Don't Take Your Guns to Town

A lot of people are complaining about how the President doesn't really have a mandate for enormous change. Pandagon has a chart that presents how much of the country is 100% behind the President (which is 51% of the voters). When you add in the apparent furor about abortion and Gay marriage that probably helped Bush to many of those votes, well, the idea that he has a broad mandate in the traditional sense seems a little laughable.

The problem is that President Bush doesn't need a broad mandate, in the traditional sense, to push through his extremist positions. He thinks what he is doing the right thing. In a sense he has his mandate from God, and frankly what are 55,949,348 Americans compared to God? Particularly when we are clearly both morally and intellectually wrong (as he and his followers believe). So I wouldn't necessarily expect President Bush to moderate his plans in the slightest based on a tight electoral victory.

On the other hands the New York Times also has a story on how President Bush may face certain Congressional roadblocks to doing everything he wants to do.

The president declared that he had "earned capital in the campaign, political capital," which he would spend on an agenda that includes overhauling Social Security and the tax code. Republican leaders seemed determined to carry it out.

But in the convoluted political atmosphere of the Capitol, where every lawmaker must worry about something that no longer concerns the president - re-election - it may not be so easy for the Republicans to steamroller the Democrats.

Anyway no reason to despair just yet, although I can certainly understand a certain amount of weeping and wailing.

Another H. L. Mencken Quote

Mencken writes on the reason for remaining a "faithful citizen of the Federation."

It is the reason which grows out of my mediaeval but unashamed taste for the bizarre and indelicate, my congenital weakness for comedy of the grosser varieties. The United States, to my eye, is incomparably the greatest show on earth. It is a show which avoids diligently all the kinds of clowning which tire me most quickly - for example, royal ceremonials, the tedious hocus-pocus of haut politique, the taking of politics seriously - and lays chief stress upon the kinds which delight me unceasingly - for example, the ribald combats of demagogues, the exquisitely ingenious operations of master rogues, the pursuit of witches and heretics, the desperate struggles of inferior men to claw their way into Heaven. We have clowns in constant practice among us who are as far above the clowns of any other great state as a Jack Dempsey is above a paralytic - and not a few dozen or score of them, but whole droves and herds.

For those who don't know Jack Dempsey was a very successful boxer of the time.

I must say Mencken is a man after my own heart. I don't know what he's going to do with it once he gets it, but there it is.

Round the Horn. Life is just a bitter tune with sad refrains.

Here we go. Oh the line is from a song by Bossa Nostra called "Jackie."

Iddybud has some comments on whether or not we should give President Bush his honey moon by dropping our opposition to him and his presidency out of a sense of graciousness.

Speedkill has a bit on the ever gracious Alan Keyes. I have to say, his reaction probably mirrors what the rest of the Republicans would have said, had it gone the other way.

The Gotham City 13 has a post on how we need a party that is proud of being liberal. It also doubles as his farewell post, so we'll say goodbye and a heartfelt good luck.

The Invisible Library has a somewhat discouraging but potentially accurate post on what the next four years might bring, and a dissection of the "ownership society."

Trish Wilson has a bit on what kind of blogger you might be. I am a pundit blogger apparently. Now I can sleep easier.

The Yellow Doggeral Democrat has a bit on how we need to let them know we liberals are here and we aren't going anywhere, keying off of this post at Bark Bark Woof Woof.

Anyway short today, but I have been linking around a lot this week so I don't feel that guilty.

Comics

For those of you who enjoy the X-Men Comics, you might enjoy reading the X-Axis Reviews. For those of you who think the X-Men Comics are pretty overrated and not all that good, you might enjoy reading the X-Axis Reviews. Here's a sample paragraph that I found particularly interesting in a review of Wolverine #150 from a couple of years ago.

The Wolverine-in-Japan story has now been done so often that it almost counts as a sub-genre. Traditionally, it involves squabbling martial artists, people trying to kill Wolverine, "ninjas" who don't appear to remember any of the basic principles of assassination, and at least five ludicrous plot developments explained away by reference to Japanese concepts of honour. ("For the honour of my family, I must pour a bucket of custard over my head and dance an Irish jig. You would not understand, gaijin." "Oh, well if it's your CULTURE, I'll accept that in lieu of actual characterisation or plot. Fair enough.")

Be sure also to check out the indexes which are quite well down, and in the Silver Age section, very funny as well.

Considerations

From the Tao te Ching.

28. RETAINING INTEGRITY
Whilst developing creativity,
also cultivate receptivity.
Retain the mind like that of a child,
which flows like running water.
When considering any thing,
do not lose its opposite.
When thinking of the finite,
do not forget infinity;
Act with honour, but retain humility.
By acting according to the way of the Tao,
set others an example.
By retaining the integrity
of the inner and external worlds,
true selfhood is maintained,
and the inner world made fertile.

An idea. An ideal?

Talking W Blues

I hinted at some big changes in previous posts. Well, I've decided long term this site will remain Make Me a Commentator!!! And we will continue to focus our laser like focus on conservative rhetoric. It's proven such a fertile field of study, and I don't get the impression that having won an election, conservative pundits (like Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh) are going to get any smarter.

On the other hand, reading their articles over the next week or so is really going to make me full of anger. I mean more full of anger than normal. So I'm not going to do that. If you want to read gloating Republicans there's the Townhall link over there on the right. Just interject me saying "What a moron" every few sentences and it will be just like the real thing.

So I'm going to focus elsewhere, for at least a week and a half. Next week will be a special edition of this website with a very special name for one week. So far the top contender is "Stupid-Enough Unexplanation," if you would like to join in the fun, post your suggestion for a name for this blog in the comments section below. One lucky winner will get the privilege of having the blog named after his or her suggestion for a week. And who knows, the winner could be me!

I mean you. You could name the blog. Not me.

And Sunday the 14th we will resume our regular programming format.

Lesson's Learned

Well one thing we've learned from this election is that Republicans are masters of the sleazy attacks. I mean we've all known it, but this election demonstrated it even more. And they will pick up on the slightest character flaw in order to twist it all out of proportion to bring a Democrat down. Any Democrat with any flaw or even anything that could be considered a flaw is really unlikely to be a good candidate.

So what we need is a candidate who has no background for the Republicans to trash.

And hey, everybody likes kittens don't they? I mean they are so cute and adorable.

Think about it.

Pep Talks

If you are liberal and you need a good pep talk, I suggest you go visit Echidne of the Snakes; she's got a corker of a pep talk. By the way I'm assuming corker is a positive term (that's the risk of using a slang term that fell out of favor some 30 years before you were born).

If you are conservative and you need a good pep talk, I'm afraid I don't understand. But I will leave you with these words of wisdoms. Liberals aren't going anywhere. I know you fantasize about an America where all the liberals have been scoured from the earth (and wherever else they happened to be), but it's just not happening. You can spread all the lies and demonize us all you want. We aren't going anywhere, and this campaign was just the beginning.

If you have any comments by the way, please feel free to leave them.

A Propos of Nothing

I sure am doing a good job of taking a few days off aren't I?

Anyway for no particular reason, here are the lyrics to Compared to What? Lyrics written by Gene McDaniels. The song has been performed well by Roberta Flack and David Holmes.

Compared to What?

I love to lie and lie to love
I`m hangin` on they push and shove
Possession is the motivation
That is hangin` up the goddamn nation
Looks like we always end up in a rut
Everybody now
Tryin` to make it real compared to what

Slaughterhouse is killin` hogs
Twisted children killin` frogs
Poor dumb rednecks rollin` logs
Tired old ladies kissin` dogs
I hate the human love of that stinking mutt
I can`t use it
Tryin` to make it real compared to what

President he`s got his war
Folks don`t know just what it`s for
Nobody gives us rhyme or reason
Have one doubt they call it treason
We`re chicken feathers
All without one nut goddamn it
Tryin` to make it real compared to what

Church on Sunday sleep and nod
Tryin` to duck the wrath of God
Preachers fillin` us with fright
They all tryin` to teach us what they think is right
They really got to be some kind of nut
I can`t use it
Tryin` to make it real compared to what

Where`s that bee and where`s that honey
Where`s my God and where`s my money
Unreal values a crass distortion
Unwed mothers need abortion
Kind of brings to mind old young King Tut
He did it now
Tried to make it real compared to what

Tryin` to make it real compared to what

Pogo

I did promise a pogo cartoon and an elephant never remembers.



Talk to you eventually.

Well 2

Read these words over at This Modern World, which are strangely hopeful. "Well, never forget the numbers. Never forget that if we who voted for sanity are in the minority, it is only by the barest margin. Do not let them turn a squeaker of a win into the myth of a landslide."

Or, to quote a song title from the Police, "When the world is running down, you make the best of what's still around."

Well

We'll see what happens, but it looks like President Bush gets another four years. Considering how well he did with his first four years, well, all I have to say is I hope your happy, America. I hope you don't suffer any buyer's remorse.

I probably won't be around for a couple of days. The only articles people are going to put out are gloating ones, which aren't going to be fun to read.

It's a mad mad mad mad mad mad mad Dan Rather

Apparently Dan Rather, channeling the same interesting mind he did last election, said earlier, "We may need Billy Crystal to analyze this before it's over."

Yep, that's just what this election needs. More Billy Crystal.

Thanks to the War Room over at Salon.

For those obsessive like me

Here's a website you can watch to see how the election is going. It's the New York Times.

Rush Limbaugh's Conflicted

He can't decide if he hates the idea of American's voting or if he really hates the idea of American's voting.

After talking about how much he hates the idea of idiots voting (meaning, of course, Democrats), he talks about the wisdom of the founding fathers in making sure that only White male property owners could vote, because you see, they had a stake in the system. Poor people don't have a stake in the system, so they shouldn't vote. But he does clarify himself.

No, I'm suggesting we go back. We can't. We never would. I'm not suggesting. I'm just saying that the theory behind it made sense in that they didn't want people voting who were clueless! They didn't care what people didn't know anything thought. Why should we? Why do you think I screen phone calls? I'm not going to sit here and waste valuable program time talking to dunces that have no clue what we're talking about. "But, Rush, they have a right!" They have no right whatsoever! This is a benevolent dictatorship. "But they have a First Amendment right." No, the First Amendment says you have a right to speak but nobody gets a right to be heard.

So now I'm confused--is gold old Rush suggesting that we run our elections the way he runs his talk show? With, say, vote screeners determining who can and can't vote? Hmmmmmmm.

But of course the conflict isn't in Rush. He knows what he wants (and restricting the franchise to white male property owners isn't far from it). He just doesn't want to admit that because it will, let's face it, make him look like a jerk. Well, more of a jerk.

Looking around too

Still looking around.

Pen Elayne on the Web also voted, and put up a cool picture as well. Democracy is a beautiful thing.

Kick the Leftist has some troubling news out of Volusia County, but at least they caught this. I guess.

archy has a heartwarming and somewhat laugh inducing story.

The Fulcrum has a bit on delusional reism. I don't know what that is, but I like the sound of it.

rubber hose has some info on being on the road as an electoral lawyer.

bloggg voted as well, and tells us of the experience.

Anyway that's all for now--be back later with some more analysis and a Pogo Cartoon.

Looking around

Let's see what the members of the Liberal Coalition are saying.

Musing's Musing has been to the local voting place, and has some observations.

Sooner Thought has some thoughts on whether it's worth it to vote or not.

The members of Corrente have also been to vote, Tom and Lambert anyway and possibly otherse I missed.

Respectful of Otters follows the bizarre policy of applying logic to accusations of voter fraud.

That's it for just now. Have to run to a meeting, but will be back later, I hope.

Voting is the new voting

Molly Ivins has some typically accurate words for those who are considering voting.

Politics is not about those people in Washington or those people at the state capitol. Politics is about us -- you, me and the guy next to us. We run this country, we own this country, and we have a responsibility to hire the right people to drive our bus for a while.

. . . Politics is not a picture on a wall or a television program you can decide you just don't care for. Our entire lives are set into and written by the warp and woof of politics. Political decisions affect your life every day in thousands of way -- whether the food you eat is safe, what books your children read in school, how deep you will be buried when you die, if the lady who dyes your hair is competent, how safe your money is in stocks or banks, whether you have a job, whether your kid has to go fight in a war, who is qualified to prescribe your eyeglasses -- that's all politics.

Pretty damn inspiring, in my opinion.

The Buck Stops Somewhere South of Mexico

A Sorta Fairytale.



Suzanne Fields, who I picked on in the last post, deserves a second round for this later section of her article.

The Truman-Dewey comparison has its limits, but George W., like Harry Truman, acts as if he understands "the buck stops here." That understanding has shaped his foreign policy and, like Harry Truman, he stands stubbornly by his decisions as the nation faces a new and deadly menace.

Yep we all remember the dozens of times President Bush has acknowledged his responsibility for errors or problems in his presidency. We all remember this buck stopping statement. "I don't want to sound like I've made no mistakes. I'm confident I have. I just haven't -- you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one."

If there is anything President Bush has been good at it, it's admitting his mistakes and taking responsibility for his errors. Or so all the denizens of the fantasyland Ms. fields lives in believe.

If You Have to Ask

Suzanne Fields latest contains this well repeated mantra. "Beyond the frothing-at-the-mouth Bush haters, voters generally find this president to be a likeable guy and John Kerry to be a cold fish. It's possible that personality will determine the winner this time, too."

How nice. Beyond all the boring issues and dull statistics, the President is the one most Americans would like to hang out with. How comforting. And of course that half of the nation that will vote for John Kerry? Please clean the spittle from your mouths. After all, President Bush is more likeable, so why shouldn't he be President?

Banal banal banal banal banal banal.

I just can't say it enough. Is it really that hard to look at the issues, my fellow countrymen? And what does it say about Ms. Fields that this is what she is pushing?

In other news Scrutiny Hooligans, recent joinee of the Liberal Coalition, has this very inspiring post.

This is not a post.

Ann Coulter with Geraldo Riveria as captured by Media Matters for America who is particularly hot today and who I'm stealing from left and right.

RIVERA (host): Are you, Ann Coulter, energized by the energy of the electorate? I mean, there are all these kids registering, all these other people registering.

COULTER: I don't really care about the electorate, but I have two points I want to respond to. One is on the first debate --

RIVERA: You don't really care about the electorate? Oh, okay.

Thank goodness the Conservative Movement is represented by serious people like Ann Coulter.

In Light Syrup

Continuing "The Most Absurdist Coverage of the Election on the Internet" (TM, All Rights Reserved), we have this late breaking news. The color Yellow has begun to distance itself from President Bush, saying, "I maybe met with President Bush one or two times in the course of business, but we were hardly close. And anyway President Bush often leant support to my opponent, Burnt Umber."

Meanwhile Krugman wrote a column about the glory of America.

I always get a little choked up when I go to the local school to cast my vote. The humbleness of the surroundings only emphasizes the majesty of the process: this is democracy, America's great gift to the world, in action.

But over the last few days I've been seeing pictures from Florida that are even more majestic. They show long lines of voters, snaking through buildings and on down the sidewalk: citizens patiently waiting to do their civic duty. Those people still believe in American democracy; and because they do, so do I.

You know sometimes it's hard to believe that the Democrats are the party of people who hate America. But then you read the calm wisdom of David Horowitz. "John Kerry, Michael Moore, the New York Times and CNN are getting Americans killed in Iraq and risking a terrorist catastrophe here at home, because of their pathological hatred of George Bush." Mr. Horowitz doesn't really explain how we are getting Americans killed, but I suppose you just have be on Mr. Horowitz's wavelength for it to all make sense.

Oh and we have this response from Wheat (the color not the grain), spokesman for the Burnt Umber Camp. In his words, "The Suns not Yellow it's Chicken!" So there you go.

Hey Kids Rock and Roll

Yesterday old Bill O'Reilly got an interesting call, as reported by Media Matters for America.

CALLER: I'm calling today because I think it's fair to say that a large amount of the youth that are involved in this election now, this time around. And I just think that the majority of them are voting Kerry. Is that crazy?

O'REILLY: Yeah, I think the stoned slackers'll go for Kerry. I think he'll carry that vote. ... The stoned-slacker vote. Ummm -- but I don't know if they're gonna go. You know, look, Puff Daddy [Combs] and his crew -- they're running around, "Vote or Die!" and all that. Yeah, it's good publicity to get on TV. Are they gonna get out? Are they gonna leave the bong and stand in line for an hour? I don't know.

So if you are considering voting and you are under, say 23, Bill O'Reilly thinks you are probably too stoned to vote. Are you going to take that? And of course its nice that people under 23 are all stoned slackers. Why I know literally dozens in that category who aren't stoned slackers. Maybe Mr. O'Reilly needs to get out and meet some more people.

The Hottest Election Coverage on the Net!

will be found elsewhere, but I thought that would be a good title for this post.

First of all, if you haven't voted yet, go do so, although they are predicting very long lines at the polls (see for example, this article at Salon). I'd advise you to vote early.

It's amazing that in the last week of the campaign the best news for the Bush campaign is that a guy President Bush wanted Dead or Alive, showed up. That let the Republicans pretend that Osama bin Ladin endorsed John Kerry. Nice

Presumably they'd rather we didn't consider why he was free to make such an appearance.

David Limbaugh, Republican Hack pushes every cockeyed story in his bag of tricks today, in order to take the Media to task for not printing every lie he told as the Gospel Truth. If we had the kind of media Republicans want, it would sound a lot like his brother.

Incidently for those of you wondering what a hack is, my definition it's a person who's desire to pursue an agenda supersedes his honesty. Both Limbaugh brothers are filthy liars in the service of Conservatism.

Speaking of Rush Limbaugh, he had a special guest yesterday. Good old Jeb Bush showed up to drop some pearls of wisdom on Rush Limbaugh. Such as this one on Jeb's brother, "I would be kind of stressed out, I think, having gone through what he's gone through and just the abject hatred that exists. Blind hatred, not based on anything other than just hate against the president is troubling to me, but he's guided by his faith and he's determined and disciplined, and it doesn't seem to bother him."

Blind hatred not based on anything. Seems like I've covered this one before. At any rate, I can assure our beloved Governor that any negative feelings I have for President Bush stem from my observations of how he has managed our country and are not based on irrationality.

Anyway I suspect this will be the standard for posts today, wide ranging and rambling.

Fake news story

Speaking this week on a cable news program, Newt Gingrich unexpectedly said, "But I would prefer that I mean if it's a close -- if it's close and there's an opportunity to litigate, I would say to George W. Bush don't litigate. Let Kerry be the president." Surprising, isn't it? I mean it's hard to believe that any Republican would ever suggest under any circumstances that George W. Bush should let Senator Kerry be President.

Well not to fear, as noted above, this is a fake news story. The speaker wasn't the former Speaker, but in fact Democrat Bob Kerry, and he was suggesting to John Kerry to, more or less, just give up if the race gets too close. Kind of nice of us Democrats, isn't it?

From This Modern World.

An Unusual Endorsement

Thanks to one of our alert readers who pointed this out. The American Conservative Magazine has taken sides, and apparently believes that Senator John Kerry is the candidate for them. This despite saying, "If Kerry wins, this magazine will be in opposition from Inauguration Day forward."

But apparently President Bush has convinced them to support John Kerry.

Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations. The launching of an invasion against a country that posed no threat to the U.S., the doling out of war profits and concessions to politically favored corporations, the financing of the war by ballooning the deficit to be passed on to the nation’s children, the ceaseless drive to cut taxes for those outside the middle class and working poor: it is as if Bush sought to resurrect every false 1960s-era left-wing cliché about predatory imperialism and turn it into administration policy. Add to this his nation-breaking immigration proposal—Bush has laid out a mad scheme to import immigrants to fill any job where the wage is so low that an American can’t be found to do it—and you have a presidency that combines imperialist Right and open-borders Left in a uniquely noxious cocktail.

I guess it's something when you manage to turn even the American Conservative against you.

Shoes for Industry

This is an old line from the Fireside Theater, but I'm afraid this post is intended to be anything but funny. There is a traveling exhibit with the name Eyes Wide Open traveling the United States. It will be in Ohio tomorrow, but today it is here in my town.

The exhibit is extremely simple; they have a pair of army boots for each soldier killed this far in the war.



It says something about the character of the times when an exhibit like this, honoring those who gave their lives in the service of their country is something rebellious. Now, to be fair, this is a political exhibit, with a political goal. But the political side is kept, deliberately I suspect, very low key.



Of course this being an exhibit for peace, there is also a representation of the Iraqi dead, limited to a thousand pairs of shoes (although the actual number of Iraqi dead is likely to be much higher.

On Writing and the West Wing

It's traditional to slam the West Wing since Aaron Sorkin left it. In all fairness, the show had a gimmicky premise saved by excellent writing and an incredible cast. It was always going to be harder and harder to keep the story going. But that doesn't excuse the rookie mistakes the writers have been making lately.

Oh and if you haven't seen the first two episodes of this season or the last two of last season and don't want to be spoiled, read no further.

The current storyline involves Americans in Palestine being hit by a terrorist attack (specifically they bomb one of the cars) which kills two senators and recurring character Admiral Fitzwallace. President Bartlet and his Chief of Staff Leo McGarry are at odds over how to respond. Leo wants a swift military reaction, President Bartlett doesn't, and in fact moves the White House to organize a summit between Israel and Palestine. Throughout all of this Leo and the President butt heads over how this response is foolishly tilting at windmills. It climaxes when Leo McGarry threatens to resign, and the President accepts his resignation. Then McGarry goes into the woods to have a heart attack.

The problem is that there is no context for these scenes unless you have been watching the show since at least the last four or five episodes of Season 3. As it stands, we are seeing the President express one point of view unconvincingly, and Leo express the other unconvincingly. It would be stronger if they referenced earlier episodes to show the human concerns involved.

At the end of Season Three, Leo recommended and practically forced the President to assassinate a terrorist leader named Shareef. That assassination was eventually revealed to the American people, and was a source of some embarrassment to the Administration. It may also have lead to the kidnapping of Zoe Bartlett the Presidents Daughter. The President naturally trusts Leo's advice a little less than he did before. But other than one scene with the First Lady and Leo (which was quickly forgotten about) and Leo suggesting that he's gunshy because of his daughter. Anyway I'm just saying, these episodes would be better if they reminded us of the human element, instead of just having Leo and the President act seemingly irrationally.

Of course since the arguments are over the Israel-Palestine conflict, it's not like anybody is going to notice a few irrational arguments. I do think it interesting that they choose to portray the entire rest of the White House as 100% on the Israeli side of the equation. The President, The First Lady and a State Department Aid (recently introduced) on one side, and everybody else on the other. Not very balanced. Still the Palestinians aren't portrayed as leering monsters so I guess that's one step up.

Flavors of Racism

I do want to make something clear. I don't think that the Republicans are trying to surpress the Black vote because they hate Black people. If the Blacks were sure to vote Republican, I suspect they'd be doing many of the things that Democrats are doing to help them get to the polls. The racism isn't that they hate Blacks; it's that they think it's ok to try to deny them the vote.

Bob Herbert, who's been covering this story for some time, has the following tales from the trail.

A flier circulating extensively in black neighborhoods in Wisconsin carries the heading "Milwaukee Black Voters League." It asserts that people are not eligible to vote if they have voted in any previous election this year; if they have ever been found guilty of anything, even a traffic violation; or if anyone in their family has ever been found guilty of anything.

"If you violate any of these laws," the flier says, "you can get ten years in prison and your children will get taken away from you."

In Philadelphia, where a large black vote is essential to a Kerry victory in the crucial state of Pennsylvania, the Republican speaker of the Pennsylvania House, John Perzel, is hard at work challenging Democratic voters. He makes no bones about his intent, telling U.S. News & World Report:

"The Kerry campaign needs to come out with humongous numbers here in Philadelphia. It's important for me to keep that number down."

Not very promising, but of course the other side of this story is how determined many are to vote and to make their voices heard.

Red TV vs. Blue TV

Project Title: Red TV vs. Blue TV.
Artist: Bryant T. Monk

Project. An installation. Two podiums. Wood, old and splintered and rickity looking, braced by iron bars not visible to the viewer.

One podium painted blue, the other painted red. The paint should be visibly peeling, and visitors are encouraged to peel off a little paint if they want to.

Sitting atop each podium are two tvs. One painted metallic red, the other metallic blue. Not peeling. The red TV showing a continuous loop of the tv show COPS. The blue tv Showing an continuous loop of the Apprentice (strictly board room scenes).

The tvs are muted but with closed captioning. Between the two podiums in silver paint, a small boom box playing a coninuous loop of Common People by Pulp and Who Want's to be A Millionaire by ABC.

So anybody want to put this together go ahead--please send any royalties to me.

This is inspired by a great article at Salon today on what regulare shows might reflect liberal or conservative values. By Brian Montopoli, it's pretty good, but misses a few favorite shows. Anyway he does, in fact cover the Apprentice and COPS.

But for the rest of us, the show's portrayal of back-stabbing, ambitious overachievers drooling over an ultimately meaningless brass ring is one of the most persuasive arguments against life in the boardroom that there is.

Honestly, though, America: Can't we do better than this? "COPS" teaches us that the poor deserve to be that way, and as an antidote to runaway political correctness, it might have a cultural function. Even a staunch Democrat watching the show would be hard-pressed to argue that the shirtless drunk driver with the tooth-impaired, possibly underage girlfriend deserves a welfare check funded by our tax dollars. But what is this celebration of the value of unfettered capitalism really a response to? We almost never see the large swath of underprivileged America that Edwards likes to invoke, and so many Americans can't even begin to contemplate the possibility of a hardworking, socially responsible underclass.

Young Ben Finds his Idol

Yes Young Ben Shapiro in his latest article has found a new idol to idealize. This is kind of like that one Brady Bunch where Bobby idealized Jesse James. Young Ben's hero is Ann Coulter, and he writes an entire column as a paen to her and her wonderful new book (which must be just flying off the shelf with an endorsement like this).

I suppose it's not much of a surprise that Ben has selected Ann Coulter as his hero. I mean this is the guy who wrote, "Maybe I'm a hard-hearted guy, but when I see in the newspapers that civilians in Afghanistan or the West Bank were killed by American or Israeli troops, I don't really care." Like Ann Coulter, Ben has only a tangential relationship to the truth, as his powers of precognition demonstrate. And, like Ann, he knows how to craft a compelling metaphor.

So look for more brilliant additions to the national discourse. Or as young Ben puts it, "So make sure to buy two copies, one for you, and one for a lefty friend. Will liberals hate this book? You betcha. But that's the point. You aren't winning the argument unless you can see the steam spurting from their ears."

New Quote, New Format!

And along with our new quote we have a new Quotes page. Enjoy!