Wow. Garrison Keillor's really mad

[pegkerr]

At the end: Dante said that the hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who in time of crisis remain neutral, so I have spoken my piece.

Has he ever. Thanks for the link, mckitterick!

Comments

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks! I loved cowpox's comment: "We said it at Appomattox, we’ll say it again- “Sir, you will never understand the depth of Southern Rancour.”


God Damn the Union!
God Damn by Any Means!"

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

You saw that one too???? That made me laugh. I read it to Lee (my bf).

Thanks for the link, Peg.

[dreamcoat-mom.livejournal.com]

My goodness! Our gentle Sage of the Upper Midwest didn't mince any words, did he? I am amazed at how perfectly he was able to articulate my own anger following the RNC - all I could do was sputter incoherently. But Keillor managed to spin his ire into a finely-wrought rant that makes me feel so much better than all of the foul-mouthed blithering that's been traversing the LJ posts as of late. Now THAT's getting MAD - with graceful style and unerring precision. Thanks for the link, Peg.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

He hit it exactly--what is it they say in the Olympics? "He stuck it"? I am old enough to remember Eisenhower Republicans, as well as Goldwater Republicans and Nixon Republicans. They were people who believed in the underlying principles this country was founded on; they simply had a different idea of how to achieve them.

Ronald Reagan founded the current Republican Party when he made "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" his campaign slogan. Not "Is the country better off," "Is the average citizen better off," or even "Are your friends and neighbors better off," but "Are YOU better off?" I wrote about that at the time, when no one seemed to be paying any attention to it, and I've watched it happen over the intervening years, till we got to . . . this.

[dancingwriter.livejournal.com]

>Not "Is the country better off," "Is the average citizen better off," or even "Are your friends and neighbors better off," but "Are YOU better off?"

My mother and I have had a number of arguments in which she maintains that everything wrong with society was due to the sixties, and I maintains that the eighties was the decade to blame. You have put your finger on exactly the mindset that I've been objecting to, but I have never been able to articulate it so well. Thanks!

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

I was raised a Reagan Republican in the depths of Utah, and it had never occured to me to distinguish between "Are you better off" and "is the average citizen better off"--I guess because in my mind, the "You" was like the German "Sie"--referring to a large group of people, the whole nation in effect. But you seem to have hit the nail on the head. There's a whole lot of self-centered political thinking residual in that statement. How else do you explain the infatuation people display over a single lousy tax break? (Your vote can be bought, or so the Republicans think. People never do the dollars and cents thinking about the programs they lost because of that tax break or the huge war debts we're racking up. I know my still-Republican family doesn't.)

Maybe it's time to go back to a different "You" statement: Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. (Vote! Vote George Bush outta office! Pardon my enthusiasm.)

[dancingwriter.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing more people to Keillor's excellent essay; he has laid out all the issues so well. May his words be heard.

[kristenj.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link!

[phoenixw.livejournal.com]

My love for Garrison Keillor knows no bounds. Yeah, baby. Tell it like it is. Bitch-slap those smug facists with lambs-wool words.

Not that Mr. Keillor would ever resort to crude language to make a point.

*sigh* That was some worship-worthy opinion writing. Thanks for sharing. :-)