If anyone has any doubt as to how absurdly out of touch our Political Pundocracy is, they need only look at the front runner for the Republican nomination, and compare him to what Pundits say voters care about:
Effete Easterner: Multi-Millionaire, Former Mayor of New York.
NASCAR Dad: Doesn't Drive, Son barely speaks to him
Girlie Men Need not Apply: Enjoys going to Parties in Drag
Country And Western Music: Opera Buff
Values Voters: Thrice Married, Pro-Abortion
Favorite Work Out: Golf
Smaller Government: Growing the number of people on the City's Payroll
Favorite Dog: None
Name: Rudolf Giuliani
Almost all of the professional analysis of our political scene is clearly complete crap. What Republican voters want has nothing to do with their supposed fondness for values and their anti-elitism. The only issues that are important to the GOP are much more basic. The Party's appeal is based on a combination of racism and fear.
Rudy's racist record in New York is clear. As mayor, he sued New York magazine when it put up ads that said it was one of the few good things about New York that Rudy had not taken credit for. His lawyers, paid for by the City, argued that such ads were demeaning to the office of the Mayor. But when he was running for Mayor, he had no problem participating in a near riot against the then current Mayor, African American David Dinkins, where the mayor was mocked as a wash room attendant. In another incident, after police shot and killed an unarmed African-American security guard and father of two, Rudy illegally released his juvenile record. (This little trick cost the City over $2 Million, when the family sued.)
Fear of anyone who is alien is the only other platform on which Republicanism is built. Fear of Islam. A fear Rudy appealed to his in his entirely wrong reply to Ron Paul at the recent Republican debate. Fear of the Mexican immigrant. The party remains loyal to Bush through the incompetence of 9/11, through Iraq, through Katrina - but deserts him when it comes to little brown people. Don't believe me, play the video and listen to the right wing editorial staff at the Wall Street Journal, here, at Powerline, via memeorandum)
Somehow the right and/or our corporate media have managed to take discussions of topics like race, like discussions of Islamic realities; off the table. But you can all look forward to seeing photos of Rudy at a (largely white) NASCAR event near you. (Although you won't see the chauffeur that brought him there.)
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