Dems De Breaks

Madame's Nightshirt

Mrs. Peperium

"Did you hear that the media is comparing what's going on in Tehran to Florida 2000?" asked Mr. P., taking a sip of his wine.

Mrs. P stopped cutting her grilled-to-perfection-by-Mr. P-shish-kebab, put down her silverware and said, "No!...They can't be."

"They can.  And they are."

"Oh my gawd Mr. P! This presidency is turning into a really bad Episcopalian cocktail party."

"All Episcopalian cocktail parties are bad."  

"Alright, alright. A really long Episcopalian cocktail party where the conversation never ever changes.  They've become just like my Barbie doll."

"Your Barbie doll?"

"Yes, my Barbie doll.  My Barbie doll's carrying case, actually. This case had an illustration of Barbie on it wearing her stewardess outfit and she was carrying her flight bag. And on her flight bag was a tiny drawing of her wearing her stewardess outfit carrying her flight bag with another tiny drawing of her wearing her stewardess outfit.  One day I realized that illustration was the same illustration within a illustration within a illustration within an illustration.  It went on forever, never stopping. The Democrats have become just like that."

"And the Episcopalians."

"Exactly! They never stop talking about themselves.  They just keep having the same conversation within a conversation within a conversation within a conversation within a conversation."

"No wonder we had to drink so much at those parties. Perfectly ghastly." said Mr. P with a shudder as he took another pull at his wine.

"They are ghastly.  And they're wrong.  There's no comparison to Florida 2000 with what's going on in Tehran.  In Florida 2000 the media called the race -wrong- before the polls had closed.  In Tehran, the State called the race -wrong- before the polls closed.  That's a big difference."

"Yeah, and George Bush didn't order troops to gun down the protestors, did he?"

"Not that I recall. But then, that was only because he didn't have the power.  If he had had the power he would have mown them down just like you do to our grass," said Mrs. P pausing to survey the backyard.  "Nice job by the way."

"I endeavor to give satisfaction."

"And you do. But Obama doesn't. So, let's do the math. Obama's first interview as President was with Arab media and he told Iran if they unclenched their fist they'd find an extended hand."

"Hey, they could play rock, paper, scissors."

"Please," Mrs. P pleaded, mopping her shirtfront with a napkin, "don't say things like that when I'm drinking.  When was Obama in Cairo?" 

"Last week, I think.  I can't tell anymore. He's just blended into one never-ending photo-op-cum-televised-address. It gives me the same swimmy, where-am-I sensation I used to experience in our pub crawling days."

"Except he's ordering near beer."

"In that case, he's got no excuse for not making any sense."

"In Cairo" Mrs. P said, dragging the meeting back to the agenda, "didn't he extend another hand to Iran by apologizing for something we did in the 50's? It was his way of making them like us more. By the way, I'm waiting for the enviro-mental-ists to notice the size 14-triple E carbon footprint he's laying down as he runs around the world apologizing for America's carbon footprint."

"Not a chance. As far as the eco-freaks are concerned the shoe is on the right foot. As for the apology, that would be right out of his play book. He can't stop telling everyone he's not like the big, bad folks who used to be in charge. The problem is, not being like them leaves him precious few options for dealing with the world. After all, the big, bad folks were big and bad for a very good reason."

"Imagine how much apologizing Obama's successors will have to do to us."

"Oh the humanity. More wine?"

"Yes." said Mrs. P holding up her glass. "Obama's already a failure isn't he?"

"It's shaping up that way."

"Did you know that CBS back on June 8th compared Imadinnerjacket to George Bush?"

"They didn't."

"They did."

"I suppose it's all of a piece. They knew Ak-mah-whatshisname would steal the election, so they called him George Bush before the election so their trenchant analysis after the election--that it's a repeat of Florida 2000--would seem more plausible."

Mrs. P's head began to hurt. And it had nothing to do with the wine. "I think we're getting back to my Barbie's carrying case."

"We always do" said Mr. P. "So," he continued, a speculative gleam in his eye, "do you still have that stewardess outfit?"

Thanks to RS McCain and Nice Deb for some of the background for this piece.

Comments

[Fear and Loathing in Georgetown]

Has the entire world lost its ever lovin' mind?

[Mrs. Peperium]

I never had one. But yes, it appears so:

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashaot.htm

[Mrs. Peperium]

In case that did not convince you (from The Corner)

Whatever You Say . . . [Jonah Goldberg]

I could swear that Matt Yglesias used to talk about how Ahmadinejad was ultimately reasonable. Now Ahmadinejad's a really bad guy because he's like . . . Sarah Palin.

Ahmadinejad is in most ways a classic right-winger, a demagogic nationalist and cultural conservative. In a manner somewhat reminiscent of a Sarah Palin, however, he clothes this right-wing politics in a language of class resentment, painting his more pragmatic and reformist opponents as decadent elites out of touch with ordinary people. Unlike the populists of the American right, however, he merges this rhetoric with something resembling an actual populist economic agenda. The main element has been the use of oil revenue to expand the state sector of the economy in an attempt to distribute wealth more broadly throughout the country. This approach has gained Ahmadinejad a loyal following among the rural poor and public employees, but Iran’s objective economic performance has been disappointing, even during the great oil boom years.

Daniel Halper responds:

Yes, Yglesias is referring to the same Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who calls for Israel to be wiped off the map, who denies the existence of the Holocaust, who calls Jews (whoops, Zionists) the “true manifestation of Satan,” and so on. But the main distinction between Ahmadinejad from Palin? The former is in favor of redistributing the wealth, which automatically makes him better than Palin in Yglesias’s mind.

06/16 09:43 AM

[Mrs. Peperium]

If you still require more convincing (From Andrew Sullivan):

Ahmadinejad's bag of tricks is eerily like that of Karl Rove - the constant use of fear, the exploitation of religion, the demonization of liberals, the deployment of Potemkin symbolism like Sarah Palin:

Ahmadinejad made an advertising movie of himself and his family which was very effective among the masses. His simple life is similar to low income people. This is despite the fact that during his first term some people acquired a lot of wealth because of Ahmadinejad’s bad economic decisions, housing prices during the last four years tripled, industrial production decreased, many factories closed and unemployment increased. Import of goods such as rice, tea, sugar, and Chinese goods mostly helped the importers who are Ahmadinejad’s biggest supporters. It’s interesting that several of his ministers are very wealthy including his mister of the interior.
An increase in the price of oil and a $280 billion revenue allowed Ahmadinejad to not only raise people’s salaries but also to give cash, goods and even gold coins to the people who came to greet him whenever he visited a town or a village; just like the Qajar kings. Many of the agencies under the supervision of the supreme leader helped him in this matter.

The armed forces, specially the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij are Ahmadinejad’s supporters. Their penetration in the villages and small towns, and the fact that they are often from the lower income classes, played a major role in Ahmadinejad’s victory like the previous elections.
Think of this regime as Cheney and Rove in a police state setting, and you see what's been going on. (Of course, Rove and Cheney live within a democratic system utterly unlike Iran, and there's no evidence they would violate democratic norms as Khamenei just did. But their demagoguery, abuse of the state, dedication to conflict abroad, co-optation of the armed forces, and manipulation of rural and religious voters all have parallels in Red State Iran.) We keep expecting to see some kind of shame or some attempt at rational dialogue. They have nothing but contempt for that kind of talk. If they're going to lie, it's gonna be a Big Lie. Like this sham of an election.

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'The Rovian Islamist'

by Andrew Sullivan: Stalker

Excerpt: Cmon, Mr Sullivan, its time to move on. Bush Derangement Syndrome is just so last year. For a professional writer like yourself, its really time to get some new material. ...

Weblog: Common Sense Political Thought
Tracked: Jun 15, 2009 8:30:18 AM

[Mrs. Peperium]

Update ABC has responded to the Republicans...like Obama and Iran - ABC wants a "robust debate" on healthcare - notice fair is missing from that description just like it was with Obama's Friday comments on the Iranian election - So this is why they must broadcast the news from the White House...

http://blogs.abcnews.com/pressroom/2009/06/abc-news-responds-to-rnc-letter-.html

[Old Dominion Tory]

What will Charlie Gibson say as he peers over those glasses at Himself in the flesh?
Quite possibly, he'll be rendered speechless, just lost in his eyes.