Sunday, March 07, 2010

GOP Wonks, Reporters: Getting It Wrong Again

Some Republican pols are positioning themselves as, well, outsider-nerds (including Indiana's own Mitch Daniels, a man held in mixed regard but not, thank Fates for a wonder, stupid) and the GOP's analytical marooooons have gone back to the dynamics of Jr. High to interpret the phenom. Up in Michigan, the prez of a polling outfit who found their local Visigeek office-seeker polled 'stonishin' well blathered, "The folks who are passionate NRA members, I just don't see them partying with nerds."

Bzzzt! FAIL! In fact, Gov. Daniels is an NRA nerd. A motorcycle-riding nerd. And, yeah, a bit pencil-necked. Not a real dashing, dramatic guy; nerd-like, he goes in and does his job. He doesn't always do what I'd like him to do. He's a nerd who doesn't get beat up; a nerd who rides and shoots.

And there are too many folks out there, advising politicians and reporting about them, who don't have any room in their worldview for such people. It's not just that they don't get Ron Paul or Ross Perot; they're derailed at any set of characters more complex than the ones on the funny pages -- and I suspect even Rex Morgan, M.D. is too deep for most of 'em.

Welcome to the Planet of NRA Nerds, d0000000ds. You're gonna be dazed a lot.
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* Or just the Stupid Half of The Party. C'mon, they both take your money and spend it, largely on things of which you disapprove; for most of 'em, it's only a matter of degree and rhetoric. Take notionally-Republican NYC Mayor Bloomberg, for instance. Please. Far, far away. Is it better than bein' the Evil wing? Maybe marginally. But not consistently. Voters keep sweepin' out Party N's crooks an' replacin' 'em with Party M's crooks, hoping for better but getting pretty much the same ol' dance. Maybe it's time we woze up.

4 comments:

Ian Argent said...

Mayor Bloomers has returned to his native habitat and has nailed the D back behind his name. He had taken it down for electoral strategical-type advantage - the year he ran he had it easier in the R primary than the D one.

karrde said...

Motorcycle? check.

Gun nut? more nutty than many, not as nutty as some. check.

Geek? I program computers for work and for fun, and have a taste for sci-fi. check.

If they're actually good at the job of reading the State Constitution and not assuming that their individual intelligence gives them moral and intellectual superiority over the citizens who voted them in, then I'm all for 'em. Whatever their hobbies are.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Fully-employed NRA-card-carrying nerd here.

No motorcycle, my wife won't let me own one.

Anonymous said...

NRA not partying with nerds? The NRA is a bunch of nerds. Hasn't he ever been to an NRA annual meeting?

The benchrest shooters? Nerds.
Cowboy Action Shooters? Nerds.
Highpower? Nerds.
IDPA/IPSC/Action Pistol? Nerds.
Habitual gun school students? Total nerds.

Guns cost money to buy, to maintain and to feed. People with jobs are usually on the nerdish side.

The cool set usually stay away from the gun culture because they would have to admit that they are not that cool and associate with nerds for help and guidance.

Shootin' Buddy