Happy Birthday, Rachel
Ms. Lucas gets an Instalanche and some marital advice.
This is what it looks like when the government gets involved in the prescription process for one drug. One drug!
Oh, sorry, is that raaaaaaacist? Tell it to Nora Ephron:
Here’s another thing I don’t like about this primary: now that there are only two Democratic candidates, it’s suddenly horribly absolutely crystal-clear that this is an election about gender and race. This may have always been true, but weeks ago it wasn’t so obvious — once upon a time there were eight candidates, and although six of them withered away, their presence in the campaign managed to obscure things. Even around the time of Ohio, when there were primarily three candidates, the outlines were murky, because Edwards was still in there, picking up votes from all sectors.
You mean, after decades of shilling and shrilling on the idea that a woman candidate should succeed primarily because she’s a woman, or that a black candidate should succeed primarily because he or she is black, suddenly a person of the very party promoting that nonsense suddenly … doesn’t like the idea of people choosing their candidate on race or sex? Well, why not? Oh. Bitter, redneck Pennsylvanians, of course:
This is an election about whether the people of Pennsylvania hate blacks more than they hate women. And when I say people, I don’t mean people, I mean white men.
The racially enlightened, who will carefully explain to you that they like a candidate because of race or gender, assume everybody else is still racially backward and will pick based on which candidate’s race or gender they dislike the least. Because those are the only two choices, both predicated solely on racial or sexual identity. So the group degraded, ignored, belittled, and marginalized in the Race-and-Genderstakes, having no “dog in the fight,” must have to pick based on hatred. Or, you know, they might actually pick based on something other than race and gender (gasp, what’s that you say? tell me more of this “judgment and issues” criteria you speak of). And I can’t help thinking a greater part of the mass of white women and black people will do so too, Nora Ephron’s assumptions notwithstanding. But that won’t be great for her either, because:
A lot of them will [vote for McCain]: white men cannot be relied on, as all of us know who have spent a lifetime dating them.
Translation: White men can’t be counted on to do what I want against their better judgment.
Well, thank God for that, anyway, Nora. Go ahead, try it: Thank God. You sure seem bitter enough to turn to Him.
PS, Nora, let me put this in terms you can understand: A movie quote. “But they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say ‘Shit, it’s raining!'”
image: detail of installation by Bronwyn Lace