Decoding the Right

[Boanerges]

     I've spent a fair amount of time lately wondering why I'm having recurring bouts of deja vu about politics in general -- and US politics in particular. Then I remember: I've seen this all before, especially when it comes to right-wing "talking points".

     My proof? Take a look at this column by satirist Art Buchwald, written in 1973, as "advice" for those poor downtrodden Nixonians and other cement-heads who found themselves beset by moderate and left-wing Americans. Change a few names and events (or non-events, if you prefer) and you have exactly the strategy and tactics you see in use today.

[JMac1949 Today]

LOL.  Not sure, but I believe Thomas Jefferson used half of those talking points to defeat John Adams in 1800.

[koshersalaami]

I hope Buchwald's estate gets royalties

[Ron Powell]

Art Buchwald was required reading back in the day.....

[Jonathan Wolfman]

:)

[marilyn sands]

Lots of smiles here - our great, great grandchildren will be quoting Trump's list too!

[Boanerges]

Yeah, JMac, the methodology hasn't changed much over the years.

Me too, Kosh.

Yes, he was, Ron. I was a follower for sure.

Thanks for suggesting I post this, Jon.

Too true, Marilyn. Sad, innit?

[J.P. Hart]

Whoa!

Let's recall: 27 + 17 = 43 years ago?!  My best ol' X friend (BOXF) Daniel traveled to Spain, Helen was more than ready, I was a poet, damp in a burned out basement, pointedly the Sam known as Uncle, wrote me: (needing big, strong men) 'Greetings, he started, wait, I thought, I'm just out of the service, then the Navy recruiter said: 'small as you?  You'd wind up in a gook tunnel, with a 45 - got notice? You have no choice. There's always the midnight train.  Forget all that peace and love malarkey.  This is deep in the seventy-three.  In the land of the free.  Be brave!  I said a man can't crawl.  What do you really think about agent orange I asked. No, I didn't sleep well, that Ladish hammer all night pounds reverberates and clinks and clanks & clangs, this is your last chance for a power drive, goodness through the ages: MCMLXXIII; just drift away kiddo, hitchhike to Saginaw, you know, Boanerges, sit and wonder, i before e except when you're spelling Einstein.

I admire your adroit ability to compress and encapsulate a light year. So well written: Good ol' Art B!

[Foolish Monkey]

this is about the worst I've seen such intense cognitive dissonance 30something percent of americans are suffering. and it's not just the populace - it's the politicians too.  thirty percent of americans are insane.  I keep thinking maybe, just maybe they're reach their nadir, but never say never.  who knows?

[Terry McKenna]

Nixon was the man who created the modern template for dismissing media as run by elites and biased.  Roger Ailes was his man.  

[Boanerges]

Yeah, I really liked Buchwald, James. He got right to it.

Know what, FM? Read recently that 30 per cent of Americans STILL don't think Nixon did anything wrong -- presumably the same ones (or at least their spiritual/political inheritors) who now back Trump, whatever he's been up to.

Yep, Terry. Remember "nattering nabobs of negativism"? OK, I know it was Agnew who actually said it, but it neatly encapsulated the Nixon administration's mind-set. And Ailes has never got what he actually deserved.