Personal & Wingnuts Posted by peter ramus, 15 May 2007 05:58 pm
History Written By Victors, Spokesman Says
No sympathy for the man at all when he lived, I won’t take the opportunity now that he’s dead to pile any more opprobrium on him than was due during his long public life, which due I will however continue to measure to my own satisfaction.
His death deflects words meant to sting, denies them proper target. He had that marvelous sunny ability when living to elude them then, as well.
Long I labored with care and craft one time to pen him a stern missive freighted with my harshest words for it. On the sad subject of El Salvador it was, if memory serves.
Great heavy hammerstrokes of rhetoric ringing down on the anvil of public discourse, that note. No lengthier than the subject required, though it took a final ruthless edit to bring its weight in under the cap on first class postage.
Jayz, did those paragraphs have at him!
In return, some weeks later, by post, the following, undated, by autopen.
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Responses to “History Written By Victors, Spokesman Says”
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on 16 May 2007 at 8:11 am 1. spyder said …
Wow, that signature is nearly identical to the one on my BA from the 60’s when he was CA guvernator. You would have thought that they might have updated the autopen, but apparently not.
He had that marvelous sunny ability when living to elude them then, as well.
Certainly the early onset of Alzheimers helped with that sunny disposition. That, and sleeping through critical nuclear non-proliferation treaty discussions, and of course the majestic “we” being responsible for stuff, but not knowing about it. It is almost as if Gonzales suffers from identical symptomology: can’t recall, can’t remember, don’t know, may have been there but didn’t hear anything, and so forth. That must be it; Alberto has early onset Alzheimers!!
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on 16 May 2007 at 8:46 am 2. christian h. said …
What a great story. Also kind of sad - a citizen thinks hard about an issue, takes the time to write a well-informed letter… and gets this as an “answer”. Why again do people believe that Reagan was a great president? In fairness, there’s one thing the Reagan administration (as opposed to Reagan) got right, and that’s trusting Gorbatchev. I recall numerous people I knew back then surmising some dark treachery being hatched in the Kremlin.
This doesn’t even come close to balancing the murderous policies in Central America and Africa, the increased exploitation and oppression at home…
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on 16 May 2007 at 1:55 pm 3. Seattle said …
Looks an awful lot like the card I got from Clinton….
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on 16 May 2007 at 3:50 pm 4. The Constructivist said …
I knew this had to be about Reagan, but still, halfway through, I was thinking, “Now why would Peter be writing to Falwell?”
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on 17 May 2007 at 8:31 am 5. jimmiraybob said …
Is that stationary or an old hanky?
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on 17 May 2007 at 9:55 am 6. peter ramus said …
…stationary or an old hanky?
The thing spent years on the refrigerator door before I had a chance to scan it, serving as a daily reminder of my place in the world, and his, and gradually sopped up its share of the fumes that billow from my brand of cooking. Now it’s pretty much the color of the air in the kitchen, most nights.
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on 17 May 2007 at 12:33 pm 7. jimmiraybob said …
Ahah, stationary with ambiance. Like my books. I have a habit of lugging a book everywhere that I eat, especially when I’m on the road. When I reread a book I can usually recall where and when I was reading it before by the food stains (I especially like sauces and salsas) and I can usually recall the meal. I especially like the books that I’ve had along when I’ve visited the southwest,MMMmmmmmmmm. That reminds me, I should re-read Santa Fe… uh, I mean Phillips’ American Dynasty.
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on 17 May 2007 at 1:17 pm 8. The Constructivist said …
Hey, jimmiraybob, I’m late with my figures for global capitalism sequel myself, but I’ll be utterly shameless and ask you about your travelogue against theocracy sequel!
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on 17 May 2007 at 1:35 pm 9. jimmiraybob said …
I sent the next People’s Great We Are All Giant Nuclear Fireball Now Party American Southwest Adventure and Reconnaissance for the Glorification of the Chairman for Life - reasonably referred to as the travelogue post - last week but it apparently didn’t make it to the destination. I re-sent to the MOJ this morning. I’m already working on a third installment plus I get to head back down to AZ to collect more data….oh, the sacrifices I make.
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on 17 May 2007 at 1:38 pm 10. jimmiraybob said …
Actually, I was just assuming that it didn’t make it to it’s destination. Christian, did you get my reply on the 11th? Oaktown Girl emailed me this morning asking about the post and I forwarded the second installment to her.
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on 17 May 2007 at 2:06 pm 11. The Constructivist said …
And the crowd rejoices (in advance and barring any mishaps in transit)!
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on 17 May 2007 at 4:06 pm 12. christian h. said …
jimmyraybob, I am sorry. The MOOAD spam filter (ie, the one of my university) must have eaten your post. I better whitelist your email address… You surely understand - the MOOAD cannot be too careful. I am definitely looking forward to continuing our vicarious travels!
Off topic: Bye-bye Wolfowitz
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on 17 May 2007 at 4:22 pm 13. Oaktown Girl said …
peter -
This is such a beautifully crafted post. I’ve struggled for almost 2 full days now to find words to express my feelings. No luck or progress on that front yet, so just a quick comment to tell you how much I appreciate your sharing this.Those were such sad times, and yet there were good times in the warm and comforting comradeship of the fellow students by my side fighting the Good Fight for Justice, both abroad and close to home. And it was really pretty nasty here at home for us People of Color. Reagan’s ascent to the White House had many (I won’t say all) of the White Frat boys on college campuses across the country on a rampage of aggression - taking back their “rightful place” at the top of the Human food chain which had been so egregiously stripped from them during the 60’s and 70’s when Black folks took all their jobs, got free handouts for doing nothin’, and of course, took over both houses of Congress as well as the White House.
If I were a writer, I’d write about that sometime.
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on 17 May 2007 at 9:46 pm 14. peter ramus said …
christian h., people might scratch their heads when you say, the increased exploitation and oppression at home…. But on the other hand:
The word homeless entered regular use in American speech under RR, for good reason, pointing to the emerging permanent caste of the refused over there under that local bridge or overpass. Homeless now the word for it from sea to shining sea, but just then becoming for the first time the casual term for what those gathering under its admittedly ragged banner were going to be called.
Derelicts and other broken people once shelved in urban dives saw blearily their homes replaced over the years in a prolonged burst of commercial enthusiasm for the idea of constructing enormous office spaces right downtown everywhere in America, enthusiasm lasting all through the ’60’s, ’70’s and ’80’s, all during the momentous conquest of the Southwest by air conditioning in those booming years, lasting even up to and over the lip of the black hole of the Saving and Loan debacle of the ’80’s, until the neighborhoods of buildings previously unfit for all but derelicts and broken ones had been replaced for the most part, and those derelicts and broken ones removed from their unfriendly confines and given the newly current word, homeless, for where they lived now all over America.
RR directly aided the creation of this new caste in California in his time as governor, closing down hospitals and homes full of broken people, emptying them out onto what was euphemistically called “the street” back then (”Dumped on the street,” people would say, for example). But it was only during his time as president that the need arose in America for a common name for the ubiquitous calling he helped usher in.
The word, homeless, popularized in word and populated in deed all his live-long career by RR, it says here.
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on 18 May 2007 at 6:50 am 15. JP Stormcrow said …
History Written By Victors, Spokesman Says
Which is in of itself is enough reason to make sure that “we” win. If I can’t own the age, I want to at least own the legacy. Hunter Thompson once famously said that he wanted to “gnaw on Richard Nixon’s skull” - I want to at least dance on a few graves - especially of those in the press.
For instance David Broder - I want trashed the place and it wasn’t his place and we’re different in Washington, we don’t like being lied to, to serve as eternal fatuous epitaphs for the Dean of Passive-Aggressive Kowtowing Bullshit Passing as Insight. My modest proposal is that Broder become a term indicating ending up badly after a promising start. As in “I hope the Cavs don’t pull a Broder against the Nets.”
I trust conventional wisdom will take care of insane necrophiliac, criminals like Rove and Cheney - for the Broder/Russert/Cokie Roberts - mainstream press guys we are all going to have to pitch in and help throw them under the truck manually.
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on 18 May 2007 at 10:31 am 16. The Constructivist said …
I just hope Broder gets remembered as Broderella and The Poor Man Institute’s Kommando Komix are enshrined as the official history of Right Blogistan.
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on 18 May 2007 at 10:32 am 17. The Constructivist said …
Sorry, Keyboard Kommando Komix….
