America Waking Up?

Albeit a good four or five months too late. But though I can't really believe my eyes, the confluence of his Social Security nonsense and the Terry Schiavo idiocy seems to be taking its toll. The lowest rating of his presidency, what more does a person need to say? Only this, that the most interesting thing about these poll results is that the very people who the Terry Schiavo move was supposed to appeal to - i.e. the Christian base - were exactly the people whose support dropped out the hardest. It's reassuring to know that even they have a breaking point for acceptable levels of political pandering...

p.s. Call me nuts, but I have a crazy feeling that there's a terrorist alert of some sort coming on....

Finally, Backlash in the GOP

This op-ed essay by John Danforth in the New York Times today is a perfect statement of what is now, after the Terry Schiavo debacle, going to become a far more pronounced source of division in the Republican party. Unfortunately, I've been saying the same to my parents for years, that this brand of "Conservativism" has nothing to do with the small government principles of a true Republican, but since my parents ARE the Christian Right, well this direction of the Grand Ol' Party is just fine with them.... Fortunately, the remaining sane and rational and truly conservative (as opposed to theocratic)Republicans are finally getting sick and tired of their enslavement to a group that has nothing to do with their core political beliefs.

Speaking of Republicans and Terry Schiavo, my parents and I did well during their visit last week. Terry Schiavo only came up once, while mom was (I think pointedly) reading about it on the (of course) Fox News website. That's when I started hearing for the first time all about these accusations that her husband had tried to kill her (this accusation from a former caregiver of Terry Schiavo's that even her parents wouldn't allow to testify in court), among other Fox-induced extravagances. Can someone please tell me when people finally lost their minds and decided that The Star and The National Enquirer set the watermark for journalistic excellence in this country? Because it's frightening contemplating the hallucinatory haze enveloping all of the Fox News watchers in this country (a rapidly growing number I'm afraid). And now CNN and the rest of the gang are clearly beginning to decide that one has no choice in this fucked up day and age but to stoop to conquer...