Commentary, Satire & Poetry
[JFK: Here's a poetic perspective on politics some may call cynical, some may say stoic. Jeffers referred to his philosophical distance from people as "inhumanism." This should not, however, be confused with inhumane-ism. Jeffers built a house of stone in Carmel, CA overlooking the Pacific in the days before Carmel was a haven for wealth…
Writing recently in The New York Times Magazine, prominent historian Rick Perlstein attempts to figure out how exactly American conservatism could produce, as if out of nowhere, a candidate and a president of such "intellectual embarrassment" as Donald Trump. What had American historians, particularly those of conservative focus, failed to see since William F. Buckley, Jr.…
Continue reading ➞ A Response to Rick Perlstein’s “I Thought I Understood the American Right . . .”
By John Frederick Kaufman Fists and Flags "America first!" the president cried and raised his fist to punch the sky while someone punched a fascist in the head: the fist is first of many lies, grip of welcome weaponized. In my hand I hold a pen to strike out the wall-like words that slam…
By Rumple Oxbridge (imaginary imaginer at The Pacific) House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke Donald Trump "is not conservatism." Thus many Repubs are chumps because they think the Donald is the purest for of all the raving ranters he's the surest. (When it comes to bigotry Trump's a purist.) Trump wins the most conservatively-correct according…
Continue reading ➞ Rumple Oxbridge: “Playing the Trump Card”
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin did some major speaking out yesterday, saying he wants to offer "a complete alternative to the left's agenda." Exactly which "left" agenda he was referring to he didn't say, but his initial remarks on this subject suggest that Ryan's alternative would look pretty much like the political vision of…
Continue reading ➞ House Speaker Ryan offers no “alternative” except a worse one
To coin a phrase, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself and the Republican Party. Or at least those Republicans for whom foreign terrorists and Syrian refugees (and even Muslim-Americans in general) are now the scariest things on earth. That some Democrats are going along even with House legislation to "pause" compassion towards…
Since the building of really big walls for the good of the nation is now a popular idea among some Americans, especially Republican presidential candidates and a former Republican presidential candidate, Wisconsin Republicans now governing the state should consider building a wall around the state's borders. Such a wall would keep the wrong people out and…
We at the Wisconsin Institute for Insisting that Issue Ads are Not About Electing Anybody (WIII . . .) have teamed up with the Wisconsin Club for Circumventing Justice and the Wisconsin Supremely Conservative Court to bring you the following nonpartisan advertisement on the issue of campaign finance reform. VOT_ for Republicans! Narrator: Are…
Continue reading ➞ “VOT_ for Republicans!”– An Issue Ad for Our Times [Satire]
Perhaps inspired by a genuinely religious (that is, generally liberal) sermon, House Speaker John Boehner decided the next morning he had nothing more to say politically and told House Republicans and the nation yesterday that he is quitting and leaving Congress. Boehner did not say, however, that he will take a vow of poverty to work among the poor in Calcutta or…
Continue reading ➞ And the very next day, the House Speaker resigns . . .
At present the "golden rule" of many in Congress is he who has the most gold is the most to be loved and pandered to, so it was no doubt a bit of a shock for our representatives in Washington, D.C. to be reminded of the Christian Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them…
Continue reading ➞ Congress gets schooled in some liberal religion
Some ironies are so fitting and delicious you are tempted to think that God Herself has something to do with it. Yesterday, September 21st, a day chosen as "Peace Day" celebrated around the world, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced in Madison, Wisconsin--a liberal city he hoped to leave far behind-- that he was getting out of…
Continue reading ➞ Gov. Walker, would-be warrior, quits the race on Peace Day
If it's in the NY Times it must be true: Gov. Scott Walker is throwing in the towel. Perhaps now he'll return to Wisconsin where his local popularity is plummeting.
The typical presidential debate involves a number of candidates being asked a number of general questions which all are expected to answer. The journalists involved (usually TV types) are there to "moderate" the debate: ask the general question and step back, allowing the candidates to say whatever they wish. If the answer is challenged, it…
Continue reading ➞ Candidate debates: Get journalists more involved
