I’m looking at the cover of the British magazine “The New Statesmen”. Inside, there is a cover article on the many comparisons between Tony Blair and Joseph Stalin.

I think it’s high time we stop beating around the bush and start comparing every leader of every nation with infamous dictators past and present.

Who’s Mao?

Dear “Flyover Country”:

You are always very annoying in your defensive posture. “Those Coastal Elites just don’t understand us and are always running their mouths about you” and “never even think about us”.

I’m arguably come from “Flyover Country.”, though from a Coastal “Blue” state. I’m quite hickish, really. I can’t say I disliked the place. I know that 2000 county-by-county map, showing that the large rural areas voted for Bush, and the small densely populated urban areas (and smatterings of Indian Reservations) voted for Gore.

Actually, no… I really don’t understand you… as per the Salon article excerpt you’ll see a little later on.

Do “we” (whatever “we” is) think about you? You’re weighing heavily on us right now. The Senate is an area that flummoxes me… it’s structure of 2 seats per state heavily favours you guys… sparsely populated states end up with more representation per person than heavily populated states. The result is… Oklahoma just elected an Alan Keyes clone.

Actually, you want to know something that’s going to depress you? Osama Bin Laden doesn’t even know you exist. The parts of the nation that Bin Laden does know exist voted for Kerry. New York — and neighboring New Jeersey, DC… I’m pretty sure he has California on his map. He doesn’t know about you guys, with your “America … Fuck Yeah!” attitude.

Maybe he’s learning about you now. And laughing at the news reports.

Insane, ain’t it?

Well, gotta run and tivo “Will and Grace”, “Queer as Folk”, and various other sundry tv programming.

………

By the time I had gone to bed, the chorus of pundits had fixed on a single tune, as they always do, and remarkably quickly, too. (Do they watch one another’s feeds in the green room?) They had dusted off the old theme that the Democrats need to “reach out” more to the “heartland.” Reach out? How, exactly? Forget that these folks blindly ignored all objective reality — and their own best economic and national-security interests — and voted for Bush. Look what they did at the Senate level. In Kentucky, they refused to use even basic sanity as a litmus test, and reelected a guy with apparent late-stage dementia; in Oklahoma, they tapped a fellow who wants to execute doctors who perform abortions, who was sued for sterilizing a woman against her will, who pled guilty to Medicaid fraud, and who largely opposes federal subsidies, even for his own state; in Louisiana, they embraced a man who has made back-door deals with David Duke and who was revealed to have had a long-running affair with a prostitute; in South Carolina, they went with a guy who thinks all gay teachers should be fired; and in Alaska, they reelected a woman who was appointed by her father to the job after a spectacularly undistinguished career as an obscure state senator. And compared with the rest of the GOP Class of ’04, she’s the freaking prom queen. These are the stellar elected officials that the “heartland” has foisted on the rest of us.

Salon or Slate or some such Internet site of renown published an article last Summer to the effect that, to a particular narrow age group Reagan’s Legacy was inspiring a whole slew of butt-kicking politically charged punk rock. I confess that my awareness of that sub-genre more or less begins and ends with The Dead Kennedys, but various other “hardcore” blasts run through my head when I think about it.

But I picture a fatigue that comes eventaully. Nixon is re-elected in 1972 to a resounding landslide. The politically charged music that permeated the Vietnam era just… stops. Place your faith in McGovern, and the Idealism will kill you.

The Youth of America thus places their faith in Satan… in the guise of Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, and others.

During the Reagan Administration, Satan flourished. It got to be so bad that Al Gore had to ban him. There seemed to be a slap in the face going on toward Jerry Falwells and Pat Robertsons of the nation. “Sure, you have your guys in power, but you ain’t stopping Satan, now are you?”

It went beyond the usual suspects of Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest. Take that Wham video with George Michael prancing around in short shorts and those dancers with “Choose Life” shirts. Very subversive to stick homosexuality next to conservative “pro-life” messages.

In the wake of an election that evidentally turned on a massive rightwing turnout marching against gays, and a promise to pump the flag just a little harder…

We’re about due for a Satanic Uprising.

One Nation in a permanent stalement.

When will it all end???

Is this a design from the master controllers?

Perhaps Kerry has tended to remain a non-entity, with all eyes focused on Bush. Reportedly, Oregon Democratic GOTV headquarters all stay on the topic of Bush — the grassroots is more afire against Bush than they are on Kerry. (The true believing Kerry haters will come out in full force after a potential Kerry victory, trust me… you see it with the Vietnam service nonsense.)

At first squemish sight, the “Anybody But Bush” Syndrome that has inflicted Academic Leftists (that’s the Zinn — Chomsky — Parienti axis I’ve referenced before), the Nixon-era Republicans, and various Radio Shock Jocks, looks like it has the probilitiy of being Trickster’s Bet of Native American folk tales fame, or the Anti-Christ Syndrome… you beg for anything, and get the worst or you see a Saviour that turns out to be anything but.

Consider it this way: Imagine an election pitting George W Bush with Adolf Hitler. I would have to place myself firmly in the “Anybody But Hitler” camp. Granted, we can have arguments over who made the worst foreign policy blunder: Hitler invading Russia or various tactical mistakes made in the Bush Adventure into Iraq, but I still would have to say “At least Bush isn’t in the process of systematically exterminating 6 million Jews and 3 million assorted other people.”

The other side of the coin came from a Bill Maher question to Ralph Nader. “If Kerry were running against Hitler, would you support Kerry?” Answer: “Yes.” The lesson here being that for Nader, Bush isn’t quite bad enough to register guilt in his possible spoil role.

During the fight for the primaries, my attitude — looking at the Democratic field — was “Anybody But Lieberman for title of Anybody But Bush.” Lieberman offers nothing, the other woeful candidate — Sharpton — was not a serious contender to even register — and the other candidates tended to offer something — some more than others.

Kerry does have some things going for him. Stare at his career and you will be able to pick out the moments that he stood out, and you will be able to pick out the moments where he clearly made politically-calculated moves, and some standard policy decisions that make him the eleventh most liberal Senator in the Current Senate (not much higher, not much lower.)

It may be a bit of an indictment of the electoral system that Kerry didn’t seem to think that pointing out his moments would do him much good amongst the body politic (and sadly, he may be right.) When a newsmagazine asked Bob Shrum the question, in an interview, of why Kerry didn’t focus any attention on Kerry’s work in breaking up the BCCI, Bob Shrum answered that it’s too complicated, would take too much effort to expalin, and in the end voters would be left wondering “Why would you want to break up the BBC?” Perhaps this sheds light on why Shrum is 0 for 7 in presidential elections: I think it can be boiled down to “I broke up the terrorists’ favourite bank.” [To wit, Bush would have to wait a couple weeks to see that it registered in the polls, and think of a way to — like Bush and Tora Bora — suggest that that’s absurd.]

There might also be an indictment of the news media there. Instead of covering political strategies and why items aren’t being used or are being used in the campaign, perhaps this news magazine could have done a story about this moment in Kerry’s career? On their own initiative, you know…

Kerry used his investigation into Iran Contra during the primaries, though only when his back was against the wall and a light clicked in his head that he’s trying to woo Democratic votes here. Apparently, fondness for Reagan — who single-handedly defeated Communism dontchaknow, and a need to reach moderate Republicans and “Reagan Democrats” throws this out of use.

It is difficult to see how he could work his work settling the various issues concerning pows in Vietnam and normalizing relations with that nation. Likely the public considers it irrelevant. But, it’s good to namedrop his partner in that little crime, John McCain. (That’s why a group of Vietnam Veterans during the 2000 primary hated McCain and were willing to smear him for Bush, btw.)

Should a President Kerry provide inspired leadership in the “War on Terror”ism, it will be with a firm foundation that echos his investigative background in the Senate. That’s a good thing. Should a President Kerry provide uninspired leadership, it’ll still be better than what Bush has given us.

During Kerry’s initial post-nomination slide in the polls, Slate or Salon or some such Internet source ran a piece pondering whether the nomination of Kerry was the latest in a long line of Democratic candidates that the body politic just finds too boring, bland, or wooden to imagine having to listen to. Norman Mailer said that McGovern was great, but damned is he boring to listen to. Mondale was a terrible public speaker. And Dukakis and Gore round out the list.

This begs a question. If we end up with a matter of style over substance… um… Bush? “Too many OB-GYNs are unable to practice their LOVE“??? A march toward a “free-ance pe-ance” Iraq ???

In the end, I’m left staring at Kerry and asking: “No. Really. Why Not??”

What I know is that Judith Miller was nothing but a propaganda outlet. The games played on Internet Message Board, and in the end they tend to become stupid games. I phrased it as “Ahmad Chalabi gives Judith Miller a ‘story’. Judith Miller writes in for the Sunday edition of the New York Times. Dick Cheney quotes the story on Sunday’s ‘Meet the Press’.” The opposing side chimes in “It’s not as simple as that. That’s not how intelligence, even cooked intelligence, works.”

Months later, I’m sitting here thinking “You know what? Never mind the minituae of a Tom Clancy Novel, Sometimes it really is that simple.” [As for Ahmad Chalabi, I am given a William Safire editorial from the Wall Street Journal. The CIA is a sinister organization that threw the precious Chalabi down for the count.)

The details of the Sarin Gas story, I am assured from the “expert” who worked with chemical weapons, tells us that it marks some very sinister schtuff and hiding and the deception and the death and the whatnot. Begging the question: Who Do I believe? Him or Every Goddamned Expert on the Planet??? (For his part, William Safire chimes in with an editorial that marks David Kay as lumped in with the Liberals and the Ostrich-with-necks in the sand Foreign Gummints because “he can’t go back on his credibility.” I start to hate William Safire.)

When we get around the Dalfour Report, Dick Cheney informs us that the “real story” is that the Oil-For-Food Program had corruption in it. It’s all a dull roar, as far as I can make out. Fox News will hype it up. Dick Cheney did say that Fox News is his preferred news service: it delivers the news the way he wants it to be delivered.

Pre-War I toss up a sacarstic post responding to the Great French Boycott of 2002/03. Something along the lines of “Seeing as it’s the governments of ‘Old Europe’, the population of ‘Old Europe’, the population of ‘New Europe’, and not the governments of ‘New Europe’ that back the War in Iraq, the trick is to find a way to adminster the Boycott in such a way that it punishes the people of Old and New Europe, the governments of Old Europe, but not the governments of New Europe.” I believe I threw in some Kobe Teeth lyrics for good measure (SIC). The response puzzled me. Sarcastic ramblings on Dialectical Materialism and the Dictatorship of the Proleteriat. Tensions were running high, and it’s not being called a Communist per se that puzzled me… it just seemed like a non-sequitur. In hindsight, the recent poll showing Bush Supporters believing crap that nobody’s even telling them sheds light on the mystery. Bush Supporters believe the World was in support of the War in Iraq — for reasons that elude me. (I can sympathize with “who cares what the world thinks?” streak, but … why isn’t it in play there?)

More stuff later. Maybe.

The “Solid South” is marked in concrete to Bush. Arkansas is the one “purple” exception… notice that Bill Clinton is shouting stuff from Arkansas. Florida is only party Southern, they say, so it doesn’t quite count: you drive north and you’re in Southern Georgia, you drive South and you’re in the sixth Bureau of New York. (If that’s code word for “Jewish”, well… there’s a reason Lieberman was picked as Gore’s running mate, and it wasn’t to excite the Unions.)

I’m guessing Virginia will be closer to Kerry than West Virginia. West Virginia was billed as an internal contest amongst a populace of “culturally conservative economic populists”. It appears that cultural conservatism has carried the day, and it seems it may have pretty permanently. That internal conflict shifts to Ohio for this political fight — where that Sinclair broadcast “Kerry: Honorary Member of the Viet Cong” (or whatever it was called) was supposed to have its biggest impact.

New Hampshire will likely swing Kerry’s way, which will cement something novel altogether: the solid Northeast. Toss in a solid blue Pacific Coast, and mark a whole terrain of people-less land through the West as solidly red and we get to brass tasks: a Southwest that the Democrats are counting on changing demographics for their political future and a Midwest that Republicans are counting on changing demographics for their political future. A V-Shape of Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, and (when McCain can be tossed aside) Arizona. And an upper-crust of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Who the hell knows?

Four years ago, Al Gore was pulling an all nighter in Florida — exhausted, voice shot to Hell, shouting out his stump speech theme phrases at a 4 am rally in Southern Florida on that first Tuesday of November, attempting to smash Florida out of Jeb Bush and the Florida Republican Party Machine’s tight-fisted hands.

It never quite came out. The corrupt Florida felon’s list ensured the winning margin of victory — any doubt I had that that story was false was smashed when the 2004 list was subponoed out and we descovered a list swarming with blacks with a smattering of Hispanics — Florida Hispanics being Cuban 1 issue-voters, the issue being that damned Castro guy that nobody else in the whole of the USA can bring themselves to give a damned about.

You will remember that Bush Campaign was quick to assure everyone, after Florida was called, that the state was still not decided yet. A curious game. Bob Dole made that point on the live Daily Show broadcast that night. Bush sent the photo-op conversation of the Bushes eating dinner, a bizarre conversation of the states still in play and about how Florida was not decided yet. It’s difficult to know what to make of that… then and now.

That was the first in a long series of odd photo ops mailed over to the 24 hour news networks. We would have Bush essentially having cabinet meetings — Colin Powell makes an appearance — in retrospect the first of two meetings through the entire four year term. (The second meeting giving him his script before the UN.)

In 2004, in the final week of the campaign, Al Gore was shipped over to Hawaii. Hawaii isn’t polled too often — Reagan nearly lost it in 1984 and it has a grand total of three electoral votes. But, evidentally the last two or three polls from the state showed a strangely close margin, so Bush sent Karl Rove over and Kerry sent Al Gore over. Kerry would be kicking himself if, by some fluke, Hawaii went to Bush and Bush won the total electoral college by 2 votes.

The problem with the idea of Hawaii as a swing state is that it throws a wrench into the “GOTV drives”. Imagine campaign volunteers being given a choice of flying off to New Hampshire to try to pry those four votes out or being flown off to Hawaii for those three votes. Everybody would be leaving to Hawaii, where not much work would really be gotten done.

I hope Al Gore enjoyed himself down there, at any rate.