January 2008 Archives

This post is based on a trip to Williams College on January 16, 2008. The intent was to publish it within a day or two of the event. Having failed that (a faulty washing machine and playoffs to blame) here it is anyway.

When President Garfield went to Williams College he described his education as "a log with a student on one end and Dr. Hopkins on the other." The last time I went over there it was to see the eccentric Richard Stallman. This time it was the blogger phenom Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (aka DailyKos). He addressed a group of students there about the success of his website and the progressive Democrat movement. While any semblance of Dr. Hopkins on a log has been replaced by post modern auditoriums like the '62 Center' in which this took place, perhaps the spirit of the log is now on that series of tubes now known as the Internet.

As an ardent Libertarian opposed to the two major parties I was surprised at how much I had in common with old Kos. As a fellow Gen X'r (he's 36, I'm 40) who has also worked in the forefront of the information explosion of the last two decades and a father of two small children I can appreciate a night away from home for the minimal benefit of a good night's sleep. While I do share a similar cynicism for modern media, politics and Baby Boomers, my path has been a slightly different one. Indeed the road to radical politics and a far more bucolic setting and lifestyle than the streets of Berzerkly or Boston. We both went to state Universities however and I went to law school online rather than all the effort at a bricks and mortar institution. And while Moulitsas Zuniga can find succor in a progressive wing of a major party and the influence thereof of by his growing cadre. I'm sticking with the losers and windmill chargers. Otherwise its back to the log or lake or whatever.

During Meet the Press this last Sunday I asked my five year old if he knew who Hillary Clinton was. He did not. He thinks Ron Paul is President. When I indicated that she was his Senator and running for President, he said, "A girl is running for President ?". While a lot of play has gone on about the shifting vote in New Hampshire and the potential Muskie moment, this particular moment made that one seem real. The rest of the process and parade seems unreal.

My absentee Senator is doing the job the people of NY elected her for, that is, running for President. After all, this is the same group that re-elected the Alan Hevesi. I remember the silliness of her first upstate 'listening tour' and now I do not wonder what motivates her in the morning. It may very well be when I wake up next year at this time the country will have my Senator. Good luck with that.

I'm always reluctant to engage in the internecine feud amongst libertarians. It takes so much time explaining why you're right. Apparently an off the cuff comment I made on Last Free Voice was enough to evoke a complete entry from the vaunted activist and blogger Thomas Knapp, (aka Knappster). To wit;

There seems to be an unwritten meme going around that Rockwell is responsible for the RP newsletters (Knapp, McArdle, Balko, now Holtz). The hope being that blatant racist sentiment will undo a hardcore message and the hip and/or 'trinity' crowd can assume the mantle.

While this didn't relate exactly to the post initially started by Mr. Holtz, if it had been a postulated entry on my own blog I might have put a question mark after the second sentence to emphasize the real snark that LFV demands. The 'hope' being that a long tirade about this whole affair would be avoided as even the MSM has skipped past the idea or issue on any meaningful level in the context of the race. But libertarians take umbrage with everything and can get 'froggy' (a term the locals here use for a person that is on the verge of a bar room brawl and showing it) about some things. Has someone from the movement, party or an institute pounced on Kinsley yet ? Of course I go on to explain in a second post, but by then Knapp has his red meat of indignation on the sharp pike of Roman metaphor and I suppose Olympian rebuttal is required. If you've ever read the book by the author in my title you're used to better fare in this regard. If I was really looking for a fight, I might have titled this et tu Knapp Hey ?

Michigan & Florida don't count for the Dems this time. Delegates are the game now. Good old fashion politics. If the media casts an eye on Senator Clinton's victory in Michigan as something gained or worthwhile they are surely the deluded fools that the American people are coming to accept them as. It's my sincere hope that the virtual three way split between the two major parties will slake the thirst of those third party members and activists opposed to the occupation of Iraq, the loss of civil liberties and the general malaise that will ensue as the government drives the economy into a ditch of panic.

As the pundits and spinmeisters coo about their respective victories, not much separates them. Only eight thousand votes seperated Barack & Hillary in NH. Duncan Hunter has more delegates (1) than Amerika's mayor. The delegate count in both regards are about equal between the Dems and Huckabee's still ahead for the GOP. Make no mistake, Mitt is solid and so is Ron Paul, at ten percent. Without a coronation, the media will be tasked to do a job that it presumably should do. That is, present the reality of the race, rather than the hype, spin and delusion of the campaigns.

It's not uncommon for famous people to come to Columbia County, NY. I've chatted with Frank Serpico at the gazebo in Kinderhook as he talked with the migrant workers (in their native tongue) from the local orchards and fields. They're presumed and called illegal now, (this was a few years back). I've talked Giants football with Caleb Carr over a simple dinner with a friend. An old buddy once even served lunch to Martin Scorsese, Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day Lewis when they were here filming that Edith Wharton flick. He still knows what they ordered.

Lately I've seen a lot of helicopters fly by and I swear one of them is Eliot Spitzer's heading down to his new compound in southern Columbia County. I don't care what the paperwork or law says, he should just drive it. Stop at Golden Harvest if you can. I'm pretty sure John Faso shops locally. There was a big stink once when the former AG stopped in the GU for eggs on the way to the mansion in Albany.

If you grew up reading MAD magazine you'll remember the zany Spy v. Spy. The operative idea being that two sides of the same game constantly seek advantage over the other while the whole time just destroying one another. Republicans and Democrats are splintered. Whatever teary eyed impression one takes from the Iowa game, it is in fact that the two major parties in the US are divided.

While a virtual three way tie has made Obama the top lawyer in the Donkey barn, the evangelic enigma that is Mike Huckabee has only stirred an already muddy river. Thompson, McCain and Paul came into a virtual tie for third. All three stand a decent chance to do something in New Hampshire, while Huckabee and Rudy will have to play on the sidelines. Romney strikes at 20%+ throughout most of the process. The most disheartening part is the lovefest the MSM has with the horse race.