progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital
There’s an analogy to be made between the 2006 elections and the 2004 World Series, which brought a baseball championship to Boston for the first time in something like 3000 years. The Red Sox didn’t need to just win, they had to come back from a 3 game deficit to beat the Yankees in New York. And then sweep the Cardinals. It had to be the kind of Series that justifies belief in divine intervention.
The Democratic Party didn’t just recapture the House and Senate. They ousted the nemeses of the left in the process: Santorum, Pombo, and Tom Delay, and with them the horrible K Street Project (that’s the come from behind victory to beat the Yankees, if you’re still following the analogy). And made history by making Nancy Pelosi the first woman Speaker of the House. ( which in the analogy is like sweeping the Cards.)
That brings me to Pelosi Derangement Syndrome, or PDS. PDS is, simply put, the natural antithesis of BDS, or Bush Derangement Syndrome. Let me explain. The rightie blogosphere coined the term BDS to explain the consistent negative reaction to everything Bush 43 has said or done. Even the sound of Bush’s voice has been known to send some of us in the leftie blogosphere, myself included, into fits of mock impeachment. But, what has kept the more devout in the rightie blogosphere from even tentative criticism of Bush 43? ( Here, I’ll note briefly the one occasion when the Malkins, NROs, and Powerlines let their scorn be known: the nomination of Harriet Myers. We’ll get back to that in a moment.)
I believe what has kept them in check is the notion of Bush the father figure. Pater Familias, or even Pater Nobilis. Papa W. Our Father who art in Crawford. Even the most awful Bush nonsense was hailed by the Cornerites as Churchillian. Bush 43’s machismo became the physical manifestation of the Unitary Executive: manly, powerful, he would let no act of the lesser branches of government impede his protruding masculinity. To his Dominionist base he became God’s representative in the White House. Lo, make your paths straight, The Decider is nigh.
What could it mean, then, when a woman became the third highest officer in Federal Government? I imagine to them, the beginning of nothing promising. Particularly in an election that neuters to some degree both The Decider, and his right-hand man, The Shooter.
Now, this Powerline post isn’t about Nancy Pelosi directly. It’s about Susan Glasser, whose been named director of national news for the Washington Post. Here’s what they say:
I hope the rumor is not true. As noted here, under Glasser the Outlook section seemed to adopt “a feminist agenda with a lot of navel gazing,” becoming something of a ‘Joy Luck Club’ for liberals finding life difficult. One Power Line reader who knows Glasser described her as “a flaming feminist. . .who would remind the average conservative blogger of Mary Mapes.”
You’ll notice that the time of the Powerline post is afternoon today, well after the story was available online and in print, so it’s confusing why they call this a “rumor.” The point is not that the Powerlinians have a problem with this or that editor. They have a problem with women in power. Particularly one who is “a flaming feminist.”
This is why I suggest that PDS is the antithesis of BDS. While the excesses of Bush 43 may be excused for his machismo, the derangement brought on by Pelosi (and Glasser, Mapes, and even perhaps Harriet Myers) are made more egregious by their feminismo (forgive my Spanish).
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hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.
95. Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
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