Last night, after some time with Baby Plaid, as I drove back to Auburn, the Loveliest Lillage on the Plains that I'll miss terribly, for one particular person living here especially, I used AM radio for enlightenment and entertainment (the XM/Sirius portable option remains beyond my budget) as I dodged deer. I stumbled across Willie Cunningham. Oh mercy! I'll not attempt to delve into the depths of his wingnuttery beyond a few ideas to follow.
Given Willie's soliloquies on the media (interesting that Willie belongs to Premiere which is owned by Clear Channel) being to blame for all that is hurting our nation and their support for the dark forces of the Clintons, coupled with his cheerleading for conservatism, even Bu$hCo (making him a little odd among the right these days) for the most part, I was surely bothered. Claiming we live in the best of times was another of his reliable themes, again taking his fantasy of a liberal media fooling the American people to ridiculous levels. I'll give old Willie one that the media distracts our voters yet that's another day's posting. A little jingoism here and a little religiosity there, Willie kept the right wing's Mighty Wurlitzer pumping air as good as anyone could I suppose. He's a Great American after all.
As Willie claimed the American soldier for the right wing I was also frustrated yet I was simply baffled upon hearing Billy explain how the American soldier deserved a Nobel Peace Prize rather than that dastardly Al Gore. Huh? Fuming, I reflected back on a recent FireDogLake post titled "The Rules of Power" from Ian Welsh and a reference to Hannah Arendt in a comment (#35 for the record) which contrasted nicely with Willie's "reasoning". Typical top drawer work from Ian. Reflecting back on what I'd read just this Saturday let me find some measure of peace.
"A position not founded upon reason cannot be swayed by argument!" came to mind. And is reasoning really part of the equation for much of the GOP and the rabid right? I'll continue to try to learn and engage. But I'll pretty much pass on trying to engage with folks like Willie and the alleged million or more that make up his brand new audience. As a replacement for Drudge with first guests like Surely Sean and last night's Dinesh D'Souza and ... is Willie up to the task of keeping the noise going for the true believers? If not then the right's bench is deep with "talent" I'm sure.
As an aside, I'll admit to being weak on some of the heavy hitters like Hannah Arendt yet at least one of her works will be added to my Amazon wish list. Perhaps I'll have some time to read soon? Hope springs eternal. Packing and then heading to the Northwest on Wednesday. Likely little if any posting will occur in next few days yet we'll see how that goes. I do hope to start back writing and perhaps even rebuilding some regular traffic here should that prove possible. Peace ... or War!
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