I recently received a letter from Kerry HQ telling me how Kerry has a lead in all battleground states. I find myself angry and upset. How can this claim be made, how can this be true when the news reports that the Kerry campaign has just decided to withdraw ads from Arizona and 3 other battleground states because there’s no hope. How when all the major polls show Bush winning the electoral college in these states, and overall. What about the Kerry campaign responding to questions raised in the Rove interview a couple days ago, where he makes the case that the race is over? Why are they not responding to those things that, were I even to care what they are saying, I would as an interested voter know about? I asked my buddy Paul Bunyan about it, and he said:

This (Kerry campaign) letter is more or less consistent with what I know. This has been a very bizarre campaign in terms of polls. For example, on the same day a week or so ago that big headlines came out all over on the 11-point gallup lead holding steady, the Pew Trusts poll–which also had shown a Bush lead before–had the lead narrowed to zero or one. Never have I witnessed such disparities among the polling concerns. And why would they even lie? Isn’t that dangerous, as maybe motivating the opposition? But no, Karl Rove is always right. The advantage of demoralization is much greater than the risk of mobilization. 10 or 20 or 50 years from now, we will look back and it will be an accepted wisdom that the media is conservative-biased, just as it is a quaint remnant assumption that it is now liberal. The Zogby thing refers to “the internals” in polling and has to do with the usual dem/repub non-voter factor–basically if everybody who is eligible to vote voted, no republican would ever hold a single office anywhere in the land, so it’s all turnout. And there apparently is some data showing that there might be a high Dem turnout in this election because of Bush Hatred if not Kerry Love, and that therefore some of the people judged as non-likely voters might in fact vote more than thought. And that in turn refers to the fact that these big bush leads that are trumpeted in headlines are ALL based on likely voters. The all-registered-voters polls show a close race, and the all-elligible-to-vote-people polls (if they even exist) probably show a Kerry lead. But we can’t criticize Kerry for not responding to poll-based attacks, I don’t think. Though there is much else to crtiticize. I have more half-done, and blog -ready in pipline on that, but really busy with (unpaid) work right now. You Must Read Stanley FIsh’s op-ed in nytimes of today. –Paul Bunyan

KERRY CAMPAIGN LETTER I GOT TODAY

Dear Uncle Sam,

Please make a contribution to the Democratic Party before the 9/30 deadline.There can be no doubt: the momentum is on our side.George W. Bush’s post-convention bounce has evaporated. Five new national polls this week show the race tied, with the difference within the margin of error in every single one of the polls. Three of the polls have the race within one point or less.And if you think the national polls are looking good, the story in the battleground states is even better. Recent battleground polls from Zogby and American Research Group show John Kerry winning enough electoral votes to take back the White House. Kerry is leading among independents and swing voters. And the majority of Americans know that George W. Bush is moving America in the wrong direction.Now let’s be clear about what this means — good news in the polls isn’t enough to win this election. Now that their lead has evaporated, the Bush-Cheney team and the Republicans are going to kick their smear machine into high gear. You’re going to see attacks in the next few weeks like nothing you have ever seen before. This is the moment where every last dollar counts — it does not get any more urgent than the Democratic Party’s September 30 deadline.This is our moment. We have the strength. I urge you to stand with us today by making a donation to the Democratic Party.https://www.democrats.org/support/kerry.htmlThank you for all that you do,Mary Beth CahillCampaign ManagerKerry-Edwards 2004

Dear Uncle Sam,

The Bush people do look good, even though they are so ugly, due to the same reptilian semiotic cloud that makes people call Donald Trump “handsome.” To the rat about to be eaten, the snake is a glorious idol, blah blah blah.

There are limits to what a person can stomach, though. Personally, I’m not very susceptible to Trump’s allure, probably because casinos, lisping women with breast implants, and quasi-criminal wealth are not my cup of tea. But the aura of real power–to kill, conquer, destroy–has universal appeal. Of course some of the really big-time guys can be a little repulsive–I’m thinking of say a Mao or a Hitler–because their perversion and madness are so strongly evident. But give me Stalin or Saddam, those some beautiful sexy guy, yes.

In the old days, a political king might be a pervert, but a warrior king was always a babe. The days when men were cleansed in the purifying fire of war are gone–though not so long gone. Napoleon was a bit of a freak, but Admiral Nelson was sexier than 10 Mick Jaggers, if not quite on the demi-god level of Genghis Khan, Alexander, Achilles, David, etc., from the real good old days.

The whole machines, guns, bombs, genocide thing has totally messed up the great institution of war. It used to be that being in “politics,” that is to be in power, was all about fighting in wars. The price you paid for owning everything was having to fight about it. Since sometime around the invention of the repeating rifle the rich have increasingly decided they had “other priorities” than fighting in the wars they start.

This has to be why people love curious George for his National Guard lark. Hell, he had so much clout that he not only got into the Guard, but blew it off with impunity. A lot of voters may deny or discount the relevance of this story on a conscious level, but unconsciously they recognize it all as the stamp of American crypto-royalty. Whereas Kerry threw himself into a war that he easily could have deferred out of, and then even put himself in combat after getting assigned to safe duty. Idiot! That is not how a powerful man behaves in this era. What a phony he is for acting with circa 1863 bravery in 1968. What a flip-flopper.

Bush, being indeed Belial, the AntiChrist, the sexiness is spoiled for me. It’s the worms, the death around him, the devil’s tail poking out of the suit a bit. Cheney is not human at all, doesn’t even pretend, but is Abadon, Regional Vice President of Hell. He’s there as the numbers guy, with the experience to speak for Satan on the spot on any policy decision. Ashcroft is of course possessed by Asmodeus, and no human part of him is aware of what he does.

All of these guys have their appeal, if one overlooks their faults. But only Donald Rumsfeld is really sexy. That’s because he’s the only one who is fully human. It’s the only position Satan could trust to an ordinary human: VP of War Without End. I heard Rumsfeld speak today, addressing something called the National Press Club. Man, when he gets angry, which is a lot, he really scares me. My stomach goes fluttery like the rare times when my dad used to lose it, or like when I got in a face-off with the huge black alcoholic ex-prize-fighter at a factory job I once had, or like one of the times I got mugged. And people love it. He may not be Alexander, or Nelson, or even Patton (and of course it’s all an act though Rumsfeld, unlike all the others with Bush, did do some light military service 45 years ago), but he wears the mantle of War.

And it’s very nice. Sure, war has continued to be something of a disappointment in recent times, with its long range killing, confused objectives, and the extremely high proportion of survivable hideous mutilations suffered. But the talk of war is as great as it ever was. Every time Rumsfeld got really disturbingly angry in his talk today, he would finish off with some nonsensical patriotic platitudes, and get a round of applause (from a crowd, I think, of journalists!). For example (I took notes on this), when Rumsfeld was asked about whether he had mislead the public about the “costs of war” (not even about the reasons for the war) he became frighteningly incensed, and raved gloriously for a while without answering the question. Then he offered this peroration: “don’t be fainthearted, don’t think you can make a separate peace, don’t think you can make a private deal (pause, and then reverently) we’re in it together” (pause, thunderous applause of journalists). Needless to say, there was no follow-up.

The concept of the purifying fire of something or other is alive and well. War, having become a video game of kill-zones and booby-traps, may no longer be effectively providing this to its primary consumers. But the audience at home can get the same horror movie thrill from the bullying Sergeant, the drink-deprived Dad, the scary Uncle (not you), and the other really truly fucking scary Uncle. Pain feels good when it’s for a holy cause. In fact it feels better than pleasure, and virtual pain for a virtual cause feels almost as good as pleasure.

I think it’s time to start thinking about the 2008 election. (Or possibly just reading and re-reading the Book of Revelation.) I have been leary of the Hillary candidacy generally, but it may be that, with 2 to 5 cities around the world having been reduced to smoking nuclear craters by that time, this country may be ready for a woman’s touch. Otherwise, we need an actor. I’m thinking Warren Beatty, but I hear he’s reluctant. Tim Robbins, I don’t think. I got it–Jeff Bridges. Why not?

Sincerely,

~ Paul Bunyan

Watching Bush deliver his Roman speech in-the-round at the convention, my first thought was that W was taking some of Colin Powell’s Ambien. Bush has hit that white light that you can now get in the double-oughts, with an amazing mix of endorphin+dopamine cocktail vitamins, unbelievable White House food, Condi’s suckling love, and the warmth from Cheney’s hands.

Whatever drug it was (maybe only Baptist fervor or pre-speech sex with wraiths summoned from hell), the monkey-faced wind sock quietly glowed with pleasure. He seemed drained, post-coital, and as he twisted his mouth into that smug smile, as he always does after every teleprompter paragraph, I really thought he might drool a little.

The only other thing I saw was Kerry’s hurried speech, the whole thing. When he “reported for duty,” I confess I felt proud. It was like: let’s get ready to rumble. I know I was supposed to cringe, but I’m Uncle Sam, dammit, and I felt proud in a way I could not control, like this guy was going to come and save us from the nasty little boy king from the Twilight Zone who was wishing everybody into the cornfield. Plus, Kerry is allowed to say “reporting for duty.” In the context of this election; in the context of whatever war this is, he was. Plus it was in fact real. He served his country when he didn’t have to and proved he has huge balls.

But by speech’s end, I felt like Dukakis in the tank. I felt like Muskie in the snow on the sidewalk. Kerry wasn’t coming out and telling us Bush was robbing us. He wasn’t saying the war was wrong. And my feeling of pride had ground to a pathetic halt. Which is too bad, because the Bush administraiton could easily come crashing down if somebody (OK, it has to be John Kerry) takes even the slightest step off the set and shows the guy wires and how everything’s propped up. I want to hear him talking about “Where are we going with all this anyway?” — _any_ kind of philosophical approach or honest approach and it’s a real election. The only way for Kerry to win is to own who he is and go meta. He has to expose the elite world he is so much a part of let the chips fall where they do. But he ain’t gonna do that.

Uncle Sam’s view of conspiracies is that while there indeed may be no ruling conspiracy, there are surely alliances of interests and profilage little “conspiracies.” The overwhelming historical movement of the last 30 years has been the consolidation of business entities and of business power, and the concomitant development of increasingly kick-ass political strategies aimed at one single coherent goal: to shift more wealth into the pockets of large corporations and the very wealthy individuals that run them.

The Reagan election was the spearhead of the first great victory of this process on the political side (again, not a conspiracy, but rather an aggregate of allied groups all working more or less separately toward a more or less shared goal). And nobody loved Reagan more than small-time Texas farmers, factory workers in Cleveland, out-of-work insurance salesmen in Missouri, folks who had gotten so played that they perceived Reagan as the enemy of the very cabal whose chief servant and figurehead was in fact Reagan himself. The farmer knew he was being screwed, and the pseudo-cabal had convinced him that it was Jimmy Carter who was doing the screwing.

The key to Reagan’s victory is working for Bush again today. The farmer guy seeks comfort, he wants Daddy, he wants an end to his thinking, an answer, like the bible and Robert Ludlum give. He can’t handle some messy story about lots of different people acting out of greed and self-interest, and every now grasping at an idea. He finds comfort in knowing that there is a hand on the tiller, even if it is the Devil, or space aliens, or the Jews.

Sure, there’s no cabal. But if you take cabal in a virtual sense, a Hegelian-cabal, then who is the real wild-card, the interloper? It’s Clinton. Hell, he maybe would never have gotten elected without the other wild-card, Ross Perot. And what proves that there is a virtual “cabal,” that is some superorganic principle that defends the status quo of power, once the smart hick got into power, the people would have elected him to 3 terms at least, if it were legal. And his heir-apparent would be president right now if not for Jeb Bush’s police.

But the question now is, was this the last gasp? Was this the last moment of democracy? Because the Texas farmer had the wrong guy but the right idea, power does control the field, but sometimes, ever so rarely, there are anomalies that slip in the back door. I’m not saying that Clinton was great president, or a hero, or anything else, but only that he was an anomaly, a shard of something human in the machine. And he might be the last we will see in a long time.

There aren’t many Americans I would say remind me of Hitler. TR and Wilson had certain elements, and maybe Bush has everybody beat. But I recognize that in a sense, when I see Bush as Hitler it’s out of hopefulness, because Hitler has an end to it. But maybe he’s not Hitler; maybe he’s Caesar. The end to that is a lot nastier, and lasts a whole lot longer. What we are seeing is the creation of what may well be a permanent and unstoppable alliance between two groups who have almost nothing in common–corporate America, who are mostly perverts and drug abusers, and socially conservative America, who are mostly poor. As unholy as it seems, the alliance really makes perfect sense. The rich don’t give a fuck about abortion rights or creationism or gay rights. They can get all the abortions, or actually correct education, or gay sex that they want through their own exclusive sources. And the social conservatives are too busy rolling around on the floor of their churches speaking in tongues to care about the erosion of their civil rights and the ruination of the national budget to pay for tax cuts for the rich. But together, they can win elections.

Why Kerry/Gore/Dukakis are so lame I can’t account for. But why Bush and Reagan win is because they are actors, and nothing more. It was genius on the part of the corporate pseudo-cabal to realize that the people will always go for an actor with really good writers and directors behind him. I don’t think the opposition will ever be able to do that though. Kerry and every Dem loser before has been criticized for not having a “coherent message.” But because there is no Cabal on either side, a coherent message is hard to come by. The Repubs have an advantage, however, because the policy that the pseudo-cabal of the rich drives toward is simply whatever gives more money to the rich. This allows them to be “coherent” without having to actually conspire. They have really good accountants, and so there is always a simple bottom line for every “clean skies” or “healthy forests” initiative. But there is nothing comparable on the opposition side, nothing that translates into a figure.

Good acting, writing, and directing can do anything. Bush, the figurehead of the most deceptive administration in recent history or probably ever, is perceived as “sincere.” Kerry, with a silver star, has his war record compared unfavorably with a draft-dodging deserter.

But what was I thinking? Bush is not Hitler or Caesar. He’s the anti-Christ. He seems like the savior, but he’s the doomer. He seems warm and nice, but he’s full of worms. He’s a nasty little bully and he knows it and he’s fine with it and what’s the capper: we’re fine with it. Or are we? We shall see. Assuming we are, fine. Let it go down. Speaking of which, here’s something worth watching: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/packageart/bush/tsg_bush.avi.

To summarize:

1) They have mastered the big lie, and the little guy who is getting screwed most by it is supporting it the most.

2) Reagan seen as the interloper, when really it was Clinton (side issue), but mainly

3) An unholy alliance between big business and small-town America (which again is like #1, but this is a political mandate).

Lady Liberty, who is a close and personal friend of mine, wrote me today:

God, it’s so fucking disheartening. I really was batting for Kerry –

he quoted Gide to the New York Times (“Do not think you know me too

soon” – jeez I never hoped this was true more than now), I think his

daughters are a couple of hot babes – and he really knows how to hunt

down and tear into a piece of meat, which, to tell you the truth, is

my last best hope for him (speaking of the possible advantages of meat

eating.) But Bush really looks hot, don’t he. those dudes who told him

to ditch the suit and tie and just roll up his sexy muted cotton

shirt-sleeves are real fashion geniuses. They rival the

Queer-EyeFor-The-Straight-Guy guys in media savvy.

However, did you just see Zel Miller? he displayed himself as a real

honest to goodness idiot in front of that bastion of rationality, Wolf

Blitzer.

Wolf (I feel I can call him Wolf) asked him why he was a democrat

seeing as he disagreed with most of the democratic agenda and he

replied that “I was born a democrat and I’ll die a democrat, and when

I meet my maker it’ll be as a democrat” and that he was merely voting

for “conservative” proposals, and that if the DEMOCRATS had put forth

these conservative proposals, well then by God he would’ve voted as a

democrat! It just happened that the Republicans were putting forth the

conservative proposals that he agreed with, so as a lifeling

unrepentant Democrat, he was voting Republican all the way!

In other words, he’s OUT OF HIS MIND!!! None of the pundits even knew

how to respond to him!!!!!!! But do you think that the Kerry campaign

will use this bizarre footage to their advantage? I doubt it.

Meanwhile, I actually have been starting to get nostalgic for Nader.

Fucking

Zel Miller.

I read a kind of cute article in the Guardian in London that said that

alot of Royalty buffs in the U.K. feel that Kerry is sure to win

because he has more blood connections to nobility than any other

president or presidential candidate before him.

I guess they haven’t spent much time at the Walmart in Akron. Then

again neither have I.

See you after the elections. I’m going to Canada.

Love,

~ LL

I, Uncle Sam, being the kind of guy I am, wrote her back before she left however:

To me what’s insane is being in charge of significant material and human resources, like a country, and at the same time believing that the supreme ruler of the universe wants your side to win. “In God We Trust” is a phrase I can live with. “God Bless America” is a phrase I cannot. The first puts the responsibility on us; the second assumes that the Almighty is listening and may, if we play our cards right, respond to our needs (or at least our pop music). The idea that whatever spiritual source could ever be called God could be petitioned to support the fortunes of an artificial construct like a nation-state or religion is repugnant to me, and an insult to the humble folk of the world.

Now, there are two kinds of people in the world, people like Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush, and people not like them. People like them believe that there is a (very anthropomorphic) Lord in heaven that is stage-managing the human endeavor. The idea is that God, praised be He, hears our prayers and answers the prayers of the righteous.

When Zell Miller says that the reason that we must elect Bush is “the fact that he is unashamed of his belief that God is not indifferent to America,” he is of course stating the extremist Muslim position as well. It’s freakish to imagine that in 2004 we’re in a “God is on our side” war, but this is the MAD-like, Tarantino-like death-grip they’ve got us sucked into.

Somehow Kerry’s got to smoke these evil-doers out of their holes and hiding places. And the only way he can do that is to say something true. But the Devil has him by the throat too.

~ U.S.

The only way to beat Bush is to bring out in the open what’s really going on, speak truth to power, scare people, and take a stand. Talk about the denial that’s going on. Talk about the history of colonialism and why the grievances of the world are ours to take some responsibility for. Kerry could bury Bush if he said 1/10th what he said 33 years ago.

Otherwise, this election will be decided on the sound rational basis that mostpresidential elections are decided upon: looks. Bush is just looking so goddam good. I think he hurt his knee and hasn’t been jogging or something, but he’s fatter and cuter than normal. And he’s got good, bouncy energy. He’s spritely, animated, clear-eyed. I know that he is the human wind sock; I guess is getting blown pretty good.

Laura Bush is the Stepford Wife – so pretty and smart – beyond compare. Uptight though she is, she does look like she likes sex, which is only the second time we’ve seen that. And the kids made a hit. I know Jen is regarded as a bit of a cow, but I would bet to differ. She drinks and smokes, and sticks out her tongue and dresses kindahot. They both do actually. And her sister makes out in public and does table dances. This is not Amy Carter or Chelsea Clinton. This is my kind of American family and on a behavior level I find myself liking them and trusting them. OK, not really, But, c’mon, the dad’s an ex-alkie, the mom still smokes, etc. On the other hand,

Kerry and his wife are just plain weird looking. They look liberal, rich and French. They admit to botox (at least one of them does), and they both often look like they’re trying (and failing) to take a crap. And it turns out Kerry’s a Jew. Seems his dad never told the kids, but Kerry’s grandpa was born and raised Jewish and then converted. Sure explains a lot. And Theresa didn’t even add Kerry to her name until this election. Anyway, there’s no exuberance there.

I’ve seen Theresa time and again explain how much pain she’s in having to run for 1st lady. That, my fellow Americans, is the recipe for failure. I want to hear how much fun she’s having, what a great honor this is, how much she loves all these people she gets to meet, all that wonderful campaign cooing. But she’s quite likely too rich, drinks too much red wine, and is too much of a aesthete to realize what she needs to be. Her reluctance is palpable, and a heavy weight on an alreadyweighted-down campaign. I heard her interviewed last month, and they asked her all about her dead husband, and she had the opportunity to say: yeah, he was great, but my new guy, wow. Instead, even when the interviewer tried to bring it back to Kerry, all Theresa wanted to talk about was Heinz.

So while I do understand the advantages to the ball-less strategy of being a complete turd and saying nothing and standing for nothing, I predict it will backfire and result in 4 more years of George W. Bush. But I understand what the risks are. If Kerry speaks out, he would need to risk leading — with a new vision for America. One that doesn’t depend on war and build its country on the backs of others for our privilege. Well, Uncle Sam can dream, can’t he?