Yearning for the Mud: The Kerry-Heinz Ticket and the Psychotic Party Platform

Wow.

Posted by FH at October 21, 2004 5:09 PM

Terrific!

Posted by dg at October 21, 2004 5:23 PM

That is a powerful piece.

Posted by kathyn at October 21, 2004 5:29 PM

Again-- Wow!

Posted by levi from queens at October 21, 2004 5:52 PM

I am enlightened.

Thank You

Posted by Parker in US at October 21, 2004 5:57 PM

Only one nit to pick: they are too "bad" Americans. Maybe not evil, but heedless, careless, selfish, and spoiled, which can bring on trouble just as quickly.

Posted by sllimedog at October 21, 2004 6:28 PM

Oh! Thanks for your thoughts about what we've been witnessing for far too long. I have had such difficulty grasping how we got to this crazy place.

While none of us can see inside the minds of all those behaving as you describe, a "yearning for the mud" makes all the puzzle pieces fall so neatly into place. ~shiver~ I've seen the emptiness in their eyes while they're ranting. Hollow men.

Posted by adie at October 21, 2004 6:48 PM

I came from that mud, too, being of that age, but the bubble burst for me 30 some years ago. I have so often wondered: How can an entire lifetime be spent pining away for the lunacy of youth? Put aside the grinding dullness of it. What's in it for them?

Posted by JayP at October 21, 2004 7:08 PM

FH beat me to it ...WOW, out did yourself sir.
It will be all over by tomorrow ... the net I
mean.

Posted by Steel Turman at October 21, 2004 7:31 PM

This piece just confirms why I am so saddened that almost half of our citizens, according to the polls, don't see how pathetic, miserable, strange, pessimistic, and futile Kerry and his wife are. I've never felt this way during another election, but I see Kerry bringing this country down. Everything about him says that he seems to want us to fail.

Posted by MichelefromLA at October 21, 2004 8:17 PM

This is the first time I have had anyone explain to me what is going on in America. I look at the hundreds of Kerry/Edwards bumper stickers in the San Francisco East Bay area where I work and for the life of me, I cannot understand why they don't see what you just explained. The thing that especially mystifies me is how the Michael Moores, Alec Baldwins, Tim Robbins, etc. of America - the obesely grotesque, rich and famous seem to hate America, and be so unpatriotic, while enjoying more than the rest of us hardworking, middle class Americans -- the absolute luxuries and insulation of being wealthy. I have to read this article again and again, because it is a key that unlocks the mystery I have been wondering about. It explains why these people so hate George Bush and all he stands for. Give me American Pie and the American Flag every day! I unashamedly love my country! Like Arnold's speech at the Republican Convention, America is a light to the world -- God bless America!

Posted by bethtopaz at October 21, 2004 8:59 PM

One more comment - during the debates - when you looked at Kerry's eyes - they looked hollow - it was like there was absolutely no sould there, and you know what, I don't think there is. Sad.

Posted by bethtopaz at October 21, 2004 9:00 PM

Over the years I've had bits and pieces of the phenomena that is "the yearning for the mud", but I have never seen it so well explained. A lightbulb went off as all of those pieces finally fit together while reading your essay.

I've been vainly trying to explain this for a long time. Now I can.

Thank you for that.

Posted by Mumblix Grumph at October 21, 2004 9:55 PM

A friend of mine coined a phrase that sums up the people you criticize. She calls them "failed Americans".

Not because they have no success in their working lives, but because they have failed to grasp what being an American is and means. They simply don't get the idea of America and what it means to humanity in terms of freedom and moral rectitude.

Posted by mark at October 21, 2004 11:43 PM

At the risk of appearing critical of a piece I agree with in large part, I was by coincidence googling nostalgie de la boue and came up with essay by anthropologist Esther Pasztory, which defines this nostalgie more as a romanticization of the primitive -- Marie Antoinette playing shepherdess -- than as an urge toward depravity (absinthe, bizaree sex and Apache dancing.

Certainly both versions are alive and well. Go into any bookstore and see the shelves of works on a mostly imagined American Indian spirituality, remember how many young Americans and Eurotrash disappeared into ashrams and the hashish dens of Katmandu, see the "tribal" tattoos of the slacker generation, and read about the "Beat Generation" whose freedom to gad about goosing statues and wandering from motel to motel was won by our 400,000 dead in World War II.

But now I'm curious about the origins and history of the concept. If my curiousity yields information, I'll let you know.

Posted by Grumpy Old Man at October 22, 2004 12:37 AM

There's a humorous take on Jean-Francois posted over at Captain's Quarters-- the "Mekong Delta Blues," sung by a Twin Cities group called the Sons of the Blogosphere. CQ has a link to an MP3 file of the song. Here's the lyrics:

I hear that swiftboat comin',
it's comin' 'round the bend,
I ain't had my head above the railing
since I don't know when

I'm stuck in the Mekong Delta,
and time keeps draggin' on
But that Purple Heart collection
is gonna get me home

When I was first elected,
my daddy told me son,
You gotta raise their taxes,
and take away their guns

Life ain't easy in the Senate,
when you're from the ruling class
And never take a firm position,
it'll only bite you in the --

I had three words for my opponent -
bring it on now if you dare
The Swifties rode in on the 5-2-7,
loaded up for bear

I shoulda never gone to Paris,
I thought that they'd forgot
But I had said I'd done the war crimes too,
before I said that I did not

Some don't believe "i have a plan',
and I'm not who they're votin' for
They won't like that my whole cabinet
will consist of Michael Moore

I'll show 'em Who's Their Daddy,
if I get the chance
And if it's the last thing that I ever do,
I'll turn this country into France!


Link: http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/002831.php#comments

----

(Thanks for another first-rate essay, Gerard!)

Posted by Connecticut Yankee at October 22, 2004 2:21 AM

This is one for the ages. I just sent an excerpt and link to all my friends with this message:

Above excerpt in no way does justice to the complete essay. This guy comes as close as anyone I've ever read to burying the Leftist Swine in their own slop. (Maybe in light of this piece we should start referring to them as "The Mud People.") I highly, highly recommend reading the whole, enlightening piece.

Thank you Mr. Van der Leun

Posted by SallyVee at October 22, 2004 6:06 AM

WOW!!! This is the best explanation I have seen of what is going on in this country . And the scariest. I hope there are enough of the rest of us to do them in. Broken glass!!!

Posted by J. Callahan at October 22, 2004 6:15 AM


Fantasic piece .. it's been linked at Lucianne.com as a "must read" so expect a lot more readers to see it today. VERY well done .. I'll definitely be back for more of your writing!

Posted by Craig J. at October 22, 2004 6:30 AM

It is almost impossible to overestimate the damage done to the national psyche by the decade between the end of the Soviet Union and September 11, 2001. That was, in the now well-worn phrase, our "holiday from history." It was the formative years of a generation and amplified the experience of an earlier generation raised in an era of post-Vietnam defeatism.

During that 10-year period, the bracing realities of the determined enmity of a worldwide Communist movement receded into a dim memory and for the younger set, never registered at all. There was a new paradigm of what life was about: work and consumption. If there were problems, ever-advancing technology would soon sort them out.

We ignored incidents in the Middle East as we ignore the occasional odd noise from the car: after all, it's humming along at 75 mph, so the anomaly can't be serious. We'll have the shop look at it some time.

And then, without any warning that we'd paid attention to, some very archaic concepts stared at us again. Enemy. Attack. Religious war. Moral deformity. The danger wasn't that our stock portfolios would get pounded in a correction or that we would be downsized; it was that we would wake up dead one morning courtesy of large numbers of relatives in The Family of Man.

In short, it was a situation that gave the lie to every illusion we held dear through our holiday from history. History was back, and words that we remembered if at all from old stories -- bravery, patriotism, character -- had to be suddenly brought out of their museum cases.

Those whose world view was formed or confirmed by that decade of prosperous sleep are having a terrible time adjusting. We can understand, even sympathize, but we must also insist that until they use their God-given powers of thought and growth, they are irrelevant to the business of today.

Posted by Rick Darby at October 22, 2004 6:32 AM

How anyone can vote for kerry/edwards is beyond me. kerry is a shallow person with no "core" values. a kerry presidency would only hasten America's decline.

Posted by al powers at October 22, 2004 6:34 AM

How insightful this piece is. It certainly puts things into perspective and everything falls into place.

I had always thought the Dems couldn't nominate another couple as perverted as the Clintons, but they have surpassed even that infamous couple with the Heinz-Kerry duo.

Posted by Karen from AR at October 22, 2004 7:00 AM

Nails it. Period.

Posted by Sgt. Hulka at October 22, 2004 7:05 AM

Profound piece. Behind even this is the eternal struggle between good and evil, God and Satan. Please, God, bless America, or Satan will damn it.

Posted by Jack Kramer at October 22, 2004 7:21 AM

I think Kerry is the "Manchurian Candidate"

Posted by Bertalinski at October 22, 2004 7:27 AM

Know thy enemy!
Fighting for peace is like F___ing for virginity!
Go Red sock! Time for a Huge Change!!!
JMCV

Posted by Janice at October 22, 2004 7:34 AM

Wow. I'm stunned by the outpouring of sentiment and good wishes.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words and support.

Posted by Gerard Van der Leun at October 22, 2004 7:53 AM

I witnessed the decline. As a contemporary of Kerry, I sat on my hands and watched, with a degree of amusement, as this disgusting panoply of anti-Americanism unfolded. I never believed for a moment that a future denizen of Dante's outer ring of Hades would be taken seriously, but now he is.

It's not French, though, it's Teutonic. The artwork from Germany, as far back as 1980, limns the darkness of nihilistic wealth and self-predation that arose from the emptiness of the free-guilty-rich who hated themselves, but who were above the daily struggle. This is elitism of the worst kind.

If one could look into the souls of the yet radical chic, one would find power hungry Nazis whose ideas depress the rights of the middle and lower classes for "their own good," never admitting for one moment that what the elite espouse will not touch the espousers.

Kerry, Kennedy, and the rest of the liberal stars will always have money, power, ergo choice, while lesser luminaries will suffer the pangs of their power addiction.

We blew it. We were benevolent. We were silent. We allowed this to happen.

If we do not speak at the ballot box, we get what we deserve.

Posted by Lee W. Dodson at October 22, 2004 8:09 AM

This was a very important essay to read....and scary. These people don't even know who they are. They drank the Kool-Aid for sure. Thanks to Lucianne for making it available. Will share it with others.

Posted by Candy at October 22, 2004 8:11 AM

This is a fabulous post. And one of the best blog essays I've read in a long time. Thank you. FWIW this post absolutely requires me to blogroll you.

Posted by Dave Schuler at October 22, 2004 8:20 AM

Well, I'll say this for the French, they know how to turn a phrase, as does Mr. Van der Leun. Wonderful piece.

Those who "yearn for the mud", who would hasten the "advance of the decline" of America permeate the institutions that shape our culture: Academia, media and entertainment, government bureaucracy (most alarming, the State Dept and CIA), wealthy charitable/philanthropic foundations. There will be no morning in America until my whole lousy generation has passed from the scene (or at least from the corridors of power).

However, whatever contempt I may feel for the children of the 60's is matched if not exceeded by the faith and hope I have for those who follow. And, God willing, they will be led by the likes of Gerard Van der Leun.

Posted by Kyda Sylvester at October 22, 2004 8:23 AM

Vanderleun's first paragraph could have been me, except for the child having been conceived in France. I landed at Marseilles in October l944 and spent the night in Aix. My WW II experience in Alsace brought me into contact with many Frenchmen who were very accommodating. I don't believe we get a true picture of the French from their politicians and Parisians.
This article depicts the media and Hollywood elite perfectly, and Kerry and Heinz-Kerry fit right in with them.
I will disseminate this article as widely as possible.
Frank Dukes
Purcellville, VA & Corpus Christi, TX

Posted by Frank Dukes at October 22, 2004 8:35 AM

One of the very best analysis I have ever read. I will send it to as many places as possible.

Posted by Julius at October 22, 2004 9:01 AM

Awesome analysis. nostalgie pour la boue is exquistly apt.

Posted by jinnderella at October 22, 2004 9:07 AM

I am not worthy to comment and I am speechless besides.
Thank you very much.

Posted by Christie at October 22, 2004 9:08 AM

Being locked in a particular worldview or mindset can be crippling. You tend to see things through an ideological filter that becomes more and more calcified with every passing moment; the irony, of course, is that you think your mind is actually opening. It is not. The vitriol and archaic rhetorical devices in your screed speak volumes. Thankfully, you're corrupt logic has led you to a very narrow, very cold, very dark corner of the internet where you and your sycophants can slap one another's backs in peace.

Posted by Anonymous at October 22, 2004 9:08 AM

Matthew 12:33 - L'une ou l'autre marque l'arbre bon, et sienne fruit bon; ou bien rendez l'arbre corrompu, et son fruit corrompu: pour l'arbre est connu par son fruit.

Outstanding essay.

Posted by Jack Parsons at October 22, 2004 9:08 AM

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Posted by ELC at October 22, 2004 9:14 AM

What a fantastic piece of rhetoric-breaking work. I would love to use it in my classroom if I could.

I have been blessed to end up in a school system that does not bow with knee-jerk reactions to the National Education Association's endorsements, but actually considers what would be best for our students. From where most of us are standing, we think that personal responsibility, commitment, moral values, and good old-fashioned "stick-to-itiveness" are the things that will help our students to survive. It is a very short step to see that Kerry-Edwards is the antithesis of these core ideas.

Thank you for putting all of those thoughts together so articulately!

Posted by Elisabeth at October 22, 2004 9:15 AM

Devastating. The only thing I would add is Kerry's lust for money is exceeded only by his lust for power.

F J Aziz

Posted by Frederick J Aziz at October 22, 2004 9:20 AM

Devastating. The only thing I would add is Kerry's lust for money is exceeded only by his lust for power.

F J Aziz

Posted by Frederick J Aziz at October 22, 2004 9:20 AM

There will be a civil war in the next 50 years, I fear...The good ol' boys can only tolerate so much...

Posted by JW at October 22, 2004 9:20 AM

NOSTALGIE POUR LE BOT?

Posted by Lucy Faringold at October 22, 2004 9:45 AM

Not fighting for peace is like...dying.

Posted by Spirit of 76 at October 22, 2004 9:47 AM

What an absolutely "dead on" editorial!

Posted by Joan Kunitz at October 22, 2004 10:05 AM

If you think the Kerry crowd suffer from a form of dementia, I fully agree. Their actions reflect a vast ignorance or implacable contempt for the 'Wally and Beave,' or the John Wayne America. They hate it. What's more, they hate it with a foaming passion. I cannot, for the life of me, fathom the why of it. Perhaps it is enough initially to simply know that it exists sufficient to guard against it. The Left-Right political spectrum, I think, is a false construct -- created by Leftists to define the playing field to their advantage. More realistic, I think are those who are true Blue Americans (the colors are reversed!) and Red Leftists, American by accident of birth. The Left, as it's been pointed out, could never face the reality of the collapse of the Soviet Union. They could never accept that the litany of genocide and tyranny that came out of the newly-freed lands, showing that they did not, in fact, hold the moral high ground, but evil incarnate. They could not and can not accept that. To become a Die-Hard Leftist is to practice self-deception every waking moment. It is a product of Soviet-style manner of thinking, a Soviet form of pyschological warfare known as PsychoPolitics. Read this link from top to bottom. Supposedly, it was taken from planning done some time in the 1920's and see what has since come to pass. It will go a long way in explaining the dementia the Left collectively suffers from.

Posted by Kopfjaeger at October 22, 2004 10:13 AM

This needs to be sent to every would-be Kerry/Edwards voter. Could they comprehend the truth in these profound words?

Posted by Sally Loska at October 22, 2004 10:16 AM

Excellent essay! Thank you, Sir!

Parts reminded me of the theory of arrested development. When a person is growing up a great trauma can 'stop' their development, arresting them, leaving them trapped in a mental and emotional stage they were in at the time of the traumas. They stop growing up and they're trapped in the mind set of a teenager. Think of arrested development when you see adults act like children.

Nostalgie pour la defaite seems very prevalent among newscasters, anchormen, editors and reporters, NPR types, Big Media in general. Perhaps their maturity is in arrested development, arrested around 1973 at the end of the Vietnam War.

Posted by David at October 22, 2004 10:17 AM

Wonderful, wonderful piece.
Consider we win this cultural battle. We must never forget that this was just practice to the big monster battle for the whole shebang: Hillary in '08!!!

Posted by Tom Michaels at October 22, 2004 10:32 AM

Interesting piece. The one thing that struck me about my study of the Revolutionary War was how the people at the time were divided into about three equal groups in their desired outcome: a group that wanted to win, a group that wanted to lose, and a group that did not care and just wanted to profit from both sides. I think this theory of why a certain portion of Americans wish for defeat should be further explored. I can understand that, as the most powerful nation, people who have that power to use may fear it and secretly wish for defeat, but America in the 1770's would be anything but a world power.

Posted by MB at October 22, 2004 11:05 AM

The Sage of Laguna Beach has blasted one out of the ball park. Thank you Gerard!

Posted by Doug Anderson at October 22, 2004 11:09 AM

Excellent! Frightening, but excellent and accurate.

Thank you!

Posted by M.B. at October 22, 2004 11:20 AM

Iraq and the left: Have a nice left-wing suicide

Yep let's just roll over and let 9/11 happen again and again. We will never succeed in defending ourselves and we surely are not in a global war against islamofascism. The problem is not the perpetrators of 30 years of terror attacks on the West and their state sponsors: Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia; the problem is obviously Bush and America. We the victims are to blame and we have no right to defend ourselves. We will never pass the global test much less the Iraqi test. We are sorry losers and frankly we all deserve to die in our lonely little quagmire.

Sorry, not interested in your chronic suicidal wishes for America. You have no plan for our security. Not gonna join ya leftists. Have yourself a nice left wing suicide.

Posted by Steve Crawford at October 22, 2004 11:31 AM

I enjoyed this immensely. I'm a good 'ol boy in flyover country with beliefs that the eliteists would be terrified of. I left Calexico because of the group think that has overtaken that state. No halloween because it might offend witches? I wonder how all those nice wicacrats have lived this long from the persecution. Oh, the misery.

One thing not addressed here, that's bothered me about the left, is do they fully comprehend what exactly the fruits of their labor will be? Do they really yearn for Stalin's gulag or communist China? They will all be reduced to one of us lesser folks in a day. No cushy mansion, no getaway islands, no personal jets or causes to celebrate. It'll be all one big happy muddy duddy family with them on the bottom of the food chain.
Time for my medication.

Posted by Ron at October 22, 2004 11:44 AM

Your article hits the nail on the head. The only thing left to ponder is the future. Are we headed towards an American version of Weimar (and an overheated culture war or even a civil war). Sooner or later a major confrontation within the "West" will be upon us. This confrontation is shaping up to be ruthless. If we cannot suppress and or otherwise humble the "defeatists" within our civilization, we will lose our civilization.
The wolves are not only at the door, they are already inside the house.
The Acedemy, the Mainstream media, and Hollywood are in the enemy's hands. The overwhelming majority of people, the Military, American Business and traditional Religious institutions are waiting for a movement to arise and sweep the muddled and muddied deviants from our "city on a hill".

Posted by DCCLXX at October 22, 2004 12:09 PM

Wonderful analysis, and so echoes my own estimation of the Kerry-Heinz-Kerry hybrids as soulless. There is no humanity, and no amount of wealth can purchase it.
(I wish I could print out only the body of the essay.)

Posted by Lou Ellen Brown at October 22, 2004 12:14 PM

Your analysis is precient. Does the phrase derive from 2 Peter 2:17-22 where Simon Peter discusses the nature of False Teachers?

"These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."

Posted by R DeFrank at October 22, 2004 12:31 PM

No it does not, but reading that passage it strikes me that it could have.

Thank you for contributing it.

Posted by Gerard Van der Leun at October 22, 2004 1:04 PM

In fact, I like it so much I've added a portion to the lead.

Posted by Gerard Van der Leun at October 22, 2004 1:16 PM

You are a genius. Now, if only we could get Libs to read this and actually understand it.

Posted by patriot at October 22, 2004 1:19 PM

The nostalgie pour la boue is caused by pain. PTSD mostly.

The nostalgie pour la boue is an attempt at pain relief.

If we could deal with the real cause some relief might be had.

But no. We ascribe the defect to decadence not pain. And of course there is no relief. For the nostalgie pour la boue is just an effort to raise the endorphin level.

You know we might all be much better off with legalized drugs than having these fools do their political bit.

In that sense the "moralists" among us have inflicted this disease on themselves.

I blame the moralists among us who have no problem with pain as long as it is not their own. Those in pain of course are getting their revenge.

Posted by M. Simon at October 22, 2004 1:23 PM

Excellent, well thought out piece! So scary.

The sadness of all this is that some Americans are going to vote party" regardless of what the candidate represents. And then, some Americans are going to the polls without a clue as to what the candidate represents because they haven't taken the time to research--they've depended on sound bites, the network news, and staged debates to inform them of candidate's positions on issues.

So sad. God Bless America!

Posted by Pat Adkins at October 22, 2004 1:31 PM

Kerry is not soulless.

He wants to be a pain reliever. But he can not go about this directly. Because to allow people to relieve their own pain would be immoral. So he ascribes the pain to bad foreign policy (as opposed to parental abuse) and says that if we only make nice to the world the pain will go away. It won't.

I'd like to see the day when brain science informs our judgement more than a bunch of ancient texts with barely a clue.

The really funny thing is that if you study our enemies they depend on populations in pain for their recruits. People who are hurting so bad that life or death is of no importance to them. Take a close look at the face of Mohammed Atta. Or the faces of any number of criminals on the walls of our post offices.

90% of our difficulties in the world will end when we start dealing with people's real pain. I like to think that Jesus had a glimpse of this in his prefrence for dealing with outcasts. Those whose pain is so extreme that they are barely fit for civilization.

My prescription for ending this war - make pain relief acceptable in the Islamic world. And it wouldn't hurt to do the same in America.

In the mean time bombing the sons of bitches is not too bad an idea.

Posted by M. Simon at October 22, 2004 1:41 PM

Thank you for a truly great essay !!!

: )

Posted by Rick at October 22, 2004 1:47 PM

God will not truly bless America until we come to terms with people in pain.

There was a time when Christians stood for relieving suffering as opposed to the Old Testament attitude of punishment.

In that respect America has become a Jewish Nation. Funny thing is the Jews are in effect the more real Christians. (going by steotypes - your individual mileage may vary)

This essay has described the surface of the issue well. It has done zilch about the deeper motions that show up as surface defects. So we continue fighting effects rather than dealing with root causes.

Has any one noticed that dealing with effects has made zero headway in clearing our problems?

Prostitution is outlawed. Why are there so many prostitutes?

Drugs are outlawed. Why are there so many drugs?

We have been telling people for 80 years that drugs are bad. Why are there so many still using drugs? Bad advertising?

Who will start asking the fundamental questions? Who will start looking for answers outside the usual stereotypes?

Posted by M. Simon at October 22, 2004 1:56 PM

And just in case you are wondering.

I'm a Bush supporter.

Because Kerry has zero clue.

Not that I think too highly of Bush.

Posted by M. Simon at October 22, 2004 2:00 PM

Absolutely wonderful. Thank you

Posted by Terry Crume at October 22, 2004 2:05 PM

Hatred is just another way of avoiding pain.

Posted by M. Simon at October 22, 2004 2:11 PM

What Mr. Van der Leun has so brilliantly described is not a monopoly of the American self-anointed (in Tom Sowell's felicitous phrase) but a systemic crisis of Western culture, a civilizational death wish as evidenced by the progressive death of religious feeling. Of course, American elites with their acute inferiority complex and self-debasement vis-a-vis Europe, above all France, are only too eager to go the extra mile.

Posted by Jaundiced Eye at October 22, 2004 2:13 PM

Wonderfully written! Insightful! We can only pray that more sensible, sane people go to the polls and re-elect Bush than crazies who vote for Kerry.

Brent Ramsey
Balsam, NC

Posted by Brent Ramsey at October 22, 2004 2:57 PM

Read David Horowitz's UNHOLY ALLIANCE.
It will give you the detailed history of this prevelant ant-american sentiment metastizing all over our nation.
It's us folks. Look at the universities....amazing.

Posted by mike at October 22, 2004 5:02 PM

Well said ... and Wow!

Posted by meema at October 22, 2004 5:05 PM

Superbly written and brilliantly argued. Thanks.

Posted by Stephen at October 22, 2004 5:18 PM

Thanks. This sums up well the wickedness in high places. A SC girl

Posted by Anne Sawyer at October 22, 2004 5:23 PM

Say, I finally figued it out.

Democrats act the way they do because they are bad, immoral, amoral, evil people. With no respect for right and wrong.

Unfortunately the same is true of Republicans.

--==--

The above essay is a high brow (sort of) satire of the DU right?

--==--

Every one needs an evil enemy to prove their goodness. Which leads me to believe that this sort of behavior is hard wired.

--==--

Thank you Mr. V for providing us proof of the evilness of our opponents. Not just wrong. Not just in error. But the true face of evil.

Fortunately after the election is over we will not have to live with such evil scum. Because like the Jews of a certain place and time our opponents are truly evil. Drinking, drugging, unsanctioned sex. What more proof do we need of their badness.

After the election (why do we even bothter in the face of such evil?) we can give them what they deserve. It is no wonder they are acting so frantic. They know what is coming.

I can't wait for the smiting to begin. Such evil does not deserve to live. Let the god fearing righteous ones give the evil ones what they deserve.

Death to those who oppose the will of the true god.

Just remember when the smiting begins I'm on your side.

Heh.

Posted by M. Simon at October 22, 2004 5:29 PM

"Les faits ne penetrent pas dans le monde ou vivent nos croyances, ils n'ont pas fait naitre celles-ci, ils ne les detruisent pas; ils peuvent leur infliger les plus constants dementis sans les affaiblir..."
- Proust (Du cote de chez Swann)

Posted by Doug Anderson at October 22, 2004 5:45 PM

Thanks for so clearly stating the beliefs I hold.

Posted by Ralphn Woods at October 22, 2004 6:19 PM

That really sums it up. Kerry and his weirdo wife are truly Bad Americans.

Posted by Floyd Jackson at October 22, 2004 6:24 PM

You have solved a question lingering at the edge of my mind in rough form and made it crystal clear! Bravo!

Posted by Dhole at October 22, 2004 6:25 PM

These mud dwellers are the same ones who sneer at virtue and call it naive. The same ones who hate the good for being good. Bravo, an insightful piece.

Posted by Jack Mann at October 22, 2004 7:31 PM

This just about nails it.

Posted by pinger at October 22, 2004 8:14 PM

Connecticut Yankee, I'd love to hear Paul Shanklin sing this song as Johnny Cash.

Posted by Jabba the Tutt at October 22, 2004 11:17 PM

Hopefully the Mudd Dubbers will wash up & wash out come Nove 2nd

Posted by Britchik at October 23, 2004 12:38 AM

Enjoyed your essay, and also most of the commentary (actually, all of the commentary except for one contributor). However, I cannot understand what you mean by "a general prostitution of the core values of America to the world at large." Who is the prostitute and who is the client? What is being sold? Please understand that I'm not arguing with your thesis. I simply don't get what you're trying to say.

Posted by CJ at October 23, 2004 3:27 AM

Thank you for the truth, at last someone said it all. You are a brilliant writer, and you described everything so well. Now, God willing, the next million steps is up to all of us who truly love our country to try to make changes, and fight the evil that is trying to take our country away from it's origin. God Bless America, and have mercy on our nation.

Posted by Sally at October 23, 2004 3:30 AM

Yearning for the Mud is insightful. I also liked the 50 Reasons photo essay. I'm there, entirely. It expresses succinctly why this MD is voting for Bush, with reservations. Anybody who reads this, please consider visiting The Land of the Free, which is a lively open discussion forum:

http://p199.ezboard.com/bthelandofthefree

Posted by Doc Holliday at October 23, 2004 4:57 AM

You have it right; My first act as the leader of the free world would be fire all the professors of our institutions of higher learning. Then hire teachers of moral and civil knowledge and understanding . Yes, they could also teach , Reading , writing, and Math, after their parents taught them how to be respectful of authority and how to act in the general public. Now, where is the Wood -Shed,,?

Posted by William D Clark at October 23, 2004 7:40 AM

We consider an essay such as this brilliant because it crystalizes all the fears and nightmares we have had for many years about the direction our America seems to be headed. Thank you for giving word to our thoughts.

JT

Posted by Judith Taylor at October 23, 2004 8:14 AM

"There was a time when Christians stood for relieving suffering as opposed to the Old Testament attitude of punishment. In that respect America has become a Jewish Nation."

Could we please drop this canard that the God of the Hebrew scriptures is about punishment as opposed to the Christian God of love and charity?

I'm getting really tired of bringing this up. It's an insulting false stereotype.

Posted by Yehudit at October 23, 2004 9:47 PM

I would have liked to have seen some particular examples of the things that support the claims.

Posted by Mel L. at October 24, 2004 2:37 AM

It's no coincidence that almost every house in my fairly affluent South Jersey town sporting a Bush-Cheney '04 sign also has an American flag waving on a pole, usually near the home's front entrance.

Whereas practically every Kerry-Edwards household has NO flag.

It's obvious from my highly informal, wildly unscientific survey that one set of voters is proud of this country, and one set is not ...

Posted by Wild Justice at October 24, 2004 6:02 AM

"George?"
"Yes?"
"This is God here ..."
"Hi, God. What can I do for you?"
"I want you to stop this Iraq thing, George."
"But you told me to do it, God!"
"No I didn't, George ..."
"But you did! You spoke to me through Karl, Rumsey and Dick and all those other really clever guys!"
"How did you know it was me talking, George?"
"Instinct, God. I just knew it!"
"Do you really think I'd want you to unleash all this horror and bloodshed on another lot of human beings?"
"But they're Muslims! They don't believe in You, God!"
"But, George, they do believe in me. Jews, Christians and Moslems all worship the same Me! Didn't you do comparative theology at school, George?"
"No, of course not! You think I'm some sort of peace-waving dope-headed liberal faggot-lover, God?"
"No, of course not, George, but I expect you to know something about the people you're bombing."
"Oh, come on! I know it's right to bomb those oily rag-heads until there's not one left to wipe a wrench on!"
"How do you know that, George?"
"Cause You tell me that's what I should do, God."
"George, I do not tell you to do that!"
"But I hear You, God! You speak to me! You tell me what to do! You tell me what is Right and what is Wrong! That's why I don't need to listen to any soft-baked, mealy-mouthed liberal Kerry-pickers!"
"George, you're deluding yourself."
"God! How can you say that? I got some of the most powerful people on this planet down on their knees every day in the White House just a-praying to You! Now are you gonna tell me You ain't listening? Because if You ain't listening, God, that's Your problem - not mine!"
"George, of course I'm listening - it's you who is not listening to Me!"
"And I'll tell you why! 'Cause You ain't addressing me right."
"What d'you mean, you jumped-up little Ivy League draft-dodger?"
"If you're so 'omniscient', God, you oughta know that you gotta go through Karl Rove, John Ashcroft, Rumsey and Dick ... those fellas know what they're talking about! I can't listen to just any deity who can pick up the phone!"
"But, I'm God, George!"
"Does Karl say you are?"
"But why do you believe Karl?"
"Because my gut tells me he's right!"
"Listen, you ignorant little pinch-eyed Billy Graham convert! Can't you get it into your head that I'm God and I'm telling you to stop all this 'pre-emptive strike' nonsense! Stop destroying Iraq! Stop supporting that monster Sharon! Stop picking a fight with the only other human beings on the planet that believe in Me! You're leading the world into unbelievable chaos and horror!"
"That's enough, God! That's just the sort of defeatist crap that I won't allow in the White House! Get out of here!"
"I cannot believe I'm hearing this, George."
"Well you better start believing, God, because this is the new reality. Don'tcha know that a recent Gallup poll shows that 42% of Americans identify themselves as 'born again'? That cuts across Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, white and black! This is a real political power base, God, and you'd better believe it!"
"Look, all I'm asking is for you to show a little compassion to your fellow human beings!"
"I'm not going to debate this with you, God! You're beginning to sound like you belong to the reality-based community!"
"What the hell does that mean?"
"Well by the 'reality-based community', we mean people who believe that solutions emerge from their judicious study of discernible reality." "Sounds fair enough..."
"But, as one of my advisors told Ron Suskind of the Wall Street Journal: 'The reality-based community is not the way the world really works any more. We're an empire now and, when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality - judiciously, as you will - we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do'."
"You mean...you don't give a damn, George?"
"I mean You speak through me, God, not the other way round! Is that clear?"
"Yes, Mr President."

Posted by bill at October 24, 2004 9:55 AM

This article is a very Polite. Very true but too Polite,

Posted by Louis Friend at October 24, 2004 11:17 AM

It's true. As adults these poeple have never really accomplished anything. Only in America could such persons end up so rich as to insulate themselves from middle America and not realize their fantastic good fortune.

Posted by Earl Norman at October 24, 2004 3:30 PM

This is one of the most stupid and inane pieces ever written. Talk about jousting at windmills. Create a mythical nemisis that never existed and pat yourself on the back for so courageously defending America while those you purport to share your ideals with rob you blind and leave you and your children in debt forever. Wake up and smell the roses, buddy. The emperor has no clothes and you are a fool.

Posted by david at October 25, 2004 8:29 PM

I see it has gotten to you. Excellent.

Posted by Gerard Van der Leun at October 25, 2004 8:56 PM

Hi Mr. Burns!

Posted by princehal at October 26, 2004 5:27 AM

Mr. Van Der Leun,

You are easily the most disturbing writer I have read in -- well, maybe ever. Sally Sunshine you ain't.

It's like all my darkest thoughts are finally given voice. Seeing them in print helps me to understand them.

Thank you.

DWC

Posted by Daniel W. Casey at October 27, 2004 12:07 PM

Bravo! worthy of the widest audience.

Doug in Colorado Springs

Posted by doug hugigns at October 27, 2004 3:25 PM

Wake up before your beloved America is overwhelmed by the Bush Regime! Study the facts about Bush, Prescott Bush & Union Banking Corp., George Walker & Brown Bros. & Harriman. Enron & Halliburton & Bredaro-Shaw & Binledin Group & Dresser Industries, just to name a few of George Bush's factual historic patriotic, sic, proven treason liasions. Makes Kerry Heinz as dangerous as Bart Simpson. Do your homework before spouting off. This is real, not your fantasy world.

Posted by zl at November 13, 2004 8:10 PM

Gerard for President!!(once he can drive unhindered out of his neighborhood, that is)

Posted by Neill in Orlando at June 5, 2005 3:55 PM