Five Days

These are going to be the longest five days in our entire lives. So desperate is the GOP and Camp McCain, they are throwing everything at Barack Obama. Expect him to be hit broadside by a kitchen sink in the next one-hundred and twenty hours.

But my absolute favorite moment was when they dragged out of the closet, the tired old bugaboo of Communist sympathies. First they accused him of being a Socialist. That didn't work so now they are accusing him of being a Marxist. You read that right, my friends: A card carrying, freaking Marxist! Yeah, right. And I'm a Nazi. Seig Heil.

The Bush administration at this moment is in position to do some serious damage to the American electoral process. Remember, an American president, regardless of his status as a lame duck, still has much power. George W. Bush is going to do everything humanly possible to see to it that the votes of Democrats - particularly African American Democrats - are not counted. You see, The First Fool is going to be remembered as the first former chief-executive in American history to go to federal prison. He is going to die there. That is a prediction I have been making on this site since the day I started it almost two-and-a-half years ago on June 2, 2006. He's got a big problem - A REALLY BIG PROBLEM! He knows damned well that once the United States Department of Justice is finally placed into the hands of competent, intelligent prosecutors, he, Dick Cheney and a whole lot of others will be facing a very long stint in the Big House. His very freedom depends on a victory for John McCain and Gidget von Braun.

This will probably be the most tumultuous Election Day since 1861. That was the Election that sent Abraham Lincoln to the White House. The country was weeks away from dissolving into a bloody Civil War which would eventually lay claim to six-hundred and twenty-four thousand human lives. Although the times we live in aren't quite that weird, they're weird enough to be sure. The Grand Old Party operatives are in the process of stealing this election. However, it won't be one tenth as easy as it was in 2000 and 2004. All they had to do in those years was steal one measly state. - the final results were that close. That's not the case this year. Not even close.

In 2000, every exit poll had Al Gore winning Florida. Four years later, the polls had John Kerry taking Ohio. As the hours tick down to November 4, 2008, most of the polls have Senator Obama headed toward a landslide. If the headlines on November 5 proclaim "PRESIDENT-ELECT McCAIN", contrary to every exit poll that says Barack Obama won - overwhelming - I promise you that there won't be anything as drastic as a civil war, but there will be a revolution. Of that you may be absolutely certain. We're not going to allow these bastards to once again overthrow this country. We're going to take America back from these people by any means necessary.
`
GOOD NEWS:
When and if that revolution comes, I will be non-violent. Honest to goodness, I will.
`
BAD NEWS:
I don't speak for everybody. Sorry 'bout that.
`
Do I sound paranoid to you? I've lived through nearly eight years of the most criminally corrupt, incompetent administration since the invention of dirt. I've earned the right to be paranoid, thank you very much. How am I so sure that they're are planning another coup de'tat? It's all in the language they've been using in their talking points. Over and over again, they've been predicting a so-called "Bradley effect". This is named after the late Los Angeles mayor, Tom Bradley. In 1982, when he ran for Governor of California, the polls said he was a sure winner. When he lost, the theory was that white voters didn't want to admit that they would vote against an African American. Is this why the talking heads are are talking up the Bradley effect? Will this be the reason they put forward when and if the election is stolen from Barack Obama?

And why is John McCain spending so much time campaigning in Pennsylvania? Pennsylvania is lost! Some polls have Obama ahead by as much as ten or more points in that state! There's no way humanly possible he will be able to close the gap in a mere five, short days. Are they planning on stealing the Keystone State and saying the next day, "See? All of Senator McCain's eleventh hour campaigning paid off in the long run. It was the Bradley effect! Honest!" I don't know about you, but I smell a rat.

This is 1932 all over again. I've spent much time in this year comparing the two campaigns. It may seem trite by now but it cannot be emphasized enough. Tuesday is the most important election in seventy-six years. Back then, the people got their information primarily from newspapers. Broadcast journalism hadn't even been invented yet. Although Edward R. Murrow was employed by CBS in 1932, it was purely in an executive capacity. He was seven years away from revolutionizing the broadcast medium. The American people were not being bombarded by round the clock, right wing propaganda. Sending Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the Oval Office was pretty much of a no-brainer to the voters in 1932. They knew what the right thing to do was. Unfortunately, that's not the case in 2008.

Here's what's changed: In the three-quarters-of-a-century since the Roosevelt/Hoover contest, the I.Q. of the American people has dropped about seventy-five points. Herbert Hoover was a very flawed chief-executive. But it can not be doubted that he was not only an essentially good man, he was also possessed of a great and agile mind. Remember, he was an engineer. In 1928 (the year he was nominated by the Republican party as candidate for the White House) had the half-witted son of a failed, ex-president sought the presidency, no one - even in that party - would have taken him seriously. Sixty-eight years later, a huge segment of people registered to vote in the Republican primaries thought the idea of an asshole like George W. Bush sleeping in the Executive Mansion was just a dandy idea. American standards have fallen alarmingly.
`

The fact that, in 2008, the prospect of a McCalin/Pain administration doesn't scare the hell out of the overwhelming majority of Americans is scary in itself. Sarah Palin is a more dangerous extremist than Bush! I didn't even think that was possible! If John McCain is elected and dies in office (which is a better than fifty/fifty possibility - look up the stats) we might as well pack it up and move to another country. My brother Pete lives in Toronto. Brother Jeff lives in France. Save me a cot, guys.
`
Apprehensions aside, these are exciting time to be alive, aren't they? Believe me, My undying, passionate support for Senator Obama's candidacy is not solely due to the fact that he is a Black man. Were he an albino, I would still be supporting him over John McCain. Why? Because I believe his positions on what is best for America are essentially correct. John McCain's policies are awful. It's as simple as that.
`
But let's be honest here: The possibility of sending a non-white person to Washington as the leader of a quarter billion people is a beautiful thing to contemplate. Those who share his skin color suffered more hardship and injustice than any other group throughout our history. Their time has come. This is their moment. Don't try to stop it. It will be easier to keep the sun from rising.
`

Watching Senator Obama's half hour program last night, which was carried on three networks, lifted up my spirits in a way I can't even describe. If President Barack H. Obama is sworn in on January 20, 2009, for the first time in my life (I turned fifty on August 16) I'll be able to say, "That's my president!" For the first time since I dropped by for this extended visit to this planet in 1958, I'll be proud of my president. I'll be able to say to everyone, that I helped send the first African American to the White House. Many people will be able to say the same thing with pride.
`
But we have every reason to be wary. Right now there are forces at work, trying to deny people of color the right to cast their precious ballot, to have a say in the direction their country takes in the second decade of the twenty-first century. As I write these words, there are people who are trying to overthrow our republic. It's already happened twice. Think it won't happen this time 'round? Think again, people. Think again.
`
God help them if they're successful.
`

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
`
AFTERTHOUGHT:
I have two working titles for the piece that I'm going to write on the morning after Election Day. One is, "Wake Up and Face the Dawn". The other is, "STUPID FUCKING AMERICANS". We shall see.
`
Hark!! There are eighty one days until the most murderously reckless, criminally inept president in American history is out of office forever! Hang in there, kiddies!

SHOCKING REVELATION: TOM DEGAN LOVES USA!!!

FILM AT ELEVEN...

`

"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."

`

Howard Zinn

`

Almost four years ago, in December of '04, I got the wonderfully subversive idea that I should order two huge "IMPEACH BUSH" magnetic signs for either side of my van. Great! I thought. Go to Amazon.com. They've got everything! They don't. There are scores of companies out there which manufacture anti-Bush bumper stickers, but not one of them do the large magnetic kind. So I drove nine miles to the town of Montgomery, NY, and met with a guy named Perry, who makes his living manufacturing custom made, magnetic signs. I had him cook me up a couple.

`
The first set he made for me said, "IMPEACH BUSH" in black letters on a white background. Within a month, however, they were vandalized in the dark of night. I went back to Perry and I told him, "This time do the lettering in red, white and blue. That'll really piss off the Far Right!" They own those colors, you know.

In the four years since I have had those signs attached to my van, I have gotten thousands of comments on them, mostly favorable. But there have also been people (Let's say, about five hundred) whose reactions have been decidedly negative.

My first encounter with one of these half-witted critics in the culture wars, was within two days of purchasing the signs. I was sitting in my van, doing some paper work in the parking lot of 90 Crystal Run Road in Middletown, NY. All of the sudden, I had the feeling I was being watched. Sure enough, I looked up and there, standing at the driver's door window, was this little geek with a stupid, impudent grin on his clueless face. The guy was in his mid forties with a severely receding hairline, thick, coke bottle glasses, wearing a drab, grey business suit. (Honest, I'm not making this up!) I rolled down the window to see what this jackass found so amusing. The conversation - I swear - went like this:

ME: May I help you?

GEEK: I see your brain stopped working!

ME: Excuse me?

GEEK: I see your brain stopped working!

ME: What are you talking about?

GEEK: Your sign!

ME: My sign?

GEEK: Yeah, Your sign!

ME: What about my sign?

GEEK: George W. Bush is the greatest president in American history!

ME: Beg pardon?

GEEK: George W. Bush is the greatest president in American history!

ME: Really?

GEEK: Really!

ME: You make a statement as asinine as that and you have the nerve to look at me like I'm the fool???

GEEK: I think - therefore I am a Republican.

ME: I think - that you're an idiot.

He walked away from my vehicle, smug and self-satisfied, thinking he was through with me. And so he was. I wasn't through with him, though. Leaning out the open window, I called out to him:

ME: Excuse me, sir?
`
GEEK: Huh?
`
ME: Who was president during World War One?
`
GEEK: What??
`
ME: Who was president during World War One?

GEEK: How the hell should I know?

Precisely my point. In the ensuing four years, every time I have been subject to a hostile reaction to the "IMPEACH BUSH" signs, I have always countered with the same, History 101 question:

"Excuse me sir! [or ma'am, as the case may be] Who was president during World War One?"

QUESTION: After nearly four years and quite literally hundreds of nasty encounters, how many of these knuckleheads do you think were able to answer that mind-numbingly simple question?

ANSWER: Two.

NOTE TO THE GEEK: If you're reading this (that's assuming you can read, of course) the answer is Woodrow Wilson. That's what drives me to absolute distraction. So many of these people who describe themselves as "ultra-Conservative" (read that to mean: extremely right-of-center) have never even bothered to learn a damned thing about the country they profess to love so well. And what's worse is the fact that for the last three decades, they have created an industry accusing people like me, who lean ever so slightly left-of-center, of being unpatriotic; of hating America. It's happening right now in this embarrassingly stupid campaign. Particularly with respect to Sarah Palin.

Watching this mediocre woman prancing around the country has been quite entertaining. Particularly when she proclaims that "red state" America is the real America, implying that those of us who live in cities or in the northeast - the so-called "blue states" - are somehow suspect. It's astonishing, to say the very least. How is it that my views make me any less of an American?

My dad's eldest brother was named Edward J. Degan, Jr. That's a photograph of him on the left, taken when he was proudly serving his country during the Second World War. He was killed on December 15, 1944, in Belgium, at the edge of the Ardennes Forest. It is believed that he was the first soldier to fall in the Battle of the Bulge. Although he died thirteen years, eight months and one day before I was born, by all accounts he was a classic, Franklin D. Roosevelt/meat and potatoes/New Deal Liberal. Had fate allowed him to survive the carnage of that awful war, he would have turned eighty-eight on December 22 of this year. It's a cinch that, had he lived to see Election Day 2008, he would be casting his precious ballot for Barack Obama.

`

No one, in their right mind, ever accused my Uncle Eddie of being anything less than a true blue, American patriot. And yet, by the standards of Sarah Palin, my uncle, whom I never even had the the joy of meeting - who today lies under six feet of dirt in the Military Cemetery at Saint Avold, France - this Brooklyn native and Silver Star recipient, 1st Lieutenant Edward Joseph Degan, Jr. - a martyr for his country - would not be classified by this idiotic woman as a "real American" simply because of his liberal leanings and the geography of his birth.

I ask you, how utterly stupid is that?

The irony is that I always tell people in "the movement", so to speak, "If you had any idea how conservative I really am, you'd be surprised and maybe even a little appalled!" It's true! Culturally, I'm very conservative. I don't like excessive violence on television; I don't care for off-color, dirty humor; I never liked pornography - and although I am pro-choice, as a Catholic, I hate the very idea of abortion and would try to talk anyone out of having one. My view of a perfect America is very middle class Utopian: Good schools, white picket fences, racially integrated and balanced neighborhoods - the whole bit. I'll let you in on another little secret: Shh! Keep it under your hat, but one of my favorite pieces of music is John Phillip Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever. I love it. So help me Mitch Miller!
`
Here's something else you need to know. Some of you will probably never come back to this site after I make this admission but it must be said: My favorite singer is Bing Crosby. Forgive me.
`
Many years ago when I was just fifteen, I remember reading an essay that the biographer Albert Goldman wrote about the writer Jack Kerouac and the comedian Lenny Bruce, both of whom were (and still are) held up by the Left in this country as cultural icons - when in fact both men were decidedly conservative in their personal views. Wrote Goldman: "They were radical only in their choice of words." That would accurately describe a lot of us Liberals, I think. What we are seeking is a just and gentle society, where everyone is treated equally and with respect and kindness. If you think about it, that's not a very radical idea at all.

The "Far Left" that the Far Right loves to whine so much about doesn't even exist anymore. You don't believe me? The next time you're in any big city, try finding the local chapter of the American Communist Party. Good luck. Oh, and here's a friendly little reminder for you: The American Nazi Party is very much alive and well, thank you very much. The "Far Left" went the way of the Edsel many years ago. The GOP has gotten so extreme in recent years, yesterday's "Moderates" are perceived as today's "Left Wing". Everything is relative, dear friends.

Recently, I was at an event where a self-described, Evangelical Christian Progressive was asked why he is not a Conservative like most Evangelicals. His answer was, I thought, very instructive:

"I teach the gospel of Jesus Christ for a living. How could I possibly be anything but a Liberal?"

How indeed?

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me,"

Matthew 25:40

`

Way the heck back in 1980, my college sociology professor, Dr. William Byrne, told his class of guffawing students,

"The next twenty-five years will see this country move so far to the right, by the time the twenty-first century rolls around, you won't even recognize it."

Well! Well! The good Doctor was on to something there, wasn't he? Unfortunately it was several years before the clueless kids in his class (myself included) were able to fully comprehend the ramifications of what he was saying.

The pendulum is about to swing back in the direction of We The People. That's the only positive result that will be said to have come out of the Bush years. As they were in 1932, the American people have become radicalized. So radical, in fact, that they are within ten days of sending the first African American to the White House. That's pretty damned radical, baby! That's progress, too!

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

`

IN LOVING MEMORY OF:

1st Lieutenant Edward Joseph Degan, Jr.

December 22, 1920-December 15, 1944

This "anti-American" liberal is pretty damned proud of his uncle.

SUGGESTED READING:

The Sermon on the Mount
from the Gospel according to Matthew

In just eighty-seven days, this backwards, unenlightened, criminally incompetent administration will be reduced to ashes. The light may be seen through the forest. Get ready to wake up and face the dawn!

For more recent postings on this disgusting, COMMIE BLOG, please go to the following link:

"THE RANT by TOM DEGAN

The man has not an ounce of shame.

Powell Redeemed

At the dawn of this disgusting administration, those of us who were paying attention breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this wasn't going to be the disaster we predicted it would be after all. The appointment of Colin Powell as Secretary of State seemed just right. He was a smart guy and not the type of hard-line extremist one would have expected the First Fool to put in that position.

.

Even the curious choice of Condoleeza Rice (an expert on the Soviet Union, a country that doesn't even exist anymore) as National Security advisor seemed to be okay. Although I knew next-to-nothing about her, she had always seemed to be such an intelligent, reasonable woman whenever I saw her interviewed in the media. Also, I thought she was kind of cute. Sorry 'bout that.

.

Who could have possibly foreseen the coming foreign policy catastrophe with two such people navigating the ship of state?

`

The tragedies of General Powell and Dr. Rice is that their names will forever be tied in history to the most corrupt, criminally incompetent presidency in the annals of human stupidity. Condi has a long road ahead of her to salvage her reputation. The General, on the other hand, has already saved his. And it all happened yesterday at the studios of NBC News on Nebraska Avenue in Washington DC. When Colin Powell, in an interview with Tom Brokaw on Meet The Press, endorsed the candidacy of Barack Obama, that was all I needed to hear, baby! As soon as the words came out of his mouth, I picked up the small, black and white TV that's in my office and kissed the guy's televised image. Seriously! I was even videotaped doing it! (see photo to the left of column) You got a problem with that?

`

Said Powell during that interview:

`

"I think he's a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason, I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama....

`

"I think what the [next] president has to do is to start using the power of the Oval Office and the power of his personality to convince the American people and convince the world that America is solid, America is going to move forward - restoring a sense of purpose....

`

"We need a President that will not just continue....the policies we have been following in recent years."

`

It was an historical example - one they'll still be talking about a century from now - of a man putting his country before his party. That type of behavior is unimaginable for a politician. But it's just what you would expect from a soldier patriot. His involvement in the first term of this nightmare of an administration is now troubled water under the proverbial bridge. And let's not forget the fact that at least Powell was smart enough to get the hell out of there while the getting was good. He will be one of the microscopic, handful people associated with George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney who will stand in history relatively (although not totally) unscathed.

`

Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans; born in the second half of the twentieth century....

`

So! This election is over, right? Right? Wrong. At this very moment, the Republicans are in the process of stealing this election by taking millions of people, most of them African American - damned near all of them Democrats - off the list of eligible voters. Their focus is on a group known by the acronym, ACORN. Apparently, some people working for the group (who were paid for every voter they registered) signed up people who didn't even exist. In their speeches, John McCain and Sarah Palin are referring to it as the most massive voter fraud in the history of American electoral politics. What they are forgetting is the fact that although one may be able to register Laurel and Hardy to vote, It's a fairly safe bet that Stan and Ollie will probably not show up at the polls on Election Day to cast their ballots. Call it a hunch on my part.

`

The GOP has ruined this country. The American people will not stand for another electoral coup d'tat. I slept soundly when I went to bed on Election Night 2004. Every poll had Kerry beating Bush by a slim but comfortable margin in the key, swing state of Ohio. When I was awaken by my nephew Chris Pennings with the words, "He won", I could tell by the look of disgust on his face just who "he" was.

`

Four years earlier, They stole the election by denying the vote to fifty-seven thousand black people in Governor Jeb Bush's state of Florida. I don't know about you, but for almost eight years I have been living under a dictatorship. As I wrote on this site a week or so ago, if Wednesday morning's headline proclaims, "PRESIDENT-ELECT McCAIN", in spite of every exit poll to the contrary, there will be a Revolution - Count on it.

`

This is the end of the game. The grand old party is over. They're not going to go down without a fight, however. If you thought the post-election nightmare of 2000 was nasty, you're in for the ride of your life. The Bush Mob are like rats trapped in a corner. They know that when the Department of Justice is finally in the hands of responsible prosecutors, a whole hell of a lot of them - including the president and vice-president - will be going to federal prison for a very, very long time. An Obama administration is within sight. They will do everything humanly possible, legalities be damned, to see to it that that does not happen.

`

The shit is about to hit the fan.

`

Three months from today we will have a new president. That's assuming the commander-in-disguise doesn't declare a national emergency and suspend the constitution. On that day, we will know whether or not the United States of America is still a true democracy. The people are tired of the Republican, plutocratic mismanagement of our economy and our infrastructure. The right wing spin machine has already gone into overdrive. Colin Powell's endorsement of Senator Obama is simply a case of one Black dude standing up for another. All they see is black and white - ignoring the subtle shades of grey.

`

General Powell is the old fashioned kind of Republican that has almost become extinct in recent years: a moderate. In the next two weeks, the Rush Limbaughs and the Sean Hannitys will attempt to portray him as a bomb-throwing Marxist; they'll call him a racist who never really loved his country; they'll accuse him of making a secret deal with Obama to be appointed Ambassador to Monaco - Don't buy any of it. Colin Powell's only motivation is his love of country, his patriotism. He sees what anyone paying attention can see quite clearly: that four more years of Republican rule will destroy this country; that a John McCain/Gidget von Braun administration will be the final nail in the coffin of America's economic suicide.

`

It's also a fairly safe bet that Powell understands that a potential Palin presidency would be a disaster. This is a woman who was, at best, marginally competent to be the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. As has been said by even prominent conservatives (George Will, Peggy Noonan, Christopher Buckley and Kathleen Parker come immediately to mind) her choice as a running mate shows a cynical recklessness on the part of John McCain. That he could irrationally place someone so woefully inadequate a "seventy-two-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency" defies comprehension and common sense.

`

Here's something else that I'll wager you was on Colin Powell's mind when he endorsed Barack Obama yesterday morning: The Supreme Court. The good General has been able to reach the heights he has risen to partially due to the decisions of progressive Justices and Politicians. He knows full well that the next president will make at least two - possibly three appointments to the Supreme Court. He realizes that one more extreme right leaning activist on that court will set this country back decades.

`

The decision of Harry Truman to desegregate the Armed Forces when Powell was just a little boy made his career possible. At the time, southern politicians screamed bloody murder that it would mean certain disaster for the military. The president knew better. But not for that courageous decision made by President Truman over six decades ago, Colin Powell would never have risen above the rank of Buck Private.

`

Here's what you can depend upon: President Obama will surround himself with the best and the brightest. President McCain will surround himself with ideological party hacks. You don't believe me? I've got six words for you:

`

Secretary of the Treasury, Phil Gramm.

`

'Nuff said? I can't emphasize this enough: 2008 is the most important presidential election in our lifetime. Not since 1932 have the stakes been higher. We're one half of one step away from the point of no return. Think I'm kidding? Then go right ahead. Vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin. You'll deserve everything that happens to you.

`

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

tomdegan@frontiernet.net

`

AFTERTHOUGHT:

All due respect to Tom Brokaw, watching his interview with General Powell yesterday, I couldn't help but think how much I miss Tim Russert.

`

There are ninety-one days (exactly three months) until this awful administration out of power. Hang in there, folks!

George and Osama's October "Surprises"

I woke up this morning feeling better than I have felt in a long time about the state of the American political situation. Barack Obama is starting to come out far ahead of John McCain in the polls; with each passing day, a Democratic victory on Election Day seems more and more inevitable. In states previously thought to be incurably Republican, Senator Obama is neck and neck or catching up - and in a few cases even ahead. What can possibly go wrong now? I thought to myself. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks:

`

Osama bin Laden!

`

Oh, shit! On the eve of the 2004 election, the hideous bastard sent a message to America that the GOP spun to be - and might very well have been - a subtle endorsement of John Kerry. The electorate fell for the line and the rest is history. In the past eight years, the Republican party has done such damage to the United States, it's a fairly safe wager that the Evil One (I refer here to bin Laden, not Bush) is counting on a McCain/Palin victory on November 4. Will Osama once again stir the electoral waters with another psych-op/publicity stunt? If he's still alive, the answer is probably yes.

`

It would be just like him to throw another nasty monkey wrench into the process, wouldn't it? I can just picture it now: On FOX Noise, file footage is being broadcast. Rupert Murdoch's personal Arab translator (Geeez, I've gotta get me one of them!) is relaying bin Laden's written statement:

`

"It is the duty of all my brother Muslims in America to vote for the holy, jihad warrior (and my second cousin, once removed), Barack Hussein Obama. Once installed in the president's office, the final destruction of the great Satan shall be at hand."

`

"Having a wonderful time; wish you were here",

`

"Love, Osama"

`

"P.S. - Michelle rocks!"

`

QUESTION:

Would the American electorate, given their recent history, be sophisticated enough to see through what can only be described as an obvious Machiavellian ploy?

.

ANSWER:

You're joking, right?

.

Maybe I'm wrong, but were something like that to happen, it would only benefit John McCain and the GOP. Were that to happen, this election is over. Of this there can be little doubt: The Bush Mob is counting on some kind of - any kind of - "October Surprise" in order to frighten the voters into voting for "war hero" John McCain. If an open letter to Barack Obama signed "Love, Osama" isn't forthcoming, an "unexpected incident" involving the U.S. military (an invasion of Iran, perhaps?) would also do the trick.

.

It must be a horrible thing indeed to walk in the shoes of George W. Bush nowadays. Have you seen him lately? The disgusting little thug has aged ten years since the early spring. Why? Think about it: As long as the polling results between Senators Obama and McCain were razor-thin, stealing this election would be as easy as it was in 2000 and 2004. McCain would be a sure thing and the First Fool and his posse of homicidal sycophants would be able to slither out of town, forever assured that they had gotten away with their crimes against the American people. The last thing in the world he wants is to have the Department of Justice placed in the hands of competent investigators - read that to mean: "non-right wing party hacks".

.

Things are different now. Very different. The so-called "permanent Republican majority" as envisioned by Karl Rove and the neo-cons eight years ago, has gone up in smoke. Seventy-five percent of the American people have awaken to the real agenda of these ideological perverts and they've had enough. Think about that for a minute: a quarter of your fellow citizens are so mind-twistingly stupid, they actually believe that this sick administration has been good for the country. Some Americans are funny that way, aren't they?

.

Bush today has found himself in one hell of a tricky dilemma. Stealing this election will be difficult, if not impossible. It was one thing to soil the electoral process when the polls had Gore and Kerry winning by a mere hair; to attempt as much when most of the polls are now predicting a landslide for Obama would be unthinkable. Or would it? These people are so arrogant, I wouldn't put anything past them at this point. If that happens, there will be a Revolution - COUNT ON IT.

`

The easiest course for Bush is to create a "military situation" which gives the people pause. Make them think that the survival of the union depends on the steady (if a tad wrinkled) hand if a Top Gun, macho kind of guy like G.I. Johnny McCain. So what if the situation in question results in a few thousand innocent people losing God's most precious gift? Since when did the sanctity of human life mean a damned thing to George W. Bush and company? I ask you!

`

I am absolutely certain of what I am about to say and God forgive me if I am wrong: Something is going to happen between now and Election Day. At the very least an unforeseen "event" is at this moment in the planning stage. The fact that it might take another two or three billion dollars out of our already depleted national treasure is beside the point. You must remember that what we're dealing with here is a cabal of sociopaths. The consequences of their actions means not a thing to them. Wake up, folks. Your government has been taken over by gangsters.

`

Pass the word to all of your friends. Tell them not to fall prey to the scam. We've got to take the country back from these people. Barack Obama is not the ideal candidate by any stretch of the imagination. If I had had my way eight years ago, we would today be at the twilight of the Nader Presidency (Yeah! Yeah! I voted for Ralph in 2000. Gore would have won New York regardless. So sue me!). Barack's inadequacies notwithstanding, he and Joe Biden are so head-over-heals preferable to John McCain and Gidget von Braun, it's hardly worth the space to even discuss the matter.

`

The fact is, if there is an "unexpected" military conflict, John McCain can very easily win this thing in the end. The strategy on our part should be to get the word out that something's coming. If enough people are made aware of this, if or when it happens they'll see it for what it is: a cynical attempt to lead the nation down the same reckless and stupid path they foolishly traveled when the Bush Mob was able to convince them that invading Iraq was a really neat idea.

`

About the only thing the Bushites seem to be able to run on these days is the assertion that the so-called "surge" in Iraq has been an overwhelming success. Maybe it has. Maybe it hasn't. What every talking head is ignoring, however, is the fact that as soon as the surge commenced, due to the fact that so many troops were diverted to Iraq, Afghanistan started to go into the toilet. We are now negotiating with the Taliban - the freaking Taliban! Five years ago Donald Rumsfeld and the morons under his watch in the Department of Defence were speaking of them in the past tense - and now, thanks in part to the surge in Iraq, they're regaining control of the country. Isn't that wonderful? This is, quite literally, the gang that couldn't shoot straight.

`

The next twenty days are going to be the longest in our lives. Count on it seeming more like twenty years. As the old saying goes, anything can happen and probably will. Molly Ivins used to remind us to keep our eyes on the shell with the pea under it. This is definitely one of those times. I sincerely believe if George W. Bush is not the last Republican president, this country is doomed. That's assuming it's not already broken beyond repair. Keep your fingers crossed and your hands folded....

`

AND MAKE DAMNED SURE YOU VOTE!

`

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

tomdegan@frontiernet.net

`

SUGGESTED READING:

`

Man Without A Country

by Kurt Vonnegut

`

BREAKING NEWS!!!

There are less than a hundred days (ninety-six of them to be exact) until this criminally incompetent, nightmare of an administration is gone forever!

`

AFTERTHOUGHT:

It has just been announced that the United States ranks 29th in infant mortality rates among industrialized nations. You're not surprised, are you? No, neither am I.

Crazy White People

Does it get any better than this?

The only thing that Johnny and Gidget have to run on at this stage in the game is the issue (or non-issue, really) of the character of Barack Obama. Watching the people at the Reichstag....I mean, rallies....will be remembered as classic moments in the history of unintentional comedy; a virtual treasure trove example of the jaw-dropping stupidity of the American people:

"I ain't votin' fer no nigger A-Rab!"

Nice! No, it doesn't get any weirder than that. It really doesn't!

But there is something which is also very disturbing and deeply ominous about the McCain/Palin events - the visceral shouts from the crowd, implying threatened violence:

"Kill him!"
"Off with his head!"
"Terrorist!"
"Bomb Obama!"

All of these choice nuggets of electoral discourse were captured by the microphones of MSNBC this week. In an interview a few days ago with CNN's Anderson Cooper, David Gergen said:

"There is this free floating sort of whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence. I think we're not far from that. I really worry when we get....the kind of rhetoric that you're getting at these rallies. I think it's really imperative that the candidates try to calm people down."

The typical McCain/Palin rally has all the look and feeling - not of your average campaign event - but of an out-of-control lynch mob! It seems that much of Middle America, as mythologized by Thornton Wilder in his literary masterpiece, Our Town, has lost it's fucking mind.

There is the malignant cancer of racism which affects the American body politic that Camp McCain is willing and eager to exploit. How else can you explain Sarah Palin's constant, suggestive inquiry, "Just who is Barack Obama"? All last week she has been trying to transform Senator Obama's casual acquaintance with former sixties radical William Ayers into a full fledged plot to blow up America.

Her desperation is quite touching, really. She is loyally following the tried and true Lee Attwater/Karl Rove playbook - the three D's: Divide, Distort and Distract. She is trying to hoodwink the American people into foolishly swallowing the fiction that the Republican party is the party of traditional middle class goals and values. That won't work any longer. Sure it will always work with the type of idiotic Nazi wannabes they were able to dredge up for their rallies in Wisconsin and Florida last week - but the grand old party is over. The era of half-witted, right wing ideological perversity which has polluted America's national political dialogue for nearly three decades is over.

The pendulum has swung - with a vengeance, baby!

I've been waiting for this moment since the day I picked up Dick Gregory's autobiography from the shelf of my high school's library one afternoon in the spring of 1974. I knew that an African American would make it to the White House in my lifetime. I can't explain to you how I knew it - it was just a feeling I had. Call it intuition; call it prophecy; call it Degan's dumb Irish luck - But I knew it, Buster!

The irony is that I always thought that the first black man to live in the White House would be a centrist Republican (Let's face facts: Middle America would never have sent a black woman to the White House at this point in time, no matter how bad things are). Even a slightly left-of-center black Democrat traditionally scares the shit out of Middle America. A Black Democrat in the White House? It'll never happen, I thought.

But these are not ordinary times and President Obama....Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself....Senator Obama is no ordinary politician. Forgive me for flipping the switch of my cliche` machine but I just can't help myself: This is the dawn of a new era in America. Four centuries of struggle and hardship for our African American brothers and sisters have led to this moment. Barack Obama is not an historical accident - he is an historic inevitability. Wake up and face the dawn.

In the early days of his campaign, the expected musical question was raised in some quarters:

"Is America ready for an African American president?"

Oh, get a freakin' life, huh? As I said on this very site on January 6, the morning after Barack won the Iowa primaries (Yeah! Yeah! I know! It's immodest to quote one's self. So sue me!):

America has been ready for a black president since the day Shirley Chisholm announced her candidacy in 1972.

America has been ready for a black president since Martin Luther King declared, "I have a dream" in August of 1963.

America has been ready for a black president since the day in 1957 when federal troops had to escort nine children into a public school in Little Rock, Arkansas.

America has been ready for a black president since late in the afternoon of December 5, 1955, when a tired and fed-up Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man.

America has been ready for a black president since the Supreme Court of Earl Warren ruled on Brown vs. the Topeka, Kansas Board of Education in 1954.

America has been ready for a black president since Harry S Truman desegregated the armed forces on July 28, 1948.

America has been ready for a black president since the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson on April 15, 1947.

America has been ready for a black president since that day in 1939 when African American contralto Marion Anderson sang "My Country 'Tis Of Thee" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after having been refused the opportunity to sing before the Daughters of the America Revolution because of the color of her skin.

America has been ready for a black president since the night of October 16, 1901 when President Theodore Roosevelt invited George Washington Carver to dine at the White House in the face of southern political outrage.

America has been ready for a black president since January 1, 1863 when Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation became the law of the land.
.
America has been ready for a black president since Frederick Douglas put pen to paper and wrote, "The life of the nation is secure only while that nation is honest, truthful and virtuous."
.`
America has been ready for a Black president since March 5, 1770. That was the day a man by the name of Crispus Attucks - A BLACK GUY - became the first human being to give his life for this country.
.
Yeah, America has been ready for a black president for a very, very long time. Three cheers to Barack Obama for waking us up to this fact.
.
Bearing all of these historical facts in mind, the case against an Obama White House is starting to look pathetically thin. Senator McCain's latest argument du juor is that Barack has never stood up to the leadership of his party and that he, John McCain, has stood up to his. There's no argument to that statement. There have been more than a few times throughout the years where McCain bravely challenged the assholes who comprise the "leadership" of the senate Republicans. But think about it for a minute: Although the Democrats are far from perfect, there are far less reasons to stand up to their leadership than there are to challenge the insane and corrupt positions of the GOP. It's almost like Satan criticizing Gabriel for not standing up to his leadership. A silly argument any way you slice it or dice it.
.
My message to my fellow honkies who may have trepidations at the thought of an Obama administration would be this. His will not be the first black family to live in the White House. His will be the first black family that did not live in the servant's quarters of the White House. There's nothing to be afraid of. The world will not come to an end when this happens. Big rocks won't be falling from the sky. The sun won't refuse to rise in the morning. As a matter of fact, the world might even improve a little bit - maybe even a whole heck of a lot! Certainly, it cannot be argued that the way the rest of the planet perceives the United States will improve dramatically if President Barack Obama is inaugurated as our 44th president on January 20, 2009. If we continue down this twisted road of Conservative lunacy, we're going to look like a bunch of knuckleheads, don'cha think?
.
The piece I wrote on January 6, which was called "Making History in Iowa" ended this way:
.
"You know, I was just thinking: This son-of-a-bitch just might be able to pull this thing off! Wow!"
.
Wow indeed!
.
Dear Lord, keep him safe.
.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
.
SUGGESTED READING:
.
Parting The Waters
by Taylor Branch
.
In one-hundred days, George W. Bush will be out of the executive mansion forever. Someone, please pinch me, I must be dreaming!

Character and Distractions

It is weeks like this one that make being an observer of the food fight that is also known as American Electoral Politics such a weird and wondrous joy to behold! As predicted on this site early Friday afternoon, McCain and Unable will never be able to win this election on the merits of their ideas. Why? Because their ideas suck! What to do? Go into the gutter, baby!

Within minutes of posting that piece, there she was: Sarah Palin was being broadcast on MSNBC, practically foaming at the mouth (cute 'n' perky as always, though) accusing Barack Obama being someone who would "pal around" with terrorists:

"I'm afraid that this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who targeted his own country."

The "terrorist" in question is William Ayers, 63, whom along with his wife Bernardine Dohrn, was one of the co-founders of the radical organization from the sixties, the Weather Underground or the Weathermen as they were also known. They apparently took their name from the old Bob Dylan song, Subterranean Homesick Blues: "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." Although Ayers was never convicted or (to the best of my knowledge) even charged with any terrorist-related activities, the McCain campaign has labeled him as a terrorist. If I were Bill Ayers, I'd sue Governor Palin for slander.

In 1993, Ayers held "a tea" - a freaking tea for Pete's sake! - in order to introduce an unknown hopeful for the Illinois state house with the curious name, Barck Obama, to local Chicago Democrats. Although Obama and Ayers have sat on a couple of not-for-profit boards of directors together, their association throughout the years has been largely peripheral. Ayers, today, is a college professor and is a threat to no one. As far as I can tell, he has never even been placed on the national "no fly" list. It should also be noted that when Ayers was involved in his naughty, extra-curricular revolutionary activities, Senator Obama was in the third grade. Governor Palin was in kindergarten.

You see, John McCain and Gidget have no other choice. They have to change the subject. The "lipstick on a pig" controversy last month backfired on them so they decided to they needed to change the subject to the topic of Barack Obama's character.

Character? Character?? These assholes want to talk about character? Let's talk about character....

One of the Founding Fathers of the Republican party, Abraham Lincoln, believed to his core that no state in the union had the constitutional right to secede from that union. He even fought a civil war to kind of drive home the point. Can you even imagine the hell the right wing would have raised if Jill Biden (Joe's wife) had until relatively recently been involved in an organization that advocated Independence for the state of Delaware? They would at this moment be positively apoplectic! That very fact alone would have disqualified my man Joe from being on the ticket. The fact that Mr. Sarah Palin (Todd) until a few years ago belonged to a political party which sought Alaskan secession means not a thing to these hypocrites.

Another thing the Macainiacs are rehashing this week is the old controversy surrounding Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Not a good idea. Not only do the member's of Sarah Palin's church "talk in tongues", a number of years ago while one of her current pastors, Thomas Moothy, was the head of a church in a small town in Kenya, the Right Reverend Moothy organized a mob that literally ran a woman out of town. You see, Moothy charged the poor gal with being "a witch" [LONG, STUNNED PAUSE] Yeah, you read that right: "a witch". My advice to Camp McCain? Don't go there. Don't even think about going there.

When it was announced (by Governor Palin!!!) that her seventeen-year-old, unwed daughter was expecting a child, the GOP spin machine went into full-tilt, warm and fuzzy mode:

"Isn't that sweet? She chose life!"

Good for her! But I ask you....can you even fathom the stink that those jackasses would have made were it revealed that one of Barack and Michelle Obama's daughters was pregnant? Ahh! I can just hear them now:

"Well all their women are sluts, what did you expect?"

And while we're on the subject of Michele Obama....

Are you even able to conjure up the image in your mind, how the Conservatives would have reacted had Ms. Obama - A BLACK WOMAN! - been caught red handed stealing drugs (as Cindy McCain was) from a charity devoted to caring for sick children? I can just picture the fuss Hillary Clinton would have made over that nasty little subject. Not only would the loony right have freaked out, Barack never would have received the nomination of his own party!

In December of 1972, six weeks after a brash, twenty-nine-year-old named Joe Biden was elected for the first time to the United States Senate, his wife Neilia and his infant daughter were killed in a horrible automobile accident while picking up the family Christmas tree. His two young sons were also seriously injured in the crash. Suppose....just suppose....that poor Neilia had not died in that wreck. Suppose she survived but had been terribly disfigured as a result. Wait! It gets better (I mean, worse)....

Suppose Joe had taken a good look at Neilia and decided that this gal just was not the trophy wife who should be seen arm in arm with a United States senator. Suppose he initiated an affair with a....umm....oh....I don't know....a beer distribution heiress maybe? (Just for the sake of argument, you understand). Now suppose Joe at that point in time decided to give the unfortunate woman the old heave-ho by divorcing her. Knowing all that, do you think someone like Joe Biden would have had the chutzpah in 2008 to stand before the American people - with a straight face - and portray himself as the guardian of family values??? Heavens to Betsy, I'm lovin' this!

And you mean to tell me that two pathetic hacks like Sarah Palin and John McCain have the unmitigated gall to question the character of Barack Obama? Is it just me or are you able to detect a little bit of a double standard here? Am I imagining things? Please drop me an e-mail.

Oh, and speaking of characters....

Karl Rove is at it again. He is now saying that Senator Obama will be the probable winner twenty-eight days from now. In "Turd Blossom's" own words:

"If the election were held today, Obama would win every state John Kerry won in 2004, while adding New Mexico, Iowa and Colorado to his coalition."

Rove can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time - but he can't fool Tom Degan. I can read Karl Rove like a cheap, dime novel. Here's his trick: By implying that Obama is going to win next month, he is hoping that the base of the Democratic party will hear his words and will jump with joy, "KARL ROVE SAYS THAT OBAMA WILL WIN? MY SENSE OF URGENCY JUST DISAPPEARED! OH, HAPPY, HAPPY DAY!" I guarantee it; that is the motive behind his recent statements.

Here's what he is doing. He's trying to hypnotize the Dems into thinking that this election is over and that the Republicans are doomed. He's trying to instill in them the idea that getting out the vote on Election Day is no longer as important as it previously had been. This will be a victory the Democrats will merely be able to phone in. Remember that this is the most Machiavellian creature since, well, Machiavelli! He knows damned well that if the GOP is successful on November 4, he will never be called to account for his crimes against the American people. That, dear friends, is his real motivation. Don't get fooled again.

This will be remembered as the dirtiest, most disgusting presidential campaign since the Adams/Jefferson contest over two centuries ago. The Republicans are desperate. Have you had a good look at the First Fool lately? He's aged about ten years since the spring. No one in this country is hoping for a McCain/Palin victory more than George W. Bush. He knows that when a Justice Department run by competent, responsible prosecutors is finally able to look at the crimes committed by the Bush Mob, he and a whole hell of a lot of people in his administration will be on their way to federal prison for a very, very long time.

The only way the Republican party will be able to win this election will be by stealing it - again. Don't put it past them.

Seriously, did you ever get the feeling that you were living within the pages of a brilliant, dark comic masterpiece?

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

There are one-hundred and four days until George W. Bush is hiding out in his bunker in Crawford, Texas

For an entertaining perspective on the very topics covered in this posting, have a look at the excellent comment Keith Olbermann made last night on MSNBC. It's from the Huffington Post and in classic Olbermann tradition, it is disturbing and a scream at the same time. Here's a link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/06/olbermann-special-comment_n_132456.html

Weird Times in Mudville

This really has been a week for the history books - so much going down, it's difficult if not impossible to find the proper context in which to put everything. One thing is beyond any hint of a doubt, though: Two-and-a-half-weeks ago, the long-predicted deregulatory shit finally hit the economic fan. The people who bear most of the responsibility for this catastrophic meltdown (and we are in catastrophe mode here, folks - let's stop kidding ourselves) are stepping up to the video cameras and microphones - faces as straight as a two-by-four, I swear! - and are saying that no one could have foreseen this. Gee, I hate to keep tooting my own horn here. I did this exactly a week ago today but I've got to do it again - I'M SORRY BUT I JUST CAN'T HELP MYSELF! I promise you, this will be the very last time I ever bring this up. So help me Herbert Hoover!

From "The Rant" by Tom Degan, June 8, 2008:

At no other time since 1932 has the need to go in a radically new direction been as obvious as it is in this year. If we foolishly reject the Democratic candidate, we will deserve everything that happens to us. So desperate is the Bush Mob to forestall the catastrophic economic collapse that is months - if not weeks away - they have resorted to sending checks in the amount of several hundred dollars to every taxpayer in the United States. Their intention is to keep the economy barely sustained just long enough to be able to get out of town while the getting is good and blame the coming, unavoidable meltdown on the next administration - an administration they have some reason to believe will be a Democratic one. What they are in the process of doing may very well serve as a temporary fix, but it will eventually only further deplete our already decimated national treasure. Seriously, has it dawned on you yet how utterly contemptible these people are? I was just wondering.

Well their little scheme backfired on them. This afternoon the First Fool made a statement in the Rose Garden of the White House. Referring to the bail out of Wall Street as a "recovery plan" (where are you, George Orwell?) he informed his dying nation that he would sign the bill into law when it reached his desk early next week.
.
It was a curious and uncomfortable sight. At one point during the statement (which barely lasted three minutes - if that) his voice seemed to crack. For a moment, just one brief, shining moment, mind you, I started to feel a real degree of sympathy for the homicidal little thug. It was painfully obvious that the pressures of the job, and the certain realization that he will be remembered as the worst president in American history, were weighing in on his psyche in a very profound and disturbing way. I actually caught myself saying out loud, "The poor son-of-a-bitch". We're talking major pathos here, people.

My moment of sympathy for Bush ended in a flash. I started to think about the hundreds of millions of people who have suffered because of the greed and stupidity of this foolish, mediocre man. I started to think about the dead in Iraq, possibly a million or more men, women and little children; mostly innocent victims who were slaughtered in the name of George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney's perverted lust for oil. The only reason for invading Iraq was so they could loot that country - much in the same way they have looted this one. The Bush Mob's only motivation was to seize the second or third largest oil reserves on the planet earth. I thought about the children of America, the living and generations yet unborn, who will never know the standard of living their antecedents knew - for no other reason than the fact that this generation of Americans never bothered to do their duties as citizens of this doomed country and study the positions and policies of the candidates for public office. A huge segment of them actually believed that sending this half-witted frat boy to the White House was a good idea.

In 2000, Al Gore was seen by the electorate as a know-it-all, policy wonk, smarty pants. George W. Bush was just your run-of-the-mill idiot that most of us would rather have a beer with. I think that it is almost touching that so huge a segment of the people would identify with him.

Think about that for a minute or two, will you? This generation inherited from their parents the strongest, most prosperous nation the world has ever known. And what will our heirs inherit from us? A social and ideological cesspool.

Go shopping, America.

In the meantime, the silliness on the campaign trail just keeps getting funnier by the minute. Last night's vice-presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis was quite the spectacle to be sure. Although poll after poll has declared that the people thought Joe Biden won the debate, the right wing media immediately proclaimed that Sarah Palin cleaned Senator Biden's clock. Their reasoning, I'm sure, has nothing to do with the fact that she scored zero on matters of substance and everything to do with the fact that she managed to get through the ninety minute event without saying anything monumentally stupid. The bar was set so low, all she had to do for a victory to be claimed was to walk away from the podium relatively unscathed. Style is everything with these people - substance be damned.

I don't know about you, but when I choose someone I want breaking tie votes in the senate (which is all, really, a vice-president is constitutionally required to do), there are certain, substantive qualities that I'm looking for. Call me a grouch but "cute 'n' perky" doesn't really cut the mustard with me. I don't know, I'm kind of old fashioned that way.

The biggest disappointment of the evening was moderator Gwen Ifill. In the hours leading up to the debate, it was reported that she has a upcoming book on the triumph of African American politicians in general and Barack Obama in particular, which is scheduled to be released on Inauguration Day. The Republican propaganda machine went apoplectic on learning this. So eager was Ms. Ifill to prove that she could be a fair and objective moderator, she allowed Sarah Palin to get away with murder. She was successfully coerced by the right wing. She should have excused herself.

At this moment in time, it is apparent that the McCain campaign is in a free fall. As I predicted on this site over two years ago (There I go again!) the people would eventually wake up from the right wing coma they've been slumbering under since that day in 1980 when they foolishly sent a feeble-minded, failed "B" movie actor named Ronald Reagan to the White House. We were warned for decades that the orgy of deregulation and "trickle down", "voodoo economics" would eventually come back to haunt us. Well, come back it has - with a vengeance too horrible to even contemplate.

As horrible as the last eighteen days have been, they were not without a small handful of significant blessings. Here's one of them: Ronald Wilson Reagan died on September 15, 2008. I realize full well that the dirty old dingbat physically shuffled off this mortal coil on June 5, 2005, but the so-called revolution which bares his name, is now deader than the Gipper himself. Good and grand riddance.

"Government isn't the answer to our problem. Government is the Problem."

Ronald Reagan
January 20, 1981

The events of the last two an-a-half weeks have proven, for all time and eternity, the utter fallacy of that statement. There will be times when government is the only answer.

It must never be forgotten that George W. Bush merely harvested the crop of America's economic suicide. It was Reagan who planted the seeds. Don't ever forget that. It's mourning in America. The coming years of hardship (which I fear will last a decade, possibly longer - possibly much longer) will be Ronald Reagan's biggest and longest lasting legacy.

To quote the great comic/philosopher, Stan Freberg, "Wake up Cratchett. It's later than you think!" Wake up, America.

The GOP have found themselves in an untenable situation. They are light years from the point when they could win a national election based upon the merits of their ideas. Think Dwight D. Eisenhower. Their only option at this stage in the game is fear. The next month will make the campaigns of 2000 and 2004 look like a freshman civics lecture. They have no other choice but to resort to the Karl Rove tactics that served them so well in those contests: Distract, Distort and Divide.

The McCain/Palin camp are going to go into the gutter from this point on. The only chance they'll have to win this thing in four weeks will be by scaring the hell out of middle America against voting for a black man. The irony here is that Bush was only able to win in 2000 because fifty-seven thousand African Americans were taken off of the list of registered voters in the state of Florida due to the illegal machinations of brother Jeb and Katherine Harris (Whatever happened to her anyway?) The campaign of 2008 will undoubtedly be remembered as the dirtiest in American history. Count on it.

This is going to get ugly, campers. Really, really ugly. Keep your fingers crossed and your hands folded.
.
Okay, just one more time (this is irresistible!) From "The Rant" by Tom Degan, December 30, 2007:
.
"2008 will be remembered as the year our entire economy collapsed. You can take that to the bank (so to speak)".
,
Don't say I didn't warn you.
.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
.
SUGGESTED VIEWING:
.
Weapons of Mass Distraction
A film by Danny Schechter, "The News Dissector"