Simply put...

So this is what it's come to here?  Are people here DELUSIONAL?  

Can't people here separate what they see actors doing on TV from REALITY?

Right now, the McCain Heebie Jeebies video diary is at the top of the recommended list.

Can someone please explain why?

At least the "bad teeth" diary was about something real -- McCain's somewhat yellowed teeth.  

This one is based in some sort of utter delusional nonsense -- that somehow McCain playing a creepy husband in a skit on SNL is somehow indicative of his true charter.

Are those of you who recommended this divorced from reality?  Please explain!

I originally wrote this essay for a 2006 Vanity Fair essay contest. It did not, of course, win. However, I wish to inflict upon (share with) the DK community my rambling musings on the state of our nation.
I hope that this piece does not seem dated - a lot can happen in two years. I still firmly believe that it applies to the Zeitgeist.
Input, criticisms and debunking, as always, are much appreciated.

The problem that arises when two people viewing the same events come to opposing conclusions, is when one tries to convince (or coerce) the other into accepting that their "reality" is the "correct" one. It's called fundamentalism when applied to religion. What's it called in politics? Liberals are capable of doing it to the same degree as anyone else, and Hunter is essentially doing the same thing when he condemns those of opposing conclusions with his judgmental quip: "I reject the very premise of your reality, and have built my own version down here in the dank basement of my own mind."

Don't get me wrong - I mostly view the world through the same lens as Hunter, but where we part company is when those on the other side are portrayed as evil simply because they see the world differently.

My mother lives a thousand miles away.  She and my father are both Republicans.  My father became a "fan" when he started listening to the obscene filth of Rush Limbaugh and for some reason disengaged his critical thinking skills.  I had a screaming fight with him when I was about 23.  I had done some research about his claims, actually read his bullshit book, and I had refuted him in every way possible in my mind.  The man is an obscene liar and a piece of garbage, and I told my father so.

Now, gotta keep in mind that I was considered a prodigy growing up.  I started reading at age 4.  By age 6 I was regularly reading adult science fiction books.  At 9 I read "The Shining."  At 10 I received the Lord of the Rings trilogy as a gift and promptly burned through it in about 3 days.  I read 900 wpm.  I was at college level by age 8.  I was the first person in my family to actually attend college, and I finished with a 3.78 gpa.  

My father's response to my criticism of Limbaugh was to tell me that I couldn't read.

This is a message to the Hillary supporters who are wondering this:

Yes, it is.  But it is time to get real.  In November there's a lot more on the line than one person's vanity.

Robert Penn Warren talked about two major concepts in his novel All The King's Men.  Through the character of Jack Burden, we the reader are introduced to both:  The Great Twitch and The Great Sleep.

As former First Lady of the "First Black President", I wonder if, upon losing, as surely she will...Hillary can deliver a speech as humble, as unifying, as inspirational and motivating as this one by Jesse Jackson in 1988.

Take a listen

One of the biggest criticisms of all these reality shows is that there's nothing 'really' real about them.

They are programmed. They are scripted. Most importantly however, they are intended to invoke shock, curiousity, and yes, emotion.

Plain and simple - It sells.

I have been periodically visiting MyDD when my resolve has been high enough to withstand the fierce heat of fanatical devotion to a very flawed candidate and campaign (not to mention a brooding hatred of the 'Great Orange Satan'). And even though my preferred candidate is consistently belittled and slandered by almost all of the recommended diaries as well as most all of the posts of a certain 'blogfather', I couldn't keep myself away for too long. It's a bit like passing a terrible car-wreck on the freeway, a rubbernecking of sorts. A small part of me wants to understand what in the world is going through these democrats minds, to be so full of angst toward one of their own candidates.

Well, judging by my past few visits there, it looks as though alot (though not all of course) of them are finally starting to come around.

Hillary Clinton's supporters uniformly revere her supposed grasp of diverse complex policy issues, but the past few days have shown that Hillary's approach to policy is fundamentally dishonest.

Earlier this week Hillary joined John McCain in supporting a summer repeal of the gas tax, this news was followed by uniform ridicule within the economics community because the price of gas would rise to offset any tax cut: consumers wouldn't get a break at the pump and the "cut" would go to the oil companies.  

(WaPo)

I say this in all honesty.  I'm totally in the tank for Barack Obama.  BHO speaks to the sounds of Unicorn Giggles, and farts the scent of bakery fresh Cinnamon Buns to me.  I've listened in Horror - HORROR I SAY! - to some of the things Bill Clinton has said over the course of the campaign, and it's pained me.   It's pained me because, like most of you, I've spent a whole lot of time defending Clinton and his legacy to many Conservative relatives and loved ones over the last decade or so.  

We've (Obama lovers I mean) been pretty pissed about what's gone down over the course of the campaign.  I've raged, roiled, and any other adjective starting with "R" that denotes unhappy feelings about general Team Hillary tactics and Bill Clinton's words in particular.  But the fact is this: Bill Clinton is and always will be the Big Dog.  We NEED Big Dog in this fight in November, and we need to understand what he's doing right now.  Follow me...

I had an ephipany this morning after watching the Sunday morning talk shows: The MSM and the giant talking heads have somehow figured out some actual reality: Barack Obama will be the next President. On Russert, Georgie-boy, Fox, etc. Barack is the focus of all the discussions. How Barack must do this or that. What HRC or McCain can do, should do, will do to beat him. Obama, Obama, Obama. The media are being bombarded with facts supporting the 'Obama will win' narrative even as they attempt to keep the increasingly tired and silly 'this is a real race' meme propped up like a puppet. They, the media, are not ready to admit this, however. In a Bushworld type way, the MSM wants to keep ignoring those liitle pests called "FACTS." But reality is crashing in on them.

Perhaps beginning with the reality of Right Now would be the place to start, because as we all know, everything that has happened before this very instant is in the past.  

We are all about the future, right?

Moving forward, bringing about sweeping change to the political, economic and environmental landscapes, addressing poverty and actually doing something about it, finding alternative fuels to propel our need for speed without causing the price of food to quadruple or the ozone layer to continue to cook the Poles and melt the ice?  Not to mention, war for the simple sake of profit.

    Honey will entice more people than vinegar...

I'm the first to admit I'm old school regarding politics. Give me a candidate I can get enthused about and I'm working my rolodex and my telephone, organizing fundraisers, yard signs, speaking engagements, but I could no more create an internet presence than I could create naturally blonde hair and larger mammaries for myself. I recognize my limitations.

In Praise of Praise
By David Glenn Cox

Howard Stern responded to Michael Jackson’s calling himself the King of Pop by calling himself, "The King of All Media." Not that he was, just that if Jackson could make such an outrageous claim, he would top it. Dizzy Dean, the baseball hall-of-fame pitcher, once advised, "It ain’t bragging if you can do it." Yet Elvis never called himself the king of rock and roll and Jimi Hendrix never called himself the greatest guitar player in the world. And both he and Elvis could have, indeed, done it.

I have been advised that my zeal in posting this diary on Saturday night was ill-advised.  You were all out at the bars and pool halls while I was here, begging for justice, and that I needed to give more folks a chance to join in.

Last night, we raised $1,150.10 bucks in 90 minutes.
 This is your chance to join in!

There have been multiple diaries today slamming both John McCain and Hillary Clinton for their disingenuous comments on Barack Obama's sociological truths.  We, in the Reality Based Community have rightly acknowledged, and understood both the power and truth of his comments.  We have taken John and Hillary to task for their deceitful manipulation and misrepresentation of a skillful analysis of the "What's Wrong with Kansas" phenomena in western Pennsylvania.

But I have another idea.