Shameful Joy
Two of my favorite songs on my playlist are “Vegetable Man” and “Scream Thy Last Scream” by Pink Floyd. They were not officially released until the last decade because the band didn’t want to make them available for public consumption. They represented a time in Syd Barrett’s life when he was in a really bad way. Roger Waters said that they were akin to showing naked pictures of an aging actress.
In a similar way, saying anything about the rise and fall of Hershel Walker feels wrong in many instances. You have someone that is very clearly not all there. You can’t know whether a former athlete has CTE until you do the final autopsy, but we are about as sure about this as we can of anyone that played in the NFL.
However, Walker represents something bigger than himself. Everything old is new again in politics. Those that know U.S. history remember learning about the Know Nothing Party. The similarities don’t just end with the name. The platform is also pretty similar when we consider the brand of conservative politicians coming out these days. Give those pre-Civil War guys Twitter and 24 hour news and I imagine they would have come up with something eerily similar.
What can we say about Walker? He said he graduated with honors from the University of Georgia. He didn’t graduate. He said he was in law enforcement. He wasn’t. He fathered multiple children out of wedlock. He didn’t tell us the truth about that. The children we do know about all seem to be coming out against him.
Finally, we get the news that he funded an abortion in 2009. Yet, this is where you get into a pickle if you are a true progressive. We want people to be able to have the choice to have an abortion. So, ultimately do we care whether he funded one? The quick and simple answer is that we don’t, but that isn’t really the point. The point is that you don’t get to run on a sanctimonious platform when you have entire collection of skeletons in the closet.
Watching conservatives fumble around with representatives and candidates that are clearly intellectually deficient is hilarious on one level, scary on another, and just pitiful on the rest. Whether it’s not knowing that “wanton” murder doesn’t refer to the soup found in Chinese restaurants or watching Walker be told that the lieutenant governor said something about him, watch him ask who the lieutenant governor was, be told who he was, and then ask what that guy was currently doing.
Commenting about such things is the true no win scenario. No one should make fun of half-wits. It would be akin to making fun of someone with a physical handicap. Yet, here we are and this is the field that the GOP has laid down before us. At some point we need to put the blame on the powers that be that parade these folks out there for us to exploit and laugh at. Laughing feels utterly awful, but at a certain point you just can’t help it.
OK! I’m inspired. I am also post-op as of this past Wednesday. However, around here there is early voting and that is what this old post-op body is going to do today! And I’m voting Blue!
1The GOP doesn’t care who he candidate is, what he says or does, as long as he’s elected. The need for power and the money that will flow into their coffers is the only point.
2maggie, I did not know you had an op scheduled, but I’m glad it seems successful – I look forward to your posts here at the Salon. (And to your vote on the side of decency and competence.)
Nick, what I find even worse than the brain-damaged candidates that the GQP is putting forward, is that there’s a good chance that this one will win the election. He is the zenith of what the Republicans want, someone who will do what he is told without any thought or knowledge. As for the abortion, at least he paid for it and sent a get-well card. Kinda sad, that this is something to a man’s credit in the 21-st century.
3I care that he funded an abortion! For Walker and his ilk in the GOP, being anti-abortion is only useful politically until they get their own asses in trouble by getting some woman pregnant. Then it’s okay to fund an abortion because it affects them personally. It’s not just skeletons in the closet, it’s the double standard of being anti-abortion until it’s not convenient. We are beyond hypocrisy now with this bunch.
4It’s not the abortion, it’s the hypocrisy. That the woman kept the receipt and Walker’s cancelled check suggests she knew this would happen one day. That the Republicans are lining up to support him now because he was “forgiven” by Jesus is typical and contemptible. Are you looking forward to the debate where he will repeat “borders,” “crime” and “inflation” over and over, no matter the topic? Trump had to remember five words to prove his brilliance; Walker only had to memorize three.
5Yes, no one should make fun of half-wits, but this is no ordinary half-wit. This is the half-wit the Georgia NSGOP chose to run for the U.S. Senate against a decent, intelligent man, and he could win.
To the NSGOP, politics is war by other means, and the Democrats must respond forcefully. If that means mocking a man whose brain is on life support, then so be it. If that means pointing out his – and the NSGOP’s – hypocrisy, then so be it.
This ain’t beanbag.
6Herschel Walker highlights the rank hypocrisy and sadly– brain damaged reasoning the GOP wants from their entire party who are happily abusers, racists, liars, insurrectionists, compromised grifters and violent sociopaths . . . . The problem with inviting them into their sphere is there are no rules that will keep them all from cannibalizing each other.
7A repugnantican candidate in good standing with the party must take the hypocrite oath, the exact opposite of the oath physicians must take. They must pledge to say what the party line dictates no matter what and of course lie when needed. Walker is perfect for this role because he has no original thoughts or conscience and will do what he is directed to do. Perfect for an R in congress. And the repugnantican party and Georgia gop are taking advantage of someone with Walker’s intellect, name recognition and frankly his race. He’s in a tie with Warnock in part because repugnantican voters also have no expectation of a candidate’s qualification or intellect.
8Ds who treat this asymptomatic condition as something that traditional tactics (negotiate, compromise, consensus etc.) will handle are probably deluding themselves. That may work when different political parties play by the same rules. But
Walker is symptomatic of the current GQP tactics to seize and maintain power using all means available, above and below board.
“A majority of GOP nominees — 299 in all — deny the 2020 election results.”
https://twitter.com/ktumulty/status/1578007909535031296
Perhaps they are bolstered by identifying with traitors and racists in “The United States of Confederate America.”
“The South is no longer simply a region: A certain version of it has become an identity shared among white, rural, conservative Americans from coast to coast…”
https://twitter.com/TheAtlantic/status/1577999662820347908
9Pointing a gun at a mates head, threatening to shoot, knife play threats, and so on is of significantly more concern to me than an agreed upon abortion.
10Lying about the documented event means the denial of the violent incidents is not credible.
Is there any behavior that is unacceptable to the Republicans?
Why yes, there is. Criticizing the former guy does it.
Wow, had no idea that you were into Pink Floyd ❤ The Syd Barrett story always reminds me of Roky Erickson (13th Floor Elevators)…sad story.
It is quite disgusting what is happening with Herschel Walker. The GOP has no shame and continues their deceitful ways of exploiting people for power. More troubling than even that is the allegiance by many, whether because of ignorance or just willful disregard, to this wacked out political party that is destroying our country.
If he were to actually win it will be a clear signal that we are in “deep shit”. More than most people realize.
11Beyond the music it is interesting from a psychological perspective and all of their music makes much more sense after becoming immersed in his story.
The difficulty from the GOP perspective is they keep propping up the same kind of people. Tommy Tuberville, MTG, Boebert, and Walker are just a few. They are like TFG. They are blessed with a hillbilly charisma that plays to the masses but there isn’t a brain in their head. The powers that be think they can control them and manipulate them but they never learn. Frankenstein’s monster keeps going on the rampage.
It came out today that the campaign fired the political director for suspected leaks. It’s possible someone there has the shallow makings of a soul. Maybe the abortion thing peels off enough points to throw it. All I know is Newt Gingrich (not a churchgoer) extolled Walker as a man of Christ as opposed to his opponent who is actually a minister. Sometimes you can’t make this stuff up.
12The Complete Idiots party also encourages incompetence! For those not in Texas here’s more news about the Incredible Indicted Felon Attorney General Paxton:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Editorial-Hey-QAnon-Texas-had-an-actual-17492470.php
Everytime he, Rafael Cruz, or Greg the Gag Abbot get re-elected, I have to ask “what the hell is wrong with those voters?”
13@The Surly Professor—Unfortunately, that link is behind a paywall. Too bad, it looks like an interesting story.
14Sorry, I tend to run many script and ad blockers, and delete my history every time I shut down a browser, so it’s not blocked for me. Try the 12 foot ladder site. I know it’s an ugly URL, but it works on most sites.
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.houstonchronicle.com%2Fopinion%2Feditorials%2Farticle%2FEditorial-Hey-QAnon-Texas-had-an-actual-17492470.php
You can also just go to https://12ft.io and enter the original link directly.
15@The Surly Professor
16My only beef with the editorial is that it compares the stench around Paxton to the dust cloud around the Peanuts character Pigpen. Pigpen is a kind person who happens to carry around some wholesome American dirt. Paxton’s soul reeks of brimstone not found in this mortal world.
Good point, Bill F. And despite Pigpen’s debris cloud, he always seemed to be level-headed and completely lacking in spite.
17Don’t y’all just wonder where the GOP finds all these dummies to put forth? Boepert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sarah Palin, Louis Gohmert, Geo. W, Michelle Bachman,poor Hershel, ad nauseum.
18Good God, surely they could find a Repugnant with a room temp IQ to sub for these folks.
I think Walker’s brain is damaged and whoever thought he was a good choice to bring forth ought to be charged with an ADA offense.