I love Kentucky. Mainly because I love Steve. And he represents Kentucky. It is a gorgeous state filled with some truly special people. The senate race in Kentucky is pretty tight. The incumbent Jim Bunning who was gonna win handsomely started acting a tad weird - calling his opponent, Dan Mongiardo, the son of Saddam Hussein because of his dark features. Others read that as the onset of some mental disability in the old-as-dirt Bunning but I think it was a brilliant move. As someone who has dark features and has visited Kentucky many times, that plays well in Lexington. Still, the polls have tightened up and while I don’t think Bunning will lose, his advisors are losing some sleep.
Lately, they have started called Mongiardo “limp-wristed”, and a “switch-hitter”, as well as, not a “man”. Now, that’s what I call a “hard” attack. Mongiardo is single. And he does look like the penny pinching dandy depicted by Norman Rockwell in this ad for Kentucky Bourbon.
To his credit, Mongiardo has responded strongly:
Mongiardo told a group of reporters he is not gay. Then he was then asked can a single man run for office without rumors being spread? “It’s a shame but I’m hoping all of this attention could help me get a few dates,” Mongiardo said.
Ain’t politics fun? I think duels, slurs, challenges to manhood and womanhood do have a place in the political realm. All this liberal whining about being nobler than all that always strikes me as misplaced morality. Politics, at its best, is a playground popularity contest. And if you think back to your playground days, the bullies and the wits won while the “sensitive” kids sat and sulked about their given funny names. Look, for example, what Bush’s entire strategy after the first debate is: LIBERAL from TAXACHUSETS. That is it. If that ain’t school yard name-calling, I don’t know what is [thanks Mark for the tip].
unrelated i: The subaltern is back writing his journal from 1848. It is a good read, if you will.
housekeeping: I am SICK of the spam here. Blacklist ain’t working. Over the weekend I will move to 3.1 since WP 1.3 is still not out. curses.
unrelated ii: I got a trackback from Antibalas! I even thought of going to the Metro show to catch them. Next, Colin Meloy needs a blog….
I love SIMPSONS!!!