NEW CIVILITY WATCH: NPR: Cocaine Mitch may have to die before we fix climate change.
There were at least eight references to McConnell and/or other “older” Republicans dying in a very short period of time. Were we in more of a pouncing mode, I suppose we could suggest that this was some sort of veiled threat here that needs to be looked into.
The broader message they were pushing, death obsession aside, is the belief that there’s a whole generation of younger Republicans out there who are ready and waiting to climb onboard the Green New Deal train, but the tide is being held back by McConnell’s refusal to schedule a vote on Democratic agenda items. Frankly, that doesn’t sound terribly realistic. The majority of conservatives I know aren’t opposed to policies that are beneficial to the planet.
As James Lileks wrote in 2003, “For all these accusations to work, you have to believe that Republicans want poisoned water. You have to believe they drink different water than everyone else. And, of course, they do:”
Doubt it? Switch parties. Join the GOP, and see what happens: cheerful clean-cut uniformed men show up the next day, and take you off the city water lines. They’ll connect you to the special Republican water system that crosses the nation, supplying pure clean perfect water to GOP households. You can get it without Fluoride, too, as a sop to the Birchers and Goldie holdovers.
And there’s more! They’ll also install special GOP “screens” for your windows — they’ll trap airborne pollutants as small as three molecule across. You’ll also have access to rich, satisfying Republican sunshine, which tans you twice as fast — just look at Bob Dole! — and you’ll enjoy even-tempered Republican weather all year long. This is why Republicans don’t care about pollution, or bad water, or the ozone layer, or global warming: for all practical purposes, they’re not living on the same planet as the rest of the people, so they don’t care at all what happens to you.
True! All true! Invite a Republican over and hand him a glass of water. Watch him avoid drinking it — sometimes they spill it, sometimes they just say “I had water earlier today, thanks anyway” — and sometimes they sneak a little sponge out of their cuff, put it in their mouth and pretend to drink. Oh, they’re clever.
Well, if this isn’t true, then perhaps . . . maybe . . . there’s another side to this arsenic debate. Is it possible? Could it be?
Nahh, that’s crazy talk.