The Dallas Morning Blues

For a while now, I've been considering setting up a blog whose sole purpose would be to respond to the multitude of annoying, and occassionally infuriating, letters on the opinion page. Yes, I know that those people would never read my replys, nor would they care about my opinion if they did. But it would make me feel better.

For instance:

Rove: Unbeatable villain

I am enjoying the letters from Democrats who find great pleasure in bashing Karl Rove. It is even more comical to see the comments from the Democrat candidates for president.

How many of them, I wonder, would hire Mr. Rove to run their campaigns if he were to lower himself to their standards? These people hate Mr. Rove for one reason: No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't beat him.

David Bryant, Richardson

my response:

Dear Mr. Bryant,

Okay, in honesty, I cant say that there are not Democrats who would not hire Karl Rove were he to, as you say "lower himself to their standards". But should they make that choice, I would have to decline to vote for them, also.

I'm not impressed by much that the Democratic party has done in the last two or three decades, but of this I must say I admire them for: They have not stooped to the poor sportsmanship of Karl Rove and the Republican party which he has polluted with his ideas. That's right, I said polluted.

Try this: Image that your child is an excellent chess player, so good that in the upcoming chess tournament, there's really only one other player that worries him. The day of the tournament comes, you wish your offspring well, and send him to school. That night, you inquire how the tournament went; excellent! he says, I won! You ask, was the match against your rival a tough game? Oh no, he answers, then tells you how he stashed a baggie full of boric acid in his rival's locker, then called the police with an anonymous tip about some cocaine a couple hours before the tournament. Naturally, no charges came of the incident, but the timing caused the rival to miss the tourney!

How do you answer such a child. If it were you answering, Mr. Bryant, the response would appear to be, "Great job, Son! Nothing is more important than winning!"

You see, people dont hate Karl Rove because he wins elections. People hate Karl Rove because he uses lies, innuendo, doublespeak and damned statistics to win. He's a poor sportsman, a spitballer and a ball-puncher. He's the Barry Bonds of politics. Sure he wins, but he does so in a skeevy, nasty and dishonorable way, and in doing so pollutes the whole game of politics.

What's that you say? It's not a game? All the more reason to despise him.

Go ahead now, tell me how dirty politics is nothing new. Tell me that things like this have been going on since elections began. Tell me how the Democrats have done the same thing themselves. I'll agree with you, too. There has been a lot of dirty politics throughout history. A lot of dirty politics over history, and none of those who practiced it are called heroes (unless, perchance, their bad behavior has been forgotten: history is written by the victors, but that doesnt make their bad behavior any less unethical).

Karl Rove has helped contribute to the idea, made policy by the Republican Party, that winning is the be-all and end-all of politics. They have taken it from being a game of exchange, compromise and statesmanship to a winner-take-all-and-damn-the-loser knifefight for power.
This kind of thinking leads in only one direction: do whatever is necessary to remain in power. It starts with lies and con-games, but it can only, led to its logical conclusion, end in chaos and murder, bloodshed and oppression. Think not? If winning is all, and the loser gets nothing, what happens when the winner becomes the loser, as must eventually happen in electoral politics? Do those who have stopped at little to beat an unpopular foe simply give up, and wait for their time to come 'round again? Or do they ramp up the foul play in a desperate attempt to maintain control, TO WIN?

Well, no one knows until it happens, do they? But by then it may be too late. Better, it seems, to play the game with good grace and honor, to fight fair, and lose nobly. Under such a system, where no one cheats in their bid for power, the consequences of losing are far milder. For both sides.

No, Mr Bryant, you are wrong. I dont find great pleasure in bashing Karl Rove, only great contempt at watching him in action.

Daveawayfromhome

ps. Yes, the Democratic candidates for president are, by and large, a bunch of clowns; but then, the same goes for the Republicans. Not that I find clowns particularly funny...

Even though your heart is breaking...