Langdon Alger

Cenk Uygur, who I still think is a fake person and that name is an anagram of something, has written a nice, angry little piece about "esoteric, feel-good bullshit change." Guess who it's directed at?

Beyond the whole "hope for a better nation" platform, Obama's people need to realize that without retribution -- what we might call "justice" -- first, there can be no progress. Several years ago, when Gerald Ford died, it was pointed out on this very blog that his pardon of Nixon was not only the wrong thing to do, and just as venal as anything Nixon himself had done, and further damaged the nation by virtue of the fact that Ford tried to package his misguided idiocy as a Band-aid for the public psyche; but that the pardon signaled to assholes like our current president that committing crimes and lying to the public will be excused. The failure of anyone in the government to bring Nixon his just share of punishment for breaking the law meant that Nixon himself was essentially correct: presidents are above the law. And, thirty years on, we have a criminal for a president. It doesn't take a C- Yale graduate to figure that out.

Other people apparently had the same idea.

No "truth and reconciliation" commissions, please. We have courts. We have, or had, laws. Everyone answers to the same standards, or else we live in a de facto monarchy, where the aristocracy can choose not to acknowledge the civil government. That is, laws are only for the citizens, not the living gods. Fuck that!

On to campaign strategery: what is up with the Republicans? Not to sound like a broken record, but have McCain's people been watching the last two presidential elections on tape or something? First, they're bungling through an online campaign that would make the absolute shittiest left-wing internet site blush (don't look at me). In addition, they're reneging on every promise they ever made, from cutting off media access to going super-negative (albeit, with nonsensical ads that are of debatable effectiveness). But really, when you think about how deeply invested the Republicans' extended network of surrogates is in having more GOP fucktardism in the White House, you have to wonder why they're blowing their collective wad in August. Gore and Kerry ran strong through the summer, too, and then whatever edge they had evaporated after the conventions -- largely due to the fact that the Republican garbage (sorry, redundant) that ran Bush's campaigns waited until very late in the game to actually do any campaigning. It wasn't just a cynical hunch that voters have short attention spans; that plan is a great one to avoid wearing out your likely supporters (hell, there's nothing they can do until November...give 'em a mental break), reverse any bounce from the other guy's convention, and take advantage of last-minute shifts in toss-up states (or, if you're Bush, pay off the Diebold people to rig it for you in Ohio).

What do the McCain people have? Noise. Pointless, ill-timed noise. And like all noise, it should be filtered and then mostly ignored. Jerome Corsi (how it he not being sued for libel? Or at least, shouldn't the Simon & Schuster imprint be sued for knowingly publishing false information?) is making some news, but who will remember anything he wrote in 3 months? Corsi used up whatever value he had with the Swift Boat book, which came out in August 2004. Kerry did a shit job of countering it, yes; but the book also hit shelves after the Democratic convention in July. Anyway, it would appear that few people give a good goddamn what Jerome Corsi wants to lie about this week, as his publisher and some big-time GOP donors account for the majority of the book's "sales" so far.

And where the hell is Karl Rove? On the Op/ed page at the Wall Street Journal. He's really making some hay for McCain over there, you can be sure! On second thought, the whole vaunted, supposedly-fearsome Rovian smear machine (which is and always has been just some immature boys pandering to our worst beliefs) is on the sidelines. Or it's asleep. Or it's just not very effective anymore, because nobody can sell another Republican presidency. Incidentally, what if the GOP jackinapes are right, and the public really does feel "safer" from terrorists with a lying, adulterous, drunk, lazy, stupid, corrupt, sadistic Republican at the helm? If the voters then elect a Democrat, aren't they really saying "we'd rather be dead than have you represent us"? Anyway, as far as Rove, Obama is smart to let sleeping retarded dogs lie.

Save up your money, Barack. You have a big lead in the electoral vote count right now and you're guaranteed to win IL, NY, and CA in November. Just OH or PA, plus a few states like MO, KY, VA, NC, NV or the like will put you over the top.

And then John McCain can go off and die, finally, just as beaten and broken-down as he was in 1973. Or, divorce Cindy and shack up with one of the purportedly underage Chinese gymnasts. Surely a gruesome car accident can be arranged for her so McCain has an excuse to wander.