Well, I guess it all started with Reality Show Governor Sarah Palin, who whined so much – and still does – about “gotcha” questions from the media, or anyone else rude enough to ask candidates questions they don’t have the answers to.

Recently the ante was upped by Herman Cain in an interview, when he said. “I’m ready for the ‘gotcha’ questions, and they’re already starting to come. And when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, I’m going to say you know, I don’t know. Do you know?”

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Comrade Cain went on to say, “And then I’m going to say, ‘How’s that going to create one job?’ I want to focus on the top priorities of this country. That’s what leaders do. They make sure that the nation is focused on the critical issues with critical solutions.”

I’m sure this answer delighted many members of the modern-day Know Nothing Party, whose knowledge of history seems to stop after 1800, picking up again with an alternate universe version of the Regan years in 1980.

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The same folks who sneer at “European Socialism” without knowing a damn thing about how the political/economic systems in those countries actually work (oh, they can throw the word “Greece” about with great glee though) and have little use for the rich cultural diversity which makes up their own country.

Republicans would have the unsuspecting public believe that there is a huge conspiracy at work, with science, history and political nerds thinking up questions for candidates that are only meant to embarrass them on the campaign trail.

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So the candidates respond with contempt, aided by the folks in the audience who also don’t have use for that book-learnin stuff, and move on to the next stop, where they can spout more cliches and bumper sticker nonsense.

“Gee, I don’t know,” is the cardinal sin in the modern-day GOP, where either make-it-up-as-you-go-along or heap scorn on the questioner is the new game in town.

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Those in the GOP who sneer at the smart folks might ultimately bring about an American Cultural Revolution, where nobody knows anything about anything – except about the Founding Fathers and the science fiction world of Ronald Reagan.

******

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Mike Masterson versus the Occupy Wall Street Protests

I actually like Mike Masterson, and wish he wouldn’t give he so much cause for concern.

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He had a column in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette yesterday – “Flea Party leaps in protest” – which was written in a sort of mocking/hysterical tone about the Occupy Wall Street Protests, which are taking place around the globe.

Mike writes that he is sold on the idea being promoted by one man that we (well, the ignorant among us, I guess) should refer to the OWP crowd as the Flea Party, using Mike’s words – that unwashed, whining, smelly mob occupying and infesting Wall Street . . .”

And why the name?

Ah, well, perhaps because they might be paid by special interests with lots of money so they can be there and “create violent confrontations,” or because they the are shiftless, the bored, those who have no jobs, or my favorite line:

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“Are harboring free-floating rage anger about life as free Americans and are in search of scapegoats for their rage.”

Yeah, not only do the terrorists hate us because we’re free, but so do our fellow Americans.

Oh, Mike, you sound just like my Junior High shop instructor who told our class that Moscow was behind the labor troubles in America.

After writing some more about how the folks need soap and deodorant – either Mike’s TV comes equipped with Smell-O-Vision or he is just regurgitating lines he has heard on Fox News – he goes on about how incoherent and ill-informed the OWP crowd is.

Then he quotes from national disgrace and blogger Andrew Breitbart, who has “archived” emails from those participating in the protest, as to how this is for the long haul, and their goals – as if there are any actual “leaders” in this protest.

And then Mike sails away into an essay by the great Ben Hecht, on how power seekers create scapegoats among “sheeple” and demonize others to achieve their political goals.

And you know who did that, don’t you, Liberated Reader?

The Nazis.

Yeah, baby, the Nazis. Which ironically, also echoes Ann Coulter, who likened the protests to the rise of the Nazi party in German in the 1930s.

If only . . .

If only . . .

If only the OWP were more organized and coherent, and had a real name, like the Tea Party, Americans for Prosperity or Americans Who Know Their Place in the Grand Scheme of Things.

If only more of them in the crowd wore T-shirts with quotes from Thomas Jefferson, such as:

“Every generation needs a new revolution.”

And, of course, if only some of them had thought to strap on their holsters, and slip their favorite hand gun into their holster, and march in the crowd, making sure they were visible to every TV camera in sight.

Then, and only then, would they be legitimate in the eyes of some.

Blogger Andrew Breitbart recently entertained the crowd at a during a Tea Party meeting in Boston, when he reflected on the possibility of a coming “civil war” between conservatives and liberals in this country.

“[Liberals] can only win a rhetorical and a propaganda war. They cannot win. We outnumber them in this country, and we have the guns.”

Breitbart went on to say that a part of” him wants liberals to initiate an armed conflict.

*****

Is Anderson Cooper the most inept debate moderator in recent history, or what?

It’s true. I have become addicted to the Republican presidential debases, which began as all sweetness and light and have degenerated into West Side Story without the cool music and dancing.

Last night’s debate was a hoot, with poor Anderson Cooper just so out of his depth. Did anyone catch the fact that one at one point they began talking about health care, but Cooper sadly let them change over to another topic because he no control over them?

Some fascinating questions were raised, but only two or three candidates answered them. What the hell was this, I thought.

Finally, it just all degenerated to the point where they were virtually ignoring the questions, (if they even paid any attention to them in the first place) and either continued with their attacks on each other or spouted campaign cliches.

I wouldn’t vote for any of this crowd, but as I was watching, I was reminded of Scotty’s words on the bridge of the Enterprise in the latest Star Trek move:

“I like this ship. It’s exciting!”

***

Quote of the Day

Why is it that you can sometimes feel the reality of people more keenly through a letter than face to face? Is it because the letter is focused spirit while in conversation the dross of matter is too in evidence? The very body of the person is a barrier. One is distracted by outward things and loses the essence. – Anne Morrow Lindbergh, “Bring Me a Unicorn”

rsdrake@cox.net

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