2007: Twelve Doomed White Guys

On Thursday I was making fun of the GOP's 1996 presidential nominee. Today I have a look back at the 2008 field. That's why the ZepBlog is your go-to source for outdated political commentary. As for the 2012 field, it's amusing to find that Michelle Bachmann outraised Mitt Romney in the first quarter of 2011. Still, one should beware of political jokes: sometimes they get elected.

You know, you almost have to feel sorry for the Republicans running for president in 2008. Okay, not “almost,” but you have to admit it’s a possibility.

Here’s the thing: the fissures between the party’s religious conservatives and big business conservatives have never been deeper. They’ve lost their ability to set the agenda in Congress, and a whole host of hot-button issues like gay marriage, stem cells, immigration and even tax cuts have lost the juice they once had.

But it’s the Iraq War that creates the biggest headaches for the GOP. No candidate who opposes it can hope to get the nomination, and none who support it can win the general election. The Cheney Regency has steadfastly refused to consider any rational policy to disengage from the debacle, and so GOP hopefuls face the possibility of running for president while shackled to a slow-motion train wreck.

2007: Dick Cheney's Strategy

As I mentioned, pacifists (and near-pacifists) are often put in the position of noting there are a few things we could have done differently in the years leading up to the latest inevitable breakout of hostilities. In the case of Libya, the list of things we could have done stretches back to before the Qadaffy years. But we don't need to look that far back to find a record of hideous, counter-productive screw-ups....

Like a regular geyser of that Beltway euphemism, “hogwash,” Dick Cheney can be counted on to spew invective at those who dare to point out the disaster he’s created. Most recently (at this writing), he accuses Speaker Pelosi of “validating al-Qaeda’s strategy” by trying to find ways to extricate our troops from the Iraqi quagmire.

This is the only argument they have, which is why they can’t stop using it. It’s really the only thing the gets their approval ratings from the low 30s to the high 30s (that is, the approval ratings of Regent Cheney’s sock puppet the “Decider”). A certain number of Republican voters will salivate like Pavlov’s dogs when they hear this sort of thing, then eventually sink back into sullen contempt of what they have wrought.

2007: Testing, Testing

I had a blog before this one, where I posted anonymously about my experiences as a grade school teacher. I'm going to have to take it down, since it's been infected with robot spam, and it's no longer anonymous. But a few of the posts have some linky goodness and larger relevance, as, for instance, to the looming rewrite/renewal of NCLB.

So then, with the bizarre music of Hermeto Pascoal tinkling in the background, let me try to get you caught up, with an emphasis on recent events my quintagenarian brain can still recall. (Or would that be quintogenarian? Logophiles?) Last week, I can still remember. The week before, and the week before that, might as well have been last year. I believe that was the point of keeping a journal: to help me remember and reflect upon my teaching experiences. If I can remember and reflect upon the correct email address, I may be able to do that more often.

Last week was a roller coaster ride, with the kids rambunctious coming out of a three-day weekend, and rowdy at the end of it, careening off a Thursday with a substitute. In the middle, some teaching got done, and possibly some learning.