free login betfair apk old version_free login sports lottery tickets_free login best prediction app 2019
I remember when Gerald Ford died a dozen years ago. I didn’t think that the media overdid it with the Ford grief. Everybody pretty much seemed to agree that he was a pretty good all-around guy and not the greatest president–he was a man of the old school at the point when things were rapidly changing and he struggled to keep up–but not a terrible one either. That damn Nixon pardon got relitigated though I don’t think anybody changed their minds about it. Still, even a sub-single term president is a consequential figure. Some remembrance is only reasonable.
Compare that with the recent George H. W. Bush spectacle. The media acted as though he were a beloved and revered figure and way overdid it, and the whole thing felt like another smarmy MSM encomium to the civility of old rich white guys (which Ross Douthat witlessly spelled out). The thing is, Ford was like Bush in many ways. Decidedly not wacko Republicans in their bones, one term or less in office with a failed re-election bid (or just plain election in Ford’s case), sort of bland, almost corny public personalities, relentlessly mocked on SNL, overshadowed by their more interesting spouses. But Ford was handled more or less appropriately while Bush was given hagiographies by just about everyone. How come?
The context, I think, matters enormously. In 2006, the–for lack of a better term–establishment was still quite powerful and Boomer-dominated: there was still nary a millennial in Congress and wouldn’t be for another three years. If you look at the presidential candidates in both parties in 2008, almost none of them is in any way out of the mainstream. Yeah, Tom Tancredo and Dennis Kucinich both ran that year, but it’s easy to forget the former given what a snore-inducing candidate he was (such was the state of white nationalism before the financial collapse) and the latter was barely making the effort that he had in 2004. I may have mentioned this before but I actually met Kucinich in 2008 when he spoke briefly in the town of Atascadero where I lived at the time. On the one hand, I thought it was pretty cool to meet an actual live politician. And yet, even at the time I thought: why the hell isn’t he in L.A.? And then he arrived and his wife was with him and I thought: oh, I see. A little tourism under the guise of campaigning. So yeah, not really trying there. But the point is that Clinton, Obama, and Edwards–the top three in 2008–all had virtually identical platforms. Given the winner-take-all nature of the contest and the strong incentive to differentiate oneself, this was a little peculiar, unless you figure that the establishment was incredibly strong that year. And it was much the same on the GOP side. Aside from Tancredo and Duncan Hunter Sr., all the Republicans sounded exactly the same too. I suppose Giuliani already sounded a little fascist before that became the norm, but that’s it. And outside of political parties, there was nary a threat in sight. The internet meant bloggers, who were mad fun of for wearing pajamas all day.
Now it’s 2018 and the notion that “the establishment” can winnow the field on either side is silly. The ruling class is unhappy and divided, increasingly it is questionable if they rule anything at all. With the Bush funeral, what seems different from Ford was that in the latter case they were burying a president. In the former case, they’re burying themselves. Quite soon the millennials will take control for good, much the way they did a quarter century ago from Bush. The very Baby Boomers who relished in their vanquishing of the old guard now are the soon to be vanquished old guard. The sad thing is that, whatever Bush himself did, his generation did accomplish many marvelous things. Some bad ones too. But the Boomers inherited a pretty good world. They’re not handing one over to us. So they can fuck their self pity. Climate change, Iraq, the financial collapse: this is the Boomer legacy. And it always will be.
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Sweet Tweets
- Trump’s Tax Returns ... Politics, Donald Trump librarygrape.com/2019/02/trumps…
about 1 day ago via Facebook - Trump’s Tax Returns / librarygrape.com/?p=18236 ^Lev #DonaldTrump
about 1 day ago via Library Grape - The Most Boring Speech Of The Year ... Politics, Donald Trump, State Of The Union librarygrape.com/2019/02/the-mo…
about 1 day ago via Facebook - The Most Boring Speech Of The Year / librarygrape.com/?p=18231 ^Lev #DonaldTrump #StateOfTheUnion
about 1 day ago via Library Grape - Bad Choices ... Politics, Ralph Northam, Virginia librarygrape.com/2019/02/bad-ch…
about 2 days ago via Facebook - Bad Choices / librarygrape.com/?p=18233 ^Lev #RalphNortham #Virginia
about 2 days ago via Library Grape - Northam! ... Politics, Ralph Northam librarygrape.com/2019/02/northa…
about 4 days ago via Facebook - Northam! / librarygrape.com/?p=18227 ^Lev #RalphNortham
about 4 days ago via Library Grape - The Intouchables ... Culture, France, Movies librarygrape.com/2019/02/the-in…
about 5 days ago via Facebook - The Intouchables / librarygrape.com/?p=18211 ^Lev #France #Movies
about 5 days ago via Library Grape
- Trump’s Tax Returns ... Politics, Donald Trump librarygrape.com/2019/02/trumps…
In-Season
- You’re Doing It Wrong 274 views | 1 comment
- Let’s all come together as Americans, except for the third of you who are totally un-American 14 views | 0 comments
- Northam! 13 views | 0 comments
- “Grab them by the pussy.” “You can do anything.” 12 views | 0 comments
- "Terrorism In The Name of a Noble Cause is Justified" 11 views | 0 comments
- Face of the Day: Neda, A Young Girl Killed in Iran 10 views | 0 comments
- Fox News Has a First Amendment Right to Lie – Updated 10 views | 0 comments
- Mormon Jesus Will Have A Sad If You Make Mitt Release His Tax Returns 10 views | 0 comments
- And Lo, Their Shameful Lack Of Empathy Is Again Laid Bare 10 views | 0 comments
- Clarence Thomas Snoozes at Obama Inauguration 9 views | 0 comments
Esteemed Wineries
- Ars Technica
- Atheist Revolution
- Balloon Juice
- Crooks and Liars
- Daniel Larison
- Emily L. Hauser
- Ezra Klein
- FrumForum
- Glenn Greenwald
- Jonathan Chait
- Kevin Drum
- League of Ordinary Gentlemen
- Little Green Footballs
- Margaret and Helen
- Pharyngula
- Radley Balko
- Right Wing Watch
- Ta-Nehisi Coates
- The A.V. Club
- TPM Muckraker
- Washington Monthly
Wine Labels
2012 Election 2016 Election Abortion Barack Obama Bullshit Bush Christianity Congress Conservatives Democrats Donald Trump Economy Fail Foreign Policy Fox News Gay Marriage Hatred Health Care Ignorance Insanity Law LGBT Issues Libertarianism Lies Media Mitt Romney Movies Music Policy Polls Quotes Racism Recession Republicans Right Wing Sarah Palin Stupidity Teabaggers Torture Truth Video War War Crimes War on Drugs War on TerrorRecent Trackbacks
- JungleMediaGroup: And lo, did Kennedy reap a whirlwind upon the land and they perished forever and ever
- Mike's Blog Round Up – Liberal View News: 30;] Library Grape notes that there might be poetic justice in...
- That Which We Have Heard & Known: An Unpreached Sermon
- Talk About Marriage: Struggling with my so called "Conservative" stance...
- Ann Coulter’s New Trump Book Is Even Worse Than You Imagined – PoliticusUSA – News Usa Online: 30;]...
Wine Cellar
- February 2019 (5)
- January 2019 (26)
- December 2018 (23)
- November 2018 (24)
- October 2018 (38)
- September 2018 (29)
- August 2018 (25)
- July 2018 (19)
- June 2018 (31)
- May 2018 (30)
- April 2018 (23)
- March 2018 (33)
- February 2018 (32)
- January 2018 (22)
- December 2017 (32)
- November 2017 (26)
- October 2017 (21)
- September 2017 (37)
- August 2017 (30)
- July 2017 (36)
- June 2017 (25)
- May 2017 (30)
- April 2017 (25)
- March 2017 (28)
- February 2017 (20)
- January 2017 (14)
- December 2016 (23)
- November 2016 (30)
- October 2016 (32)
- September 2016 (20)
- August 2016 (38)
- July 2016 (26)
- June 2016 (23)
- May 2016 (19)
- April 2016 (15)
- March 2016 (32)
- February 2016 (26)
- January 2016 (17)
- December 2015 (22)
- November 2015 (33)
- October 2015 (22)
- September 2015 (16)
- August 2015 (15)
- July 2015 (22)
- June 2015 (22)
- May 2015 (16)
- April 2015 (14)
- March 2015 (11)
- February 2015 (18)
- January 2015 (24)
- December 2014 (18)
- November 2014 (28)
- October 2014 (16)
- September 2014 (19)
- August 2014 (22)
- July 2014 (26)
- June 2014 (27)
- May 2014 (21)
- April 2014 (25)
- March 2014 (21)
- February 2014 (33)
- January 2014 (31)
- December 2013 (25)
- November 2013 (32)
- October 2013 (57)
- September 2013 (32)
- August 2013 (57)
- July 2013 (56)
- June 2013 (44)
- May 2013 (42)
- April 2013 (41)
- March 2013 (66)
- February 2013 (42)
- January 2013 (74)
- December 2012 (67)
- November 2012 (44)
- October 2012 (51)
- September 2012 (35)
- August 2012 (50)
- July 2012 (36)
- June 2012 (35)
- May 2012 (51)
- April 2012 (42)
- March 2012 (64)
- February 2012 (85)
- January 2012 (79)
- December 2011 (68)
- November 2011 (76)
- October 2011 (67)
- September 2011 (55)
- August 2011 (53)
- July 2011 (44)
- June 2011 (71)
- May 2011 (103)
- April 2011 (107)
- March 2011 (120)
- February 2011 (124)
- January 2011 (82)
- December 2010 (97)
- November 2010 (92)
- October 2010 (93)
- September 2010 (80)
- August 2010 (44)
- July 2010 (63)
- June 2010 (33)
- May 2010 (60)
- April 2010 (34)
- March 2010 (50)
- February 2010 (66)
- January 2010 (67)
- December 2009 (72)
- November 2009 (78)
- October 2009 (91)
- September 2009 (75)
- August 2009 (105)
- July 2009 (81)
- June 2009 (178)
- May 2009 (152)
- April 2009 (147)
- March 2009 (86)
- February 2009 (52)
- January 2009 (118)
- December 2008 (18)
Bush 41’s beatification definitely was a dying gasp of the old Boomer third-way crowd, as well as the yearning of our modern reportorial class (Boomers) for, like you said, a mystical time of harmonious bipartisanship (indeed, if you were an old white guy).? The trauma of millennials being handed such a shit sandwich of a world is only just becoming manifest.? And, boy, it’s gonna be traumatic.