." Limbaugh fired back today (surprise, surprise), calling Powell "just another liberal," and stating again that Powell's endorsement of Obama was about nothing more than race. He said, "He’s just mad at me because I’m the one person in the country who had the guts to explain [the endorsement]. There can be no other explanation for it." He suggested that Powell leave the Republican party and become a Democrat.

A few things here.

This sort of fighting amongst themselves is very unattractive. While Ken and I laughed about it, we also agreed that it's exactly this sort of thing that made us stop calling ourselves Republicans, and why we'll switch our affiliation to Independent. While I had made up my mind a while before the election about who I would vote for, Ken's ultimate deciding point was the nasty turn that the McCain campaign took at the end, especially Palin's attack dog tactics. I know some will disagree, but I believe that instead of offering real solutions and plans, their primary campaign platform was to tear down the opposition and paint them as bad people and scary characters. When I see that sort of behavior, it really turns me off, and I much prefer hearing someone clearly articulate their plans and refrain from character attacks.

In that light, Colin Powell is completely correct. I believe that the majority of people are like us in not enjoying such unseemly attacks, and I also completely disagree with their social platform, which I find horribly exclusive and discriminatory--that's another reason they lost me. The fact is that only 21% of Americans identify themselves as Republicans now. They certainly lost me and Ken in this last election, and it would seem obvious (it's certainly obvious to me) that what they're doing isn't working. What don't people like Limbaugh get about that?

As for Limbaugh, his remark that Powell's endorsement of Obama was about nothing more than race is offensive and completely unfair to General Powell. It implies that Powell is neither intelligent enough or impartial enough to make an informed decision, that he voted for Obama only because he's black. Obama wouldn't have been elected without a significant number of white votes, so that's a stupid argument. Also another reason why the GOP is hemorrhaging members. Being so dismissive of an obviously intelligent, decorated member of the military--who also happens to be black--would seem imprudent, don't you think? Suggesting that they leave the party seems even more foolish. I suspect that Limbaugh won't be satisfied until everyone who is still left in the party (after he gets done with his exclusionary tactics) is in complete goosestep with him. Yeah...good luck with that.

In honor of the GOP's free for all, here's the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent, in his gonzo glory days. I believe Ted is quite the conservative, so this seems especially fitting...just like Ted's pants. Nuge is a little crazy, but he's one of my favorite guitarists!