Sunday, June 27, 2004
Republican hypocrisy: Jack Ryan pulls out
Isn't this statement just too damn pitiful?
Life's little ironies, eh?
1. The only kind of "brutal, scorched earth" politics I can remember is the Republicans spending $70 million over a blow job, as part of a media-fuelled coup against an elected President sponsored by winger billionaires. So the irony of a Republican candidate being toppled over a sex scandal is just too, too rich.
2. And who was the party doing the "brutal scorched earth" politics? Why, Jack Ryan's own party, the Republicans! All the Democrats had to do was float happily above the fray while the Republicanas eviscerated each other.
3. And of course, the Republicans heaved poor Jack Ryan over the side to appease their SIC base. Never mind reason and logic: As poor Jack Ryan pointed out, there's nothing in the Ten Commandments that prohibits you from having sex with your wife in public.
4. The real issue, of course, lies in the word that neither the SCLM nor the Republicans can bring themselves to utter: non-consensual. Here at Corrente, of course, we found no difficulty (back) in doing so. That's what probably sealed Jack Ryan's fate. A guy with a kink like that isn't likely to appeal to swing voters.
5. And hasn't the whole Jack Ryan affair been wrapped up suspiciously quickly? There are some other words the SCLM and the Republicans can't bring themselves to utter: "cages, whips, and other apparatus" (back). Love the word "apparatus," by the way. Could it be that Republican apparatchiks at the national level have, shall we say, issues about torture?
CHICAGO - Crippled by accusations about sex clubs and losing support from his party, Republican Senate candidate Jack Ryan pulled out of the race on Friday, leaving Republicans searching for a new face to defend a critical Senate seat.
"It's clear to me that a vigorous debate on the issues most likely could not take place if I remain in the race," Ryan said in a statement distributed to reporters at his campaign headquarters. "What would take place, rather, is a brutal, scorched-earth campaign - the kind of campaign that has turned off so many voters, the kind of politics I refuse to play."
The candidacy of Ryan, 44, an investment banker turned teacher in the inner city, imploded when custody papers were unsealed that included statements by his former wife, actress Jeri Ryan, saying he had taken her to sex clubs and asked her to have public sex.
(via our own Inky)
Life's little ironies, eh?
1. The only kind of "brutal, scorched earth" politics I can remember is the Republicans spending $70 million over a blow job, as part of a media-fuelled coup against an elected President sponsored by winger billionaires. So the irony of a Republican candidate being toppled over a sex scandal is just too, too rich.
2. And who was the party doing the "brutal scorched earth" politics? Why, Jack Ryan's own party, the Republicans! All the Democrats had to do was float happily above the fray while the Republicanas eviscerated each other.
3. And of course, the Republicans heaved poor Jack Ryan over the side to appease their SIC base. Never mind reason and logic: As poor Jack Ryan pointed out, there's nothing in the Ten Commandments that prohibits you from having sex with your wife in public.
4. The real issue, of course, lies in the word that neither the SCLM nor the Republicans can bring themselves to utter: non-consensual. Here at Corrente, of course, we found no difficulty (back) in doing so. That's what probably sealed Jack Ryan's fate. A guy with a kink like that isn't likely to appeal to swing voters.
5. And hasn't the whole Jack Ryan affair been wrapped up suspiciously quickly? There are some other words the SCLM and the Republicans can't bring themselves to utter: "cages, whips, and other apparatus" (back). Love the word "apparatus," by the way. Could it be that Republican apparatchiks at the national level have, shall we say, issues about torture?
