White House
Democracy for America (aka Dean for America V) - To November and beyond
V.Ellis - 09:11 p.m. Pacific Time - June 8, 2005 - #4640 of 4746
What the heck is so insulting about describing the Republicans as being predominantly white and Christian? Dean isn't saying that whites and Christians are evil or a bad thing to be. He's just saying that the Republicans aren't very diverse, that they should perhaps try to be MORE THAN JUST white and Christian. Hell, Vermont is largely white and Christian. Doesn't make Vermont "bad." But it makes Vermont not terribly ethnically diverse.
It's arguably a bad thing for a NATIONAL party to be so nearly "monolithic," but that's not the same thing as saying that the group that puts the "mono" in monolithic is in itself evil.
If I were a Democratic politician asked to repudiate Dean for that, I'd say, Is there something wrong with being white or Christian? Is that an insult now? I thought an insult was being called a "freak show" (the Dean supporters) or "anti-American" (the Greatest Generation), or "fifth-columnists" (the left), and that intemperate remarks were something along the lines of "bipartisanship is date rape," the estate tax is like the Holocaust, liberal judges are worse than al-Qaida and should watch their backs when they make the wrong rulings, Democratic senators are like Hitler, certain presidents shouldn't come to North Carolina without a bodyguard, that same certain president is a scumbag, a certain reporter's "a major league asshole, big time," a certain senator can go "f--- yourself," the presidential candidate of the other party is favored by terrorists.
And then there's "lesbianism is rampant" in the schools so that only one girl at a time is allowed to go to the bathroom, abortion doctors should get the death penalty, homosexuals and pagans were responsible for 9/11, and 1960s counterculture caused the stepdaughter of a child-molesting local Republican Party official to kill her children, "God hates fags," "lesbians are mating with pigs to perpetuate the species," "Don't say the word 'gay' to me, unless you mean 'Got AIDS yet?',""I wouldn't trust a homosexual with 5 dollars," "Barney Fag."
And don't forget: Shoot those "jackbooted thugs" the BATF agents in the head in case they're wearing bulletproof vests, and Mark Felt and the Washington Post are responsible for genocide in Cambodia.
When every GOP elected official repudiates Grover Norquist, Andrew Sullivan, Rush Limbaugh, Fred Phelps, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jesse Helms, Bob Dornan, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Tom Coburn, James Dobson, Dick Cheney, President Bush, Tom DeLay, Dan Burton, Dick Armey, Wayne LaPierre, G. Gordon Liddy, Ben Stein, Peggy Noonan and Pat Buchanan for those remarks and for every other word that comes out of Ann Coulter's mouth, and does so loudly and publicly on Fox News and inserts it into the Congressional Record and thenceforth refuses to associate with those people, then come talk to me about being insulted by a characterization Republicans are normally more inclined to boast about than shy away from and maybe we can have a conversation about context.
Families Who Think
Family Lifestyle and Class Choices
sarai - 10:58 a.m. Pacific Time - June 3, 2005 - #726 of 819
My mother was recently outraged when she went to buy a new "davenport" and the salesman had no idea what she was talking about. But he sold her a couch or a sofa or something and everyone was happy. She's the only person I know who says davenport. She also refers to bedroom furniture as a "bedroom suit" -- pronounced "sooot." I think she's going for suite, but I'm not sure.
I have an etiquette book from the '40s that lists which words are correct. The main thing I remember is that you're supposed to pronouce "new" as "nyoo" and "syoot" for "suit." Or, in my mom's case, I guess it would be "bedroom syoot" which is the only thing that would sound sillier.
Imagination
bonzai - 07:29 p.m. Pacific Time - June 1, 2005 - #24 of 32
Attention
This is not a magic coffee pot, and will not clean or refill itself. The sink is also not magic, and will not wash, dry and put away coffee cups for you to use tomorrow. Neither is the water dispenser magical in any way, other than that it dispenses cold water so long as there is any water in the bottle to dispense. Food left in the refrigerator for weeks will not magically transfer itself into the trash can, nor will paper towels hurl themselves onto the empty spindle without assistance.
When you find the pot filled with hot, fresh, life-giving, eye-opening coffee, a clean and dry coffee cup, the refrigerator odor-free and roomy enough to accept your lunch box, and discover that your papers do not stick to the counter when you rest them there to refill, be aware of me. I did these things, magical me, and I hate you.
Posts of the week is an ongoing feature of Table Talk, Salon's vibrant community forum. Older posts of the week may be found here in TT. Want to join the discussion? Sign up here.
Shares