Political Theatre category archive

Shaun Mullen has tired of listening to Congressional Democrats play their favorite musical instrument: The Dithering-do.

In the Hartford Courant, Richard Brown and Ron Formisano argue forcefully that the term “American Heartland” is woefully misused when viewed as referring only to the Midwest and Plains states and, by extendion, their residents. Brown and Formisano posit that such usage ignores too many other hearts in the American land. They conclude

The Heartland does not belong to the right or the left, or to the Midwest only. Every American dwells in the heartland — from sea to shining sea.

I commend their piece to your attention. Follow the link for their reasoning.

Telephonic Trumpling.

Via The Bob Cesca Show After Party.

Connie Estrich, who went to law school with Attorney-General William Barr and remembers him as an honorable man, wonders what has happened to the Bill Barr she knew.

No excerpt or summary can do justice to her article. Just read it.

Paul Ekman, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, identifies six personality (as opposed to political) characteristics which he considers desirable in a president or presidential candidate. They are:

• Not impulsive
• Comfortable with ambiguity
• Tolerates taking risks
• Values transparency
• Takes the blame for mistaken actions
• Seeks to act consistently with our American heritage

Follow the link for his reasoning, and, as you do so, reflect on how well the incumbent embodies these qualities.

Via Job’s Anger.

I have from time to time complained in these electrons of political “purists,” those who, if a candidate or nominee does not agree with their positions in their entirety, run whining off to throw their votes away on a Jill Stein or a Ralph Nader.

The other side of “purists,” I reckon, are the cultists, those who support their idol regardless of what he or she does, even if that includes, say, just to pick a fr’instance from thin airwaves, shooting someone in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue.

At Psychology Today Blogs, Adrian Picotic explores the latter. A snippet:

If anything can become a sacred value, it follows that a politician or dictator could come to occupy that cognitive place for a group of people. When this occurs, I’d say that person has their very own cult of personality. It surely seems so if their followers are: (1) willing to defend them unconditionally and (2) motivated by allegiance to the individual above party or policies. This understanding could replace (or supplement) traditional historical definitions of the phenomena that emphasize intentional campaigns to elevate the leader of (usually) a single party state, involving governmental apparatuses and media.

Atrios points out that Fox News inhabits (creates? perpetuates?) an alternate universe.