The Bandarlog Political Convention

Not to rain on your parade, chaps, but as Jerry Pournelle has just remarked, the first most liberal U.S. Senator has just nominated the third most liberal Senator as his V.P. running-mate. My uncle Joe taught me a long time ago that in choosing U.S. presidents, the American people have routinely picked those who appear to be more of the center. Is it just me, or are you guyz smoking something that you rolled yourselves? Or is it just that you are not collectively old enough to remember McGovern?

Further, that supposed presidential candidate has just alienated between one-third and one-half of his own electoral base by not choosing the second most liberal Senator as his running mate. While it is to be admitted that while The Chosen Child was wise enough not to turn the White House into a ménage à trois, with Bill and Hillary as the other points on that particular triangle, The Child so far has not shown himself wise enough to provide some sort of sop sufficient to overcome the problems raised thereby. Have you guyz ever heard the phrase, "Hell hath no fury. . ."?

And maybe it is just me, but I just heard on the Democratic propaganda machine, er, the nightly news that The Child has made the political promise to provide each and every American child with a "world-class education" from kindergarden to graduate school. Have you crunched the numbers for that one yet? Have you any idea how much that will cost? Or who will pay for it?

I have come to the conclusion that this must be the political convention of the Banderlog, those amiable, brainless critters from Kipling's classic, The Jungle Book, who will forever sing:

Here we sit in a branchy row,
Thinking of beautiful things we know;
Dreaming of deeds that we mean to do,
All complete, in a minute or two--
Something noble and wise and good,
Done by merely wishing we could.

To paraphrase Monty Python & the Holy Grail: "I puke in your general direction."

The only problem is that I am terribly afraid that the Eeyore, er, Republican Convention will be even more ludicrous.