Stranger than fiction
Things are going on that are stranger than fiction.
To start off: There are 14 million Americans out of work. We are involved in a war on terror, on more than one front. The economy is on life support. The national debt is in the bazillions. Not only that, but there is a Democratic president who has disappointed some supporters and just might be vulnerable.
Republicans should be licking their chops in anticipation. So what is the big issue for the GOP? Well, too many of them, it’s who’s gonna hold the first presidential primary. Florida and Nevada Republicans are wanting to move theirs earlier, thereby tweaking the nose of the party establishment elsewhere. New Hampshire is particularly puffed up.
One statement seems to say it all to me. David Bitner, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, wrote, that his concern is “what is in the best interests of Florida and Florida Republicans.”
In other words, the national party’s interests don’t matter; in fact, the interests of the county don’t matter. Only our interests matter. The reaction of some other state party leaders could be interpreted the same way.
Come on, people, you’ve got to do better than that. There are a few things going on that’re more important than your egos. For instance, you’re in a good position at the moment, but if you keep goofing around like overgrown kindergartners, you could end up blowing every advantage you have.
I don’t like the idea of either party becoming all-powerful. It tends to make the winning side a little too arrogant because of their so-called “mandate.” Usually it isn’t a mandate as much as a repudiation of the other guys.
See what I mean? Stranger than fiction. I couldn’t make this up.
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Even stranger: Our entire society is preparing to be subjected to extortion by strangely dressed moppets. Adults will hand out tons of candy, ostensibly so that “tricks” will not be played upon them.
Some adults will get into the strangely-dressed act as well. Personally, when comparing guy outfits to gal outfits, I tend to prefer looking at the results after the ladies get into their costumes (before you click your tongue and call me a chauvinist, be reminded that nobody holds a gun to a woman’s head and makes her dress up as a French maid or Morticia or Catwoman).
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The strangeness doesn’t stop there. A little more than a month after the weird (and sexy) costumes are packed away, many people will do something else they would never think to do the rest of the year: They will bring a tree into the house, often after a painstaking search for just the right one. Then they will hang lights and ornaments on it.
Try doing that in July. I’m serious. Just announce, “I think I’ll bring a tree into the house and decorate it,” and see how quickly you’re hustled off to some home for the bemused.
When you come down to it, I guess there really are things stranger than politics.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: David Nichol’s column appears in the Times-Herald on Thursdays. Nichol is a member of the Times-Herald news team. He can be reached by e-mail at dnichol@thnews.com.)
