Choices, Choices...
Big sale come November --
too bad there's nobody worth buying.
Mark Helprin paints a bleak electoral picture in The Wall Street Journal:
We have watched the division of the country into two ineffective camps, something that is especially apparent in an electoral season. On the one hand is John Kerry, a humorless Boston scold, in appearance the love child of Abraham Lincoln and Bette Midler, who recites slogans that he understands but does not believe. And on the other is the president, proud of his aversion to making an argument for his own case, in appearance a denizen of the Pleistocene, who recites slogans that he believes but does not understand.
Which empty suit are you voting for?
(WSJ link via Reason's blog)
They're both fuckups, but was it ever any better? When exactly were the good old days of politics? Nevah....
All the good, smart people in America are doing something other than running for office. That's cool, because government is inherently technocratic, and we need the best out here in the private sector.
Crid at September 13, 2004 8:03 AM
Crid -- A lot of us out here in the public sector are also giving it all we've got, everyday. Lena
Lena at September 13, 2004 12:53 PM
Frankly, Mark Helprin is way overrated as a sci-fi/fantasy author to begin with, so I basically discount what he says anyway.
hrc at September 13, 2004 2:57 PM
Lena, were you elected?
(Artful dodge, no?)
Crid at September 13, 2004 7:16 PM
Surprised that they're empty suits? Not a bit. Just remember back to those high school days and the doofuses who ran for office versus the kids who were in band, on sports teams, smoked in the restrooms, fought after school, turned cars into love lounges, okay scratch the love on that. And guess what? The doofuses never quit running for office. Those that couldn't get elected found their way into vacuous titles in vacuous organizations. Lobbyists and pac groups kind of come to mind. Anyway, it's a wonder things work as well as they do. I second that statement that smart and good people get real things done. I'd add more efficiently and quietly to that. For the most part. If the doofuses get the hell out of the way.
allan at September 13, 2004 8:48 PM
"Lena, were you elected?"
Nope. I was appointed. Just like your president!
Lena, Public-Sector Dinge Queen at September 14, 2004 11:45 AM