Soft Sounds For Bedlam

Having completed a little tome about the gallons of blood guzzled by Democrats over numerous decades, I was stopped by an AP headline this morning that read, "Anti-war Democrats ponder next step."

Hmm. Must be about Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel anticipating more shit storms on the American horizon -- not that they can do much more than hunker down and weather the falling body parts as best they can, but it's the thought that counts, and style points are always considered. In the end, it's like having a mime plant an imaginary daisy in the mouth of a M1A2 Abrams tank's 120mm M256 smoothbore gun, under a midday desert sun, death metal blasting from within, the lock-and-load kids cruising to Suffocation and Nile. Tank treads in the greasepaint. The rapid beat rips on.

Instead, the names listed are Harry Reid, who voted for war, Nancy Pelosi, utterly worthless, and Russ Feingold, who at least has made a few attempts to highlight statist corruption and war-lust, though when nudged, Feingold will hump the flag to show that his "opposition" comes from a patriotic place. Because don't ya know, peace is so very patriotic, and the Democrats are nothing if not solid patriots.

Where's a veteran mule skinner when you need one?

The AP piece portrays the Dems as naturally antiwar, which naturally they aren't, and quotes the standard mouthpieces and apologists like MoveOn, devoted primarily to electing Democrats, regardless of actual social effectiveness. The current strategy, proposing moving troops around here and there, taking some out, redeploying others, is the typical Beltway shell game, a lot of action that signifies essentially nothing. The Democrats are not going to withdrawal from Iraq, nor from Afghanistan; and should Saint Obama become President Saint, there is no way in hell the U.S. leaves. The last thing a newly-minted imperial manager does is undermine, much less destroy, the imperial project. Streamline it? Sure. Re-brand it for domestic consumption? Of course. Trash it? Go back to your meth pipe.

The Democrats are simply looking for election angles, and will be helped mightily by John McCain's utter refusal, or perhaps inability, to improvise around shifting tactics. The veteran butcher of Vietnamese is a godsend to the Dems, that is, if they play it delicately with steady attention to detail. Because in America, you never know when the radioactive winds will turn, and the Democrats have proven time and again that they're not the best storm-chasers around, especially when they're celebrating victory a hundred miles from the finish line. The skies continue to rumble.