Wink of The Poet's Eye--Extra!

[Lightning Rod]

False Colors

(this is a special edition of The Poet's Eye)

All nominating conventions are like church services. It's the classic example of preaching to the choir. Only the faithful are in the audience and the rhetoric can get lofty. The Democratic convention was a litany to John Kerry's heroic war service and the Republicans are bowing down to the dual crucifixes of 9/11 and the war on terror.

There was no mistaking the message in the opening night of the RNC. "George Bush is steadfast and we are at war with terrorism" Both are lies of course. But if they are repeated enough times they might be mistaken for truth.

John McCain showed why he is the most popular man in the party. His speech, with the exception of the sections that were clearly inserted to cover the official talking points, was eloquently written and delivered. Rudy Giuliani was fiery and evangelical. He made his bones as a prosecutor, after all, and he was the perfect one to indict Kerry.

The whole ceremony sounded like a Sunday morning sermon at a Bible Belt evangelical television church meeting. The endless evocations of 9/11 and the repetitive assertions of George Bush's strength and statesmanship were alternately tiresome and preposterous. I felt myself falling asleep much as you would during a particularly pedantic church sermon.

But it seemed to suit the audience (choir) who, in contrast to the vital and youthful faces I observed in Sunday's demonstrations, more resembled representatives of the Polident set. There is a good reason why Republicans are, in general, richer than Democrats--it's because they are older and smarter. Ok, at least they are older.

During the French Revolution, aristocrats, who had long been taunting the masses with their conspicuous consumption, had to begin traveling incognito in order to avoid the outrage and abuse of the mobs. The New York Times reports that the demonstrators have been hazing and harassing the convention delegates as they attend parties and Broadway shows. If the delegates were smart they would wear jeans and sneakers and a protest pin.

The Republican party is traveling incognito today. The neo-cons have shed their tailor-made suits in favor of the more democratic looking Dockers. This is also evident in the selection of spokesmen at the RNC. Not one of the major prime-time speakers reflects the policies or positions of the present administration. McCain and Giuliani and Arnold of Hollywood are all centrists. The Republicans are making a desperate appeal to the middle and in doing so are sailing under false colors.

[Zlatko Waterman]

Well said, LR.

And in the thicket of believers, there are no Werner Wolf types ( see the link below--Obersturmfuhrers). They're out preparing to "nuke the towel heads . . ."

But the guy I'm worried about isn't Werner Wolff-- he's dead.

I'm worried about the guy who created this web page!


(link)

http://www.angelfire.com/goth/bobtank/Wolff.html


The toy tank and action figure in the foreground is weirdly disturbing, while hilarious in a Kurt Vonnegut sort of way.

The three pictures behind the toys are, of course, pretty horrifying and no doubt image OUR own "Obersturmfuhrer's" (GWB) fantasies about himself. The text is a real winner, too. Some nightmare out of "The Tin Drum."

--Zlatko