Opinion Policy: This Blog has no opinion!

Regular readers might have the mistaken impression that, amongst other, er, characteristics I am a bad-tempered, stubborn, old codger with intransigent opinions about almost everything.  More perceptive readers might have guessed that all my huffin' and puffin' actually disguises a very much more hesitant set of beliefs.  Nowhere is this bumbling hesitancy displayed more than in my pathetic efforts to assess the characters and abilities of our 'glorious' leaders. Only six months ago I was daring to contemplate, for the first time in my life, voting Labour on the grounds that at least 'Hash' Brown had had ten years in the second highest office in the land, had made his mistakes and, hopefully, had learned from them.  Even if his policies were, for the most part, cretinous, they had been applied with some degree of efficiency, although it had to be admitted that saying 'no' to every minister who displeased him, whilst spending money like a drunken sailor in those areas designed to bring him glory, hardly required huge intelligence. Even so, compared to 'Dim Dave' who appeared to require the political equivalent of a platoon of Etonian-style fags to decide which side to part his hair, 'Hash' Brown looked like a colossus. But then he got the top job! And "Oh, what a falling off was there"! 'Dim Dave', faced with the prospect of 'going over the top' and remembering that the duty of an officer in battle is to shout "Come on!" not "Go on!" and, I suspect, out of sheer funk, suddenly finding the courage to give a clear Right-wing message to his troops, turned defeat into victory.

At least with our American cousins and their bewildering array of candidates I can plead genuine ignorance allied with some distaste.  Vying for the presidency has a tendency to attract the bizarre and the grotesque, but really, I cannot remember such a collection of second-rate poltroons who make up this particular posse.  It is evident, even to the untrained eye, that 'Lady' Clinton should be locked forever in Dunsinane Castle with her phantasies, the poor woman is surely possessed. Her young black/white/African/Hawaiian/Christian/Muslim (delete as required) pretender to the throne that 'Lady' Clinton thinks is hers by right, has the amazing ability to make long speeches in which he says absolutely nothing!  Like those incredible Chinese jugglers who can spin dozens of plates on the end of bamboo poles, 'BO' (as I shall call him) can keep aloft a dazzling array of platitudes, only one of which stuck in my mind, that was, his intention to "mend the world". (Yes, yes, dear boy, keep taking the pills!)

On the Republican side, all the candidates, bar two, seem to merge together to form one composite of lip-foaming ambition combined with Hicksville, 'good ol' boy' insincerity laced with the crassest type of Bible-punching that would embarrass the Plymouth Bretheren.  The two exceptions are Rudy Giuliani, who sounds like an escapee from The Godfather, but who has the advantage of an interesting love life, a possession denied to me and therefor provoking me to much admiration; and Sen. John McCain, who once showed exemplary courage in war (another characteristic denied to me and thus provoking similar admiration), but who also, as far as I can judge from this distance, appears to have the ability 'to think outside the box', as our American cousins might put it.  Of course, being an amatory swordsman, or a brave warrior, are not prerequisites for great statesmanship, and remember, Karl Marx was an original thinker!

So, to sum up, both here and over there, I haven't a clue. The office maketh, or breaketh, the man, so we must all fall to our knees and thank the 'Intelligent Designer' that in time we shall all get a chance to turf the rascals out.

Comments

[dearieme]

I find your death toll list to grim to read, David. But I note an inquest reported in this mornin's Telegraph: probable honour killing, but the body too decomposed for the police to be able to get the evidence that would let them make an arrest.

[the ill man]

Aw! I almost feel bad for putting you in my 'Mad, Bad & Dangerous To Know' links section now.......

Almost ;D

Giuliani creeps me out, but your assessment of the rest of the Republican candidates is spot on.

[David Duff]

'DM', yes, it is a grim litany and made worse, in my view, by the deathly silence from 'the usual suspects' who would howl and beat their breasts if the police shot a suspect by mistake. I picked up the story you refer to but at the time it was only an unexplained death. I had my suspicions but decided to wait for "further and better particulars", as they say. I just know that if I put something down as murder and it isn't, 'the usual suspects' will pounce - won't they, 'Ratty', or 'NIB', or Teabag?

'Ill Man' - well, I'm probably mad, certainly bad but, alas, not very dangerous these days. By the way, I just think you're jealous of Giuliani's love life! I certainly am.

[the illman]

I didn't know he had an exciting love life. Frankly, the thought of it makes me queasy.

It's the power thing. You should go into politics Duff, you'll have the middle aged skirt flinging itself at you morning, noon and night.

[David Duff]

Possibly, possibly ... I can dream, can't I? ... but what would I do with it - at my age? Don't mention Viagra, it takes nearly a pint of water for me to get an aspirin down, and then I'm up half the night peeing. Life is very cruel!

Another dread thought. If I went into politics I'd have to mix with all those grotesque, preening buffoons as they veered from arrogance to subservience depending upon whom they were addressing. At least I'm a straighforward, copper-bottomed shit all the time!

[the illman]

I don't think people have the energy to respond to your 'list of dead'. As a statistical exposure of the vile and hateful dark side of humanity, I suppose it works. Not so sure it works as an advert for the re-introduction of the death penalty though.

[David Duff]

I think you're right, 'Ill Man', but I don't do it in any hope of selling the idea of capital punishment - that's over and done with. My tiny and puny effort is designed to make (a very few) people stop a moment and just take in the wholesale slaughter that goes on in our country. Perhaps it will add a grain of sand to the notion that the punishment should make some effort to match the crime and will perhaps, eventually, force the authorities to stop lying to us when they dish out "life sentences" that only last 10 years. Also, in a somewhat obscure way that even I don't fully comprehend and thus cannot explain, I like to think that my posts are a sort of pathetic memorial to all these victims. Frankly it's a pretty depressing task each day and I'll be glad when the year is up and I can stop.

[Clairwil]

David,
I've just finished a book that I think will interest you (if you haven't read it already).

'The Abolition of Liberty' by Peter Hitchens, is a great read. As with all books I don't agree with every word and felt like throwing it at the wall once or twice but there are some good ideas in there and it's intelligently and well written, which is always a joy. Best of all it credibly answers the question hovering behind every serious street crime -where the hell are the police?

[David Duff]

Clairwil - Peter Hitchens is always a good, by which I mean lively and highly intelligent, commentator. Happily, he writes for the little 'Memsahib's' Daily Mail of which I am permitted a glimpse in return for trudging through the rain morning after morning in order to fetch it. Not the least of his attractions is that he is a man of no party. An extreme Leftist in his youth (like his brother) he has since moved, not to the extreme Right, but to what used to be known as old-fashioned conservative (small 'c') values - not, dare I say, unlike your own personal political journey, if I judge correctly from your blog! Thus, he has no time at all for 'Dim Dave' and his collection of 'all-things-to-all-men-gissa-government-job' creeps.

[Larry Teabag]

I am interested in your view that I have "made worse" the nation's murder toll by not discussing it with you to your satisfaction. Except of course, that I do occasionally try to do so, and it invariably proves to be a total waste of everyone's time.

Happy New Year, anyway you awful dessicated old scrotum.

[David Duff]

"Larry, dear boy", you are under no requirement to discuss anything with me, whether it be to my satisfaction or not, but given the slaughter on the streets to which you cannot now plead ignorance it would be encouraging, I put it no higher, if some of the 'liberati' would at least admit there is a problem even if they fail to come up with any attempt at a solution. After all, they never fail to have solutions to just about every other ill in the world. Why the silence on this one? Embarrassment, perhaps? No, they are never embarrassed.

Thank you for good wishes and may I remind you that my scrotum may be somewhat dessicated but only after a lifetime's excellent service!