CC Goldwater & Stephanie Miller, Phoenix Oct. 2007Goldwater/Miller 2008 Rally in Phoenix and I Will Not Be There - blah, blah, blah...
Loyal fans of this blog are probably expecting me to endorse the Goldwater/Miller 2008 ticket, but I warn you, I will disappoint your expectations. I cannot in good conscience endorse a phony, promotional ticket, not when the stakes are as high as they are in the upcoming election. Call me a stick up the butt liberal if you must, but I just cannot waste my time creating a MySpace page for fake candidates - much as I know that would please both Steph and her running mate CC. Even though I'm sure that it would get me a mention, however fleeting, on Steph's morning radio show. I will not support a ticket that is in the race to make only one point - a point that Stephanie has made ad nauseum on her radio show - the point being that "The current Republican party bears little resemblance to her father's, William Miller, and Barry Goldwater's party." A point that is true as far as it goes, but being a radical militant librarian and a naturally curious grrrl - I did a little bit of research and unearthed the platform on which Mr. Goldwater and Mr. Miller ran (see Rebuplican Platform 1964 - warning dull, repetitive reading ahead - perfect cure for insomnia). In summation, the platform talks a lot about the evils of Communism and the wonders of freedom, it speaks loudly about shrinking the federal government and keeping said government out of people's lives and keeping regulation of business to a minimum. It does promise to honor the Civil Rights Act and to provide equal opportunity for all, but there are troubling parts in the platform, too - a mention of exempting the minimum wage laws for teenage workers, a remark about keeping the United Nations in its place, a clear vision of a world in which the United States is the most militarily powerful nation on the planet, where natural resources are there for our exploitation - without government protection or "interference" (as the Republicans would term it). There are plenty of seeds in the '64 Republican platform from which one can see the GOP plants that have blossomed today. It was not, as Stephanie would have us see it now, a party that would have left us all alone to be gay, or bi-sexual, or atheist, or agnostic, or, gasp, even communist (Not communist, just ask Joe McCarthy about that).
Stephanie was on Dan Abrams Show the other night talking about the phenomenon of phony candidates, namely Stephen Colbert, who has apparently drawn even more attention than the Goldwater/Miller 2008 ticket (surprise, surprise!). It struck me as a telling moment in media history when a real news program spent part of its show discussing the impact that fake candidates are having on a very real election. Even in good fun, it strikes me as odd that Stephen Colbert is currently polling higher than Governor Bill Richardson and Representative Dennis Kucinich and is tied with Senator Joe Biden (I can't say that I'm surprised that Colbert is beating former Senator Mike Gravel). Still, I appreciate a good joke as much as the next grrrl, but I must say that I am having a hard time finding the humor in an election that has the potential to restore the Constitution, end an illegal and immoral war, and generally bring America back to the people who make this such a great country. Sorry folks, the joke's over - now get back to making us laugh about really funny stuff - like Larry Craig or Mitt Romney....
Loyal fans of this blog are probably expecting me to endorse the Goldwater/Miller 2008 ticket, but I warn you, I will disappoint your expectations. I cannot in good conscience endorse a phony, promotional ticket, not when the stakes are as high as they are in the upcoming election. Call me a stick up the butt liberal if you must, but I just cannot waste my time creating a MySpace page for fake candidates - much as I know that would please both Steph and her running mate CC. Even though I'm sure that it would get me a mention, however fleeting, on Steph's morning radio show. I will not support a ticket that is in the race to make only one point - a point that Stephanie has made ad nauseum on her radio show - the point being that "The current Republican party bears little resemblance to her father's, William Miller, and Barry Goldwater's party." A point that is true as far as it goes, but being a radical militant librarian and a naturally curious grrrl - I did a little bit of research and unearthed the platform on which Mr. Goldwater and Mr. Miller ran (see Rebuplican Platform 1964 - warning dull, repetitive reading ahead - perfect cure for insomnia). In summation, the platform talks a lot about the evils of Communism and the wonders of freedom, it speaks loudly about shrinking the federal government and keeping said government out of people's lives and keeping regulation of business to a minimum. It does promise to honor the Civil Rights Act and to provide equal opportunity for all, but there are troubling parts in the platform, too - a mention of exempting the minimum wage laws for teenage workers, a remark about keeping the United Nations in its place, a clear vision of a world in which the United States is the most militarily powerful nation on the planet, where natural resources are there for our exploitation - without government protection or "interference" (as the Republicans would term it). There are plenty of seeds in the '64 Republican platform from which one can see the GOP plants that have blossomed today. It was not, as Stephanie would have us see it now, a party that would have left us all alone to be gay, or bi-sexual, or atheist, or agnostic, or, gasp, even communist (Not communist, just ask Joe McCarthy about that).Stephanie was on Dan Abrams Show the other night talking about the phenomenon of phony candidates, namely Stephen Colbert, who has apparently drawn even more attention than the Goldwater/Miller 2008 ticket (surprise, surprise!). It struck me as a telling moment in media history when a real news program spent part of its show discussing the impact that fake candidates are having on a very real election. Even in good fun, it strikes me as odd that Stephen Colbert is currently polling higher than Governor Bill Richardson and Representative Dennis Kucinich and is tied with Senator Joe Biden (I can't say that I'm surprised that Colbert is beating former Senator Mike Gravel). Still, I appreciate a good joke as much as the next grrrl, but I must say that I am having a hard time finding the humor in an election that has the potential to restore the Constitution, end an illegal and immoral war, and generally bring America back to the people who make this such a great country. Sorry folks, the joke's over - now get back to making us laugh about really funny stuff - like Larry Craig or Mitt Romney....
Goldwater-Miller back on the campaign trail (Arizona Republic, Oct. 27, 2007)
Stephanie,
