July 27, 2006

CELEBRITY GUEST COMMENT: Gatemouth Speaks (again) -- by Steve Nadis

Of the many features we run on Call Me Snake (too many to enumerate), "Celebrity Guest Comment" is surely one of the most popular for it gives a chance for everyone to dream that someday their insightful comment will be showcased in this high-profile manner, for all the world to see. Today's Guest Comment comes from a man who needs no introduction, the all-time bumper sticker competition winner (after me). Yes, that's right, Gatemouth. So take it away, Gatemouth. You have the "conch," as they say. [Editor's note: This comment is reprinted verbatim, in its entirety. All mistakes--errors of fact, syntax, grammar, and punctuation--are the responsibility of Gatemouth, not me.]

GATEMOUTH SPEAKS: Come on, Snake, you can't blame the Republicans for the Big Dig. After all, Romney wasn't even governor when the Big Dig was started. There was Swift before him, and Cellucci before Swift, and Weld before Cellucci...

Oh wait. They were all Republican governors, weren't they? But I'll bet the Democrats' projects were just as bad. Like the Bourne Bridge, the Sagamore, the Cape Cod Canal, the Sumner and Callahan tunnels . . . Oh, wait. None of those fell apart, did they?

All right, but the Democrats' national projects have been complete disasters, right? Didn't Hoover Dam collapse two days after it was finished? Didn't all those National Parks turn into desert wastelands as soon as the last cabins were built? Didn't the Apollo space program result in the total annihilation of most of Florida? And WWII, we lost that, right?

No? All of those things were successful? Hoover Dam is still standing? We landed on the Moon several times?! We won WWII?

But the Republicans have been better engineers overall, I'm sure. I mean, SDI--that's been a huge success, right? Keeping us safe night and day. And the B-1 Bomber, started by Nixon, cancelled by Carter (because of niggling problems like the planes crashing), then revived by Reagan. That's going to go down in history as one of the great technological innovations. And you can't tell me that the Bush administration didn't have every detail of reconstruction mapped out when they started the war in Iraq.

What? 20 years and billions of dollars later SDI still doesn't do anything? The B-1 bomber was outdated before it ever hit the assembly line? Iraq has less power, water, buildings, jobs, and schools than before the war started?

Jeez, maybe there is a difference between Republicans and Democrats after all. Who'd a thunk it?

[Editor's note: Well, that's our Celebrity Guest Comment for today. Until next time, the Celebrity Guest Comment box is closed.]

Posted by Snake at 08:38:07 | Permanent Link | Comments (18) |
Comments
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1 - Hey Snake, when you gonna' give me a Celebrity Guest Comment? Just kidding. I don't need the notoriety. (Comment this)

Written by: Lindsey at 2006/07/27 - 11:17:12
2 - Hang in there, Linds. One day, your time will come. Your ship will come in. Your chickens will come home to roost. And you, too, shall have your own Celebrity Guest Comment. (Comment this)

Written by: Snake at 2006/07/27 - 11:35:19
3 - I find it funny that you had to reach back to WWII for Democrats accomplishments, but hey, whatever. I'm not a Republican either, (more of a conservative Democrat) but I've voted for both parties in different situations. The problem, like Snake has stated, is something along the lines that with Black and White, there are no shades of Gray; that is to say, everything seems to come in a package. There's no mixing and matching of issues. Screw history, the who was right, who was wrong as far as party lines. Fact is, their has been an abysmal amount of "good" candidates for any political office in the last ten to fifteen years. Perhaps more if we are just looking at the presidency. Politicians today are bred from Cold War attitudes, and a linear World view. They are Dinosaurs that will be extinct very soon.

And just for posterity: Democrats - how did you lose the 2004 election to a President who had the lowest approval rating since Grant. I'll tell you how you did it: it's because you couldn't find anyone in your ranks that the nation thought could do a better job. Take that however you will, it's the truth. And that's saying something, it's why I voted for Bush; not because I think he's anything worth writing home about, but because I was scared of Kerry making shit worse. ... I obviously (and saddly) wasn't alone. (Comment this)

Written by: guttersnake at 2006/07/27 - 15:37:15
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4 - You raise some interesting questions, not the least of which is how on Earth Bush could have won in 2004. I, for one, still can't answer that question. (Comment this)

Written by: Snake at 2006/07/27 - 15:55:59
5 - Yeah, if Kerry had been elected I bet we would still be spending money and lives in Iraq, Osama Bin Laden would still be free, a nutered State Department would have been incapable of handling conflict between Israel and her neighbors, and we'd be back in a deep generation spanding deficit, like before Clinton. THANK GOD we elected a grown up like George W. Bush and kept those wise Republicans in control of congress. Can you imagine a world like that? (Comment this)

Written by: DrMax at 2006/07/27 - 16:46:29
6 - Gatemouth,
I have a co-worker here who has an applicable comment to the Big-Dig issue...

...Two words: Ted Kennedy (D)

And I'll add that his brother, Jack (D), is the one who challenged us with the Great Race to that Orb in the
sky. As far as I can recall, we succeeded... with
several months to spare. ;) -Marco
Oh, wait he's tapping my shoulder. I'll put him on...

..um, hi...me, again...2 more words: Apollo I (1967 LBJ) (Comment this)

Written by: Marco Polo at 2006/07/27 - 17:17:35
7 - Guttersnake--I think you hit the nail right on the head. You were scared. That's why you voted for Bush. And that's why a lot of other people voted for Bush. NOT because you thought he could do a better job than the other candidate, but because you were too damn scared to take a chance on changing anything.

Well, guess what? The history of political disaster is the history of public fear. So next election, consider un clenching your white knuckles. Maybe then we'll see some change for the better. (Comment this)

Written by: gatemouth at 2006/07/27 - 19:04:38
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8 - All I can say is wow! There's quite a dialog going here, and I'd hate to drag it down by interjecting for no apparent reason without having anything of substance to say. (Comment this)

Written by: Snake at 2006/07/27 - 23:48:05
9 - One of my favorite presidents in past years was Clinton. I was firm supporter of 95% of that man. However, he was faced with an unprecedented problem that mars his two terms; a post-Cold War military and what to do with it after the advent of Desert Storm. His bold strategy was to downsize large amounts of critical elements and become overly reliant on UN collation forces, leading our military into a tailspin which we will finally be stabilizing for the 21st century sometime in late 2007. His decision directly lead to the disaster in Somalia, which is a lesson the region still remembers, and continues effects our work politically as well as militarily in Iraq and Afghanistan. So that 5% that I disagree with, happens to affect 100% of my life.

It's not about unclenching knuckles; as a matter of fact, I am regarded as quiet a radical in my political circle. When you’re at a mid-term election and at war, it’s about a candidate proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he is more capable that the man who is running the show, if for no other reason then there will be lull in leadership when and if he is elected, and during a war, that’s critical. The Democrats didn't do that. That is why they lost. Don't get me wrong, I'm just as angry about that as the next person, but you have no one to blame but yourselves. I just hope in 2008, some one from either camp jumps off the party line and gives America someone with some character and integrity to vote for.

...like David Palmer or something.
 (Comment this)

Written by: guttersnake at 2006/07/28 - 17:19:16
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10 - I agree -- "character and integrity" would be a nice change. (Comment this)

Written by: Snake at 2006/07/28 - 22:44:43
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