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Color by numbers

A gray day dawns here in North Carolina, with a fine mist of rain and no sunshine. I found it hard to don any article of clothing that wasn’t a shade of black, and when I close my eyes, I only see a map of the U.S. filled with the color of the majority party. When I was in high school, the Soviets were said to menace our country. What does a red America say about us now?

I’ll not stay blue for long, mind you. I’ve got a lot of livin’ to do, and there’s never been a yellow belly about me.

early morning on 11/03/04 in "Observations" | permalink | Send to a friend
  1. Good grief, Anton. Are conservatives/Republicans really a “menace” to you, your family, and your way of life?

    *On a completely unrelated note, Jenny and I like the photos of Anna in her Halloween garb. Very cute. — Tommy Chung    Nov 5, 07:40 AM    #
  2. Tommy, You bit. I thought you were still in the waters, waiting and watching like a canny old trout. I’m glad you’re still visiting the blog. My post about the red menace was an observation – I think that it’s remarkable that 15 years ago we were afraid of the “red Russians,” but now our own political map is colored with, you guessed it, red. And, no, I’m not equating today’s America with yesterday’s communism. I’m awed by the brilliance of Karl Rove and the Republicans and how they used wedge-issue ballot initiatives to get out the vote. But I also continue to be shocked by the sheer disingenuousness of George Bush. My parting thought? I don’t believe we should conserve compassion. And, any costumed kids on your horizon? — Anton    Nov 5, 11:36 AM    #
  3. Only the dog who was an adorable pumpkin for Halloween – to his great dismay!

    Careful about the “old” comment…Tommy turns 30 in another 9 days… — jenny c.    Nov 5, 11:13 PM    #
  4. I think that your blog does the one thing that I am often starved for…genuine and learned discourse from the other “side.” It is quite obvious that being around a majority of “Bush or die” Marines can easily reinforce my political thoughts; however, your blog definitely deciphers the left/liberal/other side view. The red menace observation you made was a clever description, however, I don’t see the right/Republican/my side as being an entity to be afraid of. Any menace you see, I interpret as unfaltering solidarity in the party and identified ideals in which we stand by. This is further reinforced by delineated plans on what we, as the right/Republican/my side, will do about our views. This past election was interesting in that I didn’t know how John Kerry or John Edwards would execute their plan. Moreover, the Democratic Party has done the left/Liberal/your side, an injustice by allowing unfocused and disjointed rhetoric to permeate the campaign. The Kerry/Edwards ticket appeared, at least in my mind, to run on the exact opposite of what the Bush/Cheney campaign was promoting. There was no Democratic “agenda” or any effort over the past 2 years to create a party image. Going back to George Bush Sr., he started the New World Order idiom. At that time, the new world order, as Democrats saw it, was not working. Democrats didn’t believe that the last great American export was democracy. Though we were losing the trade wars, getting our butts kicked by the Japanese in the manufacturing of cars, VCRs, and computers, and having the Chinese undercut our manufacturing base through cheap labor, the Republicans continued to beat the “democratic world” drum. “Let’s make everyone a democracy and the world will be a better place!” The world wasn’t listening, nor was the public. George senior was trumped by a charismatic and image conscious Bill Clinton. This continued as long as it was legally possible, i.e. 8 years of the continued suave relationship President Clinton had with this country and the world. But during those 8 years, the Republican Party began the assent to the Presidency by continued talk about “Contracts with America” and “Compassionate Conservatism.” This broad based effort to identify “W” as the just one-of-the-guys image worked and quite frankly, I believe it. As naïve as it may be, “W” appears to be someone I’d like to have a beer with in my backyard and talk about baseball. I like George W. Bush. I don’t see any disingenuousness in him at all. His heart is on his sleeve and his conscious in his faith. I don’t see anything wrong with this at all.

    Post Script: The horizon is still bright. — Tommy Chung    Nov 6, 09:50 AM    #

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