Art Pottery, Politics and Food

Sunday, May 25, 2003

While it is growing more and more difficult to separate corn from shuck in the national press, Adam Clymer, who was described as a “major league asshole” by George W. Bush in the 2000 Presidential campaign, has an article in this morning’s New York Times that surprisingly contains some facts:

Almost as many Americans (30 percent) call themselves Republicans as call themselves Democrats (32 percent), the narrowest gap since pollsters began measuring party identification in the 1940's…the Republican Party, nationally and at the state level, is making big investments in building new grass roots operations that its leaders contend will pay huge dividends in the next election…Matthew Dowd, the president's pollster, said computers would identify nonvoters in Republican neighborhoods. That and other registration efforts, including having party workers at naturalization ceremonies, could "expand the pool of voters" by as many as three million, Mr. Dowd said.

While Republican party hacks troll naturalization ceremonies for the unsophisticated new citizens who perform so well for corporate America at salary levels approaching 10-15% of a regular worker’s base salary, the real issues of the economy, health care, border and port security and a free, diverse and accurate media will remain.

The Washington Post wins this morning’s “well, duh!” prize with the story headlined, Military Record May Gain Role in 2004 Presidential Race:

Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) -- the only one of the nine Democratic presidential candidates with battlefield experience -- has made his military record a centerpiece of his campaign …Bush's on-deck address to the troops that day [of staged arrival on the USS Abraham Lincoln] made it abundantly clear that the president -- who spent the Vietnam War stateside in the Texas Air National Guard -- will flaunt his military leadership in his bid for reelection…According to a Washington Post survey, 29 percent of Americans say that when considering a candidate for president, it is "extremely" or "very" important that the person has served in the military. Among Democrats, that rises to 31 percent…Kerry was blunt about his strategy. "If the president is going to wear a flight suit on deck, I have one to match, so to speak," he said. "If we want to make those comparisons, I think it can become dangerous territory for them. If he can talk to the troops, I can talk to veterans. And my experience is a little more real."

All I can say is, “Go, John!” I’m thinking that by the end of summer Dubya might be parading around wearing enough gold braid and egg salad to resemble Rufus T. Firefly the glorious President of Freedonia:

These are the laws of my administration
No one's allowed to smoke
Or tell a dirty joke
And whistling is forbidden...
If chewing gum is chewed
The chewer is pursued.
And in the hoosegow hidden...
If any form of pleasure is exhibited
Report to me and it will be prohibited.
I'll put my foot down, so shall it be.
This is the land of the free.
The last man nearly ruined this place
He didn't know what to do with it
If you think this country's bad off now
Just wait 'til I get through with it
The country's taxes must be fixed
And I know what to do with it
If you think you're paying too much now
Just wait 'til I get through with it...
I will not stand for anything that's crooked or unfair
I'm strictly on the up and up
So everyone beware
If anyone's caught taking graft
And I don't get my share
We stand 'em up against the wall
And pop goes the weasel.

Movie Poster: marx-brothers.org

- posted by Sean @ 9:19 AM

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