New Blog: 6/23/05, 2:35 pm

[Miami Liberal]

Karl Rove on Maple Street (Keith Olbermann)

NEW YORK — In the ravings of Karl Rove against liberals (and the ravings of liberals against Karl Rove), I am reminded of yet another in my endless supply of pop culture references: The Twilight Zone episode called "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street."

As political allegory, it was pretty simple, but also very effective.

Something, or someone, starts screwing with the lights and the electricity on an ordinary suburban street. Within minutes, the residents have concluded that aliens from outer space have invaded. As alliances and rivalries dissolve and re-form with incredible swiftness, these neighbors accuse each other of collusion with the invaders. One of them finally starts shooting. The director pulls back to a nearby hill, where sit two real aliens, one of whom sagely reminds the other that there's no need to actually attack any of these stupid humans — you can just scare them a little bit and then wait for them to tear themselves apart.

Think of how we responded — politically — to 9/11. First there was overwhelming non-partisanship. Years of deteriorating relations between the parties vanished; were even apologized for. And within three years the Republicans were insisting that a Democratic presidential victory would mean more terrorist attacks. This year our "leaders" started the Nazi references — Senator Byrd first, Senator Santorum next, most recently Senator Durbin.

And last night, Karl Rove slimed Durbin (and, of the Nazism invokers, only Durbin) and uttered the unforgettable line: "Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers."

more... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/

Note: No further details about his 8 minutes wih Mary Carey, as promised. :grr: :grr: :grr:

No floaties for you, Keith.

[gkhouston]

1. I wouldn't mind if Rove visited a shrink.

Actually, the idea of Rove shrinking and shrinking until he vanishes altogether is strangely captivating...

on edit: Keith? If everyone in DC took your "resign!" demands to heart, the housing market in DC would tank. Not good for our economy, is high-mindedness. :7

[crispini]

2. LOL, Gina.

Keith's keeping a "resign" list. :P

And, you know, I'm going to take a different viewpoint on it all. I mean, the immediate period, post 9/11, was, yes, overwhelmingly non-partisan. And may I just interpose here that -- how does the quote go? -- Bush could have gotten anything AT ALL done after 9/11 and he asked for a tax cut and a war. (I know somebody other than myself said that.) Anyway, great example of statesmanship here. :eyes:

I guess that, knowing what I know about PNAC, now, I'm not entirely sure that we DID, in reality, rise to any great heights after 9/11. I mean, good lord, we could have done anything -- ANYTHING -- and the neocon maroons decided to follow a script that they had developed back BEFORE 9/11 and go off and stomp the shit out of some people in the Middle East.

Whatever. You know, I'm kind of glad that we're back to sniping at each other. Because that means that we're almost back to "normal," or whatever the hell passed for "normal," pre-9/11.

[Clark2008]

3. The only thing I disagree with is that Byrd and Durbin

were correct: the Republicans are behaving like fascists: ie, early Nazi's.

His call for bi-partisanship is good and his slams on Rove are great.

Don't think we'll be seeing any of it any time soon, though.

[Berry Cool]

4. I guess that makes you guilty of exactly what Keith said...

I quote:

"And before you say — yeah, but the Republicans/Democrats started it — go get a copy of that episode of 'The Twilight Zone' and see if, by the end of it, you can remember which neighbor started the trouble — or if, after the shooting starts, that distinction even remotely matters."

He's right.

It really doesn't, you know.

So long as people stay in the "HE said it first" or "THEY are wrong, WE are right" mode, we're never going to get anywhere and we will never have bipartisanship.

Me? I'm not really happy things are back to normal. Then again, I would toss the whole two-party political system if I could. It just fosters and feeds dualistic wars like this. Give me MULTIpartisanship any day.

On edit: I have to admit this blog made me smile a bit because once again, Keith was on the warpath calling for people's heads. If they wanted to parody him on SNL, all they'd have to do is have a guy with thick eyebrows, gray hair and glasses issuing snark and talking about how this guy and that guy and the other guy should resign because of what he just said. :-)

[Patsy Stone]

5. LOL.

No floaties for you! :) How are ya, girl?

I loved that episode of the Twilight Zone. I had to read it in school in English class.

Good blog, KO! I'll give you floaties. :loveya::loveya::loveya:

[bettyellen]

6. Rove jumped the line...

and that's what i'm here to celebrate!

[Patsy Stone]

7. Hey, betty!

What was he thinking? So out of character!

:toast:

[bettyellen]

8. you know, i'm sure * said it himself last year....

maybe not the therapy part though. but now it's starting to resonate with people how wrong things are now in iraq and they care more about the why....
i think people are realizing where the partisan attacks are really coming from and they're fed up with the senseless macho bullshit. it certainly ain't working like it used to.
i was hoping they'd cover how the 9/11 families reacted. their statement was short but very sweet.
i guess it shows i'm a NYer, huh? this pisses me off to no end.
how are you pats? drinkey? LOL!