Growing Up Scarborough

My buddy Joe Scarborough was visibly distraught this morning. He was talking with Max Blumenthal about his new book, "Republican Gomorrah" and his You Tube segment, "The Unauthorized 9-12 Teabagger Tour." I've picked up the book but as yet haven't read it. (I'm still very much slogged down by my buddy Joe's tome. With my nicotine withdrawal going on, I can't get very far before I throw the book across the room.) But if you haven't seen the video, exit this site now and take a look. I'll wait.

Pretty funny, isn't it.

Well Joe didn't think so. He didn't spend a lot of time talking with Mr. Blumenthal about the book. I suppose one reason is that it is in a way at odds with Joe's book. It's hard to justify a political movement as being the last hope, when someone says it has already been destroyed.

But Joe was livid about the comments Mr. Blumenthal recorded at the event. Joe's hysteria is not based on the fact that this group represents a small sliver of the lunatic fringe of America and that the video does not acknowledge it.

Joe has been ranting about the demonstrations and the town hall meetings for months. He insists that these demonstrations are the same old, same old that's been going on in politics for years. He talks about the antics at anti-war demonstrations, Second Iraq, not Viet Nam. He claims that the minority has been calling the President illegitimate since Clinton. Each time he does, Mika the bobble-head, nods her head. When Pat Buchanan or Mike Barnicle are around, they agree wholeheartedly.

But this morning, Mr. Blumenthal had the temerity to disagree. He states that the biggest difference here is that prior demonstrations have not had significant politicians agreeing with the loopy-heads. That in previous years, the nuts were just that, that they did not represent a view of a major party. Joe fulminates. He demands proof of these allegations. Mr. Blumenthal brings up Senator Jim Demint, but Joe demands more proof. Joe should check out Mr. Blumenthal's blog. First thing back at the office, Mr. Blumenthal pulled his notes and posted them.

There have been nuts at political demonstrations since there have been demonstrations. I think the fact that there is more coverage, more cameras, more vehicles for disemination of the demonstrations has spawned more and more and wackier and wackier demonstrators. Only so many people can get on the Springer show.

I totally disagree with Joe (surprise) about the legitimacy of the President. I know of no such claims about Clinton. And to try to compare the legitimacy claims on Bush and Obama is absurd. Claiming illegitimacy due to a hastily rendered 5 - 4 decision on voting results in a state controlled by the candidate's brother is not at all comparable to claiming that President Obama was not born in Hawaii and has been part of a conspiracy for forty plus years.

But why I am so pissed with Joe on this topic goes a little deeper. He likes to think of himself as an intelligent, practical spokesman for his cause. But the way he demonstrates this is the reason I would have loved to grow up with this man as my father. Anything I would do that was wrong, I could just say that one of my siblings did it first. Get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, well Patty did it first. Play doctor with the neighbor's daughter? Jimmy did it first! Set fire to the church? Johnny did it first!

And knowing how this practical, intelligent man deals with the psychos at the Tea Bag parties, Papa Joe would have to say, that's OK my son. It's not a problem.

I'm Having a Hard Time Saying Something Nice

With all the uncivil discourse that has been going on of late, I thought I would follow the adage that if you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything at all. (I do though still get a kick out of how Alice Roosevelt Longworth had it paraphrased and embroidered on a pillow she brought to parties - if you can't say anything nice about someone, come sit next to me.) So I haven't been saying anything, because there is not a lot of good out there.

But a friend expressed some concern yesterday that I hadn't written anything in a month. I am alive and as healthy as always. Maybe even more so, though I don't feel it. My central nervous system feels as if it was put together by my cheap father, with faulty, below code wiring. I have reduced my daily cigarette intake from about three packs a day, to a little below one. Which puts me back at the level I was smoking during Nixon's second term. And I feel the same angst and anger at politicians that I did then.

There are a lot of jerks out there right now, being jerky on a lot of topics. It's OK. I am saying something nice when I only call them jerks. Joe Wilson is one of them. The rudeness he displayed aside, he pulled a switch and side-tracked health care reform, turning the process towards immigration reform. Which is a separate topic. But he has welded them.

If you exclude illegal aliens from receiving any federal health benefits in a reform bill, than they are going to receive federal, state and local health benefits by showing up sick at a county health facility. Mr. Wilson, if you don't want them treated, work out a feasible policy for immigration reform. Till then, shut up.

All my lily white friends at Morning Joe have been up in arms about Former President Carter's remarks. It's beautiful the way they, and numerous others in the media, distort exactly what Mr. Carter said, and then shoot it down. He talked specifically about the most egregious of the demonstrators, and how many of them were racially motivated. But Joe and his buddies make it seem as if he called all non-liberal whites racists. And they vehemently deny that.

But the worst of the jerks out there are those conservatives who continue with the non-denial denials about death panels. John Meacham has a good intro to this week's Newsweek, "I Was a Teen Aged Death Panelist." I just do not believe how these people treat end of life issues! You would have thought that the travesty that was the end of Terry Schiavo's life would have had people re-think the issue.

Near the end of my mother's life she was asking everyone she could to get her drugs to end her life. She couldn't walk, hear very well, see very well, the use of her hands was limited, and she was in almost constant pain. I cried and told her I couldn't do anything for her. It was heart wrenching. Eventually she asked her home health care worker. The medical system then, all of four years ago, responded by hospitalizing her for depression. I was livid at her doctor. The only quality she had in her life was knowing that she was at home, the familiar smells and images. And they took that away from her! Sadly, they were not able to cure her of her depression, her "suicidal tendencies" before the stroke relieved her pain.

These end of life issues need to be addressed. There was little I could do then. Just as there was little I could do this morning when a beautiful 34 year old woman whom I love dearly said, "If you really loved me you would make the pain stop." I cried, caressed the few parts of her body that don't ache, and told her I couldn't. All I could do was pour her another shot of Jameson's. I want her around forever, and I want her to feel no pain. And I can't have both wishes. And we could truly use some end of life counseling. Unfortunately, because of her preexisting condition, she has no insurance.

Joe Scarborough is constantly telling me that seventy some percent of Americans are happy with their health insurance. Fucking good for them!