Political Theatre category archive
Dreams in the Koch Den 0
Thom and Jane Mayer discuss the very strange political heritage of the Koch family.
What Goes Around . . . . 0
Ben Boychuk, right-wing think tank inhabitant, argues that Republicans brought Donald Trump on themselves.
If he’s correct, it’s a rare case of a political party’s getting what it deserves.
How Stuff Works, Playing Trump Dept. (Updated, Kicked to the Top, Again, All Over Again Once More) 0
PoliticalProf tries to explain the rise of Trumpery.
Read it. (Warning: It does not bode well for the polity.)
Part Four, added Tuesday.
Part Five, added Thursday.
Part Six and Last, added Saturday.
Trumped 0
Christian Schneider, a “conservative” columnist for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, wonders what went wrong. Here’s part of his lament:
For instance, a conservative who listens to talk show radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin or Sean Hannity likely has a far different assessment of the Republican Party than those who curl up with copies of National Review or the Weekly Standard, or even my regular column. While ostensibly working for the same goals, these groups might not even recognize each other if they walked by each other on the street.
Missing from his tua culpa is any recognition that his vaunted Republican intelligentsia has been complicit in rationalizing Republican lies, such as trickle-on economoics and the Great and Glorious Patriot Lie for Irag, and Republican bigotry, such as the right-wing culture war, mass incarceration, and the war on black and brown people drugs.
The difference between the “conservative intelligentsia” and Rush Limbaugh is a difference in style only.
Genteel venality is still venality.
Flint-Hearted: Too Much Voting 0
Warning: Language.
Everybody Must Get Fracked 0
Ron Littlepage is not impressed with the oil industry’s Trojan horse of a fracking “regulation” bill.
Never mind that with Florida ground zero for sea-level rise, we should be looking for completely clean alternative energy sources to reduce greenhouse gases.
And never mind that when fracking runs awry, which will surely happen sometime, Florida’s water supply and environment will absorb another damaging blow.
The bill is promoted as a way to set statewide standards for fracking. See above about lipstick and pigs.
What the bill does is take away the rights of local governments to control what goes on in their backyards.
Given the geology of Florida, I see visions of the biggest sinkhole yet.
Flint-Hearted 0
Emails reveal the poisonous callousness of Rick Snyder and his Republican cohorts to the poisoning of the people of Flint, Michigan.
What did come through, however, was the Snyder administration’s callous dismissal of complaints from the people of Flint, who had been complaining of foul-smelling, brownish water for some time—water that turned out to contain high levels of dangerous, poisonous lead, coliform and even fecal bacteria—saying they were overly concerned with “aesthetics.”
A Sept. 25, 2015, email from Snyder’s Chief of Staff, Dennis Muchmore, to the governor is perhaps most damning, accusing the people of Flint of using their children’s lead exposure as a “political football.”
Follow the link, but, mind you, you’ll have trouble reading it all the way through.
Hey! Rubio! 0
Daniel Ruth points out that consistency is not the hobgobblin of that little mind:
Now Rubio has joined the chorus of hand-wringers, promising that if he is elected president, “We’re going to be America again.” Just what that means isn’t entirely clear, since America always has been America.
Details at the link.
A Night at the Improv 0
David Hadju offers grudging admiration for Donald Trump’s ability to make stuff up on the fly. A snippet:
The audience oohed and aahed, clearly impressed by Fortner’s creative ingenuity, and the drama of the moment got me thinking about Donald Trump. I should make clear here that I am anything but a Trump supporter. In fact, I find his wild and volatile, xenophobic, hate-fueled rhetoric loathsome and terrifying. I have never understood any aspect of his appeal—until the night at the Appel Room, when it struck me that the very wildness and volatility of Trump’s performances in campaign rallies, debates, and television interviews do not look to everyone like liabilities. They come across as strengths to his admirers. Like Sullivan Fortner and every other musician skilled in the art of extemporaneous invention, Donald Trump is, in his way, an improviser—in a perverse sense, a jazz candidate.
Words without End 0
In related news, Reg Henry decides to recant his previous statements and praise Donald Trump:
Of course, I meant this comparison in the nicest possible way. It was my way of saying that Mr. Trump always looks sharp and dressed for success.
He really is the smartest man on the planet, but don’t take my word for it — ask him. In fact, you don’t have to ask him because he regularly volunteers the information.
