September 8, 2022

"The contention that the world of politics tends to attract more than its share of crazy people seems self-evident."

"Politics offers fame, power, glamour, and, often, considerable amounts of money (or, at least, the ability to control considerable amounts of money. You will run into nutty candidates, nutty campaign managers and staffers, nutty volunteers, nutty donors, and nutty hangers-on. Who knows, maybe even some political correspondents can be nutty from time to time."
 
From "Do the Democrats Have a . . . Murder Problem?" by Jim Geraghty (National Review). 

Great title, by the way.

28 comments:

gilbar said...

this is Ridiculous! it is NOT murder! to call these murder is to LIE!
it is NOT murder.. When a democrat does it

rhhardin said...

The crazy part is what you have to do to attract women voters. Whether to keep up the crazy act all the time or just campaigning is the choice.

Buckwheathikes said...

I'm heartened by two events on such a somber day as today:

Jeff Bezos, one of the world's richest men, led condemnation against Carnagie Mellon University's resident racist Uju Anya who tweeted that she hoped the Queen's death would be slow and agonizing (an obvious violation of their terms of service).

Twitter has deleted her tweet. Bezos and those in power seem to recognize that these Twitter assholes need to have their chains yanked and their bullhorns collected. Of course, they'll continue to let her tweet in the future after the heat dies down.

And President Biden has acknowledged that the Democrats have a "murder" problem as he came out today to decry the vicious knifing murder by a Democrat of a newspaper reporter in Las Vegas.

Oh wait ... Joe Biden hasn't done that. He has been silent on the issue of whether it's OK for Democrats to use political violence against reporters and others exposing them.

Saves all his political vitriol for those crazy MAGA Americans who he refuses to name.

rehajm said...

What I find surprising is there’s enough restraint not to brag about it…

Joe Smith said...

Not so much 'nutty' as narcissistic.

Who are all these people with no real-life experience telling the rest of us how to live out lives?

I'd rather take advice from the hotdog vendor.

At least they know about sales, marketing, time management, supply chain, etc...

Kevin said...

Perhaps his neighbor's Gila monster was possessed by a demon.

Lurker21 said...

It's a different kind of crazy though. The generation that watched "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Green Acres" had a lot of eccentric small town and neighborhood characters in Congress. Now they're more ideological and their madness is as much political as personal. Also, there's much more emphasis on image and appearance. Old time politicians could be absolute slobs. Today candidates have to be perfectly attired, coiffed, and blow-dried.

But this is why saying that the politician you hate is a narcissist is silly nowadays. They're all narcissistic to one degree or another, and narcissism is probably a plus, maybe even a necessity, rather than a minus in political life. Politicians who are too narcissistic or who are "malignant narcissists" usually crash and burn before they get very far in politics, leaving government up to the more or less ordinary narcissists.

Jamie said...

But this is why saying that the politician you hate is a narcissist is silly nowadays. They're all narcissistic to one degree or another

Mr. Smith never went to Washington IRL. I'm going to commit patriotic heresy Ave say that I think even Washington was probably on the N side of the altruist/narcissist continuum (if those are the proper endpoints).

Of course, I would day that; I subscribe to Heinlein's view that there's no such thing as altruism - that ultimately everything we do serves our self-interest in some way. The trick is to be, or to become, the kind of person whose self-interest requires one to be kind and generous.

Che Dolf said...

Last month, I asked whether people were getting crazier.

Back in Summer 2017 Bronze Age Pervert made a bet with Scott Adams. Scott had said that politics would get more peaceful over the coming year. BAP wagered a bottle of rum that Dems would get ever more berserk.

BAP, July 2018: "Yes hello @ScottAdamsSays do you remember our bet? You said things would get more peaceful, quieter, golden age. I said things would get crazy beyond belief. I would like my bottle of Rum!" (original tweet gone because Twitter suspended him)

Scott paid up.

It's odd that someone like you (Althouse) who follows politics mainly for entertainment should stick to boring, blinkered writers like Jim Geraghty just because they have mainstream blue-check certification. There are many funny, interesting anons like BAP who are 100x more insightful. You should explore them.

tim maguire said...

Politics attracts the kind of people no sane person would put in charge of anything.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Do the Democrats Have a . . . Murder Problem?" by Jim Geraghty (National Review

Vince Foster could not be reached for comment...

walter said...

More posts about Hilary Clinton?

Ann Althouse said...

“ It's odd that someone like you (Althouse) who follows politics mainly for entertainment should stick to boring, blinkered writers like Jim Geraghty just because they have mainstream blue-check certification. ”

I’ve blogged Jim Geraghty 3 times in 18 years.

I do prefer to blog mainstream writers because they give me something to bounce off of and I don’t like ugly looking sites and overly harsh writing.

In this case, what was intywas the idea of a murder problem not the more generic idea that people say all the time.

Richard said...

P.J. O'Rourke said the scary thing about politics is that some people are not in it for the money.

Ann Althouse said...

intywas = interesting was

Drago said...

Inga/hpudding/Howard will be along shortly to explain how a democratical murdering a journalist is a dark, dark window in Trump's soul.......

Drago said...

The New Soviet Democraticals told us if Trump was elected journalists would be hunted and murdered....and they were right!

Michael K said...

How could anyone say the Democrats have a murder problem? Epstein killed himself without revealing any of his famous clients. Then the son of a Democrat politician attacked Trump in 2016. He was interviewed by CNN. No arrest. Then some one shot at a Republican candidate in an election in Louisville. He, of course, was another candidate.

The 21-year-old was identified as “a former intern and editorial columnist” of the Louisville Courier-Journal by the paper itself, where he wrote that he had studied philosophy and Pan-Africanism while studying at the University of Louisville, where he'd previously served as the opinion editor of the school’s newspaper, the Cardinal.

Just a nice kid and activist.

Of course no one is mentioning the murders in 2020 by "peaceful protestors" who are Democrat "activists."

takirks said...

The fact that someone wants public office and is actively seeking it ought to serve as a warning sign that they should not be entrusted with it. I can't think of a single exception to this rule of thumb, unfortunately.

Vance said...

Don't forget that James Hodkinson was in close contact with Democrat Dick Durbin, number 2 in the Senate, up to at least the day before if not the day of his murderous rampage where he almost killed enough Republicans to flip control of the House when he attacked their baseball game.

Very good thing that he was such a poor shot.

To this day, Senator Durbin has refused to discuss what they were emailing about.

walter said...

Blogger Michael K said...
How could anyone say the Democrats have a murder problem? Epstein killed himself without revealing any of his famous clients.
--
When Barr was asked whether there was foul play involved, he paused his bagpipe playing to shake his jowls back and forth and resumed.
Case closed.

Bunkypotatohead said...

Politicians are the last people I'd want to be governed by.

JK Brown said...

In 2000, my cousin became a state bureau of investigation agent after being a street cop working the projects for 10 years. When I visited and he explained that he investigated government officials, police, politicians, my remark was, "That's dangerous, those people will come or send people to your house". The street criminals don't try to kill cops as police are just a cost of doing business. But politicians, police, if they are being investigated, they see their entire identity threatened.

Christopher B said...

I've been reading Geraghty, off and on, since he started The Kerry Spot back in 2004. It would be hard to come up with somebody more white bread middle of the road. This is about as 'harsh' as he gets.

BudBrown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bryant said...

Hollywood for ugly people

Che Dolf said...

Michael K said... How could anyone say the Democrats have a murder problem? Epstein killed himself without revealing any of his famous clients.

Bob Barr, the Republican attorney general, made a handwaving declaration that Epstein killed himself and that there was nothing suspicious about the death that required further investigation.

There are probably way more low level homicidal nutcases among Democrats, but GOP and Dem party leadership are equally malignant.

Che Dolf said...

Michael K said... How could anyone say the Democrats have a murder problem? Epstein killed himself without revealing any of his famous clients.

Bob Barr, the Republican attorney general, made a handwaving declaration that Epstein killed himself and that there was nothing suspicious about the death that required further investigation.

There are probably way more low level homicidal nutcases among Democrats, but GOP and Dem party leadership are equally malignant.