Here's some stuff from the latest issue of the Exile (home of the always interesting War Nerd) on the most annoying things about the 1990s. A few of the comments on politics during that fat, prosperous decade are definitely worth passing along, those guys have a talent for cutting away the BS:
35. Hating the Clintons/Hating the UN
The Sham:What do you do if you live in a period of the greatest prosperity and geopolitical power that your country - and indeed just about any country in history - ever experienced? If you're 150 million of America's 300 million citizens, you hate the President who oversaw this Golden Age. And you hate his wife too. And for good measure, you also hate the UN, precisely because America finally found a way to completely co-opt it by making it believe it was becoming more powerful and multilateral, when in fact it served America's imperial ambitions like no organization on earth. So naturally, this same 150 million-strong demographic hated the UN too, on the Waco-chic theory that the UN was preparing to occupy and control America. The hate was and still is pure undistilled venom, mean in that special Made In America way. There's no point trying come up with a clever, insightful explanation for this hatred. It's just stupidity expressed emotionally. Ten, twenty years from now, when America becomes the England of the 21st Century, people will look back at the 90s and...no wait, they won't. They'll be Americans. And they'll probably still hate the Clintons and the UN. Because that's what mean, petty morons do.
"Just stupidity expressed emotionally"...not a bad summary of some of the stuff comes bubbling up out of the American populist subconscious. Although this is a touch unfair since if you look at the actual opinion polls Clinton was pretty popular throughout the 90s, despite a concerted attempt to smear him through the legal system. Much more popular than Bush is now, despite the fact that Bush faces no enemies nearly as powerful as Clinton's.
And here's what I think is a rather accurate assessment of Noam Chomsky...good guy and all, gets things right most of the time, but if he's your leading leftist, you don't have a left:
Sure, Chomsky is the kind of guy you want on your team, the perfect leftie fullback whose books on politics, media and language move the chains, yet are perfectly devoid of surprise. You want to criticize the mainstream media's silence on US imperialism in Latin America on a third and short yardage situation? Chomsky will get you your two yards of criticism and a cloud of dirt. But you can't build a franchise around him. Which is exactly what the Left has done....The best thing about Chomsky is that he raises the blood pressure of anti-Lefties far more than he deserves.
No wise-ass comments from British readers who can't follow the American football metaphors. Learn the game, it's the greatest spectator sport on earth.
And they toss in a final slam on the one part of the American left that has managed to affect history recently:
Liberals Who Voted For Nader Because There Was No Difference Between Bush and Gore
The Sham:Admit it: you fucked up. Big time. There was a huge difference between Bush and Gore. Voting for Nader was a vote for Bush. You just didn't have the courage to accept the ugly reality of politics in 2000 because as an over-read liberal, you wanted your candidate and your party to be more authentic than the plastic show that made you gag. You were too pampered and vain to lower yourself to vote for Gore, and you're the reason why America is in the shit-hole it's in today.
Marcus
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