from Garrison Keilor

[hippiegranny]

this is really well put:

excerpt:

Here in 2004, George W. Bush is running for reelection on a platform of tragedy—the single greatest failure of national defense in our history, the attacks of 9/11 in which 19 men with box cutters put this nation into a tailspin, a failure the details of which the White House fought to keep secret even as it ran the country into hock up to the hubcaps, thanks to generous tax cuts for the well-fixed, hoping to lead us into a box canyon of debt that will render government impotent, even as we engage in a war against a small country that was undertaken for the president’s personal satisfaction but sold to the American public on the basis of brazen misinformation, a war whose purpose is to distract us from an enormous transfer of wealth taking place in this country, flowing upward, and the deception is working beautifully.

The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few is the death knell of democracy. No republic in the history of humanity has survived this. The election of 2004 will say something about what happens to ours. The omens are not good.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/979

[pagerbear]

1. The two paragraphs before your quote are even better!

quote:

The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous.

Rich ironies abound! Lies pop up like toadstools in the forest! Wild swine crowd round the public trough! Outrageous gerrymandering! Pocket lining on a massive scale! Paid lobbyists sit in committee rooms and write legislation to alleviate the suffering of billionaires! Hypocrisies shine like cat turds in the moonlight! O Mark Twain, where art thou at this hour? Arise and behold the Gilded Age reincarnated gaudier than ever, upholding great wealth as the sure sign of Divine Grace.

[hippiegranny]

4. I loved the whole thing...

picking a couple of paragraphs was pretty hard, but I liked the same ones you did too!

[Demit]

2. Wow! Didn't know he had it in him!

Loved this part:

"There is a stink drifting through this election year. It isn’t the Florida recount or the Supreme Court decision. No, it’s 9/11 that we keep coming back to. It wasn’t the “end of innocence,” or a turning point in our history, or a cosmic occurrence, it was an event, a lapse of security. And patriotism shouldn’t prevent people from asking hard questions of the man who was purportedly in charge of national security at the time."

That is one of the memes that has really made me bristle in the last year. That 9/11 changed everything. No it didn't. And no, it shouldn't. The Repugs only want you--they need you--to believe that.

[hippiegranny]

5. EXACTLY

>That 9/11 changed everything. No it didn't. And no, it shouldn't. The Repugs only want you--they need you--to believe that.<

been saying the same thing since about 10/11/01

[Owlet]

3. You gotta love Garrison Keillor

He's a National treasure..

[Bread and Circus]

6. Great piece, thanks for posting. Maybe he should run for something?

Congress? Senate?

www.draftgarrisonkeilor.com

[MissMarple]

7. Good point about exploiting the capture of Osama.

This first paragraph would be hilarious if it weren't so scary, and the second is chilling. You should just read the entire article.

"The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and
dangerous.
...

Whenever I think of those New Yorkers hurrying along Park Place or getting off the No.1 Broadway local, hustling toward their office on the 90th floor, the morning paper under their arms, I think of that non-reader George W. Bush and how he hopes to exploit those people with a little economic uptick, maybe the capture of Osama, cruise to victory in November and proceed to get some serious nation-changing done in his second term."

[spooky3]

8. great column--I hope Minnesotans and everyone else listen.

[bear425]

9. kick!

[SteppingRazor]

10. Keillor Forum

The running commentary at the Web site about this article even makes for good reading. I love trying to watch a few token nuts trying to justify Bush before an onslaught of liberal commentary. No wonder Bush audiences are carefully vetted, while Kerry allows anyone in, hecklers included.
Of course, we all know what happens to Bush hecklers -- but hey, at least you get three square meals a day in jail, yeah?

[seemslikeadream]

11. "We're All In This Thing Together"

Great song

"We're All In This Thing Together" - Gillian Welch, David Rawlings and Old Crow Medicine Show

We're all in this thing together
Walking the line between faith and fear
This life don't last forever
When you cry, I'll taste the salt in your tears

Segment 9 1:52
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2004/09/25/