My Lefty mailing lists are starting to exhibit a heightened irritability, combined with a severe impairment of the ability to read and to think coherently. I conclude this must be an election year, and the Great Existential Dilemma looms yet again: do I fall once more into the loveless embrace of that poxed old whore, the Democratic Party, and arise from her insalubrious bed tainted and ashamed? Or do I forego la petite mort -- not a thing to be sneezed at, however dearly bought and squalid its scene -- and either seek satisfaction elsewhere, or, what the hell, sublimate for once?
I feel for the poor folk who agonize over this question. I wish I could endue them with my own sublime indifference to the old trollop's shopworn charms. American elections seem about as compelling to me as the fortieth season of the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
To be sure, there are outcomes that would be fun. For example, say half the marks infected four years ago with folie d'Obie are intelligent enough this year to stay home. That would set me to baring my awful old fangs in a grotesque rictus of Saturnine mirth.
Can I hope?
Comments (20)
If it's a sense of utter insignificance and ennui --- empirically manifest in depressingly low turnout --- you're looking for, then this election will be a schadenfreude-fest.
There just seems to be no enthusiasm or interest this time around, outside of cable channels that no one watches.
I liken this ennervation of the electorate, as contrasted to the hyperactive urgency of the chatting heads, to the yawning gap between the breathless Nineeleven 10th Anniversary media circus (which seemed to last for weeks) and the weariness of actual New Yorkers who gave off every feeling of just wanting to be left alone, and not shouted at about How to Feel.
Posted by chomskyzinn | April 6, 2012 4:53 PM
Posted on April 6, 2012 16:53
And by "depressingly low turnout," I of course meant: exhilaratingly low turnout.
Posted by chomskyzinn | April 6, 2012 4:59 PM
Posted on April 6, 2012 16:59
Count me as one. I volunteered for him and everything. Bleh.
Any thoughts about a good write-in option? Just for kicks, ya know.
Posted by Molly | April 6, 2012 5:10 PM
Posted on April 6, 2012 17:10
Molly, this chap is a favorite in this precinct: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermin_Supreme
I think Mr. Schumann is his very own Axelrod.
Posted by chomskyzinn | April 6, 2012 5:14 PM
Posted on April 6, 2012 17:14
There are better ways to boycott the system than staying hope or voting for a joke candidate. You can use your vote to send a message of support to Cynthia McKinney, Cindy Sheehan or anybody else that puts their ass on the line to speak the truth.
I would certainly vote for this lady:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/06/one-dem-candidate-calls-another-a-whore-for-aipac-during-live-debate/
Posted by Sean | April 6, 2012 6:10 PM
Posted on April 6, 2012 18:10
I'm down with Vermin. He'd be a fine president. That's not a joke at all.
Posted by Al Schumann | April 6, 2012 10:06 PM
Posted on April 6, 2012 22:06
"I'm down with Vermin. He'd be a fine president. That's not a joke at all. "
Free ponies for everyone!!!!
I'm down with that.
Posted by Drunk Pundit | April 7, 2012 2:42 AM
Posted on April 7, 2012 02:42
The endulge wing of SMBIVA has another favorite
Call him the minority faction favorite
Beef Supreme
Vermin's younger brother
Very much like those two Brit Laborite brothers
Beef is all Braun and Mano a Mano
Do it real !
To Vermin's in your face enrage
mocking debasing irony
Ritual deadly combat
with opposing national leaders
is a firm plank of the indulge wing's
counter platform
Posted by Op | April 7, 2012 8:53 AM
Posted on April 7, 2012 08:53
Incidentally, Lee Whitnum who called another candidate a "whore" for the Jewish State's lobbies has been barred from further debates for being so unladylike.
Posted by sk | April 7, 2012 12:42 PM
Posted on April 7, 2012 12:42
I was not planning to vote again, myself, but maybe she would be able to talk me out of that idea, were she to run for office where I live.
Posted by editor_u | April 7, 2012 2:02 PM
Posted on April 7, 2012 14:02
Eeeeewwwww. You said "hope".
Posted by Mike Flugennock | April 7, 2012 3:44 PM
Posted on April 7, 2012 15:44
Thank goodness for minor protest choices like Green-Rainbow or PSL. Since we're talking about malicious pleasure here, there's something satisfying about reading the complete results a few days after the event and seeing that I cast a better vote than 99.6% of my fellow voters.
Cheap kicks I know, but in these days of modern times I'll take my kicks wherever I can get them.
Posted by Boston Charlie | April 7, 2012 5:51 PM
Posted on April 7, 2012 17:51
"I'm down with Vermin. He'd be a fine president. That's not a joke at all."
Really? Where is he going to get all those free ponies. I want a llama or an alpaca, not a pony.
Forcing all Americans to brush their teeth? Clearly just another shill for the toothbrush industry.
Posted by Sean | April 7, 2012 6:14 PM
Posted on April 7, 2012 18:14
Okay, I'm busted, his platform is a complete joke. Although there's something to be said for anyone willing to take on both moral and oral decay.
When he drops the act for a minute or two, he's got an affection for humankind that I find compelling. I like people who genuinely like people. It makes all the difference.
Posted by Al Schumann | April 7, 2012 7:58 PM
Posted on April 7, 2012 19:58
And it's so amazingly rare. Or do I just live in the wrong place?
Posted by MJS | April 7, 2012 10:39 PM
Posted on April 7, 2012 22:39
You live in the wrong place father S
No fish in a sand box
But the great American lakes such as they are
And where they are
Run thin on fish anyhow
So your right even viewing from that great Gobi of heartlessness
the upper west side
Posted by Op | April 8, 2012 9:14 AM
Posted on April 8, 2012 09:14
Fadduh Smiff sez:
I think you're making a huge mistake assuming that your average "Lefty" listserv reader/contributor possesses the ability to read and think coherently at all, let alone during an "election" year.
I don't know what you think of it, but the sudden outburst of panic, desperation, incoherence, denial and passive aggression from Pwogs during an "election" year is what I like to call... oh, what's the word I'm searching for... oh, yeah -- entertainment.
Posted by Mike Flugennock | April 8, 2012 11:50 AM
Posted on April 8, 2012 11:50
"When he drops the act for a minute or two..."
Drops the act -- or the acid?
Posted by gluelicker | April 8, 2012 11:57 AM
Posted on April 8, 2012 11:57
OT, a couple of unusual suspects found guts to speak out against Sparta on the Med.
Posted by RégisDebray | April 8, 2012 6:27 PM
Posted on April 8, 2012 18:27
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/sports/baseball/marlins-suspend-manager-for-5-games-over-comments-on-castro.html
for every rick steves there is one of these guys.
the media reaction reminds me of the early 1950's, which I can just remember.
Posted by Boink | April 10, 2012 12:58 PM
Posted on April 10, 2012 12:58