Monday, May 08, 2006
Rubbing shoulders with Kos
For those of you who always wondered what our regular and indeed indefatigable commenter Screwy Hoolie looks like, he's the guy next to Kos, third picture down. If that isn't a brush with greatness, I don't know what is.
Way to go, Screwy!
11 Comments:
By 
cakreiz, at
Tue May 09, 07:34:00 AM:
Congratulations, Screwy. But I'll ask a question of TH. Do you subscribe to the overgeneralized theory that a wife, kids, and mortgage are likely to move one's views toward the right (whether a little or a lot)? The exception proves the rule, of course. I've noticed that my favorite bloggers are older, probably a function of identification with my own age and station in life. I admire Screwy/Kos' energy and youth. But there's part of me that thinks "just wait...."
By TigerHawk, at
Tue May 09, 07:53:00 AM:
I don't think Screwy is as young as he looks...
But, yes, I think that having children moves a lot of mothers in particular to the right, and working in some executive capacity in one's career moves a lot of men -- and also some women -- to the right. People with children start to think about the impression that their children take from the world around them, so they begin to care about "traditional values." The Democrats struggle with this, because so many of their key constituencies either flout, or have an ideological resistance to, "traditional values." And, yes, the scare quotes are on purpose.
The second point is true, too. If you have a job that requires you to make decisions of some consequence -- it can be as simple as running a small factory, or a staff department, with hiring and firing authority -- you begin to appreciate the burdens of command. You know that you are honest and hard-working, and that virtually everybody you work with is also pretty honest and hard-working. That realization makes it hard to take the bashing of business -- you know that blaming "the corporations" is silly, as is bleating about "Benedict Arnold CEOs".
If you do not shoulder the burden of making consequential decisions in your job -- decisions that will put somebody out of work, or raise somebody's income in a way that transforms their lives, or to put a new product on the market that will save lives, or not -- then it is a lot easier to be a lefty.
By Cardinalpark, at
Tue May 09, 08:19:00 AM:
I think it was Churchill who said (and I am paraphrasing) that any 20 year old who isn't a socialist has no heart, and any forty year old who isn't conservative has no brain.
By Charlottesvillain, at
Tue May 09, 08:53:00 AM:
Where are the horns and pointy tail?
By Gordon Smith, at
Tue May 09, 01:02:00 PM:
Thanks for the shoutout, Hawk.
Yes, CP, Churchill did say that. Unfortunately, there are very few conservatives practicing that philosophy in the current administration and ruling party. Instead we've got the neocons.
Charvillain, I had the horns and tail removed surgically.
By ScurvyOaks, at
Tue May 09, 03:00:00 PM:
Btw, Screwy, thanks for including the Gladstone quote on your cite (and especially for quoting Franklin accurately). I'd never run across Gladstone's comment on liberals and conservatives. However true those characterizations were in Gladstone's day, I think the positions are exactly reversed today. The liberal elites in this country most assuredly do not trust the people -- at least not those 62 million morons who voted for Bush in 2004 -- and they have an irrational fear that a theocracy is imminent.
By Dawnfire82, at
Tue May 09, 07:21:00 PM:
If I'm a moron, you're a weak integrity starved neo-hippie.
Please keep the generalized name-calling to a minimum. Thank you.
By Dawnfire82, at
Tue May 09, 07:50:00 PM:
Neoconservativism: From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservative.
"Historically, neoconservatives supported a militant anticommunism, tolerated more social welfare spending than was sometimes acceptable to libertarians and mainstream conservatives, supported civil equality for blacks and other minorities, and sympathized with a non-traditional foreign policy agenda that was less deferential to traditional conceptions of diplomacy and international law and less inclined to compromise principles even if that meant unilateral action. Indeed, domestic policy does not define neoconservatism — it is a movement founded on, and perpetuated by an aggressive approach to foreign policy, free trade, opposition to communism during the Cold War, support for Israel and Taiwan and opposition to Middle Eastern and other states that are perceived to support terrorism."
Wow, when put like that (as opposed to things like 'warmongering fat cat neocon idiots' and other derisive comments I hear from time to tim) it almost sounds reasonable... hmph. Who'd have guessed?
By ScurvyOaks, at
Tue May 09, 11:36:00 PM:
Dawnfire,
Sorry for the confusion. I thought it would be clear from the comment as a whole that I was saying liberal elites view the 62 million Bush voters as morons. I was one of those 62MM and obviously don't consider myself a moron.
Kind of fun to be called a hippie, though. That's most assuredly a first for me. :)
By Dawnfire82, at
Wed May 10, 07:38:00 AM:
Oh.
Err, that's right hippie, retreat from your position before the awesome might of my searing logic!
In retrospect, the sarcasm is more obvious...
Still, the article I referenced was worthwhile.
By Cassandra, at
Mon May 15, 06:02:00 PM:
OK Screwy, I'll make the obligatory piggish comment.
You're a very nice-looking gentleman :) I'm not surprised.
