Awesome! I was afraid that the next round of bailouts would require "patriots" like representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) to take to the floor begging again. I feel so relieved now, knowing that the whole thing can proceed quietly without anyone having to jeopardize their campaign funding.
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| The Parable of the Blind, Pieter Bruegel, 1568 |
Ron Paul's heart may be in the right place regarding the need to end counterproductive wars and pointlessly intrusive social wedge issues, but his knack for failing to identify urgent priorities remains unequalled. Witness the most recent update to his news page: Paul's response to the burning issue of a vaguely worded email RECEIVED (i.e., NOT sent) by a third-tier lackey in the slave galley of Obama's PR establishment. Yeah, I know. $527 million is 0.05% of the $1 TRILLION in bailout money supposedly at stake in the Euro bailout, but Ron's never claimed to be more than what he clearly is: an amateur.
Still, it was a bit of a disappointment. Those of us who had taken heart in the earnestness of Ron's campaign do feel a little saddened by his betrayal of it's core moral theme, that public figures should take firm stands on what they believe and know to be correct, regardless of the short-term pragmatic consequences. Ron doesn't have and never had a snowball's chance in Hell of winning anything other than honorable mention. But his piling on here to the failure of an innovative business venture, and one pioneering a technology that could threaten the petroleum-military complex at that, just feels like he's gotten himself lost. Hopelessly lost.
And that was the high ground, folks. The rest of the lot could either bore you with their predictability or make you laugh at their vapidity:
A quick visit to Michele Bachmann's website yielded only her trumpeted zeal for "politicking" in Iowa. FYI to Bachmann: You're from Iowa. You have home turf advantage. You already won the straw poll there last month. Time to move on. There's another 49 states in the union, some of them with more than 1 electoral college vote.
Rick Perry's site wasn't a helluva lot better. True, he seems to have left last month behind him, but devil a word you'll hear about the impending bailouts. He also spent all his gunpowder in low-grade partisan b*llshitting. G*ddamn it, at least Bachmann gave us a few laughs. All Perry did was bore me to tears.
Mitt Romney's response was a little more nuanced and amusing. Yes, no one is surprised that the much-vaunted hedge fund manager uttered not peep #1 about the use of public funds to underwrite his pals' vacation homes in St. Tropez, or that he cleared his policy platform with these same scum bags. But did you know you could win a once-in-a-lifetime date with this Tiger Beat dreamboat? I don't know about you, but his flat, nasal automaton speech and "Reaganesque" elder statesman-y graying temples just make me melt. 'Specially the way he says: "Corporations are people, too, my friend!"
No, you won't hear much about Bailout III: The Re-"Bush"-ening on any administration web site either. Not the Fed. Not the Treasury. Not the president's blog. Hardly much of a surprise. Obama's always been an awkward, "play-behind-the-beat kind" of guy anyhow. He seems continually caught off-guard by the way his bailouts, unconstitutional wars, plutocratic tax giveaways and civil rights violations have continued to erode the economy and the support of the people who voted for him in 2008.
But shouldn't we expect more from his "challengers"? There should be no question of pragmatic compromises in order to achieve tactical victories, because going on the 4th year of 10%+ unemployment and simultaneously sky-rocketing unemployment claims and corporate profits, there's really nothing left to compromise any more. Ergo a complete and overwhelming moral victory seems free for the taking.
What Paul said is true. Solar power is not perfect. He did not say that no one should use solar. You are wrong in your analysis. Solar energy only works when the sun is out. Wind energy only produces energy when it is windy. Ethanol is inefficient and causes people to starve. Ron Paul wants to legalize hemp production which would solve all of our fuel problems with no margin of error. He's not saying that every green technology is bad. He is simply stating the facts that they have quirks that need to be worked out and cannot solely be depended upon at this point. Instead of seeing the vast implications for the freedom that will be produced through a Ron Paul presidency, you decide to attack his character and borrow from the mainstream media's notion that Ron can't win. You have made some good points, but then you spun them to attack Doctor Paul and you laughably called him an amateur. So what have you done that gives you the credentials to make this remark? To attack the only man whose vote record clearly shows that he is the only congressman to even give a rip about liberty and the Constitution? How many times have you voted in congress? How many TV news shows have you been on? How many public speaking events have you spoken at?
ReplyDeleteI find it laughable that the slogan for your site is, "A chronicle of the last days of the American civilization as seen from Wisconsin," as if Wisconsin were part of some sort of hive consciousness. I am from Wisconsin and I want absolutely no part in your propaganda piece. I will be voting for Ron Paul even if he loses the primaries this time around.