The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Amid the Sturm und Drang, a Moment Sublime

    By Ramona on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 9:41am |

    This was a week of dizzying visuals--Christine O'Donnell flubbing a radio interview and then threatening to sue the station if they air it. A reporter being strong-armed and handcuffed for questioning a candidate. A woman being thrown to the ground and head-clamped by a jack-booted patriot who now wants an apology from her.  A Democrat thrown to the ground and body-slammed at an Eric Cantor rally.

    And just when I thought things were getting about as disturbing as they could get, up pops Charlie Sheen in another installment of his Hey wait!  Watch this! crash and burn melodrama.

    Add to all of that the incessant news that the Republicans (now an arm of the Tea Party) are likely going to take over the house and possibly the senate, and I had every good reason to hate this week. I didn't realize, when I kept going back again and again to immerse myself in the few magnificent moments from an earlier "Last Word"where Lawrence O'Donnell apologized to RNC chairman Michael Steele for comments he had made the night before, that this was my therapy, my solace, my way of establishing that there are, in fact, some remnants of humanity still struggling to grab hold. 

    I missed the original program, but I heard about it the next day, when the blogosphere was abuzz with the news that Lawrence, just days into his new MSNBC show, had made what looked a whole lot like  racial slurs toward Michael Steele in a pre-recorded intro.  This is what Lawrence said:

     As the first congressional election during his party chairmanship approaches, Michael Steele is dancing as fast as he can trying to charm independent voters and Tea Partiers while never losing sight of his real master and paycheck provider, the Republican National Committee.


    Okay, that wasn't good.  I'm a huge Lawrence fan, going back to his days with The West Wing, my favorite TV series of all time, but this--coming so soon after his icky, un-Lawrence-like interview with Alvin Greene, where O'Donnell's main concern seemed to be the origin of Alvin's nick-name, Turtle, and whether or not the poor man was a witch.

    I look at the hapless Alvin Greene, the unlikely and astonishingly inarticulate and unprepared  Democratic senate candidate from South Carolina, and see someone who needs protecting.  Alvin Greene needs a mom out there.  Whatever his original reasons for running for high office, he's finding himself the laughing stock of an entire nation, and yet he plugs on.  Time and time again his handlers set him up for the worst kinds of abuses, and he obediently goes out there and does the job as well as he's able.  That he can't now and probably never will be anything other than poor Alvin doesn't seem to phase either his handlers or the members of the media who see his fumblings as great sport.

    I sincerely expected better of Lawrence O'Donnell.  And just when I was ready to concede that even someone with Lawrence's integrity can sell out to popularity-grab and celebrity-lust, he makes a dazzling come-back with his apology to Michael Steele.

    I'm not a huge fan of Michael Steele, truth be told, but that was about as classy an act as I've seen from a Republican in a long time.  I want to believe, after watching that clip over and over again, that we have a chance.

    If, on Wednesday, November 3, we wake up to a whole new world of the same old crap, I'll somehow manage to get through the day by remembering that fleeting moment of political man's humanity to political man.
    *

    (Cross-posted at Ramonas's Voices here.)

    Comments

    Well, Ramona, there's not a lot we can do for Alvin Greene, except to appreciate his stoicism -- driven by what we may never know. I, for one, will vote for him on Tuesday, not because he can possibly win, but because to vote for DeMint is out of the question, and a vote for Greene is, on balance, better than not voting for a Senate candidate at all, thereby giving DeMint bragging rights for "mandate" numbers.

    Decisions like this one are still the election day lot of a non-Republican in South Carolina. It would be wonderful to vote for Niki Haley, even across party lines, because she is bright, articulate and female..... but obviously impossible when she presents herself as slightly to the Right of Attila the Hun. 

    I'm sad that I've recently moved out of his district (into Wilson "you lie" territory) but thank god Jim Clyburn is a shoe-in in the 6th:

    http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/house/south-carolina/6

    Take a look at the gerrmandering in voting district, btw; ha!

     


    by wws on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 10:24am

    Wendy, I see your logic in voting for Greene.  I would do the same.  Jim Clyburn is my hero, and I'm so glad to see he isn't going the way of another one of my heroes, Russ Feingold.  Clyburn will win handily and it'll be another slap in the face to those jerks down there. 

    I had to read that Nikki Haley sentence twice; you scared me there for a minute!


    by Ramona on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 2:02pm

    I can't help it. I like Alvin Greene. I would LOVE to see him join the Senate club. I don't think he'd be terribly effective at *creating* legislation ... but all that is done by interns and aides anyhow. You know he'd consistently vote better than someone like Lincoln ... and a bazillion times better than DeMint. I'd proudly cast a vote for the guy.

     


    by kgb999 on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 9:11pm

    I don't think he'd be terribly effective at *creating* legislation

    So you don't think he'd able to get other Senators on board  with his passionate patriotic and personal goal  of purging the U.S. military of all the communists and terrorists that have infiltrated it's upper echelons? I dunno, should some of the other "teh crazy" win, it's not that hard to imagine some of them being very interested as well.


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 10:09pm

    How many times have I seen someone on these threads and posts in Democratland call those who run our military "terrorists" or "fascists" and worse? The fuckers are torturing people - about TIME someone called 'em terrorists. What? He improperly used the word socialist as a pejorative?

    Are you genuinely arguing that DeMint (or even Rawl, really) would vote better than Greene? If not, your ridicule is self-defeating. As I said. I'd vote for him in a heartbeat. You ignore his suggestions of investing in national road infrastructure to increase industry and tourism, prison reform and a bunch of other stuff.

    Republicans are winning with people that make this guy look like a rocket scientist - pretending to be "outsider populists" after a lifetime grooming for insider politics. You get a genuine not-owned guy who just ran on his own and won. And instead of playing it for all it's worth and kicking some ass, you fall all over yourselves to extract the most out-there comments he makes plaster them everywhere ... then take the lead in ridiculing him. One had to go to the international press to actually find a place where the entirety of what he said was respectfully reported on ... and you, of all people, highlight Josh's TMZ coverage?

    There is a reason America views Democrats as elitists. And Obama plays to your sense of superiority like a virtuoso - that's how he gets away with doing what he does with barely even a whimper of opposition from those who would be through the roof it were a republican doing it. "But he's just so garsh-danged SMART ... Harvard, dontcha know ... he's not really selling us out, he's just a long-game player ... you just don't have the intellect to understand."

    I'll take Greene with the occasional stupid comment and the seemingly good heart.

     


    by kgb999 on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 10:47pm

    Recommended (if I could).


    by AmericanDreamer on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 10:23am

    Well, more locally, in Eastern Washington, a 72 year old man, Republican attacked a 23 year old woman who was protesting. Not being Kentucky, the officer on the scene arrested the man immediately, and prevented him from doing her more harm. Ahh Republicans.. what is appropriate for them is not appropriate for anyone else.

     


    by tmccarthy0 on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 10:43am

    Nice.  I think their sense of entitlement is showing.  How DARE anybody go against them?  I don't see the Dems getting physical whenever anyone crosses them.  How many more times are we going to see this from the Republicans/RW before this election cycle is over?


    by Ramona on Sat, 10/30/2010 - 7:47pm

    I have always been a fan of Lawrence.

    If I can agree with a guy 90% of the time, that is good enough for me.

    Dems can't win a senate race in the heart of the Confederacy anyway. But for the Democratic Party to look so damn stupid down there is beyond me. One of my favorite Congressmen comes from a district in SC. So the party aint exactly dead.


    by Richard Day on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 12:56pm

    Are you talking about Clyburn?  See wendy's comment above for a map of the districts.  The poor guy running against him only raised $22,000.  Guess they knew it was a lost cause.  Now if we could only have done something for Feingold. . .


    by Ramona on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 2:07pm

    Are you saying Feingold is done?  I thought he had come back in the polls to a dead heat as of a week ago or so?


    by AmericanDreamer on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 2:24pm

    This is what I found on 538, sorry to say:

    http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/forecasts/senate/wisconsin


    by Ramona on Sat, 10/30/2010 - 7:09pm

    Representative Clyburn is a great American indeed.


    by Richard Day on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 3:41pm

    I'm not a huge fan of Michael Steele, truth be told, but that was about as classy an act as I've seen from a Republican in a long time.

    I suppose it makes sense that, if there were going to be a Republican who would do something like this, it would be Michael Steele.

    After all, he has been scorned by his own.  He has been made to know he is not a member in good standing of the High Fives All Around GOP club, at least that substantial part of it that consists of old boys, yahoos and other assorted troglodytes.  

    So, if he didn't already have one, he may have an authentic sense of both humility and compassion as a result of what he has been through. 


    by AmericanDreamer on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 2:49pm

    Sorry, Ramona, but I don't quite get the same "sublime" reaction to this apology. What I see is Mr. O'Donnell spending a whole lotta' air time being ever-so-proud of hisself  for being the kind of stupendously righteous man who would apologize in a situation where (he claims) no one else would. He even issues a passive-aggressive attack of Steele for demanding an apology from him whilst making no such demand of Paladino - essentially taking the opportunity of his apology to attack Steele as a hypocrite.

    It's the kind of smarmy double-speak and careful construction of the language to create a storyline that I long ago became accustomed to hearing from O'Donnell. And it is his penchant for creating faux-outrage and his use of hyperbole that has caused me to avoid seeing even one episode of his new show.

    On the basis of your glowing accolades here, I assumed I was probably wrong to avoid O'Donnell. I figured maybe he had matured; maybe he had "grown into" responsible commentary with the exercise of putting together a nightly broadcast. So I watched the video clip.

    I was left with the same "Ewwwwwww!" response I've consistently had upon listening to this guy's schtick. I was left with my nose all wrinkled up as if encountering a very foul smell. I see nothing has changed in Mr. O'Donnell's delivery of commentary, wish that I might it was otherwise.

    (Comments cross-posted from "Ramona's Voices")


    by SleepinJeezus on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 3:07pm

    Oh, Sleepin, you're going to burst my little bubble. . .and just when I was riding high, for a change.  I wasn't kidding when I said I've watched it over and over again.  You aren't the only one who saw it as insincere, but I just don't see it that way.  I've actually seen more responses that mirror mine than the other way around, but I can see how the theatrics and the voice might turn you off.

    I know Lawrence can be an actor, and much of his outrage is phony--especially his tirades on Morning Joe--but this just seemed genuine to me.

    I don't know exactly what you mean by "He even issues a passive-aggressive attack of Steele for demanding an apology from him whilst making no such demand of Paladino - essentially taking the opportunity of his apology to attack Steele as a hypocrite."  Yes, there may have been a bit of snark there, but I saw it directed mainly at the Republicans who never would have wanted Steele to do it.

    I think "demand" is a little harsh.  It didn't sound like Steele was "demanding" an apology.  It sounded to me like two men who are usually in opposite corners chose to meet in the middle and shake hands instead of beating each other to a pulp.


    by Ramona on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 4:55pm

    That Paladino bit was kind of off to me also. IMO, if you are apologizing to someone it's kind of odd to bring up something critical of them in the same breath. With the way he went into the whole "I'm sure he wishes he could say something about it" bit, I sort of wonder if they didn't talk about the issue privately. Definitely a weird graphic cut-away and such in the context of a personal apology - kind of seemed a tortured justification for bringing in a non sequitur if there wasn't a personal context between the men that occurred in their private conversation.

    I dunno. I'm never regretful that I don't have a TV. Drama city. But as drama goes, certainly more fulfilling than watching Olbermann act-out another round of forced indignation.


    by kgb999 on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 11:15pm

    Sorry to burst your bubble, Ramona, but I would caution that if you are looking for heroic figures in today's political climate (and who isn't?), you need look a lot further than O'Donnell. I've seen little more from him in terms of analysis or a real discussion of the issues than what we get from Beckerhead on the other side. O'Donnell focuses upon the low-hanging fruit in the Bread & Circuses and pounds it into a paroxysm of outrage that is rarely enlightening or even germaine to the legitimate discussions that need to be addressed.

    Michael Moore is an example of one who does a much better job of framing the discussion beyond the "Contest in the Coliseum." Maddow seems capable at times, although she can also get involved in a little too much hyperventilaton as a means to show she's working hard on making a "really important" point.

    In the end, I actually care not a whit how outrageous the other side can be in this Class War. It is important, I guess, to highlight their transgressions and expose their crimes against the middle class. In so doing, it's important to respond to the hypocrisies and the intellectual vacuum around which the Tea Party crowd thrives.

    But, ultimately, it's most important for our messengers and "pundits" to have the integrity of character and the fundamental belief in liberal/progressive principles to consistently spend their time hammering home the points showing that it doesn't need to be this way. O'Donnell & Co. instead too often present the circus acts for our entertainment rather than actually pointing out how the corporations, the wealthy, the Repubs, AND THE DEMS (in far too many instances) are, in so many ways, a singular force that play us ALL for fools on this long, slow walk toward an oligarchy that serves only the interests of the most powerful elite.


    by SleepinJeezus on Sat, 10/30/2010 - 1:23am

    From my own POV Lawrence gets it right most of the time, but his "rage" is bad-actorish. 

    Rachel Maddow works hard, does her homework, and consistently shreds the message from the other side, but sometimes she giggles too much. 

    Michael Moore had done some incredibly good work, but sometimes I have to say "eew".  (His ambush on Charleton Heston when he knew the man was already in the mid-stages of Alzheimers is one example.) 

    Keith Olbermann's Special Comments often grab me but his stretches to find the "Worst Person in the World" can be pretty laughable.

    I do care about how outrageous the other side can be, because they're a dangerous enemy.  We're at the end of a campaign season that has hit us like no other, thanks not just to Big Money but to Humungous Money doing their best to buy elections.  As far as I'm concerned, this is the emphasis these days--at least until Tuesday night. 

    Next week I'll concentrate on other things.  For weeks now I've concentrated my energies on the mid-terms, trying to get the Dems elected.  I'm not thrilled with many of the Dems, but, at risk of enraging anybody who hates both the Dems and the Republicans, they're the ones I'm working to get elected.

    When the pundits I admire are out there showing the country why there would be hell to pay if the Republicans win, I'm out there cheering them on.  I figure it's the least I can do.


    by Ramona on Sat, 10/30/2010 - 7:42pm