September 8, 2004

MISSING WILLKIE (via Winfield Myers):

We’re Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore (Garrison Keillor, August 26, 2004, In These Times)

Something has gone seriously haywire with the Republican Party. [...]

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.


That's what happens when you go from being the party of an elite minority to being the governing majority in America. Democrats much preferred the effete Easterners--Willkie, Dewey, Lodge, etc--who they could walk over.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 8, 2004 11:26 PM
Comments

He hasn't been the same since he ditched Marget Moose for that Danish Pastry.

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at September 8, 2004 11:52 PM

The day Reagan announced he was suffering from Alzheimer's, the Saturday before the 1994 election, I heard Keillor's broadcast of "APHC" that included a segment mocking the former prsident (though not specifically about the disease). So it's not as if Garrison has just developed this mean streak within the past couple of years.

Posted by: John at September 9, 2004 12:29 AM

Something has gone seriously haywire with Garrison Keillor. I used to listen to him religiously several years ago but had to stop because he had become so malignant in his outlook. Not what I was looking for in a radio companion.

Posted by: Melissa at September 9, 2004 12:47 AM

That thin blue line between satire and spite, between comedy and rancor (between homespun and bitter?).

Posted by: Barry Meislin at September 9, 2004 2:29 AM

Thankfully, California hasn't experienced a major earthquake since aught six. Then, the insane escaped from Agnews Insane Asylum. We scooped them up, and tied them to oak trees (temporarily). What is the remedy for Garrison Keillor?

Posted by: Fred Jacobsen (San Fran) at September 9, 2004 6:17 AM

Too bad we all can't be as intelligent, fair-minded and measured in tone as Garrison Keillor. When Gov. Jesse took the funds away from Minnesota Public Radio he squealed so loud you'd have thought he was picking up a bar of soap in a prison shower. He all but compared Jesse's sensible fiscal decision to the sack of Rome by Alaric the Visigoth or the burning of the Library at Alexandria.

Posted by: Bart at September 9, 2004 7:33 AM

Unfortunately, I still think his show is funny. Hopefully OJ, can find some conservative spin to the brand of humor he's peddling. I like the music too.

Posted by: h-man at September 9, 2004 7:52 AM

I've noticed that Keillor is all nice and avuncular until his party loses an election and then he's the king of shrill and hateful. That he's taking this tack now and not on Nov 3 indcates a certain lack of faith in his party's chances of success.
Hey, OJ does the "brownshirts in pinstripes" crack count as the obligatory fascist reference for the day?

Posted by: Governor Breck at September 9, 2004 7:56 AM

Governor:

Good eye!

Posted by: oj at September 9, 2004 7:59 AM

Wonder if Guy Noir will ever have Teresa knocking at his door, looking for help (or a new Cabana Boy)?

Wouldn't it have been rich to have Rudy or Arnold read this rant at the convention?

Posted by: jim hamlen at September 9, 2004 8:39 AM

Have to offer one small correction. Wilkie was an effete midwesterner. We hoosiers have to have something to remember.

Posted by: Jeff at September 9, 2004 3:18 PM

Jeff:

A NY lawyer.

Posted by: oj at September 9, 2004 4:02 PM

Melissa I not only don't listen to him anymore, I run to the radio to shut it down the instant he comes on. A onetime fan, he disgusts me now. Michael Moore of the airways. Well, maybe not quite that bad ... but close.

Posted by: Genecis at September 9, 2004 4:44 PM

Garrison Keillor apparently mistakes artful insults, (which absolutely have their place), for intellectual dialogue.

He's also nostalgic for a time that never was, a not uncommon affliction.

Posted by: Michael Herdegen at September 9, 2004 4:48 PM
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