Friday, February 19, 2010

To My Son (My First Rant)

I have a bone to pick with my son. He's a 28 year old "progressive". If I hear the word progressive one more time, I'm going to have to do something drastic. Perhaps I will have to kick one of my cats.

So I suppose as a progressive you are implying, that all of us non-progressives, and that refers to Democrats sand Republicans alike are, well, backwards. I have news for you kid, I am not as dumb as you want to believe and you're not as smart as you think. Oh, I know what the problem is and I'm going to say it in print. I don't like Barak Obama, and because of that I am an idiot. I was one of those fools who wanted Hillary Clinton be be nominated as the presidential candidate. Well, dear, Barak Obama is now president and I'm waiting for the "change" you can believe in. So where is it. I don't see it yet. What I'm seeing is Chicago politics as usual expanded to the White House. Now isn't that terrific.

Before any collateral "progressive" attacks that if you don't like the current president you must be a racist, rest assured I am not. I would love to have been proven wrong. All I've seen so far in this administration is the same old, same old crap, with nothing being accomplished. Your argument that it's the Republicans standing in the way is not even possible - they truly don't have the power to stand in the way of anything at this point. What is standing in the way are the Democrats themselves who can't agree on anything. Put three Democrats in a room and you'll get 5 arguments.

If anyone reading this article gets the wrong idea, I am a registered Democrat. I was once just like my son, but I have lived longer than he has and I know bullcrap when I hear it. Empty words, are just that, empty words. You can sound great, be a wonderful speaker, and still be saying absolutely nothing.

When all other arguments fail, I become the staunch defender and admirer of Sarah Palin. Oh yes, she's my hero. And I guess that, in fact, would prove I'm as dumb as a stump. You know, like her. Let's get this straight right now, I don't agree with Sarah Palin's beliefs, I would not vote for her as president. However, I did feel that she was subjected to attacks that were kind of disgusting and I felt it was mainly because she was female. There are men, just as conservative as she is, who were not treated the same way. As a matter of fact, Hillary Clinton, was attacked in much the same way. Maybe not as severely, but the sexist overtones were there. If you want to criticize Sarah Palin's policies, go right ahead, that's certainly fair game, but the attacks were personal and as a woman I resent it.

I am going to make this prediction, if something doesn't change with this administration and fast, the democrats will be out in Congress, the Senate and the White House. I don't necessarily see that as a wonderful thing. I shudder at the thought of Republicans being in power of all three.

So I could go on and on, but I won't. Anyone who wants to comment is welcome to do so. I warned you I could rant. I will not do it often. I feel better now, at least for a while.

3 comments:

  1. It's good to have a rant and I enjoy reading yours. I can't stand Sarah Palin myself but to each their own! Obama has been very disappointing though. SO happy I live in Canada and don't have to pay much attention to American politics...mostly because I choose not to:)

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  2. This is directed at me, so I will respond:

    We have to use "progressive" because the perfectly acceptable "liberal" has been turned into a derogatory, dragged through the mud and transformed by conservative fatheads and harpies until it is no longer spoken but instead spat, "librul". If you don't like it come up with something better. Don't kick kitty.

    Much as you feel about Sarah Palin and her gender, I feel about Barack Obama and his race: he has been subjected to attacks that white men in his position would not have been subjected to. The difference between Obama and Palin is that, in her case, it just so happens those attacks are justified anyway: calling someone a stupid bitch is not necessarily sexist and misogynestic when the subject is, in fact, a stupid goddamn bitch (in fact, it can be quite cathartic, although not particularly helpful otherwise).

    The attacks on Obama that I object to are not necessarily the ones you make here: I, too, have been disappointed, as are I think all progressives, on his failure to enact policies that I thought he supported. When I walk past a demonstration of Medicare subscribers holding signs displaying Obama with a Hitler mustache and decrying his socialistic health care agenda, I can't help but think that what they really want to put on their sign is "nigger go home" but can't quite get up the courage to do it. At least "nigger go home" would make some sort of logical sense to me, compared to the nonsense I see.

    And finally: Republicans SHOULDN'T have the power to stand in the way at this point, but they DO have the power, and if you don't think so, then you haven't been paying attention. The US Senate now requires 60 votes to pass anything because of their unified obstruction to all legislation. Obama is lucky the Senate doesn't have to vote on whether or not he can take a shit, otherwise he'd actually be as full of the stuff as you claim.

    But, yes, Democrats did have 60 votes, counting "Democrats" like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson, and they take their share of the blame for the Democratic agenda not passing. They all fell over themselves to be the "60th" vote so that they could extract goodies for their states, but by the time they got through jerking each other off it was too late. Still, that wouldn't have happened if Republicans in the Senate were actually negotiating legislation in good faith, instead of working to obstruct anything and everything Obama wanted to do because they (correctly, unfortunately) saw that as the quickest way back to power.

    Ironic, isn't it? The Republicans spend 8 years fucking everything up, hold on to enough power to stop Democrats from fixing it, and then get to blame the Democrats for the problem in the first place!

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  3. I hold the Democrats responsible Jesse - Tell them to get a backbone - If the Republicans get back into power it's because the Democrats have allowed it.

    What I object to with Barak Obama, and I objected to it in his campaign, is I see him as an empty suit. Nice words strung together in a sentence do not a leader make. He comes from a corrupt political machine and to make the assertion that he is "different", not a politician in the traditional sense, was complete bullshit and anyone who knows Chicago politics would recognize that.

    Yes comparing him to Hitler is disgusting and I hope not the opinion of the mainstream Republican Party. Finally, YES I HAVE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION. Until this last election in Massachusetts, if the Democrats weren't such a bunch of jackasses, the Republicans with all their horseshit couldn't have stood in their way. The Democrats are all weak assholes who will now pave the way for the Republicans to come back into power in a big way.

    And last but not least my "progressive" child, if you think the term "progressive" sounds better than liberal think again - besides, I don't think being called a liberal is such a terrible thing. If you're worried about what a bunch of conservative fatheads think, well you're going to be worried forever, because no matter what you call yourself, they ain't a gonna like you.

    One more passing thought, Barak Obama has not been subjected to any more criticism than any other president. There are always lunatics out there. Maybe he just isn't that strong a leader, maybe the Democrats made an error, maybe he really wasn't the best choice. I'm just sayin'

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