Comments on: Peter Collier’s Mistake

By: mongai

mongai — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 02:57:34 +0000

Catherine,

Al Gore was very non-cool. Very true. Carter was also not cool. Kennedy and Clinton were “cool.” But it is your kind of cool, the active opposition to “cool”, which I think is coolest, or the true cool. In this vein the Republican party has a chance to become the cool party in opposition to the reactionary “cool” of the Democrats.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 01:54:21 +0000

mongal

Tis nothing cooler than having “always been actively opposed to cool” methinks

It happens to be true.

Though I must say there is a wide, wide streak of non-cool amongst the Dems, too.

I mean . . . take Al Gore.

Please.

By: thedragonflies

thedragonflies — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 00:32:08 +0000

John Amadeus,

And the Left has been holding a grudge against Reagan ever since. Being proven wrong is a hard pill to swallow.

By: mongai

mongai — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 23:39:51 +0000

A state-controlled economy couldn’t provide the bucks to build the missiles so the military reluctantly let Gorbachev initiate some reforms and pretty soon they were all tumbling down a slippery slope.

Catherine that is the coolest! Tis nothing cooler than having “always been actively opposed to cool” methinks.

By: Johan Amedeus Metesky

Johan Amedeus Metesky — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 22:27:42 +0000

I was thinking about this earlier. I first parted company with the left over Israel back in the late 60s and early 70s but continued to vote mostly for Democrats. The battle over Reagan’s Space Defense Initiative, which seemed emminently sensible, further pushed me to the right. As a child of the 50s and 60s, growing up under the threat of nuclear holocaust, a missile defense system made a whole lot of sense. Ultimately it was Reagan’s insistance on pushing forward with SDI that hastened the end of the USSR, because they literally could not afford to build enough missiles to overcome SDI.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 21:43:29 +0000

I, for one, have always been actively opposed to “cool,” which is apparently the reason why I didn’t make it to the finish line as a Democrat.

By: mongai

mongai — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 18:40:06 +0000

thedragonflies,

It is a lot of weight– The collective uncool of you [but I suspect you really are cool (but modest)], me and many others, but someone has to pull the load.

Mongai

By: thedragonflies

thedragonflies — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 18:30:18 +0000

Mongai,

It may be too late for you and me, but fortunately for us, Roger is cool enough to carry us all.

By: mongai

mongai — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 18:21:50 +0000

thedragonflies,

I think you are on to something. I remember at college Cheney came and gave a speech and all I could do was marvel at how uncool the students, his adoring fans, at the front of the lecture hall were. I too was not cool but I aspired….Which is why I think a parody group like Communists for Kerry and Arnold are so important. Republican cool and fun has become a real possibility.

By: thedragonflies

thedragonflies — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 17:26:21 +0000

My experience of becoming conservative rather than liberal happened in 1980 ñ I was a Reagan Dem, now a Bush Rep I guess. Actually, I am still a JFK Dem? Rep? (The real JFK, not the imitation) The Dems left JFK-land long ago and got lost in the quagmire of Carter, McGovern, Dukakis, and now Kerry.

The hardest part is the image change. I went from cool to square, Robert Redford to Pat Boone. As you know, I am sure, peer pressure and the cult of cool is the glue that keeps the left together.