'Why We Fight'
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Was just reading the current Newsweek coverage of Katrina and how Bush can save his ass. Saw this line (roughly) "Katrina has the potential to give Bush his own only-Nixon-could-go-to-China moment."
That phrase, "only Nixon could go to China", only occurs in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, doesn't it? Has geekery permeated so far as to appear as standard references in major news weeklies? I'm feeling terribly pop-culture-knowing at the moment.
Ha. Hahahahaha. I dunno what his ratings will be, even with that lead-in.
Was just reading the current Newsweek coverage of Katrina and how Bush can save his ass. Saw this line (roughly) "Katrina has the potential to give Bush his own only-Nixon-could-go-to-China moment."
Oh for crap's sake.
"Katrina has the potential to give Bush his own only-Nixon-could-go-to-China moment."
That is just obscene.
What would his version be? "Only Bush could flush a 3-century-old city that's withstood fire, plague, and war down the toilet?"
Saw this line (roughly) "Katrina has the potential to give Bush his own only-Nixon-could-go-to-China moment."
That phrase, "only Nixon could go to China", only occurs in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, doesn't it? Has geekery permeated so far as to appear as standard references in major news weeklies? I'm feeling terribly pop-culture-knowing at the moment.
No, it's pretty much a poli-sci trope.
ETA: For those who aren't poli sci geeks, the general thrust is that while Democrats or internationalists in general might have wanted to re-open relations with China, it would have been political suicide. (Soft on communism, appeasers, yadda.) Nixon, with his history of being an all-round hard-ass, thus had a kind of "statement against interest" credibility that allowed him to do it - no one could ever accuse him of being soft, so if he's doing it, it must be critical.
If Bush were a very different man, and this had had a very different effect on him, it could be true. People have speculated about things like a New Deal style works program, etc., a chance to reverse course on the environmental ransacking we've all grown so attached to, etc., which DifferentBush might be able to push through a DifferentRepublicanParty in a way no Dem ever could. But he's not, and it won't.
DX, are you around?
If Bush comes out ahead on Katrina ...
The really horrible thing is, he could.
I around, vw, turn on your IM.
I'm kicking myself for booking a flight on Travelocity. The only non-stop I could find was out of SFO.
And then twenty minutes later I checked Jet Blue, and I coulda got a nonstop from Oakland (MUCH easier to deal with) for the same price and a slightly better time.
Pfeh.
Oh, and a beer truck caught fire on the Bay Bridge today. Yay?