Dangerous Liaisons

--George Baily Lassos the Moon,
fr. It's a Wonderful Life

Like most intellectuals,
he's intensely stupid
--Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

To the moon, Alice
--The Honeymooners

Where is the love
You said was mine all mine
Till the end of time
Was it just a lie
Where is the love
--Where is the Love,
Roberta Flack
__________________

I thought The People would vote with their bumptiousnes, but alas, money trumps all, and Romney had more of it.

This wasn't all fun in the sun, as I'd imagined. The people are genuinely afraid, and so feel they must vote for the candidate most likely to win, which is the person the pollsters tell them will win. So the initial poll showed a Florida dead heat; next, a very slight inclination to Romney, and before you know it, a phase change occurs and 20% for Romney, a decisive victory claimed before anyone hits the polls.

Make no mistake: I'm arguing for the excellence of neither candidate, only looking at the phenomenon and the spectacle of voting. Three crucial errors were overlooked on this writer's part:


[1] The Frenchness of Newt's situation, his Dangerous Liaisons. As McCain's daughter, Meghan, said, you can't have a ... a, mistress and be Republican! (A pig or a goat, perhaps ...) Anyway, mea culpa -- Mistresses are tres Francais, and definitely outre! Republicans have their standards, after all. One cannot do funnel cakes AND mistresses, CAN NOT! I noted the lack of cycling shorts, but missed the obvious.

His 2nd wife's take that Newt wanted an open marriage was most likely a mis-read; he simply wanted his cake and to eat it to. A venerable tradition in the old South, but surface mores tend to frown on the perpetual actuality.


Equally hurtful was Newt's unbridled enthusiasm:

[2] Arguing for the right to cheer at talks was akin to Howard Dean's run-killing yawp. At heart, when sitting in a moderated situation, the Republican wishes to follow the rules, and Gingrich is nigh on a heretic in that arena. Heretics are burned.


Finally, the moon:

[3] What more to be said? We are in a space-averse mode. Life is rotten enough on this rock at the moment. We've got pirates and tigers and bears. Most don't care what happens across Division Street in their own town, so how to engage them in expansive thinking which includes a satellite?

No, NIMBY is the watchword, and Newt violated that stricture with silly talk of the moon. The space program was just a silly little foray to dishearten the Russkies. (Sorry to all the kids who thought Star Wars was heralding in some brave new age. But you've always got comics, now, right?)

Heretic, iconoclast, transgressor, loser -- at least in Fla-duh. Newt is not really all of those things, he just sort of bumbles into it, but the early example of his failed predecessor John McCain should have served as cautionary tale. To be Republican today is to be obedient, and Newt obeys his own fascinations, above all.

So that is that; the pollsters win.