Wednesday 7 November 2012

Karl Rove channels Warden Norton



(With apologies to Drifty for shamelessly aping his style...)

Watching Karl Rove's increasingly desperate attempts to deny reality even as his Fox News colleagues were grudgingly accepting President Obama's re-election last night


I couldn't help but be reminded of this scene from the classic movie The Shawshank Redemption.


Specifically, the frantic attempts of a man who has always used other people's resources and power for self-aggrandisement and enrichment to use the same bullying, hectoring tactics even as that power has been openly defied, followed by the alternately panicked and incredulous look in their eyes as the enormity of that loss begins to dawn on them.  Their futures are now as uncertain and fraught with peril as those of the people they once lorded over, and they are now at the mercy of people who have no significant interest in their well-being.

As a rule I try to suppress feelings of schadenfreude, because I always end up feeling a little guilty eventually.  But I must confess that I'm going to let myself enjoy this one - at least for a while.

To our progressive cousins across the pond, my best wishes and congratulations.  Your road's still going to be a rough one, and sadly President Obama and the Democrats in Congress are still not in a position to grant every wish you demand.  Push them and hold their feet to the fire as much as you can, because ultimately your voices are the only thing that can give them strength and courage against a well-funded radical right-wing movement that will do everything in it's power to halt progress.  Just don't give in to the temptation to turn on them and each other in the face of the inevitable occasional disappointment - because the heirs to Rove and his ilk will be waiting in the wings to exploit that at every turn and undo the work you've fought so hard to make happen.


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