Hey there sports fan,
As these withered, ghastly pale (does anyone get a finger tan?....NOTE: Somewhere someone in 10th grade just claimed to have one after "a night where we only have watch 10 Things I Hate About You) tap the keys once more I am reminded of the man whom drowned in the river attempting to save his reflection. Was it more prudent to let this blog die? Is there an natural life and death that "lived"? Probably, but in blog, as in life, I electrocute dead things in order to re-animate them, Ricky Martin....call me. Plus, in order to have lived, something written probably needed "readers," and showing everything I write to my air conditioning unit, sadly, doesn't count. By that metric, this blog is still fetal.
It feels good to be back, and now older, wiser and with less punch/wit, the first question that would definitely be begged is "Hey, whats the point of writing?"
That's a good question, probably deeper than you knew to begin. I think I am breathing new life into this blog for several reasons:
1.) Haters getting sprayed like afro-sheen.
2.) Getting rid of evidence.
3.) It is difficult to believe i don't have anything relevant to say anymore (which is a wonder considering the overwhelming amount of actual physical evidence that exists to the contrary).
4.)$$
~To quote Wes Anderson "What's wrong with you?"
......."Let me think about that for a while, and I'll tell you next time I see you."
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Winds have shifted lately, and as a result so have the tides (and Calista Flockhart's walking direction; does anyone make fun of her anymore?) To what could one contribute John McCain's ascendancy from the ashes of middle of the road politics to the top of the GOP?I strongly believe that answer was, to a large degree, already out of his hands. Not unlike the seemingly pre-ordained rise of Senator Obama, Mr. McCain was the benefactor of an alignment of the stars rivaling that earlier dude's night in 10th grade watching a movie. With every candidate trying to be the archetype of Republicanism it seemed Mr. McCain was allowed to flourish in what he does best. Namely, the "God Damn it, I'm John McCain," approach, which does have its merit. I have lobbied for years to have that on the fill in your name sticky name tags people wear at events. This approach was actually invented by Denise Crosby. That's a fact.
What were the American (republicans) looking for in a candidate? Well, I think that is largely to be determined, but what could one discern from the primary results? At first glean, a couple of things, Probably chief among them was the discernible split within the party and the dissipation of the "religious right,"as a voice that commanded attention. While a lot of commenter's/people smarter than I, maintain that Huckabee's entire candiacy really rode on the tide of these "election changers," I strongly believe he simply rode the last waves of an engineered force, doomed for marginalization.
Although this country has been considerably more "poshly conservative," since Reagen, I'm sure we can all agree on that sentiment has been abating to a great degree. In fact, I think by many barometers many people are more liberal than they were fifteen years ago. We come down more sensibly on big business (motivated by jaw dropping disparities in executive salaries vs. employee and startlingly unethical behavior, on their part, at the Wall Street level), trickle down econimics are less popular (arguably as the average American has seen very little trickle down) consumer and worker rights and a host of other social issues. Simply put, the conservative setiment in this country has been kept on life support by the prevailing fear of international terrorism. While this is becoming no less of a priority, the American people have had time to let reason return and still protest things like the suspension of Habeas Corpus.
A return to sanity. It's too bad it's also a return to debt. Why were people continually voting against their beliefs and interests so often and so strongly? The answer is simple, excellent politics.
So what does this re-discovery of the American opinion mean to John McCain? In my mind, many positive things. However, in order to ingratiate himself to the party he has gone through a very public castration of many qualities that made him every ones favorite Republican. And you know what they say about castration, even when it's good, it's bad. Four years ago, I really wouldn't have ruled out him bare knuckle bowing someone on stage. Truly. Today, I don't think he could even Charleston.
This leaves John in a similar position as stood John Kerry for years ago. Disambiguating, for the duration for the campaign, sticky issues, legislation and endorsements as to why they are not as they seem.
"Did everything go well in the previous administration?"
"Well, no.."replied McCain.
.....this is his major problem. He clearly has defined himself with the previous administration. In addition to hurdling the issues he has already set up for himself (age, general testiness, being miss-aligned with his base, poor choice in ties) he clearly sits in the middle of a newly emerged electorate looking for something that USED to be John McCain all over......
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Sorry for the cross talk but it's an interesting time in politics and subsequently, the nation. This must be how Kelsey Grammer feels, now that he has a new show. Surefire.
Well that all for now, thanks for stopping back in. Tomorrow, there should be something new up.*
-A.J.S.
*(Note: Even the absence of something new, would be something new)
