It appears politicians and their parties can't resist -- show them a dicey situation and they will go for it just like Jean Shepherd's little-boy character tempted to put his tongue on freezing-cold metal. They know they shouldn't but they just can't refrain from making the exciting, bad choice.
In 2016, the two big parties both ran candidates with huge negatives, leaving most voters having to choose between a vengeful shrew and a vindictive boor and the Democrats were shocked at the outcome; now the Alabama GOP, running against a pro-abortion Democrat, found themselves with a candidate with a history of imposing his own religion on government institutions and allegations of questionable behavior with young women in his past -- and they're surprised the Democrat won.
Offer the people two plates of stuff they don't much like and they'll give you a close horse race for the least bad. Don't try to play the innocent ingenue when the crap sandwich turns voter's stomachs -- and if you were on the side that didn't lose, don't go trumpeting around winning the "not quite as bad as the other one" prize as some kind of historic victory for Goodness And Light. It wasn't, and next time around, it could be you refusing to make a gracious concession speech.
And voters just keep kicking the can down the road, hoping for a better choice of creeps, crooks and loudmouths in the next election. Yeah, well, people in Hell want ice water, too.
I like your phrase, "most voters having to choose between a vengeful shrew and a vindictive boor". Personally I've used "bloviating sales-twit" and "Felonia von Pantsuit" as the descriptors.
ReplyDeleteThe two wings of the DemoPublican party seem to be intent on vomiting out the least likely candidates for higher office, and then foisting them off as being the only choices available.
Here in Minnesnowta we usually have a choice between a Rep-winger (who in any other state would be a Dem-winger) and a socialist running as a Diffler (DFL here, short for Democrat-Farmer-Labor). This year's election was much, much worse with our choices for mayor and city council-critters being limited to far-left-wingers or ever farther-farther-left-wingers. In the entire election slate the only one I could actually cast a vote for was the libertarian running in my ward for city council; he got so few votes that they weren't mentioned except on the city's web site.
The city officials are hell-bent on turning Minneapolis into another Detroit; they're well on the way to accomplishing this. We've been looking for a house outside of the 7-county metro area; we may end up simply leaving the state to get away from the statist-collectivists devoted to destroying it.
Bobbi, this was a strange one, even by Alabama standards. The Democrats in this state all actually seem to like Jones, and the virtue signaling on social media over his win has been just astonishing. The thing that kills me about both these guys is that they're almost identical; they're populist demagogues in the Huey Long or George Wallace mold, they've just picked different bases for their demagoguery. they both parrot the dog-whistle phrases that excite their chosen base, which drools and laps it up just like pavlov was ringing the bell himself. And so we wind up with a member of the Wallace machine representing us in 2017.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that the local republicans have taken the real lesson to heart, and recognized that regular folks have a breaking point, beyond which we _will_ cross party lines to vote for someone less odious. I've given up on the local Libertarians, more aspergers than a star trek convention.
The Alabama special election was the Republicans to lose, and once again, they didn't fail to disappoint.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was that this was a post about the 2017 edition of Clue: "Ralphie, stuck to the lamppost, with the Red Ryder BB Gun..."
ReplyDeleteI have a variety of thoughts here: Alabama
On the subject of judicial activism, I think we're overdue for a revival of A Man For All Seasons; I prefer the Charlton Heston version, myself, with Roy Kinnear as Everyman and Kenneth Brannagh as a still slim Henry VIII. I believe it was made for TNT, as was the Heston version of Treasure island, fwiw.
I had a few sentences about the Vengeful Shrew vs. the Vindictive Boor, and the Late Unpleasantness as it played out in Alabama, but I don't want to pester you with that.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to the Kids In The Hall Molester's Jam sketch instead:
KITH - Prisoner's Jam
I should have included my favorite M K Brown cartoon of all time:
ReplyDeleteWhistle Stop
Funnier now than it was in 1974.
I often find your posts thought provoking and insightful. This is the best I have seen on not only your blog, but most others as well. Not only did you hit it exactly on the head, but you did so in a way that leaves little room for argument. It is simply the way that the game of politics is played now. Whether it can ever revert back to some semblance of normalcy remains to be seen, but at this stage of the game, it seems doubtful. And the talking heads of the media wonder why we have such a low voter turnout come election time.
ReplyDeleteThe election in Alabama is not unlike having a handful of, uh, rose fertilizer in each hand and trying to say one smells better than the other. The Democrass were forced to use every trick in their book to win this election. I'm half surprised the media didn't show long lines of undead rising from local graveyards and heading to the polls.
ReplyDeleteIt seems everyone got what they wanted; the people of Alabama didn't want Luther Strange for a Senator. McConnell, Shelby and most of the other GOP Senators didn't want Roy Moore for a Senator. Now McConnell can point to Jones as the newest reason he can't pass any of Trump's agenda. Chucky Schumer got one more warrior in his crusade against Those Evil Republicans. It seems the only unhappy person was Liz Warren who was pitching a hissy fit, demanding that Jones be seated immediately. (Jeez Liz, can we finish counting the votes and certify the election first?)
ReplyDeleteOnly about half the usual GOP voters bothered to show up, whereas the usual number of Dems showed up and voted.
FWIW, I haven't been a fan of Moore since he started decorating his courtrooms with a generic version of the Decalogue and his placing of that paperweight in the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court.
"Yeah, well, people in Hell want ice water, too. " They, the people in Hell, put themselves there (mostly by kicking the can down the road). Well said Ms Ecks.
ReplyDeleteRich in NC