Oh well… let’s call it a tribute to Rankin and Bass, shall we?
I realize that this particular election cycle has been going on for about… oh… four years now, and has been particularly obnoxious for the last ten months or so, but I’m an old-fashioned sort of fella and like to think that the real election season begins with The State of the Union Address: Election Year Edition. The incumbent sets his electoral platform, the opposition responds, and hilarity (and mudslinging) ensues. I mean if you start things out too early, people are just going to be burnt out come November, right?
You would think so, anyway…
This year’s address and opposition response, of course, were far from inspiring… but what can you expect? We have a President who promised change, but was unprepared to bring it, and a Republican “leadership” who seems to have forgotten whom they are supposed to be representing and what exactly their jobs in Washington are, so as the man said plenty of “words and meaning and signifying… nothing.”
But(!!) now is the time for politicians to engage the American people! To lift them up. To inspire them to great works…
…or to… you know… carry on with the same useless bickering and dickering that they’ve engaged in since McCain stopped being a Maverick…
I’ve heard a lot of people commenting on how Washington is more divided now than ever before. This isn’t actually true, of course… it just feels that way. I’m sure Lincoln and Douglas could tell a few tales (except for that whole being dead thing), and their story is hardly unique either. I, of course, am not the one to be speaking on such matters. It would be nice if @ThatArdraGuy or Direcorrector could pipe in hear as they are much better prepared to speak of the antics of presidents past than I, but barring that, let me just say, it’s been bad before, it will be bad again. Things always get better, and if you think that the folks in Washington no longer deserve to be there, there is a very easy solution… vote.
Of the people, by the people and for the people…
Actually, I feel like the pubs are very much being themselves and representing exactly who they believe they should be representing…themselves. How’s that for circular logic? The big difference now seems to be that they have a harder and harder time disguising their motives as “for the people/country.” Because they can’t really hide their motives anymore (thank you 24 hour news cycle and instant information delivery and investigative reporting), the most expedient and effective tactic is to berate, cajole, denigrate, and generally incite in a manner effectively equivalent to the cult and/or firey religious leader. Result- fervent followers that loudly and forcefully shove the more reasoned folk back into pens- a la bolshevik revolution… “we are the majority, we are right.”
Of course I speak in generalities. There are still a few good pubs out there, thought their ranks are being thinned by age or even from within their own party (poor Dick Lugar). I continue to hope for better days of reasoned debate, protections for the minority instead of riding roughshod over them, and pragmatism instead of hard nosed grandstanding… and now the pigs are waiting to fly out of my arse…
Gee… And here I was hoping you were going to say something nice about the hand I drew… I worked so hard on it too…
I’m not too thrilled with the leaders from either party. I can’t help but think that the best possible outcome of the next six years would be to fail to re-elect any member of congrss…
I wasn’t going to say anything about the hand because this is supposedly a family comic…apparently your secret to drawing hands well is to make them look like male genitalia… 😉 [I think there may be a call back opportunity here…]
And yes, I’m unhappy with virtually every single elected “public servant”… I don’t know how sane people wouldn’t be unhappy with such ridiculous displays of self serving manipulation and greed.
Dude…
I’ll say something nice about the hand you drew – very nicely done! Looks good! Also, nice use of shade to differentiate lapel from jacket.
Thanks… hands are the devil to draw, but I think I’m getting the hang of it.
To be honest, the lapel thing was an accident, but I liked the results, so I kept it.
The GOP has been getting…weird ever since 9-11. But they didn’t seem to go totally bat-shite over the edge until Obama was elected. Then, they decided that soft racism sells (in addition to the anti-Muslim post-9-11 fearmongering, which was getting a bit stale), and started appealing to only the lowest common denominator. It’s come to the point that unless you’re a bigot, a religious nut, or filthy rich, you’re not made to feel welcome in the GOP.
As it stands, I’m only calling myself a Democrat because they haven’t sold out to the fringe groups yet. Thankfully, most of them barely acknowledge the Occupy movement, much less brownnose them relentlessly, like the Repubs do with the Tea Party. Since I wrote off the Libertarians when they sold out and nominated Bob “Patriot Act” Barr for President, I only really have one option for voting these days. I’m hoping maybe that Americans Elect group nominates somebody decent. I could vote for Huntsman (or maybe Roemer, although he has a past so sleazy it would make Bill Clinton blush). I never hold my breath about third-party movements, though, because I’m old enough to remember Ross Perot’s joke of a Reform Party.
The moment the Dems sell out to the fringeoids, which I fear might happen eventually, is the day I move to Canada. I miss the days when both parties told the nutjobs to stay at the back of the bus, and let the adults drive. The primary-ing of Lugar is a great example of how far the Repubs have fallen. When you look up “statesman” in the dictionary, his picture is probably there. I could see giving him a challenge because of his age, but because he’s, OH, HORRORS, somebody who actually uses logic and critical thinking in his decisions? Come on. Grow up.
Yeah, America Elects is an interesting experiment. It will be interesting to see how it plays out (I secretly suspect Jon Stewart will get the nomination).