Pretty soon now, I’ll have to stop this lame-stream politico-bloggitude and get down to something a bit more literati. But now, by the light of day, I’m reviewing John Lithgow’s performance for the Colbert Nation. It is one nation, under-awed, with twitter thumbs and iPads for all. We’re getting to this late. We DVR’d it Friday and saw it Sunday evening for the first time. We had preceded it with a viewing of Gregory’s victory lap with his death panel on Meet the Press. We’d seen Newt himself with Schieffer on Face the Nation. Newt seemed a bit squirmy and squeamish when queried about his revolving charge account at Tiffany’s. “It’s his personal life.” True enough. Does public candidacy invite unwarranted scrutiny? Yes. Should it? Maybe not, but it does. Also, the tweeting is endless. Isn’t there a work of fiction that predicts this predicament? Either “1984,” or “Farenheit 451.” But the Colbert Nation got quite a treat in this dramatic reading of this truly creative press release. Somebody had fun writing this copy. And Sir John had a very good time performing it. His shifty eyes and body language brought out the toad in Newt. The writer of this piece is a fair wordsmith with an exaggerated sense of self. Are the same people (the American People) who got sold down the river by the greed on the streets (both Wall and Main) going to go easy on anybody presuming to run for public office? Will the hit counting media? Not likely. It’s extremely unfair. It presages a brutal election season. If it stays this funny, I’m going to have to remember not to take a big slug of liquid before turning on the TV.
I have my own personal pet peeve. I hate it when someone like Newt says that he’s going to take ‘his case’ to “The American People.” He may as well say he’s going to be seeking the verdict of “Nobody.” Even if the ‘people’ could be relied on to think for themselves and not be in some way bought off or persuaded that some bit of nonsense is gospel, the term refers to an entity so diverse in composition, so full of competing factors, and so diluted in its self serving cross purpose that it is utterly useless to specify it as a category, even as a rhetorical trope. It might be more accurate to say that one is going to poll one’s demographic. Even there, consensus is elusive.
Polls of various conflicted demographics have suggested that a majority would favor raising taxes on the very rich and doing away with corporate welfare. The majority also enjoys what little remains of the New Deal and the Great Society. The much maligned entitlements and tax breaks remain popular. Representative Ryan is suffering from a delusion in that he thinks he’s taken a step in any sort of ‘right direction.’ He seeks to sell this idea, and to drive the polls. But he’s already sold it to his demographic. They are puppets on a string. They get some sleep nights by convincing themselves they’re thinking for themselves for the welfare of the State. I don’t really see why the Department of Defense is a sacred cow. Even Regan and Weinberger did some cutting in this area. All we’ve seen lately is buildup. To what effect? How many billions have gone to grease the palms around the world? How many seniors and poor people would that amount of money support? How much research? “The American People” have voted for all of this, just as they have sat it out and let it all come to pass.
It is “a tempest in a teapot.” For the tempest will advance, leaving no glass house intact.