A Conspiracy of Demagogic Dunces

"No more platitudes," said Tom Tancredo at one point during Thursday night's Republican debate -- a request that, if honored, would have left all 10 candidates speechless for 90 minutes, except for Rudy Giuliani, who consumed the non-platitudinous portions of his time with a flurry of ping-pong thinking that amused.

"It would be O.K. to repeal" Roe v. Wade, said Giuliani. On the other hand "it would be O.K." not to repeal. He also said he opposed public financing of abortions, while just last month he was for it. And although he morally detested the very thought of a woman aborting a fetus, he "would respect a woman’s right to make a different choice." Clear enough?

But Giuliani's one-man table tennis performance was about the only thing that amused, for the remaining 89 minutes were a depressing -- and at times horrifying -- voyage into blanket jingoism, cardboard machismo and uniform crappola.

You hate terrorists? Well who doesn't. And the quick fix is to bomb the bejesus out of them, a consensus view that the candidates elbowed each other to get at and tripped over themselves to articulate. They especially dislike Iranians these days, because they're arming our "enemy" in Iraq, an unconscionable act which only the U.S. has conscientiously done in dozens of wars.

It was again the fearless Mr. Mayor who succinctly conveyed the group's consensual fighting spirit, saying "I believe we had a president who made the right decision at the right time on Sept. 20, 2001, to put us on offense against terrorists," adding, "I think history will remember him for that." Oh, will it ever. But there was also John McCain, who talked as if he himself as president would track down bin Laden and personally garrote him, after which, presumably, he would smile, as he did proudly, theatrically and quite awkwardly after taking the red-white-and-blue pledge on stage.

You like tax cuts? They got 'em. All kinds of tax cuts, and never mind that ballooning deficit which, as rumor has it, is likely caused by insufficient revenue. If you don't like the alternative minimum tax, the estate tax and capital gains taxes, no problem, because they don't either. Of course it may be that some of these nasty taxes finance the bombs that they want to use on Iran, but hey, let us not quibble over fiscal trivialities.

And there were lighter moments of truly lighter-than-air thinking, such as when one-third of the candidates -- Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback and Tancredo -- raised their hands in a medieval disavowal of the scientific fact of human evolution. But frankly, after watching the debate I'm beginning to wonder if they're not on to something.

The next morning I happened to be reading Gordon Wood's Revolutionary Characters, a collection of essays on the Founding Fathers, and ran across two passages concerning George Washington's dread and detestation of the then-emerging system of electoral politics. "Although he trusted the good sense of the people in the long run," wrote Wood, "he believed that they could easily be misled by demagogues."

By 1799, with John Adams and Tom Jefferson whacking each other in the nastiest and most simplistic verbal ways, Connecticut's governor asked Washington to run a third time for the presidency and thereby rescue the country. But by then Washington had already had enough of democracy's two-ring circus clowns, replying that if Jefferson's new party "set up a broomstick" as a candidate and labeled it "a true son of Liberty" or "any other epithet that will suit their purpose," it would "command their votes in toto."

Yet Washington saw that mindless partisanship also held true for his own Federalist coalescence. Character, achievements, intelligence, foresight, insight or any other sightfulness -- none of it mattered to fevered partisans. In effect any robotic, platitudinous blatherskite would do just fine as a presidential candidate. Washington himself, he himself noted, would "stand upon no stronger ground than any other Federal character well supported." In short, the candidate -- any candidate -- simply didn't make any difference, as long as he spewed received party doctrine that pumped the frenzied masses.

Thursday night we witnessed a repeat, saddening display of Washington's prescience. It's no wonder the former president stayed on the farm and forgot the whole scene.

Comments

[Mooser]

The 2008 election will be the ultimate Kool-Aid tsunami!
The Repubs have to convince the elctorate that things have been just fine for the last seven years, and what we really need is more of the same. They are hoping a flood of Kool-Aid bigger than ever before will do the trick.
The MSM will do everything it can to assist them giving them, for free, millions of dollars in publicity services.
The MSM's first job is to make all the extreme and stupid things Republican candidates say in pursuing the nomination disappear, so they can present themselves as "moderates" for the general election.
For the Dems, of course, the MSM will do nothing but shit on 'em.

[Mooser]

The 2008 election will be the ultimate Kool-Aid tsunami!
The Repubs have to convince the elctorate that things have been just fine for the last seven years, and what we really need is more of the same. They are hoping a flood of Kool-Aid bigger than ever before will do the trick.
The MSM will do everything it can to assist them giving them, for free, millions of dollars in publicity services.
The MSM's first job is to make all the extreme and stupid things Republican candidates say in pursuing the nomination disappear, so they can present themselves as "moderates" for the general election.
For the Dems, of course, the MSM will do nothing but shit on 'em.

[Perry Logan]

Well said, Mr. Mooser.

[Stephen Bliss]

All politicians pander to their base. They will do or say just about anything to get one extra vote. But to disavowal human evolution in front of 100's of thousands of potential voters, that is the definition of pandering. It also defines how to take yourself out of the running.

[Dr. Zorba]

If you think this batch of dummies is so stupid, what level of cretinism defines the electorate anxious to vote for them?

Democracy and Ignorance are cognitive dissonances.

[americus Fernando Henshawe]

Everything you've said is right on the money.

The exception, left unsaid is Dr. Ron Paul. He was the only person tonight who truly spoke from the heart about his beliefs, not sound bytes prepared beforehand. He spoke about limited government, eliminating the IRS, and the need to stop trying to police the world. He spoke on behalf of the need of government to respect the privacy of Americans. He spoke about the Constitution, a forgotten document in today’s Republican Party. He spoke about restoring habeas corpus. It is unfortunate for him that the corporate media machine has decided that he will be the Republican Party’s Dennis Kucinich. I dream of a day when the battle for the White House is not generated by the media. People like Kucinich and Paul honestly serve their country and honestly believe in their core values. They are not pre-packaged. I was hoping tonight that I would see the republicans respect Americans, instead of the memory of Reagan, another failed and compromised president. Amidst the rhetoric about blowing up other countries and recycled lies there came one ray of hope in Ron Paul. The one true conservative left in a party devoid of true conservative values.

[Curiouoso*]

On a different subject.... I watched the Republican "Debate" the other night, and didn't see one candidate that I would consider voting for, except maybe Ron Paul, and they barely let him say anything, so I don't think he'll be the candidate. He was the only one to say the war is wrong and we were lied into it, all the rest merely saying they would handle it differently. Amazingly each candidate claimed to have a strong faith in God, and be religious, but they must never have read the bible where it says, "Thou shall not kill". They also proclaimed America to be a religious nation and that their faith had a big effect on their govermental actions. I guess they never read any of America's Founding Documents like the Constitution that makes clear a Separation of Church and State. All would deny a Women's right to choose, and while stating all religions are tolerated in America, Islam is apparently not included because of "Islamo Fascism" and "militant muslim mullahs". Now there's a load of crap surpassed only by one candidates pledge to "AMEND THE CONSTITUTION TO ALLOW FORIEGN BORN PEOPLE TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT", especially Swartzanazi, our Austrian Nazi by birth and inclination, and respecter of woman, the Governer of California. I guess our politicians are of the opinion that out of some 300 million plus, Native born Americans, not one is capable of being president so we need to look elsewhere! If our current "president" is any indication of the quality of Americans, maybe they are right

[Matt Dillon]

hello PM Carpenter,

I cannot believe you did not say one word about Ron Paul. Isn't that BLATANT censorship. He was a BEACON of LIGHT in an otherwise dark debate and you ignored him.
He wants to abolish the IRS. That is huge. The federal reserve is a privately owned international cartel which preserves the monopoly of the big New York Banks. The IRS collects the money from US CItizens, 1 trillion dollars last year, and gives it to the private owners of the federal reserve. Doesn't sound like what our forefathers or constitution had in mind. This was a momentous statement by Ron Paul that you completely ignore. Unbelievable.

Who cares about Giuliani ? He allowed the remains of the 911 towers to be shipped away before the forensic teams could even examine them. THAT my friend is A FELONY; and committed against the American people. We had a right for a forensic investigation into the 911 attack. Why in the world would Giuliani not allow a proper investigation ? Was he hiding something or someone ?

Ron Paul for President !!

--Matt

[Jimmy]

Everyone is trying to stifle Ron Paul. Let's not follow the gov't down the path of censorship. After all, censorship is becoming America's favorite past-time. The US gov't (and their corporate friends), already detain protesters, ban books like "America Deceived" from Amazon and Wikipedia, shut down Imus and fire 21-year tenured, BYU physics professor Steven Jones because he proved explosives, thermite in particular, took down the WTC buildings. Vote for Dr. Ron Paul,2008.
Last link (before Google Books caves to pressure and drops the title):
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0

[chicagoprof]

While I do not know a lot about the "Steven Jones" controversy, I am familiar with BYU and they do not strictly have a tenure system. They will grant continuing contracts to faculty, but do not have tenure in the way most universities do.

[jb]

Socialists of all stripes run from or ignore Ron Paul. He smashes all opposition with a true, constitutional perspective. He should be embraced by all who truly embrace the constitution. That so few do--speaks volumes.

We get what we really desire.

Little wonder such self-serving anal rectums run for office and we elect them. Then we get an honest American politician, and we marginalize him.

Paul is genuine. The rest of the field, both parties, are opportunists.

Our call.

[mehdi oummih]

Guiliani gets the republican nod for the white house, realizing he cannot win without another terror attack to scare the population into voting for him, he will call on his buddies who helped him pull off 911 to stage another terror attack in the US. Guilianni is a terrorist. Anyone who supports this psychotic traitor is a terrorist or really really stupid.

[mehdi oummih]

Guiliani gets the republican nod for the white house, realizing he cannot win without another terror attack to scare the population into voting for him, he will call on his buddies who helped him pull off 911 to stage another terror attack in the US. Guilianni is a terrorist. Anyone who supports this psychotic traitor is a terrorist or really really stupid.

[mehdi oummih]

Rudy Guilliani is a terrorist who hates America. He supports racism, terrorism and the destruction of the US Constiution. He wants your children to go die in iraq, Iran, Turkey and then Indonesia for Israel. If you support Guilianni, you are a terrorist and a traitor and you must hate America. Guilianni should be brought to justice for his complicity in the 911 terror attacks.

[FreeDem]

while the founding fathers were brilliant they were not infallible. For all their complaining about the two party system that grew up, it was mistakenly hardwired into the Constitution, and their greatest blunder.

[Kyle]

Until the US gets rid of the paper-less voting system none of this will really matter. Good luck with that ...

[Tom]

Who brought the GONG show back ?