The slide into fall has begun. The problem is that it runs right into winter. I complain a lot about winter and don’t really expect that to change much as I age. It just seems like an unnecessary test of our will. Anyway, get your shovels oiled up and let’s enjoy the fall as we wait.
Foley let me sit second chair on his Landmark Live production with former NBA great Scott Wedman and what a great guest he turned out to be. Just an interesting life story from a longtime Platte County resident. You don’t get to sit down with guys that talk about shooting around in “The Garden” often, in fact, mostly never.
Our latest episode of the Republican party defeating themselves from within is out. In a letter to the editor penned last week, former congressman Tom Coleman came out with an endorsement of Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine to represent Missouri in the United States Senate. He was joined by former state senator Bob Johnson in this endorsement. It’s the John Danforth wing of the Republican party that apparently meets at a senior citizens center somewhere and talks about the glory days of being Republicans. I assume they talk about trickle-down economics and defense budgets between spoonfuls of pudding.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter. This is the political version of the “I walked a mile to school, uphill both ways” story your grandparents ripped on you when you moaned about riding a bus to school. Apparently, Tom and Bob failed to read up on the John Danforth experiment that I have detailed in this column. Rocking chair politician speeches don’t work. The electorate has moved on. Yesterday’s news remains yesterday’s news.
You remember John/Jack Danforth threw a couple of million dollars behind an independent candidate for U.S. Senate and gave us a “serious, rocking chair” commercial speech and the independent candidate quit before the election even happened. They claimed some sort of moral victory because Eric Greitens wasn’t elected. So now we have Tom and Bob giving us rocking chair advice and urging supporters to vote Democrat because Eric Schmitt is some type of “threat to democracy.”
I have no idea what that even means anymore, but it sure works well as a Democrat talking point. A point they have so imbedded in the collective thoughts that two old school elected Republicans are willing to give up control of the United States Senate to support it.
For better or worse, both parties are changing, and the prior generation of politicians have a challenging time accepting the change in the overall electorate priorities.
For what it’s worth, I have a tough time accepting it. I’d like to live in a Reagan Republican world until they carefully lower me into this earth, but that is not happening, that train has left the station. Politics change and issues change and this ain’t your Daddy’s Republican party anymore.
I’m not sure if you can say “mom” anymore if you’re on the left but for clarity purposes this is not your Mom’s Democrat party anymore either. She’s moved on, transitioned or such.
We all might as well get used to it. It’ll save us from anymore rocking chair speeches.
(Guy Speckman is not really interested in being reached. Thank you for your time)