Once again someone has said, much better than I, exactly what I've been thinking and trying to say, about elitism, about Sarah Palin, about the electorate that may well swing the election. This time, it's Sam Harris, in Newsweek. Dougie sent it to me.
And, if you want additional interesting reading, here is a short piece by Ron Susskind on the leadership of George Bush, to whose style of governance Sarah Palin's bears a disturbing similarity.
Bush 2 went into Iraq I'm convinced in part to one-up (and on some inner level avenge) his father, who was looked up to by the whole world as a statesman. (Not to mention Bush2 had a grandfather who was a Senator to have to live up to, too.) McCain is the son and grandson of admirals who, like Bush 2, didn't live up to his fathers, didn't make the grade, not in school, not in the military, not in the public eye, especially not after the Keating disaster. Who likewise drank and goofed off, and he didn't live up to all his own ideals (though, some, he did) while he was a POW. And he, too, wants to show up Dear Old Dad by succeeding bigtime by winning the presidency to avenge I think his inner self.
ReplyDeleteIf we thought Iraq was a mistake, what is this second version of the underachieving-but-with-a-complex-about-it son going to do?
"Once again someone has said, much better than I, exactly what I've been thinking and trying to say"
ReplyDeleteThat's the feeling I had not too long ago when I read a post from your other blog about how zealots are hypocritical to enjoy the fruits of science while denying the validity of science. Actually "reason" is a better word choice than science here.
Carl Sagan said something pertinent which still amuses me after several years: "What's the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all?"
Best,
Don in Seattle