Thursday, January 12, 2012

Lorelei

Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten
Daß ich so traurig bin;
Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten,
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.
- Heinrich Heine (1823)

I cannot divine what it meaneth,
This haunting nameless pain:
A tale of the bygone ages
Keeps brooding through my brain.
- translation: Mark Twain (1880)

10 comments:

  1. You're not about to throw yourself headlong into the river, I hope.

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  2. The version we used to sing in my high-school German class all those years ago.

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  3. lol! THAT would be the day. There's too much fun to be had with other boorish blowhards. ;)

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  4. Thersites,
    Well, it IS quite a battle that you fellows are waging.

    I don't see any of you changing your position. It's a standoff!

    I'll get more worked up once the GOP nominee is determined. I have the feeling that I'm going to end up voting against Obama instead of FOR anyone in the race. **sigh**

    What has happened to conservatism?

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  5. Fighting demagoguery is a ceaseless battle. There's always some idiot seeking to influence someone else's logos by appealing to their pathos through an underhanded ethos (overstated charges of racism, sexism, etc). The point is, that no one can know what the candidates motivations are, and to speculate that they are less than honourable is an uncharitable trait, especially within the Republican Party. We hate it when the Democrats do it, but it's even worse when we do it to ourselves. And so I'll be voting for anyone BUT Romney. If Romney wins the nomination, I'll be writing in someone that I can support. I'm through with voting AGAINST candidates. Bush in 2000 and 2004 was a case in point, for me.

    As for conservatism, I'm perfectly willing to let the voters figure it out for themselves. I'm not going to go around demonizing candidates by pressing false or overstated charges. I don't think that my anti-Romney stand has been very much "exaggerated". He is a corporate- government insider. It is a charge which no one denies.

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  6. Had Romney won the nomination in 2008, I likely would have supported him wholeheartedly. But at this juncture, I don't believe that another "Bush Lite" will well serve the American people, or their interests. IMO, more radical and fundamental change is needed.

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  7. I'm disgusted with myself that I have to say "Anyone BUT Obama in 2012."

    But, hey, each voter has to vote by conscience once at the ballot box.

    I don't believe that the anti-Obama, whoever that is, will be able to turn things around very much. Some, yes. But a reversal? I don't see that happening.

    If BHO is re-elected and serves another term, the damage will be so great that my mind reels.

    Unless....

    A Congress willing to rein in the executive branch is elected and EXERCISES the Constitutional power that Congress is supposed to use.

    I did prefer Romney in 2008. Instead, we got stuck with McCain because it was his "turn." That particularly GOP modus operandi is destroying the GOP.

    Ah, well. In a year, we'll be having a different discussion, I'm sure, as we approach Inauguration Day 2013. Assuming the Mayans were wrong, that is.

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  8. Excerpt from HERE:

    [The] Stormin’ Mormon is polished and glib and moderate and he has the kind of hair that marks him as a serious contender—all qualities our liberal pundits find admirable in a Republican during primary season. Afterwards, of course, they’ll suddenly discover that he was all along a dangerous right-wing Neanderthal Nazi, unfit to declaim from the same podium as the Democratic incumbent—but that lies in the future. For now, their job is to ensure that the Republican nominee is someone unlikely to rock the Ship of State as it sails up Socialist Creek.

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  9. I'm certainly NOT going to support Obama in the general election. But I certainly won't "endorse" Romney, unless his VP nominee is "Palinesque/Cheneyesque". Palin (+ the failed economy) was the ONLY reason I got behind McCain in 2008. Arrogant establishment Republicans who think that they can pull that trick off repeatedly are kidding themselves. This time we already know that the economy has failed, and a Republican establishment crony-capital guy simply WILL NOT DO this time around.

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  10. You know what? In 2000, I said, "I wish that Cheney were at the top of the ticket." In my view, he'd have been a much better POTUS than GWB.

    I do wonder who the VP will be on the GOP ticket.

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