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Given the Dali-esque landscape of Murkin politics in the 21st Century, limp timepieces hanging from dead trees in the desert and all, it should not have surprised me to hear that Representative Vic Snyder (D-Arkansas) would not seek re-election after thirteen years in the House. But it sure did—gave me a bad case of the Astros, best articulated by the phrase “Ruh-roh.”
Rep. Snyder cited two reasons for his decision. One was to spend more time with his family and the other was (paraphrasing) that he saw a nasty campaign fight looming. Lemme see do I grok this. Snyder fears a contest from which the DLC cannot save him? The well-funded, well-connected DLC that’s made its bones by getting Democrats (re)elected in some of the most conservative places in the country? Ruh-roh!
Vic Snyder is an intelligent, articulate person; no dummy by any stretch. He’s faced some tough opponents, all of whom he has defeated. His willingness to disagree with the political establishment has even gotten him support from some Republicans. (They like the fact that they always know where he stands on a given issue, so unlike either of our Senators.) So what has scared Rep. Snyder away from running?
He hears the train a-comin'. It’s rollin’ ‘round the bend at a hundred miles an hour and the brakes are burned out. All the passenger cars are packed to the rafters with pissed-off conservatives, gun-totin’ queer-hatin’ rednecks, religious whackjobs, Teabaggers, Libertarians and plain old racists who simply cannot abide the thought of a you-know-what in the White House.
Never mind that their boy bu$h is the one who sold ‘em all down the river: they’re mad as hell and they’re by GOD not gonna take it any longer. So they’re steaming into Dodge City to lynch this upstart and make the streets safe for The Bible and The Flag again. It’s going to be some Ugly Shit Widespread.
Vic Snyder is standing on the tracks. He smells the shuffling madness of the Locomotive Breath, he knows that the Crazy Train ain’t about to run off the rails. The Midnight Special is shining its very dark light on him—and everyone else who holds elected office now. So I can’t blame him for stepping out of its way.
Big Darkness Soon Come.
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