“The Republicans In Houston, With Kali and Gilgamesh”

OK, now he’s even getting esoteric in the titles. Basically this is a listing of grievances with the Republican Convention of 1992…written in the style of Rachel Maddow only with obscure references to classical literature. Not much more to say.

Leonard doesn’t like Hunter Thompson, but this excerpt could be right out of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:

After the tantrum of the God Squad cadres, it wouldn’t much matter…the Old Smog meets the New Covenant. Bring back Perot either as a fire hydrant or a maddened fruit bat, in one ear and out the other of Larry King.”

New word: Areopagus = corner of the Acropolis that was used as a Greek “court of appeals.”

New learning: Pat Buchanon ran so long on his speech at the ’92 Convention, that Ronald Reagan was pushed out of prime time!

President Reagan at the 1992 Convention...hard to read but the time stamp is 10:59 PM!

“Madison Square Garden: The Pillsbury Doughboys Go to a Sun Dance”

Quite a title. In what is by far the longest essay of the collection so far, Leonard is commenting on the 1992 Democratic Convention in NYC. He writes, “And it’s not such a stretch to imagine in the Thursday night boogie of Bill and Hillary, of Al and Tipper…to Fleetwood Mac, some semblance of Crazy Horse and the Famous Sun Dance.” OK, if he says so. Also has a long introduction to the essay making an analogy (totally tongue in cheek) between the DNC and eastern religion. By the way, The Pillsbury Dough Boys in the title are Bill and Al. Following so far?

Leonard takes us on a dizzying tour of the many extracurriculars that go on around a political convention (demonstrations, media parties, etc.). In the case of the Democrats, these events tend to be protests against the party, not in support (remember Chicago 1968?). He includes an apt quote from Amos Oz about Israel that applies well to the Democrats (even more so today), “…the moderate, dovish Israeli left [read: US Democrats] sometimes resembles a reverse phalanx: a square of brave fighters, their backs to the whole world and their faces and their sharpened, unsheathed pens ready to turn on one another.”

He then has a long section comparing his version of journalists with credibility (Molly Ivins, Bill Greider and William Safire) with just about every other notable journalist on the right and left who he shows are basically in bed with the politicians. I’m sure he didn’t make any friends with this essay.

Also, very funny quote from Molly Ivins, “It’s illegal to be gay in Texas again. They reinstated the sodomy statute, so people can legally screw pigs in public but not each other in private.”

Also funny, “George Will thinks that Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” is ‘a grand and cheerful affirmation’ of American life." Has he listened to the lyrics? Songfacts.com says about the song:

This is one of the most misinterpreted songs ever. Most people thought it was a patriotic song about American pride, when it actually cast a shameful eye on how America treated its Vietnam veterans. Springsteen considers it one of his best songs, but it bothers him that it is so widely misinterpreted. With the rollicking rhythm, enthusiastic chorus, and patriotic album cover, it is easy to think this has more to do with American pride than Vietnam shame.

The original title for the song was “Viet Nam.”

Eventually he gets back the Dough Boys and, although he will support them, he is very disappointed that a more courageous candidate (Mario Cuomo, Jesse Jackson) didn’t step forward.

New word: enteogen = a variation on the word entheogen?...or just a typo? Means “generating the divine within” and refers to some psychoactive substances like peyote.

New learning: In the Hindu religion, Indra, is the god of rain and thunderstorms:

“The Women Are Restless”

This essay is mainly serves as an advertising pamphlet for the Freedom Summer of 1992, a movement to bring attention to women’s issues leading up the the 1992 Democratic Convention. Leonard’s wife was a leader in the movement. It was also written right after the Supreme Court handed down their decision on Planned Parent Hood v. Casey, a challenge to Roe. The new, seemingly, conservative majority (including newly appointed Justices Scalia and Thomas) were ready to overturn Roe, when Justice Kennedy switched to uphold at the last minute. Justice Blackbmun, the author of the original Roe decision, was still on the court…he retired from the Court 2 years later.

Protesters outside of the SC in 1992:

Funny story: Leonard went to a screening of Gail Singer’s movie Wisecracks about female comics. It includes the Clichettes (Canadian group) doing a bit about the Supreme Court called “You Ain’t Nothing But A Hound Dog.”…wish I could find a video clip.

…and funny quote, “…the transplant of a baboon’s liver suggest that there’s still hope for congress.”

New word: Peter Meter = slang for promiscuous women, but also used in 1992 as a test for members of congress support of women’s issues.

New learning:  In 1990, Iran had for times as many women in its parliament then the US had in the Senate.

1992: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail

Onto a new section with a nod to Hunter Thompson (who, you may remember from the July 26, 2013 post, is no friend of Leonard's).

“If Mario Doesn’t Run, The Rest of US May Have To”

Leonard’s rant about the state of affairs in US Politics and finances leading up to the 1992 election. He bemoans an economy based on exotic financial instruments (sound familiar?), a President who seems utterly disinterested in being President (Bush I) and an electorate that takes being lied too for granted. He laments that we were more disturbed by Milli Vanilli then we were about Reagan and Bush (remember Iran Contra?)...“why should we have higher standards for MTV than we do for the Oval Office?” Of course, he didn’t see this weeks Miley Surus performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Leonard calls for Mario Cuomo to step up, the only politician who “speaks his poetry and his anger in his own accent.” Instead, as you may recall, it was Bill Clinton who stepped forward. Not exactly known for truth and candor.

New word: deva-raja = god-king (Cambodian religious sect), like Kurtz in Apocalypse Now.

New learning:  Good quote from Whittaker Chambers in a note to William F. Buckley, Jr. commenting on a John Foster Dulles trip to Peru, “What on earth could have taken him there - hints from the Incas on how to lose an empire?”

“Graham Greene Forgives Kim Philby, But I Hold a Grudge”

Leonard’s reaction to Graham Greene’s announcement in 1990 after meeting with Philby in Moscow that he forgave him because “He was fighting for a cause he believed in. he wasn’t doing it for the money.” [Philby, of course is the cold war British double agent that betrayed he colleagues to the Soviets].  Leonard is quick to point out what is obvious to even his children and, for that matter, would be obvious to an idiot, “It’s amazing how much damage can be done by people that aren’t doing it for the money.”

Leonard goes on to name many, many examples from Gandhi’s assassin to an abortion clinic bomber. How about those people that burned witches in the 18^th century? You can easily add to the list, could be kind of a parlor game. Leonard quotes a Wallace Stevens line about a Soviet ideologue, “He would be the lunatic of one idea.” He close with the line, “If we don’t believe behavior counts, we are indecent.”

New word: Torquemada = 15^th century Dominican friar and the first Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition.

Excuse to link to Monty Python:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt0Y39eMvpI

New learning:  Kim Philby defected to the Soviet Union in 1963 and died there in May of 1988. Interestingly, he died just as the USSR was staring to crumble, just nine months before Andrei Sakharov was elected to the Peoples Congress, and 19 months before the fall of the Berlin Wall.