5 June 2004 - Saturday
Gutter and class in politics
I was listening to NPR when the news broke that Ronald Reagan had died. A Prairie Home Companion came on an hour later, and host Garrison Keillor opened the show with a brief tribute to the president who had "confounded us on the left" with so much "charm."
When Keillor first mentioned the death, however, a few in the audience started clapping, and someone in the audience started shrieking happily -- "Aww, yeah!" Keillor ignored them and proceeded, with perfect calm, to speak highly of the late president. He acted as if he simply expected his audience to think and conduct themselves as grownups.
There's politics, and then there's public service.
| Posted by Wilson at 20:47 Central | TrackBack| Report submitted to the Power Desk
Yes, but that just muddies up the waters again, doesn't it? The simpler statement draws a distinction between negative and positive tendencies within political discourse. Throwing Keillor in as a separate category actually obscures the meaning of the post. The whole point is that Keillor, on this occasion, rose above partisanship, while members of the audience were still behaving like political vultures instead of human beings.
The thoughts of Wilson on 6 June 2004 - 8:03 Central+ + + + +
People make me sick. . .
Whenever someone on the left does something like that (clapping at the death of someone they despised politically) I always file it away so that later, when someone I profoundly disagreed with passes on, I will respond the right way - with respect and class, rather than with inhumanity.
I've heard people on the left (infrequently, thank goodness) make jokes about Ronald Reagan's Altzheimers when he was still alive.
People who think Altzheimers is funny suck.
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I'm a lefty, love the show and was surprised and offended to hear that cheer. Garrison earned the money with his tribute:
He was a great man who befuddled us old liberals for years, mainly due to his shining charm - which never failed him.
I was no fan of the man, but for an impromptu eulogy it wasn't half-bad.
The thoughts of Onyx2626 on 7 June 2004 - 17:17 Central+ + + + +
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A less sentimental rendition of your closing remark:
The thoughts of Milton on 6 June 2004 - 3:06 Central"There's politics, there's public service, and then there's Garrison Keillor."
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