Pimping The Apocalypse for Political Gain

But will it win over the evangelical vote?

I thought the absolute height of the worst sort of ugly cynicism was Dick and George's vanity invasion of Iraq, Big Time using the opportunity to squirrel away a Midas-sized fortune, Junior looking to cement his legacy as a "war president" and leaping at the chance to prance around like a damned peacock (with a package) in a flight suit.

But John "General Ripper" McCain might well have them beat in his mix and match of bleating and chest-thumping.

Don't get me wrong--the loss of lives and sheer destruction is absolutely horrible. The photos I've seen, particularly the ones of civilian deaths or funerals, are gut wrenching. However, regardless of who's "at fault," a US president or any world leader with any influence should be using that influence to try to stop the killing.

Johnny McStrangelove, in contrast, opts for taunting and cheerleading, with little concern for the additional casualties his actions will undoubtably cause, and with little or no concern as to the inconvenient truth that Russia isn't a dinky little nation that can be "thrown up against a wall," (to cite the odious Michael Ledeen) but still a nuclear power. Oh, and then there's the even more inconvenient truth that Johnny Mac is still only a candidate for the presidency, not the president...though he IS, in a political sense, barely once removed from being a paid agent of Georgia. Is that what we want from a chief executive/commander in chief? Good heavens, let's hope not.

And let's further hope that there's something WAY, WAY wrong with a political calculus that thinks ramping up the war whoops is what it will take to rouse the public. Because that'd be really, really troubling.

Note: thanks to Athenae, Scout and the other First Drafters for the opportunity to guest post. For those who don't know me, my name's Michael, I live in Baton Rouge, LA (Loosiana's Second City--alas, as utterly average as New Orleans is unique) and I tell folks my motivation for blogging is, well, therapy: it beats slamming my head against the wall when reading or otherwise hearing of the lastest Team Bush perversion (yeah, perversion's about right.)

If you can, try to attend the third Rising Tide conference. See you there.

Comments

[pansypoo]

indeed. georgee and pals create a little cold war era disaster to help flailing mcPOW while obama is on vacation.
not that the gnews could connect the dots. or sheeple.

[oyster]

Great post, Michael! My sentiments exactly. And, as always, great graphic, too.

[virgotex]

And let's further hope that there's something WAY, WAY wrong with a political calculus that thinks ramping up the war whoops is what it will take to rouse the public. Because that'd be really, really troubling.

well it's my impression that it's pretty conventional political technique that such ramping up does rouse the public. I agree 100% it's disturbing and cynical though, and I also challenge McCain to talk about the entire spectrum of real American issues in a substantive way, other than just creaking around doing his warmongering, skull-rattling shtick.

And synchronously enough, I spent a bit of time on Goggle images this morning searching for "pimp hat"

And, welcome Michael.

[scoutp]

Great post Michael.

Welcome Aboard!

[scout]

Speaking of pimping...the link for Michael's wonderful blog is:

http://www.2millionthweblog.blogspot.com/

[Michael]

It certainly IS normal "politics as usual" to ramp up the rhetoric and do the demonization thing...what worries me, though, is that at a certain point you get people crazy enough to demand deeds to back up words--and then what happens?

What's also worrysome to me is that the American public seems to skew towards accepting more violent rhetoric even as we're more and more distant from the grim, ugly reality of combat. I think Hullabaloo noted the other day that, far from being, as chickenhawk Bill Kristol put it, a war-loving people, we're really a nation of mall shoppers (or, as I think of it, a nation of not exactly svelte individuals who are single occupants of SUV's pulled up at the McDonalds Drive Thru, grabbing a bag of Big Macs, Supersized Fries...and a Diet Coke...after all, we're trying to watch our weight.) Not exactly Sparta.

Yet, like an addict needing larger and larger doses to obtain a fix, it seems as if the rhetoric gets more and more violent, with little regard to the consequences.

What's going to happen if, heaven forbid, we end up reaping what we've sown?

Oh Virgotex--re: pimphats...yeah, that makes for an amusing search, particularly when you're at work and someone stops by your cubicle to ask a question...wow, when pushed, my "hit Alt-Tab" reflexes aren't all that bad...oh, next time you're in the French Quarter, you can find and even try on a variety of "gentleman-of-leisure" haberdashery, particularly in the tourist shops on Peters or Decatur.

[Michael]

Thanks, Scout. And by replying to the comments, I'm also pimp..., um, "promoting" my humble blawg.

[ahimsa]

Oh man, that photo made me laugh out loud.

[Rarestone]

It is really bizarre how this war has been defended. How can it be justified given the lives lost, the huge financial costs and zero evidence of any progress being made? I guess, the way to take it is to laugh about it,and Michael that image does the job. Great stuff!

[MapleStreet]

Rarestone - The answer is that "we" are never wrong. The worse things go, the bigger the coping mechanisms "we" employ to justify our criminal actions.