Saturday, January 05, 2008

Pictures


at an Exhibition


Some notes on

this post.

This is Picasso’s masterpiece;

"Guernica"


If you try to use "Guernica" as a GPS system to navigate your way through the town of Guernica, you will get hopelessly lost.

Also the town of Guernica is not black and white.

This is Marcel Duchamp’s masterpiece;

“Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2”

If you use “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2” as an anatomical diagram, you're going to cut someone's dick off by mistake.

My post -- no masterpiece by any means; just one mash-up and a few words -- has proven beyond my wildest dreams to be a splendidly evocative Rorschach Test, the results of which filled up the comments section over at Crooks & Liars, and my email in-box.

That graphic -- he said, speaking as the one who created it -- had very little to do with the specific virtues or defects of Candidate Clinton: it was about being sick to death of having my political and media choices picked and laid out for me like bednight jammies by people I do not respect and who do not have my best interests at heart.

For weeks, the emergent frame in the corporate media was that Hillary was Unstoppable and Romney was Untouchable.

Both were massively well-financed, have their firmware-message programmed to a fare-thee-well, and have the full, unsheathed muscle of the Party Establishments behind them.

Obama was supposed to be a cute, biracial human-interest story that would go down under the Clinton Experience Onslaught

like this.

Edwards was Mr. Angry One Note.

Mitt Romney’s only heavy lifting was going to be getting past New York’s own

Rodent of Unusual Size. (photo from here)

while Mike Huckabee was a curious, Jebus-shaped growth that just kinda showed up on the GOP’s hindquarters one day: Evangelicals pronounced it a miracle, while Establishment Republican specialists at the Reagan Clinic said, nah, it’s just a mole.

Weeks – months! – ago, these stories (and Many!Many!More!) were already being bound into galley proofs of the 2008 Election Book of Common Wisdom; the details were already being outlined by the pundits, already on the spike, and the MSM was already picking out the cover art.

And then came Iowa with a big, corn-fed, Midwestern...

Fuck. You. All.

Bwaahahahahaha!

Now Hillary – in a very classy speech – is practically doing her own cover of “Knockin' on Heavens Door”
...Mama, put these slogans in the ground
'Cause I can't shoot them anymore
abruptly cross-ripping against her own grain and her own carefully crafted “Experience” message, and using the word “Change” ten times a minute.

While Romney’s handlers hustled him back to the shop last night to pull his “Pro-Torture Money Manager” and “Jebus-N-Me” chip sets and replaced them with “Ch-Ch-Change Agent 2.0”

From the AP:

DERRY, N.H. - Republican Mitt Romney, trying to prevent a potentially crippling New Hampshire primary loss, cast himself as a change agent Saturday as he tried to repel rival John McCain and answer Iowa caucus voters who showed they have tired of the status quo in Washington.


Noting that freshman Sen. Barack Obama beat Hillary Rodham Clinton, a second-term senator and former first lady, Romney said Iowans "wanted to see someone who said they would do something new and change Washington."



Another none-too-subtle banner was an 11-item "To Do" list beginning with "Make American Safer" and ending with "Put people ahead of selfish interest." He said the "customers," or American people, can add more throughout the campaign.



I don’t know whether to laugh of cry (OK, I lied; I'm laughing.)

I do know that Romney’s campaign won’t end in tears or recrimination, but with him levelly pleading “Dave. Stop. Stop. Will. You. Stop. Dave.”


and singing “Daisy” as his critical CPU components are yanked out, one after another.

In other words, Iowa smashed the Villager’s Precooked, Prefab Message all to shit, and I am de-lighted.

So when Candidate Obama talks about wanting to reach out and be inclusive, I believe he is sincere. I have no idea how successfully that can be done, but I wish him well and do not doubt his authenticity on the subject.

However, stories of the Magical Pious Center -- where all good things reside -- are political fairy tales that stupid, timorous people tell themselves to relieve themselves of the responsibility of making and then defending actual, difficult choices.

As you and I damn well know, when Republicans talk about bipartisanship, what they actually mean is "We really, really, really wish Liberals would just stop fighting back and we could get back to the good old days when we would call them ‘Traitor’ and they would roll over and take it.”

But it turns out, having nothing in your wormy apple cart to sell but hate and fear and the appeasing of dolts eventually exacts a helluva price; and that price is called the Bush Era.

So if Candidate Obama can come along and collect the disaffected and horrified that have been drop-kicked and centrifuged out of the Party of God by thirty years of escalating insanity and failure, well that’s just fabulous. However, the only reason that incivility is even there as an issue to be exploited is the Dirty Fucking Hippies.

Is you and me.

Because as long as all the hellfire was pouring down from only one direction – from Right to Left – the GOP and the Establishment Media had absolutely no fucking problem with “partisanship”. It sold papers, swelled ranks and increased donations.

No, it is only now that Liberals are firing back hard, fast, en masse and without surcease that the Villagers have suddenly become horrified with the potty mouths of we ugly, vul-gah masses, and that a candidate selling a message of unity and civility stands any kind of chance to win.

So just as soon as Fixed News goes off the air, Bill O’Reilly’s audience finally dodders away into their unquiet graves, AM Hate Radio goes back to the business of broadcasting farm reports, traffic and high schools sports, and Dominionists are flogged back into the ignorant Bronze Age sewers from whence they came, I will gladly hang up my guns and play nice.

And not a moment before.

Helpful Addenda #1: For people who assert that the Iowa vote means that 60-something-percent of the Democratic voters in of Iowa “rejected” Hillary Clinton, I call bullshit.

Bullshit on raveling up people’s complex, political decisions in free-floating “What’s wrong with the other sweater?” Mom-guilt.

I’m sure that some small percentage of the caucus-goers voted straight Repudiation Party ticket.

But it is equally obvious that a large number of them saw that, for the first time in many years, two or three or five or even seven of the candidates at the table were acceptable. Were...OMG...actually OK. Maybe they even found some of them admirable.

Ah but in the end it’s only one to a customer.

In the end, like Dunkin McDonut of the Clan McDonut, "There Can Be Only One!"

Helpful Addenda #2: For people who think Liberals shouldn’t be allowed to talk a little shit about people “in the family" because somehow the Evil Conservatives will leech enough fuel from our honest disagreements to win in the Fall, I call Fainting Couch Bullshit.

I believe you’re looking for the “Trust Circle Management Empowerment Retreat”. That’s three doors down, on your right, past the bathrooms and the buffet table.

This is “Politics”, and if the man or woman of your dreams can’t take a few punches, maybe they’re in the wrong business.


Helpful Addenda #3: For the people who somehow took one graphic as an endorsement of Candidate Obama (this is me laughing) and all acid-pissy that I won’t now hit him equally hard because that’s the only “fair” thing (this is me falling down laughing)
A) If you can find a way to graft another 10 hours onto my already-ridiculously busy day, let me know and we’ll talk.

B) Within the confines of an already-ridiculously busy life, when the Muse calls I come. When she sleeps in, I do other things. I don't punch a blog-clock, carry other people's water, and I don't answer to anyone.
C) You want fair? This a link to “Blogger”. Click it. Start a blog. Write really well about how terrible Obama is and change people's minds.
Then the world will be fair.

16 comments:

Caoimhin Laochdha said...

Drift,
I'm glad the muse is awake today! Well said.
slainte,
cl

Anonymous said...

you've always called them as you've seen 'em and if you don't keep it up I'll personally [strike]kick your ass[/strike] stop reading your blog religiously

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Bambi, the kids'll love it.

I was wondering if you were getting famous when I saw that pic over at C&L.

pwapvt

darkblack said...

"Scary! Unnerving! Creepy! Erectile dysfunction-making! Horrifying! THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN!"

Ah, Driftglass...Tugging the nervestrings of the heartland again, eh?

;>)

People really don't handle radical juxtapositions well, do they... ensconced as they are in their cozy preconceptions of how they wish things should be.

A sacred cow felled by an uncaring blade, the clay feet of idols placed lovingly into a kiln, cold water thrown on a self-satisfied face - What some must realize is that (among other things, many other things) it is not about the destruction of the hero within the personal mythologies of others for the sake of sheer spite - But it is no longer sufficient to merely style oneself a hero and enlist the gullible to aid in the creation of the artifice, scattering empty promises to the wind.

One must actually be a hero, and do heroic deeds and make heroic sacrifices, big, little, and in between to qualify.

This is how we reset the bar, one small notch at a time.

Anonymous said...

I'm crossing Charles Gibson off my Xmas card list, after tonight's Democratic debate.
~

Phil said...

Yes, I also thoroughly enjoyed the stunned look, the one a pig gets on it's face when the bullet comes,that froze on the faces of those who are paid to tell us what to think.
What to do?
After being told for a fucking year that we were going to get Hillary, now shut up and sit down, they are at a total loss for words.Hell just froze over.Good enough for me, now I can sit back and watch the clusterfuck roll over and start anew.Minus a few bit players, the show will go on.

Anonymous said...

`swat happens when you venture out of the backwaters into the big room?

I for one am thrilled to see your talents displayed to a wider audience. With that comes the trolls. Fuggem!

A former editor whipped me weekly that I was writing above the readers' heads. I kept telling him I was writing where their heads needed to be.

Keep on truckin'. We need MORE Driftglass on C&L. I want you to get famous, drink fine single malts to the point of swillage and forget us little people. I say this with the confidence that even if you're drinking with your "NEW" friends, you'll still be writing where heads need to be. Preaching to the choir can only accomplish so much.

You deserve a wider audience.

Anonymous said...

You Said Drifty: " . . . not in my best interests."

Or somethin like that.

Thass MY line, ya sausage n kraut bun lover.

Just give a Larue a wave, I'm kewl. *G*

Myrtle June said...

I am "de-lighted" for the same reason. I hope to be even more "de-lighted". :D

Addenda #2: I was stunned to see that come into play. That particular stfu stick left a permanent mark, I'll can tell you that.

"And not a moment before"

Amen.

Phil said...

Driftglass,
for those insanely busy days,
when the Muse is out getting a manicure.
When fair and balanced are not a viable combination,when an extra ten hours can't be imploded into the already too few to make a difference,
I want you to know that selling a soul for a few minutes more won't change a thing.
"What Do You Want From Me?" becomes a Gregorian chant to escape the closing walls."Do You Think I Know Something........You Don't Know?"

For you;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l0-6s6JKQg

Anonymous said...

"So just as soon as Fixed News goes off the air, Bill O’Reilly’s audience finally dodders away into their unquiet graves, AM Hate Radio goes back to the business of broadcasting farm reports, traffic and high schools sports, and Dominionists are flogged back into the ignorant Bronze Age sewers from whence they came, I will gladly hang up my guns and play nice."

Hells, YEAH! Donchu listen to nobody!

Anonymous said...

DG- you messed with people's heads? GOOD! That's why we love you! This country is swirling down the open throat of the "porcelain god" and the wake-up call needs to be loud and clear.

I took your post to indicate that Hill and Mitt were politically indistinguishable- two sides of the same corporate coin. And it's always nice to see the MSM take a knee to the groin.

WereBear said...

While Romney’s handlers hustled him back to the shop last night to pull his “Pro-Torture Money Manager” and “Jebus-N-Me” chip sets and replaced them with “Ch-Ch-Change Agent 2.0”

Man, the image of his chips being hastily replaced will know be an undertone every time that Ken doll persona of his rears its head.

Incisive! Descriptive! Persuasive!

That's what I like.

Anonymous said...

Addendum to the Addenda --

Go, Driftglass. So what's the Robert's Rules of Order here in West Blogistan? No doing anything that might make someone's blood pressure jump? No noticing any zits on the ass of our guy/our gal? Ever?

Why do naysayers think your genius graphic was a plug for Kumbaya Obama? Sheeee-it. I thought it was a plug for my guy, Edwards. You know, Edward the Prickly and Angry (or, so says the meme-makers in their first draft criticism of NH debate on Sat.)

Actually, the only I thought when I saw that Hillary-Romney test tube chimera was --

Dayem. That Driftglass can sure do the PhotoShop Aztec Two-Step. Now, hand me the pitchfork, will you Clyde? We got us a genius to deflate here.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Love ya, as ever drifty.

re Addenda #2. A conservative of my acquaintance is constantly harping on bipartisanship and not espousing hate.

He misinterprates self-defense as hate, and winds up picking Ron Paul as a bipartisan savior.

Go figure. But to addendum #2: Fuck yeah.

Anonymous said...

Too Bloody Right Mate.
Love & Cubic Droppings.
Wombat