Apocalypse?

This is the word chosen by the columnist who just got finished pontificating about being a "serious writer" (and making it clear that you, the reader, are not, with the phrase "any serious writer will tell you") to describe the current situation?

So the serious writer is one who scratches his head searching for a word, just the right word, one with all of the right subtle implications--- and comes up with one with all-too-obvious connections to the end-of-timers currently looking for any excuse to use this economic crash to justify their fairy tales?

Great.

Missed those connotations, did you?

Brilliant.

Salon's Puma past still comes back to haunt it. I guess after the rapture it won't matter though. Ah well.

A pox on your ellipses for writing that one.

Headline over at Crooks and Liars:

"Are Republicans killing the stock market with their apocalyptic hysteria?"

Headline here at Salon: "It's the apocalypse!"

And there you pretty much have it.

By the way, those tut-tutting about people with negative opinions of this column, it's not just the pessimism, at least not for me, it's the ridiculous word choice, plus trotting it out like it's not one of the most tired and loaded cliches out there but something he just thought of.

It strikes me as similar to someone reporting having meditated deeply on the state of the news, and as a result coming up with the phrase "'Liberal Media!' That's it! "Isn't it perfect?!"

Er, yeah, we know that one.

It's the apocalypse, right. Sorry, but a sizeable, if nutty, chunk of the US populace was already calling it that. You can find them way over there. On the right.

The transformation of Reagan into a demi-god by the right has been one of the most apalling flim flams to ever have been pulled off. Reagan wasn't entirely responsible for our criminally negligent medical system, but his preaching against "Canadian" style universal coverage was pivotal in keeping any movement away from it from getting anywhere.

Along with the other disastrous policies he championed that have now just about destroyed our system (the economic collapse and imminent depression are basically the result of "Reaganomics", not many would dispute now) he's one of the worst things that ever happened to the country. I'd almost say he's worse than Bush, in terms of sheer influence, all in the wrong direction.

Those who have actually lived in countries with universal coverage know that the fears of it are absurd for the most part. The right wingers think we're becoming France? We should be so lucky.

"If I had no impact, if I had no influence, if I was such an extremist appealing to such a small number of people, why, what they'd be doing is laughing, or ignoring."

Exactly! No, Rush, you are exactly that, an extremist appealing to a small number of people, and the Republicans should be doing just that, ignoring you or laughing. Instead, they're twisting themselves into new Euripidies plays every day over you, and we're the ones laughing.

The Republican party is now seemingly operating on one guiding principle: Don't make the Dittoheads angry. If you do they'll write angry letters, and this must be avoided at all costs.

How they came to believe that following this policy of pandering to one relatively small group (perhaps 4% of the population, at the very highest estimate) is of paramount importance is something best left to sociologists and historians of the future. For now, we can simply enjoy the carnage.

The part I love is when all of the Beltway Broders like Brooks and well, everyone, claim now that "the White House" is creating this, or even that it's half-responsible for "elevating" Rush to such importance.

Elevating nothing. Rahm Emanuel pointed out what the Republicans were doing, that any of them who denied that Limbaugh is the leader of the GOP has to run groveling to apologize the next day. Then the head of the Republican National Committee ran to apologize the next day. For having said just that.

Yes, they should be just laughing. Instead, we are. It's bad I suppose to get such pleasure from watching all this, but it is kind of a rush.