my generation
uncle: we need to be careful. there’s a national fragility many of us will do anything to minimize.

Posted by: Lizard | Sep 3 2008 5:37 utc | 4

jerry springer?
Bristol Palin’s boyfriend heads to convention
“This is just a bonus,”
i’ll say!

Posted by: annie | Sep 3 2008 6:06 utc | 6

YY: yet by binding the collective steering of perception toward the uninspiring doldrums of conventional banality, billmon is filling the role of shill.
clusterfuck, yes. billmon’s diary useful, no.
whoop-dee-doo…

Posted by: Lizard | Sep 3 2008 6:13 utc | 8

sorry, having trouble linking…
http://www.adn.com/palin/story/513880.html

Posted by: annie | Sep 3 2008 6:16 utc | 10

sorry, that was rick. explain please.

Posted by: annie | Sep 3 2008 6:23 utc | 12

b: was the billmon suspicion legit? if not, why not say so. if yes, why waste our time linking to this Kos-styled distraction.

Posted by: Lizard | Sep 3 2008 6:34 utc | 14

even Ray Charles would have seen what billmon saw. But Oh no. lets just pretend its not happening. Lets not talk about it. Actually next time we’ll have both conventions in the same hall and both parties will take turn to speak.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 3 2008 7:46 utc | 16

“…so can’t really blame billmon for the uninspired commentary.”
I call bullshit. People of billmons, knowledge, readership, and gift owe it to themselves and their readers to take the proverbial ’emotional risk’ and challenge the dominate paradigm. He has eluded to it before in that, he would if not for, paraphrasing, ‘the system”, I.E., mortgage payments, braces for the kids, marital harmony, retirement etc..
Welcome to the scarcity model, where economic terror keeps one from ever challenging the establishment out right…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 3 2008 9:01 utc | 18

@all – I find the critic expressed versus Billmon here overboard.
You don’t like to read him? Don’t read him. You don’t like me posting these threads here? Ignore them.
I for one was never really aware of the big difference in diversity between the parties and find it helpful that Billmon points it out.
You want him to scream “revolution now” every other day? That never was Billmon’s thing to do. If you need a leader, be one, don’t damn others for not willing to play that role for you.

Posted by: b | Sep 3 2008 9:42 utc | 20

b@20,
billmon is a traitor ! Now say that 20 times

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 3 2008 11:39 utc | 22

@22 – billmon is a traitor ! Now say that 20 times
That is childish and laughable. What did he betray but maybe your illusion?
Otherwise: what CJ said.

Posted by: b | Sep 3 2008 13:05 utc | 24

No, I haven’t checked it out, and won’t. I refuse to be the moth, and fly too close to the flame. It’s all spectacle and entertainment, and it continues to be dumbed down to the brain stem level of moronic. You might as well turn on another episode of Jackass, because it’s the same effect. In effect, and method, the Democratic Convention was no different. Billmon’s just rehashing the obvious, and yes, this is all just a big Circle Jerk. Bread and Circuses so The Masses feel they are part of something, and not the worthless Cogs they really are.

Posted by: Why Didn’t My Mother Abort Me | Sep 3 2008 13:23 utc | 26

take that!
but check out Uncle’s links in the open thread.
??? hellllo. i already did. joe’s the man.
If you want to hide behind the arras of bipartisanship
ah, oh i see. i get it. this is really making lots of sense now. when we read billmon we’re being bipartisan . any mention of anything resembling a differentiation between the parties, whether one agrees w/them or not is simply not allowed here at our pure site w/the pc patrol.
i can tell this is going to be a very long political season here at the moon.
I haven’t checked it out, and won’t.
well rest assured i didn’t link you to the convention, just a headline i thought was amusing.
Things are way, way out of control because nothing is acknowledged.
well thank you so much for pointing that out. you know this had never occurred to me before. what a revelation. so why don’t we spend every billmon thread saying just that, shall we? the next zillion posts, better yet because we just never acknowledge anything around here day in and day out.
Country First – ah yes, soothing, wise words from Mr Bipartisan himself. Just look deep into his eyes. Everything’s fine.
thank you so much for clearing this up for me. it really amazes me that after all these years here at moon it never sunk in until this very thread.. party!

Posted by: annie | Sep 3 2008 14:07 utc | 28

Hmm, so besides the generic “old” white folks that Billmon saw (presumably actual attendees at the Republican convention)he calls out Christine Todd Whitman (white, served in Bush cabinet)and a bunch of white media commentators and talking heads. Were these media folks appointed by the Republicans?? Hmm, on various other shows covering the Republican convention I also saw Chris Matthews (white), Keith Olberman (white), David Gregory (white), Bob Beckel (white), Joe Scarborough (white), Lawrence O’Donnell (white), Tucker Carlson (white), Mark Whitaker (white), Scott Rasmussen (white), etc, etc. I’m not sure what this says about Republicans, but perhaps Billmon should vent his spleen on the (mostly white) media!

Posted by: Dumass | Sep 3 2008 14:49 utc | 30

It has become the Palin/McCain ticket for most voters and the great white hope is that she becomes President sooner than later. She and most Alaskans have a core socialist instinct just like most Nader voters, like me.
I developed a distaste for the vile McCain while watching the POW/MIA hearings years ago, but nevermind, we know he lusts for chaos in Washington and her most notable charateristic is a willingness to fire people at the drop of a hat.
Didn’t Nader get 15% of the vote in the 2000 election?

Posted by: El Ron Nader | Sep 3 2008 15:49 utc | 32

Lizard #1 #4 &# 9–
I am patiently waiting for some cogent, INSIGHTFUL, commentary from you, on the topic of the convention itself, or in analysis of Billmon’s writing.
Snipe all you like: Until you have something of substance I will not be impressed.

Posted by: Gaianne | Sep 3 2008 16:27 utc | 34

Wow! There are suddenly a lot of peevish little kids running around here at MoA. I remember when he quit blogging he had become so cynical that some commenters were worried about his mental health. Now he is trying to do insightful commentary about an election that he cares about and suddenly he’s become the enemy. Like many people I’ve been disappointed in Obama but the alternative is unthinkable. I hate to tell you but the revolution won’t come in my lifetime(65) and probably not in yours. Until then Obama is our best small hope for a turn in the right(left) direction. I doubt if any of you much like Markos but his call for more and better Democrats is the best thing going now.
@32 – Nader got 2.74% of the vote but keep dreaming about your multiparty system(link)
Btw-billmon if you read the comments here you still owe me part three of your Egyptian travelogue

Posted by: Sgt Dan | Sep 3 2008 16:51 utc | 36

The Brand Called Obama
For whom ever it may concern, my comments were not meant to attack him as a person, and perhaps I could have put more thought into my post, however, I will not be bullied into silence, and I will say what I think. I do hold billmon’s writings in high regard, however, I will not put him on some pedestal. And I will take him to task when I see fit. I need no one here to give me permission. And no one ever said anything about wanting him to speak revolution, I personally don’t believe that is the answer and never has been, evolution is where it’s at…
Come on yall, it’s just a little Joyful Rebellion .

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 3 2008 17:16 utc | 38

hamburger, Gaianne, glad you liked it. i died laughing (paraphrasing)BRISTOL! BRISTOL!, go breastfeed your brother! go! go!
Noirette (Tangerine), I approve this uplifting message
me too. speaking of The slice and dice approach reminded me of the very intentional attempt of the gop juggernaut trying to force, yes force, the dems into what they assumed would be the negative positioning of the ‘colored party’ (i refer to colored and not black because it included hispanics) by their redistricting campaign. they specifically targeted white dems and cut them off from their constituents. they thought having the legislators all black or ethnic other than white would drive whites away from the party and somehow be an embarrassment. it backfired.
my short stint working for the dean campaign (my sunrise period of feeling futile about the course we were on) put me in a position to see some inner workings of the process (for the most part really gruesome and cut throat, worse than my days in the theatre) when i landed as a dean delegate (a one day gig none the less very interesting indeed)for the wa state nominating conference. after the conference the dean delegates met in a corner of the auditorium to vote on which one of us would be representing dean at the national convention. there were a few hundred of us and i can’t recall how many went to the convention, 30 or so. what happened next is interesting. whoever it is that runs these things really pushed us to support the young/diverse delegates. they wanted not only a new face for the convention they wanted new blood. having a seat as a delegate for the national convention is highly coveted so much so that once these people get a seat they fight tooth and nail to keep it year after year thereby establishing themselves into the st party apparatus. the dean campaign attracted so many new people into the process the dean wa st party leaders wanted to take the opportunity to expand the party and push it progressively (wa state/seattle being what it is). of the few hundred of us every single person under 25 was voted in. every black/hispanic/native american was voted in, our little group representing us was diverse (dreadlocks etc) and as a result the convention in 04 really looked different, much younger and diverse.
my point is that what seems to have started out as a rovian plan to isolate the party created the core of what dean, as the party chair, went on to do nationwide. it seemed like before blacks were being used for their voting power and then completely dumped on after the election. it really disgusted me the racist targeting in ohio played out, and as i mentioned at the time, how the gop was right, dlc/kerry totally abandon them as a party and didn’t fight for the disenfranchised voters.
meanwhile the party apparatus has changed very little, but it has changed. i do believe over time these ‘token’ people, us, who have been taken for granted have changed the discourse and do threaten to the system. the gop has always been the party of old white guys.. as were the dems until very recently.
Btw-billmon if you read the comments here you still owe me part three of your Egyptian travelogue
!!!!! i swear to god i thought this yesterday! i was so pissed when ..the argument that ensued here after the last chapter he wrote ..oh never mind.
uncle, awesome crabbucket link! beq, smooches as always.

Posted by: annie | Sep 3 2008 17:55 utc | 40

LBJ wiki
Legend has it that, as he put down his pen, Johnson told an aide, “We have lost the South for a generation,” anticipating a coming backlash from Southern whites against Johnson’s Democratic Party.
Americans generally do not consider their country to be extremely racially divided. In fact they believe their country has made enormous strides overcoming the issue. And they are right to a large part. However from a political stand-point, LBJ’s prediction has proven to be more profound & damaging than even he imagined. And the fact is that the USA today is & has been severely politically divided via the race issue since LBJ. Without the race head-lock the Republicans have primarily on the South, the party might not even exist anymore but this is not the main point.
The main point is that Americans, unlike people in less stable countries do not properly understand that severe political divisions along ethnic/race lines will inevitably lead to exploitation by forces within & without. Americans like to think their country is immune to this phenomenon, but this is exactly what has happened to the USA. And the exploitation is not going to stop for as long as the political racial divisions sufficiently exist, even if the Repubs lose the White House, its not going to stop as they will bide their time for the comeback & more exploitation. And the Dems will continue to be co-opted for their survival and will not do anything to change the status-quo. But if theres any hope, its not going to come from the Republican party, because it cannot by definition. Thats just the way its going to be until the USA gets over the challenges imposed by its political race division. Another danger is that the corrosive status-quo created by the exploitation would have eaten so deeply into the countries soul that it may be too late to reverse.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 3 2008 18:54 utc | 42

El Ron Nader #32–
Didn’t Nader get 15% of the vote in the 2000 election?
No, he did not. I WORKED on that campaign. I can proudly say that in my area–in a safe state–where we ran an energetic campaign, he got 19%, but unfortunately in the state overall, and even more so nationally, the result was poorer.
We needed 5% of the vote nationally to meet Federal requirements that would enable the building of a viable third party (it is all about funding). We got 3%.
This was a strategic defeat in a one-time window of opportunity. By 2004, repeating the performance but attaining the 5% was no longer adequate, nor was it a possibility. Times had moved on.
Nader’s message is correct, but has passed its sell-by date. If I were to get into politics now–but political organizing is so not my skill–I would work along the lines of Dimitri Orlov’s suggested Collapse Party. It is far too late for anything else. Obama is just damage limitation, and not much of that. But some damage limitation is better than no damage limitation, let’s be clear.

Posted by: Gaianne | Sep 3 2008 22:22 utc | 44

Thanks annie@45,
I just read it & its very fascinating. Against the context of despair from past disappointments, Obama’s approach & success at engaging millions of mostly young people does not look anything like “business as usual”. And one thing we can be sure of is that this thing Obama, Axelrod & others have created (for now I’ll call it a swarm) is not going to be shelved after the election, whether he wins or not. And if he wins, it will form a key part of what might be called his “counter-context friendly” approach.
Also, from an anthropological view-point, theres nothing fundamentally new about Obama’s approach. The genius is in coming up with a super-charge-able variation that fits the goal & the environment.
on race, if Obama’s approach succeeds nationally, he will have taken back a few of the Southern States along the way.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 4 2008 1:40 utc | 46

Success beyond our wildest dreams, eh?

Posted by: DM | Sep 7 2008 3:14 utc | 48