Fascism in America II (the Sequel)

By Bob Patterson
Created Nov 14 2006 - 7:01pm

At the end of most horror movies, the monster is killed by a silver bullet,
a stake through its heart, burning, or a smorgasbord of other methods [1].
The audience breaths a big sigh of relief and then wait almost an entire
week before beginning to look forward to the sequel.

The political pundits seem to think that the recent mid-term elections have
effectively eliminated the potency of the Conservative movement. Perhaps the
New York Times should assign one of its movie critics to write an assessment
of the 2008 elections for the op-ed page.

Most comments on the meaning of what just happened boil down to the fact
that voters were sending a message to President Bush that the search for
WMD's in Iraq has served its purpose and is now pass? The Republicans were
having too much fun with the rest of the agenda to give it all up just
because the war has bogged down. Any Democrat, who expects the Conservative
to abandon their efforts to establish the Forth Reich in Washington D. C.
just because they didn't do well this time around, need to consult with a
movie reviewer and see if any successful monster movie ever failed to spawn
a new episode.

Wasn't there a sports moment last weekend, when one team scored points
because their opponents thought that it was time for the half time break and
were walking off the field?

Pay attention, Democrats. In late 1944, the American Army was dealt a sever
setback at the battle of Bastogne. Heavy casualties were sustained, but it
didn't mean that the war had been lost. Bad weather prevented the Army Air
Corps from providing any help for the men on the ground and things went
badly. When good weather permitted a resumption of air support, the tide was
quickly turned and the march to Berlin was resumed. The Republican
strategists may well view the 2006 mid-term elections as being similar to
the Battle of the Bulge. Odds are, in 2008, they will revert to form and
continue their efforts to establish some permanent political changes which
will benefit their candidates and constituents.

The Republicans aren't about to call a halt to their efforts to perhaps do
things like: eliminate the minimum wage, establish a journalism oversight
committee, do some oil exploration work in Yosemite National Park, and use a
good looking eloquent candidate to convince the working class that if
reducing taxes for the wealthy is good for the economy then eliminating all
taxes for the rich would be even better! If the age of consent in Washington
D. C. is sixteen years old, then perhaps Congress could establish that as a
nation wide standard? Would Republicans equate defeat in Iraq with the end
to the efforts to get a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage?

[Speaking of sequels and movie critics and such, we'll inject a personal
note here and send get well wishes out to Roger Ebert. Get well soon, Roger.
We look forward to your return to the TV program and are especially awaiting
a review of the Van Wilder sequel. {Note: the readers of this blog supposed
to leap to the assumption that the columnist is passing an inside joke along
to the world famous movie critic.}]

Can a political pundit see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and
not see the potential for combining some musings about another Texas family
with a critique of the film?

Are there any parallels to be found between Night of the Living Dead 3-D and
the Republican methodology that decrees zero tolerance for dissenting
opinions?

The election was about the war in Iraq. The Democrats are in a majority in
both the House and Senate. In two years, if the war in Iraq hasn't been
ended, the Republicans can say: "You had your turn; now get lost." Would the
Republicans drag their feet and use passive aggressive tactics to spoil any
chance to end the war in Iraq? Some cynical Democrats may think so.

Complacency at this point would (most likely) be the worst mistake the
Democrats could make.

In 2004, when Howard Dean was the front runner, he gave an enthusiastic
speech to his supporters and abracadabra! the MSM decreed that he had gone
off the deep end. Poof! Dean was gone, and Senator John Kerry was
immediately acclaimed as the front runner. (Didn't you hear the Republicans
laughing with glee when that bit of magic occurred?) How many errors will
the Republicans permit the Democrats to make in 2007, without complaints? If
the Democrats make any small error regarding anything, the Republicans will
cue the MSM and in a flash (blitzkrieg?), the Democrats will be continually
portrayed as a sorry lot of incompetent boobs who botched their one chance
to do everything in just two years, and the Republicans will come charging
back on the comeback trail, complete with accompanying news stories
implementing comparisons saying the neocowboys from Texas are actually
knights on horseback.

The Main Stream Media is continually decried by the conservative talk show
hosts (who conveniently issue themselves a free pass for being unabashedly
pro Republican) for being slanted toward the Democratic agenda and
candidates. Many years ago, there was a college sports scandal involving
"shaving points." The transgression was not for "throwing the game" and
losing on purpose, "shaving points" meant that some players didn't score all
they could have, so that the win was by a smaller margin. That would affect
the point spread but not the final outcome. Based on the instant
transformation of front runners subsequent to the Howard Dean incident,
could some MSM pundits be accused of "shaving points" for the conservatives?

There is an old folk maxim that goes: "Don't count your chickens before they
are hatched."

In Stephen King's Danse Macabre (his name is in the title), Stephen King
(Berkley Books paperback page 338) wrote: "It's probably true that the
writer's thoughts and the reader's thoughts never tally exactly, that the
image the writer sees and the image the reader sees are never 100 percent
the same."

Now, the disk jockey will play Bobby "Boris" Pickett's traditional song for
Holloween, The Monster Mash while we lurch out of here. Have a week that
demands several sequels.

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson