Keillor: The punk who would be president

[babylonsister]

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4005202-155/keillor-the-punk-who-would-be


Keillor: The punk who would be president
By Garrison Keillor Special To The Washington Post
First Published Jun 14 2016 09:39AM • Last Updated Jun 14 2016 05:20 pm


It is the most famous ducktail in America today, the hairdo of wayward youth of a bygone era, and it's astonishing to imagine it under the spotlight in Cleveland, being cheered by Republican dignitaries. The class hood, the bully and braggart, the guy revving his pink Chevy to make the pipes rumble, presiding over the student council. This is the C-minus guy who sat behind you in history and poked you with his pencil and smirked when you asked him to stop. That smirk is now on every front page in America. It is not what anybody — left, right, or center — looks for in a president. There's no philosophy here, just an attitude.

He is a little old for a ducktail. By the age of 70, most ducks have moved on, but not Donald. He is apparently still fond of the sidewalls and the duck's ass in back and he is proud as can be of his great feat, the first punk candidate to get this close to the White House. He says that the country is run by a bunch of clowns and that he is going to make things great again and beat up on the outsiders who are coming into our neighborhood. His followers don't necessarily believe that — what they love about him is what kids loved about Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious, the fact that he horrifies the powers that be and when you are pro-duck you are giving the finger to Congress, the press, clergy, lawyers, teachers, cake-eaters, big muckety-mucks, VIPs, all those people who think they're better than you — you have the power to scare the pants off them, and that's what this candidate does better than anybody else.

After the worst mass shooting in American history on Sunday, 50 persons dead in Orlando, the bodies still being carted from the building, the faces of horror-stricken cops and EMTs on TV, the gentleman issued a statement on Twitter thanking his followers for their congratulations, that the tragedy showed that he had been "right" in calling for America to get "tough."

Anyone else would have expressed sorrow. The gentleman expressed what was in his heart, which was personal pride.


snip//

The dreamers in the Republican Party imagine that success will steady him and he will come into the gravitational field of reality but it isn't happening. The Orlando tweets show it: the man does not have a heart. How, in a few weeks, should Mr. Ryan and Mr. McConnell teach him basic humanity? The bigot and braggart they see today is the same man that New Yorkers have been observing for 40 years. A man obsessed with marble walls and gold-plated doorknobs, who has the sensibility of a giant sea tortoise.

His response to the Orlando tragedy is one more clue that this election is different from any other. If Mitt Romney or John McCain had been elected president, you might be disappointed but you wouldn't fear for the fate of the Republic. This time, the Republican Party is nominating a man who resides in the dark depths. He is a thug and he doesn't bother to hide it.

So the country is put to a historic test. If the man is not defeated, then we are not the country we imagine we are. All of the trillions spent on education was a waste. The churches should close up shop. The nation that elects this man president is not a civilized society. The gentleman is not airing out his fingernail polish, he is not showing off his wedding ring; he is making an obscene gesture. Ignore it at your peril.

[eppur_se_muova]

1. WTF is with slandering sea turtles ???

(not sea tortoise -- tortoises are land animals, exclusively)

[cab67]

4. only on this side of the pond.

In the UK, "tortoise" usually means an aquatic animal and "turtle" is reserved for something on land.

[nruthie]

2. Leave it to Keillor to sum it all up.

Obscene gesture is right. Spewing hate while the morons cheer him on.

[Maeve]

3. kick

[Feeling the Bern]

5. Never been a big fan of Keillor, but I love his politics.

[Martin Eden]

6. "So the country is put to a historic test."

If the man is not defeated, then we are not the country we imagine we are. All of the trillions spent on education was a waste. The churches should close up shop.

I was ashamed of my country when GW Bush got a 2nd term.

I will be ashamed, horrified, and utterly disgusted with my country if this ignorant bigoted narcissistic pathological liar becomes President of the United States.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

7. K&R nt

[SCantiGOP]

8. We'll said, Mr Keillor

As usual

[malaise]

9. Beautifully written

Don the Con is the perfect ReTHUG

[nilram]

10. Keillor has other projects in the works after PHC. I'm glad for the switch.