"Fuck Bernie": [GOP] Death Throes and the Middle of the Road

The low hanging fruit that is the wit and wisdom of Chris Matthews, the corpus of which is solemn moaning  “Tip O’Neil” while waving hands on the corrupted skull of St. Reagan of the Ranch, invoking Daniel Patrick Moynihan or “Puddy-Catting” at top volume over anyone in the room, or anyone watching the room via the ever creeping irrelevance of MSNBC and the clattering death rattle of its “liberal” bonafides .

Truth is, MSNBC was never liberal; it only appeared liberal when compared to FAUX News, and only really during the Bush years did it climb out of Lake Ersatz, and by it, I mean Keith Olbermann tainting the rest of Scarborough country with something appearing to be centrist.

And let’s be clear on the what “centrism” is; in the wake of St. Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush pulling the country right, the center is mediated as Linc Chafee—Liberal Republican —which makes sense, since the media is a commercial enterprise.    A positive, Up With People type front,  Don Draper’s AmWay utopia of peace, love and carbonated beverages.

About a month ago, Tweety  absurdly suggested that Hillary Clinton, the anointed one who’s coronation was eight years delayed by the Kenyan Muslim usurper Barack Obama, who made her Secretary of State (where she performed admirably while pulling some completely avoidable Clintonian bullshit that is currently haunting her candidacy.  It’s always something with the Clintons) select John Kasich as her running mate.  As asinine as this suggestion is, it speaks to the kind of bi-partisan, centrist (right wing) bullshit that had sent media hearts aflutter for a proposed McCain-Lieberman ticket.  True to his craven heart, McCain backed off of that idea with disastrous consequences for his candidacy in the short term,  his party in the long term, and for everybody but Yukon Barbie and the rest of her clan, who were only in it for the money anyway.

When a Sunday Morning fits the paradigm of a hangover song of regret, or more pertinently, you find a can of reliably GOP beer your best friend in lieu of the ringing church bells of Christ’s promotion to glory, a few things become clear while you listen to John Coltrane—and aside from the Velvet Underground sounding better than ever— you begin to ascertain certain paranoid, ignoble truths, if you will, about reality of two party system as it is constituted now; more specifically, Team Blue:

The first second ignoble truth:  the party establishment seem hellbent on reminding you of the first ignoble truth until you sit down, shut the fuck up, and love Hillary Clinton.  

The second ignoble truth is the sneaking suspicion that your politics, which you had understood as All-American, communitarian, New Deal-y, are ostensibly, radically, and irreconcilably at odds with the will of the Democratic Party establishment.   

The third ignoble truth:  corporate media demands dramatic narrative, and will force a narrative superstructure to gin up ratings.  Both parties will reliably, but idiosyncratically, oblige, either with a Coke commercial or Folger's Commerical (or the Rubio cover).

The fourth ignoble truth: to quote Mario Savio, sorta, "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose".  Or something like that.

The triangulating Clinton machine has long waited for its perfect moment, the culmination of a lifetime of scheming, deal making, prevari—and—equivi-cation, pandering and a nearly constant fog of unforced, almost pathological errors, the appearance of inpropriety and general bullshit that exhausts.  Even recalling the Clinton years makes me exhausted, as does a nostalgia for the 90's, which aside from three years at the beginning of the decade, which may have just been an extension of the late eighties, the nineties are more Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth than Nirvana:  "Hey now, you're a fly now, we party with tattoos now. Drink Coke."

Yet, as I have previously written, the other party is in a pitched battle for its very soul, between the, craven,  rugged cross platitudes of Glenn Quagmire flesh avatar Ted Cruz promise of a New America that looks and feels like town from Footloose, and Donald Trumps (not so) crypto-Fascist view of government as business, Trump branded border wall and general "blame the _____" nativism. Assuming this act of self-immolation, inevitable since the Southern Strategy courted the racist Dixiecrats and Christianists, reaches its horrifying climax in Cleveland, the Republican Party as a big tent, as we understand it, will be over.

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Hillary Clinton's campaign playlist is revealing , as was the syrupy shit sounds from 2008; its the kind of middle of the road shit calculated to appeal to the kids, as opposed to something that connects with the soul she presumably had at some point, and as politic, and rhetoric, it's custom built hollow optimism, no doubt knicked from an intern's iPhone, or assembled by a PR firm.  Maybe I'm being just being pissy here, but I have a hard time imaging Hillary--or even Chelsea--listening to Katy Perry unless they thought they could get something out of it...

Naw, I'd imagine Hillary to be more Thirtysomething in her taste, perhaps the pensive poetry of Bruce Hornsby, or the reflective middle (of the aged and road) majesty of Mike + The Mechanics as being the newest editions to her collection; if my druthers had any bearing (and not that they would--ever), I would have recommended the dulcet tones of the Climax Blues Band, because I'd bet a Tall Boy she owns this on 45:

"Time was drifting, this rock had got to roll

So, I hit the road and made my getaway

Restless feeling, really got a hold

I started searching for a better way

And I kept on looking for a sign in the middle of the night [road]

But, I couldn't see the light, no, I couldn't see the light

I kept on looking for a way to take me through the night

Couldn't get it right, couldn't get it right..."

Maybe Sugarloaf's "Don't Call Us (We'll Call You).

The New York Primary is in the books, and the saavy, metropolitan, international progressives of the Empire State  Big Apple (and, to be fair, the equally sexy metropoli of Buffalo, Rochester and, et tu? Syracuse?) resoundingly and thunderously spoke:  We Loved the Nineties. 

Let's be clear:  so far, Hillary, though coat tailing riding the no doubt consequential and historic presidency of liberal-ish centrist Barack Obama (who is only a "socialist", if you are the sort of dittoheaded shit for brains that would vote for the Fascist Trump or the Tedocratic Cruz) who is only "liberal" because of how far right the line has been dragged, has proposed little that is different than her failed to-the-right 08 campaign:  more of that "middle of the road" neo-liberal horseshit that fast tracked us into the Reaganomics meltdown and Great Recession.  No Money Down on another Cow Colored Box of Voodoo Economics!

 "Fuck Bernie" is the new "Sit down and shut up, Hippie" Or:  I didn't sell out; I bought in.

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Well, that escalated quickly.   Bring it on...

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A quotation often and questionably attributed to Winston Churchill (whose missing bust has London mayor and The Donald coif biter Boris Johnson in a tizzy) is instructive because Hillary Clinton, like Bill Clinton, is a quintessential political animal of the E Pluribus Unum variety (though certainly more "ME" rather than "We"):  Americans will do the right thing after they have exhausted all other possibilities.  And, if polling is to be trusted Clinton will likely reach an insummountable delegate lead, and be able to victory lap her way to the coronation long denied to her.  And it will be a historic moment--both when she accepts the nomination, and when she wins in November.   I suppose if somebody wants to be the first at something, and is as tireless in the pursuit of that goal, then it is little surprise when they achieve it.  Congratulations.

But over the course of this campaign, I have come to realize something that the Junior Senator from Vermont has been telling us, and will likely remind us again:  it was never about him, because there is no singular hero to ride into town and set things to right, no political messiah to fix this fucking shitmire of graft, grift and the sort of brain laziness usually reserved for the board rooms of General Motors....

It was always about THE IDEA.

The idea that "general welfare" in the Constitution means "ALL OF US",  that we are better when we are ALL better, that the corruption of moneyed interests poisons our society, and that we can do better if we want to.

And the Sander's campaign has shown that.  A New New Deal is possible, if we DEMAND IT.

That's the thing to hold on to, folks;  the disappointment and the butthurt pure ideological proclamations must give way to this realization:  we already won.  This is our party now, and the vestiges of the old order must reconcile themselves to the new reality.  Secretary Clinton will, if she wants to win, have to contend with a new, robust left, who are loud, proud, and unafraid and she, craven as ever, will, ironically, govern left rather than paying lip service. She may not be ideal, but if she form a coalition that will keep the Fascists and the Theocrats out of Executive Power, the vacuum from the GOP's self immolation will create space unimagined since Roosevelt for a truly Left Progressive agenda.

Hillaristas: The Art of Taking Your Ball, and Going Home, or Holding your Country Hostage So That You Can Have Your Way

Christ...here it comes:

"The names of some Hillraiser holdouts will not come as a surprise to those who follow the Democratic money chase. Susie Tompkins Buell, Lynn Forester and Jill Iscol were each cited in background interviews as the key financial workhorses who have yet to start pulling for Obama. In separate conversations with The Huffington Post, the three major donors each described their respective sources of discontent, and talked about what, if anything, can still be done to change their minds.

One area agreement among them, however, rang out loud and clear: the vice presidency should go to Clinton. (Indeed, Iscol already made news earlier this week when she related details of a phone conversation with Obama, in which he appeared to include Clinton on his VP shortlist, to the LA Times.)"

I realize, of course, that they have the right to vote for with their checkbooks, but I would like to think they'd do what's right for the country. We have chance at something new, and bringing a baby booming ideologue like Clinton isn't the way to go. I mean, the baggage Clinton brings, not the mention the disgusting, amoral way she ran her campaign...She and Bill almost burned down the party, fer crissakes, and the country.

These people are selfish. Isn't it bad enough they whored all their cultureal achievements to shill Cadillacs, Investment Advice and Boner Pills, and beat us over the head with their bullshit New Left ideology...the "me" centered universe.

How long does the sixties hangover go on? I've ingested most of the popular substances, grooved to the good tunes from then, and I felt human after a day or so.

Forty Years?

Hate to say I told you so, and I hope I don't have to, but...

This really sucks.

WTF?!?

From the Belly of the Beast:

"MI & Fla
I watched the 9 1/2 hour R&B meeting. Hats off to Tina and Harold for speaking out! I am so disillusioned with our Party. Why vote when the r&b can take your votes and apply them as they see fit.

Why be on the ballet? They will just take votes from somewhere and give them to you to equal things out. Is this democracy? This entire election is so unfair to Hillary. I can honestly say that if BHO wins this I will not vote for him. 4 more years is not that long to put up with McCain. I guess it's the principle of the entire process. R&B committee has people so angry we will never be united. I will keep praying for Hillary. She is the best! She has the vote of the people, this should count for something! Keep donating to help Hillary. We can still win this election!! AZ, your video made me cry! It's beautiful!

by joanna0902 at 6/1/2008 10:04:24 AM"

"I just had a nice chat with the DNC via e-mail.

I doubt that they will like my quick note to them about democratic principles and the lack there-of by the party today. Any candidate who professes to be Presidential would demand that every vote be counted. I will say this, Karl Rove and Richard Nixon would be proud of Senator Obama for his "new style" of politics. I am done with the party. America is far more important than a party anyway. I believe that I might just have to make contribution number 24 for the good of the cause.

by drbodkin at 5/31/2008 10:24:33 PM"

Emptywheel chimes in with some food for thought. Meteorblades has some thoughts as well.

Not that I probably have any Clinton supporters left who read this blog (if I ever did), but if I do, and you are just passing by...

Please tell me why you are doing this, and what fuels your anti- Obama hatred?

West Virginia

I'm sorry folks, but if this is your criteria for President, you are a fool:

"'I've got 50-some guns, and I wasn't crazy about Obama's talk about small towns,' said Sam Vetter, 64, a farmer and lifelong Democrat who regrets voting for Bush in 2000.' 'Besides,' he added, 'Obama just doesn't sound right for an American president'."

Well, these are the same folk who keep putting Robert Byrd back, so there you go...

Appropriately Enough (I resisted the awesome temptation. Take That, Norman!!!), Radio Free Newport has an excellent post concerning all those hard working white people. Compelling stuff.

Update: Shocker...People will vote against their interests-even if its for another Democrat, due to some calculus that hithero unheard of outside of Republican Kansas.

But consider this: Since 1972, West Virginia has only went Democratic in 4 elections: 1976, 1980, 1992, and 1996. West Virginia voted for four times for Southern Governors-Jimmy Carter in 1976 and in 1980, and Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, electing Carter to one term (take that, Hillary) and Bill Clinton to two. The rest of the elections; 1972, 1984, 2000 and 2004, the went hard to the right, voting for uber republicans Nixon, Reagan, and Bush I and II.

Okay, so West Virginia will support Democratic Southern Governors, or they go right wing. Yet Hillary Clinton is a Northern Senator...

Hmmm....

I dunno...I'm just baffled as to why people vote the way they do, that's all...

The Bitter Truth: My Appeal to America concerning The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, The Status Quo, and Half Price Appetizers.

Indiana and North Carolina.

Did you ever think it would go on this long?

I sure as hell didn't, and we still haven't voted in KY. I hope to God that my vote is perfunctory, that the right person for our future, the man who is the future, will have already sewn this up. Somehow, I doubt it.

It seems to me, now, that the senator from Illinois is already running against John McCain, yet only the people's media seems to notice this fact, among other facts.

I hate to break it to the Hillary folks, who I believe by and large are good and noble people, but Clinton's courting of very media outlets who ground the country to halt over a blowjob, who tried to have Bill Clinton impeached for said blowjob, can only lead me to one of two conclusions:

1. The Clintons are power mad, willing to do anything to win.
   
2. The Clintons are part of the vast right wing conspiracy.
   

The first part is self evident: For the last four months, we have watched the former President and the former First Lady (and First Daughter) debase themselves to such a point that, at times, Bill Clinton has transformed into the Smeagol of 21^st Century Politics, cravenly holding on to power, cowering, foaming, lashing out. If I had told you a year ago that Bill Clinton, the first vote I ever cast, from a place called Hope would be the guy that says "Fuck Hope. I believe in a place called Cynicism". Who would have believed that Bill Clinton, our first "black" President, could almost completely destroy his support in the community that loved him as one of their own? And that's just Bill.

Hillary, whose negatives are set in granite by this point, went from the media lock for the Nomination to a horse race to getting trounced. Yet, we have been treated to a constant stream of tears, race baiting, out and out lies, moving the goal posts, attempts to thumb the scale and, now, the bait and switch. Hillary Clinton on O'Reilly? Hillary Clinton hanging with Richard Mellon Scaife? But these people are the ones who tried to destroy you? These are the people for whom their ideologically driven pathological hatred of you, Democrats, and any sense of Social Justice made them willing to stop the country, beating their fists and kicking the floor like a petulant child, until they got what they wanted: Retribution for Nixon. These are the people you are pandering to?

To be fair, of course, Obama has also talked to Fox News, a move which, I understand as an attempt to reach the dittoheads, still baffles me, and, frankly leaves me a little queasy, and feeling a little dirty.

Of course, if this were just an issue right wing media and the pandering of Presidential hopefuls, we could probably just leave it there, calling it a "necessary evil". However, the difference between the two is an ever widening chasm, for while Obama may go on Fox, and, when there, he will still be Obama, Clinton's turn to the right is palpable, and, as a result, these outlets are cheerleading her. Huh?

When Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy, I was filled with dread, because, with the Imperial Presidency of Bush, which has expanded executive powers beyond anything imagined at the founding of this Republic, it would be of the utmost importance that our next President roll those back, and re-establish the balance. In other words, avoid the awesome temptation to try and do some good with this power, because there is no good that can come of this unbalance. When I thought of Hillary Clinton, I thought about the Nineties, and I realized there was no goddamned way she would restore balance to the force. Case closed. Of course, little did I know she would articulate her this dramatically when she said she would unilaterally obliterate Iran if they attacked Israel, and that she wanted to establish a NATO type organization in the Middle East. I mean, when Pat Buchanan foams at the mouth and reminds us that the President does not have that power, that it is unconstitutional, he is correct and true-under the old paradigm. However, Bush swept that away. Nuking Iran…it's the stuff that Bill Kristol vainly attempts masturbation to. WTF?

Couple this with the Karl Rove inspired campaign, kissing John McCain's Ass, reminding everybody what a hero this guy is (and he is). But Audie Murphy was a hero too, and I don't think anybody thought that this made him eminently qualified to be President.

It's hard to get a read on this John McCain, at least in terms of his grasp of the world around him. Certainly, being a POW would make one view humanity through a certain lens, but I would think it would make one more likely to avoid war at all cost, yet McCain seems intent on continuing the disastrous policies and apocalyptic rhetoric of George W. Bush, the man who so thoroughly smeared him in 2000 with the worst sort of whisper campaign imaginable (NVA collaboration? Bi-racial love children? A wife addicted?)-you know, the sort of thing The Clintons did only months ago, and in the same state (I guess there's just something about South Carolina, ya know…).

What's more is the famous pic of Bush and McCain, with Mr. Straighttalk literally embracing the man who tried to destroy him, almost in a thank you. Indeed, Mr. Straighttalk/The Maverick/Johnny Badass War Hero, cravenly clinging to a man who, while McCain was behind enemy lines, was hovering up horse lines like fucking Tony Montana, like he owed Jr. something? Thank you, George, for sullying my honor, and may I kiss you for your hard work. It is in a moment like that words like integrity should be used, not in reference to some bullshit god huckster with an ax to grind, and a refusal to throw the motherfucker under the bus.

No.

Embracing the man who has single handedly (well, with Cheney's permission) wrecked the economy, wrecked the Constitution, wrecked our credibility and moral position, and wrecked the lives of tens of thousands of Americans, and untold Iraqis is craven. It is not honorable; it is ignoble. All that this proves is that McCain, ever the soldier, will eat shit on order. Embracing the dishonorable does not prove your honor or integrity. It does, however, have a tendency to get on you? Did ya get any on ya?

Of course, and only an idiot would tell people that we may have to brace ourselves for perpetual total war, especially when it doesn't have to be so, and especially especially when said person doesn't even know the difference between Sunni and Shia, or the role that Iran has played. One would think that the fear of a Persian Planet would have mitigated the unholy blood lust for Iraq, but hey, let's think about the future, the world of paranoia and death to come. HOO-RAH.

Actually, the worse part is that Mr. Straighttalk, even with his ignorance of the region, just told you that this is a War For Oil. Yes, your children, your husbands and wives, your brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors, are fighting and dying for your SUV. Our SUV's…

Excuse the hyperbolic flourish. We aren't fighting and dying for your SUV. No, it's that we are fighting and dying so that Oil companies can continue to sodomize you at the pump, and at home. Thank God it's not Winter, right? Think about next winter, will ya, for a second? Makes the sphincter jumpy, no?

Certainly, Mr. Straighttalk did me a favor: I was beginning to think that every time one of these ditto heads called me a moonbat and told me to put my tinfoil hat back on because I said these whole thing is about Oil, that maybe they had a point. I began to think "Geez, buddy, calm down! Maybe they're right? Our government wouldn't sacrifice its own people for the interests of the godmoneyed few?". So Senator Maverick…thank you!

Naturally, he claims he misspoke, and that he was referring to Gulf War I. Oh…I thought that was about the integrity of Kuwaiti border and the sovereignty of the Kuwaiti Potentate, and protecting our friends the Saudis…so all of that was bullshit?

Was bullshit, and is, bullshit? If you buy Captain Maverick McStraightfrombush's explanation, I've got some WMD's in and around Tikrit you might be interested in.

So what's the explanation to all of this? What are you going on about here?

It's time we reframe this election, it's true meaning. I am talking both epistemologically and ontologically. It needs to be said, and dammit, I'm just the magic user to do it.

You have three candidates; two Democrats and one Republican (actually, two: Let's not forget Don Paul, The Man From Lake Jackson, tilting at the Antebellum, but anyway). Two of these candidates are extremely well known, one, they claim, has not been vetted properly. This candidate is exciting and fresh, with a unique perspective on the world. The people are excited by the prospect of finally turning a corner in regard to the pitched ideological battles of the last 40 years, and working toward a new future.

The other two have a vested interest in discrediting this upstart. Hillary Clinton and John McCain are R ARE the STATUS QUO. Don't believe the bullshit about this change or that change from these two. They intend to keep things just as they are: Narrowly ideological, with a pretense at their difference.

The media, since Reverend Wrong came out with the hatchet (and how come nobody seems to give a shit that a Hillary supporter booked this asshole's media tour?) have given The Status Quo a pass. Both of them? Blood for Oil? So? The Obliteration of Iran? No big deal? Let's talk about the "Goddamn America"-but only if Obama's, right? Since the Status Quo are both associated with religious crackpots who have made offensive and hateful comments about this Republic. The media needs the status quo because its easy and digestible. The characters are set, man. The themes are easy, the dialogue heated and exciting and, the best part of all, everything that happens tends toward more bad news, and that, my friends, sells like hotcakes. Except for now, because hotcakes are too goddamned expensive, too.

If it isn't the wacky Reverend, then we are talking about 30 bucks. Yup, the Federal Gas Tax Holiday, the most inane bullshit idea ever to deal with the hosing of America. Thirty fucking bucks. If you think this is all wonderful, ask yourself "How much are tires now? How much is a new suspensión?" because your trip to Applebees for half price appetizers may end in leaving the front end of your car in a giant pothole. Come on, these two, with this weak ass idea, are the political equivalent of the guy who hits you in the parking lot of Meier's, and want's to pay you cash to not file a claim…"But my bumper's hanging off?"

"Hey, come on, my premiums will go up".

There is an old adage that if you lie down with dogs, you get fleas. I feel like we need a new one: If you get in bed with the Rightwing, you get the herpes.

Herpes, of course, is a gift into perpetuity. The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has given us so many gifts, and not just Fox News and George Bush. It has given us our Status Quo, for both Clinton and McCain have been scarred by it, in some cases, by their own volition. Both of them seem to suffer from outbreaks, or are in the throes of a flaming outbreak. In their ideological battles, the desire to prevail is so great that they would willingly sell anybody and everybody out. For McCain, it was the last shred of integrity and honor, sold out to the NeoCons, The Dittoheads, the lot. For Clinton, it would seem that she has forgotten who the bad guys are, and has decided that her sense of entitlement, her own constructed egoistic claim to history, means that she will do anything to win, even if she alienates millions, and burns down her own party to do it. If you get in bed with the Rightwing, you are the rightwing. Your sores fester for the world to see, a constant reminder of your historical blindness, your pomposity, and your cowardly pandering. You kiss enough ass, and your breath smells like shit.

So, as I end this missive, I would like my fellow citizens of these United States to not be fooled. Do not think that McCain is different from Bush, because he can't be. Do not fool thyself with the underdog bullshit of that NeoCon in a Progressive Pantsuit, Hillary Clinton. A vote for one of them is a vote for the other, and nothing changes.

If you don't like the way the country is going, then really do something about it. Leave your baggage at the door. Vote for Barack Obama.

Return to the Creed of our Founding.

Vote for Obama.

Update, Primary Day: Ron Paul?!?:

"Instead, Paul favors Sen. Barack Obama because of positions on foreign policy. 'But that's doesn't mean that's an endorsement,' Paul quickly added."

I have no earthly idea what is going to happen. I'm in knots...

Working Class Zero

It's amazing how the media will push the narrative that Obama is the "elites" choice. This decidedly unelite magic user supports him, as do many other folks I know.

This puff piece in Salon, which used to be the source, just underscores this by reminding us that Obama's education, coupled with a rather specious claim about his beer of choice in Pennsylvania, that Barack is just too cool for regular folks, thus, setting up Hillary as the "Okie from Muskogee" candidate.

This is very convenient, except that she went to Yale, an even more elitist school than Harvard, for a start.

That's why I laugh everytime she complains about her treatment. She's gotten off easy.

Yet, I stop laughing, because of Ohio, and I wonder "Do people really buy this bullshit?".

Update: Case in Point.

Hillary...everywhere you don't want her.

This is interesting:

"I voluntarily left the Hillary Finance Committee after I discovered more than $3,000 in unauthorized charges from HRC campaign on my own VISA card! And that set off a wave of overdrafts and $400 in bank charges that I was stuck with. And the compliance officer Allison Wright at Hillary VA headquarters refused to reimburse me for the charges. And the senior finance reps who I notified about more than $3,000 in unauthorized Visa Charges never once aplogized or empathized with my plight, much less sent me a "sorry for all the trouble" note and a check! "

Desperation

Christ... Hillary Clinton seems a bit desperate and unhinged:

"You are not going to wave a magic wand and get rid of the special interest".

No shit...the Clintons are still in this...

Clinton Desperation Update 02.25.08:

Oh, now Obama's George Bush...

The Epistemology of the Annointing of Hillary Clinton: A Reader Response.

Stanley Fish, still suffering from a chronic and certainly fatal emeritus (a affliction exclusively among intellectuals where by the afflicted disguise declining intellectual vigor with what is know as being a smug prick) has decided everybody is being too mean to Hillary Clinton in light of her less than stellar moment during the debate:

"She could have then proceeded in a straight line to make her point and protected herself from the accusation – made by John Edwards on the spot – that she was talking out of both sides of her mouth. She wasn’t. It was a bad rap, although one she invited by failing to get the parts of her answers in the right order and thereby allowing her rivals to treat points that went together to form a whole as if they were separately, and inconsistently, made. "

Epistemologically speaking, if Fish weren't such lazy shit for brains, he would know that the socially constructed reality, which he has made his career with, would dictate, in this case, he is shill- a point I will work through in a little bit. Some of us still deal with actual students, Stanley...

later...

The socially constructed reality, in this particular case, is, in fact, not socially constructed at all, unless you are drinking buddies with Stan, who has managed to devolve the idea of a public intellectual, a la Edward Said, or Noam Chomsky, into just another pundit, a la Alan Colmes.

See, for those of us out here in what can be called "society", we are not really as in love as Hillary as Stan is. The problem with interpretative community, and the Fish's reading of this political text, and the rest of the pundit class as well, is that the assumptions which Fish basing this on are the assumptions of an elite corporate hegenomy, or in his case, a form of WASP deragement which is symptomatic of emeritus. Of course Hillary is the front runner, of course she should be president because she best represents their interests. Ideas of social and economic justice are meant to be facile. Universal Health Care is a Hillary brand, which, like Budweiser, proclaims it self to be beer when it is clearly not.

Hillary Clinton is the polite, safe way to show opposition to the disasterous, cryptofascist polices of George Bush and his NeoCon gangsters, with out the actual discomfort of really doing anything about this mess. Hillary would never make you confront the inconsistencies of your imported car, parked at Wild Oats, while you listen to some nominal world music on NPR and spout some "liberal" platitudes with your organic toothpaste...Yes, Hillary is a way to be progressive without all that progress. Wow, a aristocratic, hawkish white yuppie woman. That'll show'em...

For Stanley, being progressive without progress has always been the way to fly, because, at its core, his entire intellectual enterprise is pinioned to the ostensibly radical notion of reader response. On the surface, it would certainly appear to free literacies; however, in praxis, reader response merely piggybacks on other critical theories, because each brings its share of cultural assumptions, and, what is more, even having a articulated critical framework signifies a certain academic bearing which would privelege the ivorytowerism over a truly egalitarian reading of any text. Reader response is not a theory so much as it is a parasite on critical theory-kind of like its fat headed avatar.

Certainly, it would be interesting to see what Stan made of the Vegas debate, with Blitzer's hackneyed questions, the booing of Edwards and Obama-certainly, a sign that is criticism is correct, because the interpretive community, the audience, reacted accordingly.However, in my reading of that text, it is impossible to ignore the Fish/Clinton paradigm which framed the text, because it was so naked in doing so, especially with the semiotic plants working the textually field, all to get you to come to the same conclusion: Hillary is future. Stanley Fish knows more than you. Go with a winner.

But who wins in this narrative? The same guys who always win.