Loser

I started a post the other day, and, as is often the case, didn't finish it. Until now, I've sort of reservedly liked Alan Grayson, a D congressman from Florida: he isn't shy about his liberalism and about calling bullshit when he sees it. Despite the fact that he's made it his theme song, referring to himself as "the congressman with guts," I guess I gave him a pass, since on some level it had been refreshing to see a congressional D who isn't a wimp. I'm now embarrassed to say I even gave him fifty bucks once.

Anyhow, I'd seen his ad against his opponent, in which he refers to the guy as "Taliban Dan." Okay, I thought, that's pretty much reprehensible, and I should say so. It's a little too Foxobeckian for my taste. But, I thought, the guy does seem to be another unneeded hyperchristianist theologue, and God knows we don't need more of them running our country. So I let it go. There are, after all, similarities among all groups that want to impose religious law on people who believe differently. (I admit Christianists don't stone people to death. When they take out abortionists, they're far more humane. Single shot. Lynching, too: not nearly as bad.)

Then I saw this. Alan Grayson had done a complete Hannity, taking a statement totally out of context and doctoring it, making it exactly what it was not. Sorry, Mr. Grayson. That's RWS™ stuff. That's the poison that Fox is injecting into our veins every day. It's one thing to point it out. It's another -- and inexcusable! -- to adopt it. [I will say this, however: political ads are more or less expected to be lies, and courts have, sadly, specifically said it's okay. In my view, however, the practice is immeasurably worse and destructive when so-called news media do it, because even though in the case of Fox it's entirely undeserved and ludicrous, there are people who actually consider it accurate and seem to lack the skills to differentiate. Bad as political ads like this are, what Fox does is way worse. Just so that's clear.]

So, much as I hate the idea of John Boner being Speaker, here's what I have to say to you, Alan Grayson:

I hope you lose. You deserve it.