Metaphor of the Day

Via Scott Galupo writing at the American ConservativeIt’s Time to Throw the Tea Party One Ring into Mount Doom.

I would recommend the whole thing.

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Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. DC Loser says:

    My my. They ARE in a panic.

  2. john personna says:

    The American Conservative has been pretty good on this. They’ve been critical of the brinkmanship, but maybe a little slow to really cover the shutdown aggressively.

    I think they bought the early idea that “this is no big deal, it has happened many times.”

    That early calm did not really help anyone. It allowed people to think shutdown was just something that happened, and not (as I’ve called it) a national emergency.

    We’d be treating an emergency more seriously. There would be no “they closed the park” memes.

  3. Ron Beasley says:

    Although I am a left of center independent I have been reading the American Conservative for a decade or more. The point Scott Galupo makes is spot on – you can’t negotiate with people who won’t negotiate only demand. You can’t reason with people who will not listen only talk. The Republican party created this monster and it is their responsibility to kill it. Both for the good of the Republican Party and the Nation. Mr Boehner – grow a pair!

  4. al-Ameda says:

    John Boehner is the weakest House Speaker in decades.

    He is at a critical point in his career: he must now choose between the general good of the American people as a whole (the implied fiduciary responsibility of every member of the House or Senate), or the narrow good of the few representatives who are driving this entirely discretionary and Republican-created crisis.

    Sometimes there are gray areas, but that is not the case this time. The choice is clear. Will Speaker Boehner have the personal strength to do what is right for all the people, and perhaps lose his job to Cantor or whomever, or continue to appease those who would seriously entertain default.

    Right now I’m thinking it’s a 50/50 proposition.

  5. David M says:

    So we shouldn’t just give them a pass for representing the views of their constituents?

  6. Ernieyeball says:

    It has been so long since I read The Triology (45 years) that I did not recognize the reference til I clicked on the Wiki Link. Even after skimming the item all I can remember of it is that I had a cat named Frodo.

    I do remember the parody Bored of the Rings
    Here is the Boreward:

    The Power almighty rests in this Lone Ring.

    The Power, alrighty, for doing your Own Thing.

    If broken or busted, it cannot be remade

    If found, send to Sorhed (the postage is prepaid).

    It’s up to Boggie Frito Bugger and his band of misfits—including inept wizard Goodgulf Grayteeth, halfwit Spam Gangree, twins Moxie and Pepsi, and Arrowroot of Arrowshirt—to carry the Great Ring to Fordor and cast it into the Zazu Pits.

    Can they avoid death by hickey tree and escape the dread ballhog? Can the fellowship overcome the narcs and Nozdruls hounding their every move and save Lower Middle Earth once and for all? Yes, of course—this isn’t Hamlet, you know.

  7. Ernieyeball says:

    My sister-in-law posted this on her FB page today.

    Those who stir the shitpot should have to lick the spoon.

    I have no idea what she was thinking.

  8. dazedandconfused says:

    I got a funny feeling watching Newt urge his com-padre’s to not back down. How he wished he had taken his further, and they should take this all the way. BS meter needle rocked above the nominal Newt-reading range of 75%. I got the impression he might be a-wishing for the Tea Party’s “high water mark” to arrive, Pickett’s charge-ish.

    Boehner, after all, did play a significant role in Newt’s defenestration…

  9. Rodney Dill says:

    @Ernieyeball: A woman who thinks of her brother-in-law often?

  10. slimslowslider says:

    The comments over at AmCon are terrifying.

  11. Ernieyeball says:

    @Rodney Dull:…HA! HA! HA! You sure are a funny guy!