Mick Hartley

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Holding Your Nose

Sometimes a metaphor just kind of grabs you. Here’s Gerard Baker, on the front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination:

With no obvious conservative candidate in the field, the contest between Rudolph Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney is coming down for many conservatives to a choice of whom you hate least.

Currently, Mr Giuliani leads this Dutch auction. This has given rise to one of the more remarkable spectacles in politics — that of the libertine New Yorker Mr Giuliani feeling the love of Southern conservative Christians despite his record, views and predilections. Watching them embrace Mr Giuliani is like watching survivors from a shipwreck clinging to a giant turd in the water. It’s no one’s first choice of support from the briny waves but if you hold your nose it’s still better than any of the alternatives.

Rudi Giuliani as a giant turd? We can only hope we’re spared the cartoons.

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2 responses to “Holding Your Nose”

  1. P. Froward Avatar
    P. Froward

    This is old news. They also didn’t hate Reagan for being divorced, having a gay son, not getting along with his kids. They don’t hate Cheney for having a lesbian daughter who he publicly embraces. Nobody on the right gave a shit about Jeff Gannon. In the 1990s there was much amazement when polls showed that conservative Americans were not unanimously berserk over Bill Clinton’s marital irregularities. Lots were, certainly, but any journalist who dared visit flyover country could, without half trying, find a few who thought “yeah, he’s a jerk, fine, but can we get back to discussing real issues now?” You know Clinton won Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Missouri, and Tennessee in 1996, right? That’s after gays in the military, and IIRC the sex scandals were already well underway.
    The great mass of American conservatives are not robotically puritanical. They have, on the whole, never demanded perfection in anybody’s personal life. That’s a myth. But it’s a handy content-generator for journalists: Every time American conservatives act perfectly in character on that issue, some clown can spin it as man-bites-dog.

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  2. dearieme Avatar
    dearieme

    Hilary pisses vinegar?

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