Designed by inept committee, assembled by demoralized line workers who knew they were building crap, and aggressively marketed to the public by slapping a trusted brand name on it and shoving it out the door, the Chevy Vega went on to become the Car That Nearly Destroyed GM. From Car Talk:
"As near as I could tell, the car was built from compressed rust.""My Chevy Vega actually broke in half going over railroad tracks. The whole rear end came around slightly to the front, sort of like a dog wagging its tail."
"Burned so much oil, it was single handedly responsible for the formation of OPEC."
And now, with the rise of Donald Trump, the Beltway Media's most enduring and best selling Big Lie -- Both Siderism -- many finally be shuddering and gasping its way to its "Chevy Vega" Stage.
Via Ross Cardinal Douthat in the New York Times, where he continues to be paid actual money to crank out this lazy, designed-by-committee, paint-by-numbers claptrap:
And right on schedule. who steps up to declare that he loves Cardinal Douthat's latest travesty like chupacabras love goat's blood?From Obama to TrumpThe spectacle of the Republican Party’s Trumpian meltdown has inspired a mix of glee and fear among liberals — glee over their rivals’ self-immolation, and fear that what arises from the destruction will be worse.
What it hasn’t inspired is much in the way of self-examination, or a recognition of the way that Obama-era trends in liberal politics have helped feed the Trump phenomenon.
Such a recognition wouldn’t require letting the Republican Party off the hook. The Trump uprising is first and foremost a Republican and conservative problem: There would be no Trumpism if George W. Bush’s presidency hadn’t cratered, no Trumpism if the party hadn’t alternated between stoking and ignoring working-class grievances, no Trump as front-runner if the party leadership and his rivals had committed fully to stopping him before now.
But Trumpism is also a creature of the late Obama era...
Trump is both the GOP's monster and part of the Obama's legacy. Spot-on via @DouthatNYT https://t.co/J8gifsILiZ— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) February 28, 2016
If you listen, you can practically hear the beer bottles rattling around in the wheel well.
If you look down, you can almost see the road bed as the shoddy floorboards rust out and fall to pieces beneath your feet.
15 comments:
While I agree with your long standing objection to "bothsiderism," on the labor front there is a problem: NAFTA. When the Clintons defeated Tom Harkin in '92, they conceded that labor was in a world market, and that capital was fundamentally liquid, that is, borderless. Economics is now dominated by the multi-national corporation, which is essentially a Republican idea. The Republican "solution" to the real problems American working people face today is "let the magic of the free market work." This is in part why Trump is making headway, and why a Trump/Clinton race will hold some advantages for Trump.
If only Obama had allowed Republicans to repeal Obamacare.
Gawd Almighty! The "evidence" that Asshat amasses in support of his claim that Trump somehow picked up on Obama's Caesarism and so-called Imperial presidency to fashion his own campaign is the worst kind of projection, and something only possible if one ignores the historical record i.e. St. Ronnie's "morning in America" stuff and W's "mission accomplished" strutting around in a flight suit, as a prelude to the 2004 election. Asshat sees what he wants to see, devoid of context, causality and common sense. Just another reason why I'll never give a nickel to the NYT.
I predict massive growth in the next couple of years for the group self-identifying to pollsters as "independents". Exhaustive DNA research has now established that "independents", rather than being a separate species, are in fact simply Republicans with a sense of shame.
This illustrates once again that foundational principle of the confidence game - a mark can never face up to having been a mark.
Come back, David Broder; all is forgiven!
Redhand
When I moved to NY, one of my anticipated Sunday pleasures was going to be buying a hefty copy of the NYT at my local newsstand and settling into it with a large pot of coffee. But they got their last nickel from me when they staged the Judith Miller pantomime. I know whereof you speak.
I wouldn't know whether to shit or go blind if someone, somewhere, didn't blame Obama for the collapse of the GOP and the rise of Il Douche.
God what assholes. Fuck you Douthat and other GOP apologists. This is ALL on you.
@keith gargus
Well, in all fairness, he was responsible for the fall of man in the Garden of Eden because he wasn't a Christian but a Moooslim so there's that.
" I love the uneducated", Donald Trump.
Now that is a very conservative statement. We know the republican party and the Republicans in congress do. And rely heavily on it. Promote it in their cuts to education even.
Case in point. You would never be informed of this by the GOP. The GOP leadership in Congress would not let this bind them to a reasonable statesman outcome.
You see,
President Richard Nixon resigns. His V.P. (Ford) assumes President.
Now President Ford, needs a Vice President, right?
(No the speaker does not move to VP)
President Ford nominates his Vice President. And guess what?
The Senate Advises and consents on that nominee for VP. So what actually happened when Ford nominated his VP?
Did the Democratic majority Senate give hearing on the nominee? (this was after Watergate). It was a Democratic Senate majority and a republican White House.
Yes is the answer,
Rockefeller was the confirmed VP.
@Kathleen O'Neil
Or, for shits & giggles, you can point out that Mooslims also believe in the Old Testament and that the Garden of Eden was probably located in Iraq.
Years back, I pointed out that Muslims considered Jesus one of the holy prophets of God/Allah (born of a virgin also), plus that Mohammed was given the Koran by the angel Gabriel/Jabril. This was among a group of conservative Evangelicals - and highly educated to boot. It was as though I stood up and defecated in front of them. Not pleased.
Sometimes when one of my liberal friends bemoan the "low uneducated" (or whatever tRump called them) enabling the GOP train wreck, I have to point out to them that there are also wealthy, highly educated religious zealots helping to bring this about. I've had some close friends go more and more off the conservative deep end these last twenty years, and it is heartbreaking.
What a perfect metaphor, "Chevy Vega" stage. I had one, it blew up on me, never touched another GM product since.
May this stage sink in on the idjit media types but good ... they'll keep ridin' with Death if THEY don't change. They're an essential part of the whole disaster, and man it's tsunami-sized.
@Habitat Vic
Agree. I come from an evangelical, fundie, hard rightwing family. They are all highly educated (advanced degrees from good schools), well traveled, smart, cultural people.
My observation is that the brainwashing by 24/7/365 exposure to Fox, Hate Radio, and various "Christian-y" broadcasts has turned them into know-nothing dittoheaded idiots.
There is pernicious propaganda out there about how the Muzlinz don't believe in "God" but in the devil. That there is only one "God," and HE is white, and the only way one can believe and worship this particular correct form of "God" is via being a "Christian." It's a very neat trick. BC anyone of any other type of religion is automatically "out" and not truly worshipping blonde, blue eyed "God." And, therefore, people of that religious persuasion can be tortured, bombed into oblivion, etc, bc that's what blond blue eyed "God" demands. Seriously. Not exaggerating. It's pretty scary, imo.
My family members are unreachable at this stage. They can be good company some times but often behave (literally) like some sort of robot spouting out the party lines that have been pounded into their heads. I have some family members who still worship at the shrine of Sarah Palin. There's simply no accounting for it.
So no, it's not just the unwashed poorly educated racists who are big time Trump supporters. It's All of Them, Katie.
@Habitat Vick
@RUKidding
I heard a writer from the New Yorker being interviewed about the Trump/Right wing Extremist connection on NPR this afternoon. This interview confirmed why I think using Donald Trump as a whipping boy is ludicrous and dangerous. The writer launched into poor white menz haz sadz because political correctness and job losses and nobody loves them so here's Donald Trump and he validates them spiel.
My problem with this line of discussion is two fold. One, I keep hearing that his support comes from the uneducated, disenfranchised lower class. If I weren't so lazy I'd google some polling because I don't think this is as true as the media want us to believe. I live across the river from Kentucky and the bedrock of the racist Tea Party in Kentucky was affluent suburbanites in Northern Kentucky (which is also uber Catholic). I wouldn't be a bit surprised if many of them supported Trump. Second, by making Trump the bad guy the media are ignoring the history of the Rethuglicans' pandering to white people's fear and hatred for almost 50 years. Talk about "The Brand". Context. What is it good for? (Absolutely nothing). But as you all know our host has written many posts about this so I certainly could not add much.
In closing, Rubio and Cruz would be just as bad if not worst than Trump (the same could be said for the other jackals).
Oh My Goodness, earlier today I had a conversation about the era of disposable cars.
There was a glut of Omnis, Mavericks, Vegas, and Gremlins, that were ubiquitous and then simply gone. It was the nadir of American auto manufacturing.
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