Watching the Michigan returns come in tonight. Santorum went down by three points, although, as these things go, results are infinitely spinnable. It’s either the end of Santorum or a time for Strange New Respect. But it was fun while the two Republican frontrunners were hanging around, soaking their socks in all their foot-in-mouth moments. I imagine this is probably the beginning of the end of Santorumentum. By the end, he was claiming the recession was caused by high gas prices.
Not crazy about robocalls, however. They were coming in at a fast-and-furious pace toward the end, and for two weeks we could count on at least one or two messages on the machine at day’s end. New wrinkle: They now call you by name. “Hi, Nancy,” etc. And as always, someone wrote a piece about them, in which someone claims they must work, because otherwise the campaigns wouldn’t waste the money. I’d like to meet the person a robocall works on. It would have to skew old (more likely to have a land line), crazy or senile (actually listens to the call, perhaps thrilled that the phone has rung at all, and it’s for me! For me for me for me!) and extremely gullible (he voted for the debt limit five times? Count me out!). And then consider: These people vote. And young people don’t.
I look forward to being old myself. I think I’ll vote for Ron Paul.
One note: Nearly all the calls came from the Romney campaign or his super PAC, Restore Our Future. Those people weren’t taking anything for chance. I’d like to know what this easy walkover ended up costing the native son. Couldn’t have been cheap.
If you’re looking for great graphical presentation of the information, by the way, Talking Points Memo is very fine.
A quick skip to bloggage on Leap Day:
Watching Barry speak when he’s in the groove is like watching Secretariat eat up the homestretch in the Belmont Stakes. And he is en fuego here. Please, watch the video.
Roger Ebert makes a connection between Oscar nominees and “the base,” observing:
All nine Oscar finalists were, like Mitt Romney, good enough to be nominated. But none of them appealed to average multiplex moviegoers, just as it’s said Romney doesn’t appeal to the GOP base.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think there is a base anymore. Not in moviegoing, anyway.
Stephen Colbert finds a candidate for the GOP’s next rising star in Fort Wayne’s own Bob Morris. Represent, Hoosiers.
Have a good Wednesday. It’s a rainy one here. It starts with work and it ends with Elmore Leonard speaking in Grosse Pointe tonight. Can’t be bad, eh?
basset said on February 29, 2012 at 7:51 am
Just forwarded that speech link to my liberal student son and my favorite Republican friend. One guess who will make the more coherent response.
Meanwhile… the city has offered to buy our house, which, as some will remember, got drowned in the spring floods of 2010. We built it back, but we’re still just 35 yards from the river; signing the papers today, not a sure deal and will take months to play out if it ever does but it’d be nice to move to higher ground.
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brian stouder said on February 29, 2012 at 8:09 am
Basset – that sounds like very good news, especially as the rains and storms begin to line up this season.
All this talk about “appealing to the base” (with crazy talk) or “ignoring the base” (daring to agree with some of what the other side says) has been bothering me. Think of the irony, that the founder and the leader of “the base” was exactly who President Obama targeted* and killed in Pakistan, last year .
If lightning strikes and Rick Santorum was somehow elected President of the United States, it would truly be the revenge of The Base
PS – I bet the Elmore Leonard lecture will be superb!
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beb said on February 29, 2012 at 8:18 am
Jon Stewart on Monday’s Daily Show really nailed it with his opening skit. After playing a clip where Santorum says reading JFK’s religion speech made him want to throw up, Stewart asked, “why isn’t Romney crushing this guy?” Then he played a clip where Romney talks about his wife drives TWO Cadillacs. And Stewart turns to the camera and asks “why isn’t Santorum crushing this guy?” Then they ran a clip of Santorum saying college is for snobs and when the camera returns to Stewart he had his arms in the air speaking (in effect) WTF?
Both of these candidates are “severely”unelectable but both are, I argue, the best the Republican Party has to offer. They are hard right, opposed to gays, abortions, birth control, wife, non-Christians, unions and Mexicans. Any wavering on any of these points and they’d be kicked out of the Republican Party. Appearances to the contrary, this is the Republican’s A-team.
Romney has poured a lot of money into Michigan, a state where his father is still a beloved politician. Romney’s poured a lot of money into all the states he’s competed in. Tens of millions of dollars in each state. He is, by himself, doing a lot to stimulate the economy of this nation. And if he beggers a few millionaries in the processz: good for him.
Nancy, take joy in the fact that it’s rain and not ice. Safe travelling.
Oh, dear lord. Virgina Republicans vote to remove one-gun-per-month limit.
http://news.yahoo.com/virginia-repeals-one-month-limit-handgun-purchases-033039053.html
I guess they felt left behind by Arizona’s Fast-And-Furious fiasco.
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Minnie said on February 29, 2012 at 8:56 am
Beb, the Virginia Assembly Republicans are a snapshot of what that party has to offer. What scares me is that voters elected these idiots.
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Dorothy said on February 29, 2012 at 9:28 am
Wow basset that’s great news for you and your wife! I know you put a lot of work into rebuilding so it will be difficult to leave, but considering what could lie ahead of you in case of future floods, I’m sure you’ll find a way to get over the semi-regret.
We refinanced a few weeks ago and went from a 30-yr. mortgage to a 15-yr. With a small chunk of money from our savings and an increase of about $150 a month on the mortgage payment, we’ll be paid off when we’re 69, or maybe before that if we can put more down on the principal every month. A very good feeling indeed.
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Kim said on February 29, 2012 at 9:48 am
This session in Virginia is nuts, a true snapshot of the confused state of the Republican party. They were ready to repeal a law that requires girls entering 6th grade to have the HPV vaccine, saying that was a decision parents should make for their children and the government should stay out of it. They have OK’d legislation that will require a woman who chooses an abortion to have an ultrasound as part of “informed consent” and – this just blows me away – requires the doctor who is treating the woman to note in writing whether the woman availed herself of this opportunity to be informed as she consented to what remains a completely legal procedure, regardless of whether you agree with it.
The handgun thing is just par. The argument is usually that if a person with a gun is nearby a crime (and the horrible event I have heard this attached to is the Virginia Tech shootings – as in, “if one of those kids or professors had had a gun, this wouldn’t have been so bad or maybe even happened”) he or she will have the presence of mind to stop the bad with a pop-pop-pop. And whenever I hear that, I think of the scramble when there was a shooting at Tech last fall: The shooter walked up to an armed cop sitting in his police car and put a bullet in him. There was no time.
So, what do they want? Less government in our lives or more?
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Bob (not Greene) said on February 29, 2012 at 10:11 am
Oh, Kim, you know they want as much government intervention in our lives as possible. It just has to be the “right” kind of intervention. Who you can sleep with, who you can marry, what you can and cannot do with your own body, to make sure the entire nation is armed, to teach fairy tales in science class, to prevent teaching birth control other than abstinence in public schools …
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 29, 2012 at 10:19 am
HEY! Now cut this GOP bashing out! We’ve got some far-outers, but so does the Democratic Party, and we’ve got people like Olympia Snowe who . . . wait, what? . . . oh.
Never mind!
(Dick Lugar? John McCain when the meds are working? C’mon, work with me here.)
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Bitter Scribe said on February 29, 2012 at 10:24 am
“soaking their socks in all their foot-in-mouth moments.”
“I’d like to meet the person a robocall works on.”
I just gotta say…phrases like that are why I treasure this blog.
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adrianne said on February 29, 2012 at 10:25 am
Thanks to your loose gun laws, Virginia, which are about to get looser, you’ve armed every thug in New York state who wants a handgun. Talk to the cops in New York about the gun shopping that goes on in Virginia. They can trace many of the guns used in crimes here back to good ol’ Virginny.
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Suzanne said on February 29, 2012 at 10:26 am
Indiana politicians, it seems, have been kinda looney for years. This from a friend: http://www.agecon.purdue.edu/crd/localgov/second%20level%20pages/indiana_pi_bill.htm
In 1897, a Hoosier politician wanted to legislate the value of Pi. I just hope Bob Morris doesn’t do internet research and discover this, or he may want to resurrect it.
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mark said on February 29, 2012 at 10:32 am
BobNG-
I think you are absolutely right. But once you accept government intervention as appropriate to make us all better, isn’t it inevitable that we end up in a battle with the unruly neighbor over whether government will be used to force you to live his way or him to live your way? I guess you can hope the dictator always reflects your views…
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 29, 2012 at 10:50 am
Suzanne, better yet, the Legislature in 1897 Indiana saw fit to refer this proposal to the House Committee on Swamp Lands & Canals. Better yet, the Senate referred it to the Committee on Temperance. The sponsor was a bit tech’ed in the head, and actually proposed three or four new values for pi in his “simplification” proposal.
Here in Ohio, we’ve got John Cleves Symmes, Jr. He’s worth looking up, and has a cool gravestone down near poor old William Henry Harrison.
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Dexter said on February 29, 2012 at 10:52 am
Yes, I just happened to catch Obama’s address to the UAW yesterday and it was the first time in months I have gotten back some enthusiasm for his presidency.
However, Romney’s victory in Michigan, after what he said about letting Detroit just go bankrupt…well, that says Michigan’s elite are better organized than some of us hoped for. Money wins again.
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alex said on February 29, 2012 at 10:53 am
But once you accept government intervention as appropriate to make us all better, isn’t it inevitable that we end up in a battle with the unruly neighbor over whether government will be used to force you to live his way or him to live your way?
You have a point. The yutzoid crank next door to me argues Fox News talking points about the Great Society all the time, never mind she’d be a pauper in the streets without her Social Security and Medicare.
Seriously, Mark, what battles between neighbors are you talking about?
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Minnie said on February 29, 2012 at 10:56 am
Mark, I’m not trying to impose my beliefs or behavior on my neighbor (unless he’s dumping garbage over my fence), and I would ask that my neighbor do the same.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 29, 2012 at 11:09 am
As my 11 am was a no-show, I had to go find y’all this:
http://olivercowdery.com/texts/1818symm.htm#item1b
And it gets even better — in 1836, Congress appropriated money to, along with surveying the state of our global whaling fleet, also check out likely locations for the Symmzonian holes, the U.S. Exploration Expedition, or the US Ex.Ex., a flotilla built around the USS Vincennes. So there’s an Indiana note to harmonize with some of our Ohio insanity.
Anyhow, the reason there are many conservatives not at all enamored of Santorum is that he has said on a number of occasions that a) “we need a good solid Christian in the White House,” and b) “the government, if its policies are done right, can help people fix their lives.”
No, Rick, I don’t want a King or Chief of State to advance the civil religion as you seem to think it both endangered, yet oddly safely pre-eminent. I’ll vote for a Zoroastrian who is for limited government over a Christian who wants to “use the office to show people how to live a good life.” One of the things I like best about the Current Occupant is that he role-models as a father & husband very, very well — but I don’t want a National Scold at work (note: “bully pulpit” is not in the Constitution), telling us all to live as they do. Live it out well, and do your job, which is not to run the country. The President, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t run the country. I suspect Pres. Obama knows that better than any of us by now.
And the government that can give you stuff is the government that can take stuff away; the government that approves is the government that gets to condemn — that’s, at heart, what the “no establishment” clause means, and why it can be projected, up to a point, as a wall of separation between church & state.
Santorum would make Bush look downright magisterial; the whole Tea Party movement derives most of its energy & essence to eight years of increasing concern & critique from the right over Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” always trying to find some new point of light to approve of, or kindle with government funds. And Santorum’s potential lead coming out of that speech the night of Iowa is *entirely* due to his meandering speechifying on stuff he wants government to do, which is exactly not what most conservatives want to hear, even – ESPECIALLY – when it’s on a subject we agree on.
I know, my assertion that a minimal federal single payer health policy is at odds with that, so it’s just as well I’m not running for anything. But a crucial point of conservative thought is not that we are against all change, but that we are cautious, thorough, and community-minded when we become convinced change is needed. I think the modern world economy & modern medicine require a major shift in national health policy, and want it not done by backing into it (Obamacare) or through a feckless denial of reality (Status Quo). That can be a conservative position, if enough people are willing to listen to more than a bumpersticker’s worth of consideration.
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Icarus said on February 29, 2012 at 11:30 am
I heard on the radio that they were going to pass a law requiring the robocalls to be from a real person? First, I imagine the work-around is simply to have an operator initiate the call then pass it on the computer while dialing up the next person.
Second, aren’t the “they” that pass the law the same “they” that use the robocalling?
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alex said on February 29, 2012 at 12:18 pm
I’d forgottent that Illinois has some pols that are even nuttier than ours here in Indiana. Of course, theirs don’t actually get elected.
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Jeff Borden said on February 29, 2012 at 12:33 pm
There are plenty of jerk politicians in Illinois in both parties and, sadly, some of them do get elected. We have our share of wingnuts downstate and in the ‘burbs –child support deadbeat but Tea Party favorite Joe Walsh springs to mind– and plenty of Democratic officeholders who grab with both hands at the city, county and state levels.
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Bitter Scribe said on February 29, 2012 at 12:43 pm
alex: The most telling detail in that profile of the neo-Nazi clown you linked to is that he’s blown his retirement savings on two previous runs. This means the taxpayers will get to pick up that much more of his medical and other expenses. God bless America.
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Malvolio said on February 29, 2012 at 1:01 pm
“Base” also means abject, low, depraved, corrupt, so maybe Republican base is really base Republican.
New Bruce Springsteen song: Rocky Ground. Gorgeous horns, Curtis Mayfield style guitar.
Deadbeat dad Joe Walsh may be a serious shitheel, but I’ll back my Congressman Joe Wilson as the biggest asshole in all of Congress. And my two Senators, Lindsey (Scarlet Pimpernel) Graham and Jim Demented, hard to see how anybody can match that for unadulterated dogshit Congressional representation.
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Malvolio said on February 29, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Scribe: Like Ayn Rand being on the government teat when her smoking was doing her in.
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beb said on February 29, 2012 at 1:06 pm
Kim and Minnie @6 & 4: The law, if I’ve read it correctly, removes a limit on how many guns non-dealers can buy during one month. The limit was originally put in place because cops in New York and Washington, DC were tracing guns used in crimes in their cities back to Virginia dealers. It was an embarrassment to be the gun dealer for the east coast gangs. The law was an elegant solution to a big problem. It didn’t prevent any one from buying a gun. It didn’t even stop people from owning lots of guns it just put a chokehold on how many guns you could buy at once. Arizona would have benefited from a law like this, too, since it would be harder (more trouble) to arm the drug gangs in Mexico one gun at a time. There wouldn’t have been the scandal of “Fast and Furious.”
Jeff @8: As liberal bloggers have pointed out time and again: crazy Democrats get shunned by the party, crazy Republicans get embraced by the party.
alex @15: My neighbor believes in playing his rap music real loud. I mean window rattling loud. I believe that neighbors should keep it quiet. That’s oe kind of neighborhood dispute. I’m often amazed to find that planned communities will often have covenents in that restrict home owner as to what colors their house can be painted, what kind of fences are allowed, if fences are even allowed, how short grass must be cut and so on.
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Bob (not Greene) said on February 29, 2012 at 1:18 pm
Mark, that’s a complete load of crap. The GOP fringe has consistently said it wants government out of their lives, but they ardently want it in the lives of “others.” You want to find dictators, that’s where you can go fishing. They’re biting these days.
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Bob (not Greene) said on February 29, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Alex,
Just interviewed ol’ Art as part of the paper’s endorsement process. He denied the Holocaust (saying it was political pornography that Jews require all the time), stated that there was a Marxist state called Aztlan being created by illegal immigrants in the southwest and that the country was run by the “two-party, Jew-party system.”
Last year he held a birthday party for Hitler at a local restaurant. It ended when someone lit a few smoke bombs in the place.
He’s running against a Tea Party guy and a guy who is slightly more moderate. None of them will get elected to congress, however, because the Democratic incumbent is Dan Lipinski, who has more campaign money than God and whose “social values” views are as conservative as any Republican’s. And they redrew the district to cut out the Latinos and add a hunk of white ethnic voters who skew conservative.
Hey, Kim, you ever get a chance to interview Art Jones?
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mark said on February 29, 2012 at 1:56 pm
BobNG-
What part of “I agree with you completely” was hard for you to understand? Will this make it clearer:
“The GOP fringe has consistently said it wants government out of their lives, but they ardently want it in the lives of “others.””
Again I agree with you completely. Some of them would happily ban books, close down nightclubs, throw evolution out of the schools, etc. and never even notice that they are empowering government to control individual conduct, thought and choice just to promote there own, puritanical view of a good world.
What I was suggesting is that limited government, as a Constitutional tenet, protects against this threat. But if we throw those limits overboard pursuing a “good” idea- say mandating that everyone purchase a government dictated health insurance policy, those limitations won’t be around to protect you from the “bad” ideas when power changes hands.
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coozledad said on February 29, 2012 at 1:58 pm
I’m not Jewish, but I’ve gone out with a few, and from what they tell me, Art’s just another useful idiot in their long term scheme to relocate New York someplace warmer.
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Hattie said on February 29, 2012 at 2:04 pm
I love your blog, but watch the agism.
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Malvolio said on February 29, 2012 at 2:08 pm
BobnG: Well Aztlan does have a National Anthem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1UcoEXQieU&feature=related
If Aztlan has David Hidalgo and Cesar Rozas for Pres and VP, I’m moving there if one of the GOPers gets elected.
Mark: Isn’t it amazing how that’s exactly what has happened in those socialistic Scandinavian countries with a higher standard of living than that of the US?
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alex said on February 29, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Ah, the old slippery slope. If the Dems can mandate the purchase of health insurance, why the Republicans can deputize your neighbors as bedroom police. I see the light now, Mark. How could I have been so blind?
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Bob (not Greene) said on February 29, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Sorry, Mark, I misunderstood. I never thought to equate finding a way to provide health coverage for all with mandating government-sanctioned rape prior to providing a woman with a legal abortion. Sorry!
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Sue said on February 29, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Davy Jones has died. I surprised myself by feeling sad.
Let’s quit arguing about inconsequential things like the future of our country and start arguing about something really important: those Monkees songs held up pretty well, didn’t they?
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Malvolio said on February 29, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Mandating health insurance would be a moot point if Republicans would simply agree to entirely Christian values of social justice and go along with single payer national insurance instead of whining about socialism. I mean, everywhere civilized already does it, and it costs less than half of American health care costs for the most expensive system. The USA trails Mexico in health service accessibility, for God’s sake. The mandate is a direct function of, and the only way of controlling (lowering) costs given, GOP insistence on keeping the insurance industry alive and well. The situation mirrors the ridiculous situation in which the GOP provided life support for the private student loan industry, which was a leech on the federal budget with no value added whatsoever.
Sue: Many of those Monkees songs were written by Neal Diamond, and many by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who wrote I Wanna Be Free, and actually did many of the early Monkees recordings. I always thought Davey Jones was cast for his resemblance to Peter Noone.
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Dorothy said on February 29, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Well said, Sue. We were at a minor league baseball game last summer in Columbus and as we were driving away, we could hear the Monkees (well, three of the four) performing in the venue next door. It made me sad, too, a little, because my best friend from grade school and I were crazy about them. I was the weird one who liked Peter Tork the best. I can’t remember who she preferred.
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basset said on February 29, 2012 at 3:00 pm
The songs have indeed held up. Then again, they had some writers… Carole King, Boyce & Hart, Michael Nesmith…
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Sue said on February 29, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Malvolio: And Michael Nesmith wrote “Different Drum”, a song which always irritated me even with Linda Ronstadt as the singer. Stupid lyrics.
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coozledad said on February 29, 2012 at 3:08 pm
Nilsson, dammit. Nilsson.
He wrote this song for Davy. It’s a typically sickass Nilsson song about gang rape. He knew how Davy could sell it to the kids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emLj0d66DQ
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Malvolio said on February 29, 2012 at 3:40 pm
And if the Monkees weren’t cool, how did their movie Head have Bob Rafaelson for its director and Jack Nicholson, Teri Garr, Dennis Hopper, Sonny Liston and Frank Zappa in it?
And, they were buddies with Harry Nilsson.
Watching Davey Jones dance in that Cuddly Toy video @38 makes me wonder whether he shouldn’t have sued Bill Bailey (Axl Rose) for stealing all of his dance moves.
The lyrics to Different Drum are indeed stupid.
My HS band played this tune, by the Monkees, from King/Goffin. We thought we were doing hip-ironic, I’m embarrassed to imagine.
Oh, and Boyce and Hart wrote Reach Out for the Tops.
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Deborah said on February 29, 2012 at 4:11 pm
When did the Monkees show appear on TV? I was never a fan, I’m thinking I may have been too old by that time to get caught up in it?
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DellaDash said on February 29, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Talk about a cuddly toy…well a sweaty cuddly toy…well a sweaty spastic toy…
…somehow the Monkee video browsing lead to Mad Dogs & Englishmen and now when I’m in the grip of a mad, tearful Joe Cocker/Leon Russell nostalgia that won’t let me settle down to work.
Nilsson (before he derailed) could do that to me, too (there’s a great documentary about him)…Beatles could if they weren’t so permeated throughout the intervening years leading up to the present…but I guess the Monkee’s never could keep my attention for too long…
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Dorothy said on February 29, 2012 at 4:21 pm
1966-1968, Deborah – I was 11 the year they went off the air. I’ve had “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” in my head all afternoon now.
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Julie Robinson said on February 29, 2012 at 4:22 pm
Not Davy!!!
The Monkees ran from 1966-68, according to the report I read. That means I was 10 when they started, and I fell for them big time, especially Davy. One of our local stations started carrying the show recently, and as I saw a few bits of it, I was embarrassed for my 10 year old self.
A few years ago we were given tickets to the reunion tour that three of them were making. I was surprised that they were actually good musicians, or had become good musicians in the intervening years. Davy talked about the horse farm he lived on, and was either happy in his life, or a good actor.
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Little Bird said on February 29, 2012 at 4:22 pm
I remember watching the Monkees in reruns when I was a kid. I also had a college dorm neighbor who was infatuated with the band. Never mind that she was easily young enough to be the child of any of them. She would blast their songs at top volume when she had a bad day. She was a bit of a basket case, I hope she outgrew that.
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Dexter said on February 29, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Monkees, Davy…I searched my emotional locker, found nothing…left a message…no reply, no reply.
The Monkees were just a bad TV show.
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MarkH said on February 29, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Yes, Malvolio @34, and Walter Koenig was cast for his resemblance to Jones.
Somewhere there exists a tape of Stephen Stills audition to be a Monkee. I saw it on a VH1 doc years ago. Couldn’t find it on YouTube, though.
EDIT – imdb (of course) has all you need to know about the Monkees.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060010/trivia
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Malvolio said on February 29, 2012 at 4:53 pm
And, of course, thinking about the Monkees caused me to consider Freddie (Garrity) and the Dreamers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR-f10Z2iB4
Fortunately Stills missed out MarkH, and ran into Neal’s hearse instead. There were some Monkees songs that sounded like they were supposed to approximate Buffalo Springfield, like Love is Only Sleeping (pretty cool song, in my estimation):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z76r49dAYTw
I covet the big ol’ ‘lectric Gretsch 12-string Nesmith is playing. The harmonies could be straight off Last Time Around.
Chekov did look like Davy Jones.
I get a kick out of hearing the Monkees when they come on the grocery store Muzak occasionally, and some of the songs are enough to wipe the churlish, petulant scowl off of Frothman.
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Sherri said on February 29, 2012 at 4:58 pm
I grew up in Clarksville, TN, which was not really the Clarksville in Last Train to Clarksville but seemed like it to me when I was a kid, so I was drawn to the Monkees for that if nothing else. I still have the theme song from the TV show stuck in my head (along with a zillion other TV theme songs.)
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ROGirl said on February 29, 2012 at 5:20 pm
Davy Jones was in the running for my affections with Paul McCartney. I know. I was little and didn’t understand the difference. They were manufactured, but the music was professionally done.
RE: Barry’s defense of the auto bailout. I wish he rose to that level more often. He’s like Little Richard to Santorum’s Pat Boone or Mitt’s Perry Como.
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DellaDash said on February 29, 2012 at 5:28 pm
All riled up from “I get by with a little help from my friends”…unable to knuckle down…just have having watched the clip from the UAW speech…I’m gonna confess…it’s that infectious Obama ear-to-ear grin that got me from jump.
Although I still remember each subject we would debate all term (‘Resolved: that a federal policy of compulsary arbitration should be adopted in labor management disputes in basic industries’ during one year; ‘Resolved: that executive control of foriegn policy should be significantly curtailed’ during another, for example), there’s no sense in drawing on high school/college tournament debate training and trying to put together some coherent arguments about specific issues…because my unabated enthusiasm for myMan is not ideological, nor cerebral, nor even rational. I don’t have a valid leg to stand on…just gut instinct about character, integrity, and who’s worth giving my precious vote of trust to.
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brian stouder said on February 29, 2012 at 5:42 pm
I was little and didn’t understand the difference. They were manufactured, but the music was professionally done.
ROGirl, the old joke was to refer to the Monkeys as “The Prefab-Four” – which I always thought was a little unfair.
Our 16 year old son always argues with his 13 year old sister about why HIS music is so much more ‘genuine’ (think Metal) than her ‘mass market’ (think Rihanna/Katy Perry) preferences. I always point out that if you hear it on commercial radio, then it’s all part of the same industry…
But the last time the Monkeys made me laugh was when former President Clinton visited Fort Wayne in support of his wife’s run for the nomination. Before he spoke, they had music playing on the sound system, and amongst other little funnies, they played the Beatles’ “I’m a Believer” (“I’m a believer, I couldn’t leave her if I tried”, etc)
If Santorum (et al) had a little more of a sense of humor, things would be better
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Connie said on February 29, 2012 at 5:46 pm
I still have my Monkees albums. Somewhere.
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Jeff Borden said on February 29, 2012 at 5:47 pm
I disagree with the assessment “The Monkees” was a bad TV show. It was very derivative –an attempt to cash in on the madcap style of “A Hard Day’s Night”– but it had its moments largely thanks to Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz, who really older visitors to this site might remember from a kids’ show called “Circus Boy.”
Plus, they cruised in a wicked Pontiac GTO customized by the genius George Barris.
So there.
BTW, I just read on a political website that Mitt Romney did not win Michigan. He and Sanitarium will split the 30 votes evenly because of some form of proportionately. Is that true, Michiganders? The piece I read noted this was far fewer delegates than Mittens won back in 2008.
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Malvolio said on February 29, 2012 at 6:23 pm
It’s interesting to me that the folks that invented and produced the Monkees never made any effort atually to sound like the Beatles, only to ape the frenetic, incongruent goofball style of Richard Lester’s movie, which was decidedly mediocre compared to his previous effort with the Fabs, Hard Day’s Night. I’m fairly sure there was a Monkees episode that basiccally stole the plot from Help.
It’s two delegates for each congressional district won, according to Rachel Maddow last night.
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Judybusy said on February 29, 2012 at 6:27 pm
Sherri, when you mentioned Last Train to Clarkesville, I immediately heard the version by Cassandra Wilson, jazz singer extraordinaire. Being born in ’65, I have no idea what the Monkees’ version sounds like, and will lay my neck down here and now and admit I had no idea it was by them until just now.
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MarkH said on February 29, 2012 at 6:28 pm
I agree with you on The Monkees, Jeff B. Better than some here are remembering. Plus, as Molvilio said, Rafelson and Nicholson saw enough there to put together the film “Head”. Which was not bad.
On the Michigan question. This is just Santorum blowing off steam. I have seen no news reports about a mistake or a recount. He is claiming somehow that the contest was a draw and the delegates should be split.
http://harndenblog.dailymail.co.uk/2012/02/santorum-campaign-claims-romney-win-in-michigan-was-really-a-draw.html
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Malvolio said on February 29, 2012 at 6:37 pm
Last Train to Clarksville has the brilliant line: We’ll have time for coffee-flavored kisses and a bit of conversation.
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Joe K said on February 29, 2012 at 6:46 pm
Saw Davey Jones perform at Disney World last May. Say what you want, the guy could PLAY tambourine and maroccos.
Pilot Joe
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Malvolio said on February 29, 2012 at 7:44 pm
Of course, there was a professional singer named Davey Jones before the Monkees, but he changed his professional name to David Bowie.
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MarkH said on February 29, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Malvolio – I wasn’t kidding about the Koenig / Jones casting decision on Star Trek.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Koenig
But, you knew that (sigh).
EDIT – Also, on the Steve Stills Monkees audition: He did not want the part after he learned that all rights to songs he wrote would be owned by the production company. So he went home and told his roommate, Peter Tork, about the gig. Almost immediately afterword, he and Richie saw Young in his hearse, and the rest, as they say…..
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Bitter Scribe said on February 29, 2012 at 7:59 pm
Brian, I’m pretty sure “I’m a Believer” was a Monkees song.
“Prefab Four.” Heh. Never heard that one, but to me, it’s perfect. The Monkees always were synthetic Beatles, even continuing into the “Head” phase, which I saw as an attempt to follow the Beatles into profundity.
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MarkH said on February 29, 2012 at 8:37 pm
I’m a Believer was a Monkees song, written for them by Neil Diamond.
Lest you deride the Monkees too far, take a look at this thoughtful piece on their significance.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/why-the-monkees-are-important/
Scroll down to comment #4 on the significance of “Head”. You can’t dismiss Rafelson and Nicholson being on to something.
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Dave said on February 29, 2012 at 9:04 pm
Monkees, Brian. “I’m a Believer”, not a Beatles song. Actually, Malvolio, Davy Jones was a professional performer, possibly before the other one. He was a cast member of “Oliver” and was on the Ed Sullivan show the same night The Beatles debuted, something I learned several years ago, when I was given a DVD of the Ed Sullivan show of that night.
The Monkees were fun, a cut-rate TV show that flamed out fast, true, but still. Oh yes, and I do remember Boyce and Hart, Malvolio, Tommy Boyce has been gone for several years now. I didn’t know they’d written “Hurt So Bad”, a Little Anthony hit. Perhaps you were thinking of that and not “Reach Out”, which I’m sure is another Holland-Dozier-Holland Motown hit.
Oh, and I won’t apologize for liking “Different Drum”, dumb lyrics or not.
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brian stouder said on February 29, 2012 at 9:39 pm
I mis-spelled Monkeys? Well, Dam!
Leaving all that aside, I’m looking forward to hearing Nancy’s review of Elmore Leonard’s lecture
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maryinIN said on February 29, 2012 at 10:49 pm
Hoping for a report on the Elmore Leonard event. I heard him in Indy, oh, probably a year ago.
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baldheadeddork said on February 29, 2012 at 11:12 pm
I have political Asperger’s, so I won’t be offended if anyone nods politely and backs away after reading this. But I looked through the TPM map Nancy linked to and a couple of things jumped out. First, Romney only won one county outright (Oakland) and then he just got over the line with 50.3%. Second, his average result in the counties he won was just 43%.
This, in a state where he grew up and a big chunk of the Republican electorate have fond personal memories of his father’s time as governor. I can’t think of another political nepotimsm/dynasty situation that comes close.
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basset said on March 1, 2012 at 8:42 am
Sherri@48, yes it was the same Clarksville. saw an interview with either Boyce or Hart awhile back where he told that story, don’t have time to look it up right now though, gotta get to work.
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