Grim's Hall

Mother Jones Hates NASCAR:

'Why do those NASCAR dads back George Bush?' asks socialist rag Mother Jones. 'Don't they know that his economic policies have been worse for them than anyone else?'

Mother answers the question like this:

1) NASCAR dads aren't well informed.
2) Also, the Bush administration is 'hiding economic news that would interest them'... as if somehow blue-collar workers turn to newspapers to find out if they're doing all right or not.
3) NASCAR dads have a psychological need for a father figure who will punish them and tell them what's right and wrong.

Let's set this straight right now. Even if it were all true about the economics--and, frankly, I'll start taking socialist advice about economics right after I start taking medical advice from cigarette manufacturers--that really isn't the point. Economics don't matter in wartime. If things are tough, you make do. You get by on less. You take a second job, or work extra hours.

NASCAR dads back Bush because they are patriots. They don't care what the federal government does for them: They want to know WHAT IT WILL DO FOR THEIR COUNTRY.

Not well informed? Any man knows well enough what his own situation is. A man knows whether his folk have enough, or not enough. He knows if his business is doing well or badly. He knows if his kids have new shoes. Nobody can hide any of the things he needs to know to see where he stands.

Needs a father figure? Psychology is poison, as I've always said. Psychology does nothing but give people an excuse--an excuse for why they aren't responsible for their actions, or their problems, or their inability to grasp that other people don't like them.

Well, socialists: We don't like you. We don't like you because even in wartime you can't bring yourselves to root for America. We love America. We love the America that exists right now, even though she is not perfect. Do you think we are swayed by spin from the White House about the dangers of terrorists? Our minds were made up on 9/11. It's only you who still thinks the issue is up in the air. We don't like you because you think we're ignorant for feeling that way.

Every time you say, "How can we explain ourselves better?" you miss the point. We don't like you exactly because we heard you loud and clear. I know just where you stand and why you chose that spot, and it is because you stand there that I don't care for you.

Mother Jones, take your attitude and shove it. I'll vote for a pro-war, strong-on-defense Democrat in preference to Bush. It would help if you would run one--Lieberman looks to be the best, maybe the only, card in that deck. I won't vote for a socialist, though, or anyone who doesn't look to have the stones to fight this war to the finish, wherever it leads, and win it. We can disagree on methods, but we ought not to disagree about whether there is a war, or whether victory is what we should be seeking. I don't need or want anyone to tell me what I ought to do or how I ought to feel--and least of all do I need Mother Jones.