I recently posted a piece detailing my opinion that Curt Schilling being elected to the senate would be little more than a violent outbreak of genital warts under the blue suit of legislature. Now before I get started let me be clear, Schilling is an American, and as such has every right to run for Senate. The issue is that he does not seem to recognize that the right to do something doesn’t make it a good idea. My issue is not with the consideration of office but rather the inherent arrogance and Joe the Plumber style common man shtick that so obviously bolsters the rafters of Curt’s personal church of self-worship. I’m going to go through a recent post that he has put up in detail arguing that his writing only displays how unfit he is for office and that this sad attempt at headlines and power is just political theatre.
The humor is flying! Jokes everywhere! Some of them justified, some more than justified, some not so much.
I have zero experience in passing a piece of legislation. I have zero experience in writing a piece of legislation. That matters to me, only if I thought I’d enter and win this race, and do it alone. You don’t, no one does and anyone that says they do is a liar.
I should really be able to wrap this whole article up here. The beginning, well, I consider it a poorly considered joke to start. It sounds crappy and is almost self-deprecating but falls just short of actually taking any heat for how foolish of an idea this really is. However, this article isn’t meant to dissect his ability as a blogger. The real meat of this passage is right below in bold. I would really like to know the rationale behind explicitly stating how unqualified and inexperienced you are for a job you will go on to defend your ability to handle. It sounds like he is going into a mechanic’s garage for a job and stating he has never worked with cars, but he has many very good opinions of them so that should suffice.
It does get better though. Much better, I assure you. There is an insidious nature to the second half of the lower paragraph (after where he states how unqualified he is…). His claims that he won’t be doing this alone seems to me an admission that the thoroughly inexperienced Schilling is not only willing but, cognizant of the fact that he will be little more than a marketable package for the GOP in the bluest of blue seas. He admits right out that others will be gleefully manipulating him from the shadows. This is terrifying; we have enough empty suits coughing out GOP bile while others run the show. At least the others have the decency to act like they aren’t glorified pitchmen.
People, many people, point to my support of former President Bush as the only reason they need to support “whoever he would run against”. Obviously that’s your right, and freedom. However it appears to me that as an Independent, which I will always be, I’ve always tried to vote for the right team more so than the right person. I believed in Dick Cheney, I believed in Colin Powell, I believed in Condoleezza Rice. I voted as much, if not more, for the team President Bush had assembled as I ever did for the man. It’s the reason I voted for his father, it’s the reason I voted for Bill Clinton.
To start, you aren’t an independent, regardless of how you’re registered Mr. Schilling. Voting for neocon Clinton doesn’t exactly qualify one as a free and independent thinker unhindered by rigid political ideology. Stumping for a series of Republican presidents publicly at party endorsed events also does not make one an independent. This is the common GOP tactic of claiming independent status to make it appear as if the thoughts you have come to just happen to fall in line with the party claptrap. This is the illusion of independent thought. This is Meghan McCain independent theory.
It also seems that Curt Schilling votes by team, you know like a baseball guy who picks teams because single players don’t win championships or whatever. The problem with this is that the team, short of VP, isn’t chosen until after the election except in the case of the incumbent and even that could change. There is no possible way to vote on information regarding cabinet positions short of eating a fair amount of salt doled out by the media. There aren’t teams in government like that. There is the elected official and the people that work with them, but this isn’t much of a team since only one person is responsible. Also, “I believed in Dick Cheney.” I don’t think I need to elaborate on the type of judgment that statement displays.
I was not even remotely active in the political scene until far too late in my life to sit on a pulpit and preach about history tells us this and history tells us that. That’s not a good thing, but it’s the truth.
Commendable that you came around now, but I say too little too late. This only strengthens the “jokes” about you being completely unqualified and prepared for this type of position.
Taxes? Sure I’ll pay them, regardless of the number. Would I prefer lower taxes? Sure, who wouldn’t? But I’ll pay, whatever they are, because that’s the cost of being able to live in this country and I’ve never had a problem with that.
Having said that I live in a state where I can’t drive 1/2 of a mile without a torn up road, or on a major highway without paying a toll, a large toll. How in the hell is this state broke? How in the hell has a state with supposedly as intelligent a voter base as Massachusetts allowed itself to be run into the ground by entrenched and often times corrupt ‘me first’ politicians? How did that happen? All the way down to the community level our papers are littered with stories, daily, of unethical behavior, scandal and outright criminal acts, BY OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS!
I love this part. It’s one of the better ones. This is the equivalent of a random nut shot popping up in an America’s Funniest Home Videos montage. Well, we’re sure that he’s going to pay taxes, and he’s happy about it. You know he’d rather not…but what the hell just give it a shot right? Not so fast, it seems that in spite of his paying taxes there are still minor inconveniences scattered throughout the state. Clearly all of the politicians are swimming in private money pits as opposed to the reality of funding being relatively scarce from taxes considering the overhead of running a state. We are in the middle of a serious economic crisis at the moment and for someone with aspirations toward the federal government to only wonder why they pay tolls and still have to swerve the occasional pothole forces to the foreground a mind as limber as a pile of osteoperitic femurs.
Our tax structure is very complicated, and to only glance at some foolish problems or inconveniences as glaring issues shows that Mr. Schilling is way out of touch with what needs to be done in government. Only being able to say that you don’t like taxes but will pay them means literally nothing. Furthermore, he doesn’t even elaborate what could be done about his supposed problems. No solutions just a comment that it’s the fault of the corrupt. Apparently the many affairs and indiscretions of the political class are directly responsible for the high tolls on the Verrazano. Who knew? Clearly the high levels of corruption and unethical behavior in Washington will be cured by electing an alpha male, faux-populist, “Christian” Republican, with a temper and an ego will stop the betrayals of men nothing like that. You know, guys like David Vitter, John Ensign, Mark Sanford, Ted Stevens, Tom DeLay and Oliver North. All men nothing like that description at all.
Is there a larger breach of trust outside the family bond than that? Why have we allowed it to get this far, and why would we even consider allowing that to continue?
You want my opinion on ‘issues’?
Just as a tip, you might not want to put issues in quotes like you’re being sarcastic when trying to discuss your views on them. It makes it seem like you’re a huge idiot that doesn’t recognize the implications of what he is saying. Figured I’d throw that out there.
I’m pro-life (with exception to rape, incest or terminal consequences to mom or child during birth) and against Gay marriage. However, let me be very clear on both of those issues. Those issues are so far beyond the scope or responsibility of one person to legislate it’s laughable. The state you reside in should be the body that determines BOTH of those laws. Because I’m pro-life should have nothing to do with your belief or your opinion. The constituents you work for should be the people that decide those laws in the state they live in, period.
Here is where it gets really interesting. Schilling is very pro-life and very anti-gay-marriage, but ha ha, none of this matters so don’t hold it against him. Basically he tries to put out the feelers on some conservative buzz words while keeping himself far enough away from them to remain viable in the most liberal of liberal states. Essentially what he is doing here is bolstering his conservative credentials on the sly. He manages to in this passage talk about abortion, resistance to gay rights and states rights as a shield used so often by the GOP.
So you understand something else about me. Because I believe something and you don’t, means very little to me. Charlie Baker is running for Governor of Massachusetts. I am a huge supporter of Charlie. Charlie Baker is very much in favor of Gay marriage, I’m not. That doesn’t make me feel one ounce different about Charlie, because I understand there is no perfect candidate and no one exists but yourself, that’s going to align perfectly with your opinions and beliefs. This state needs good people above all else, and Charlie is that. I’ve known that since meeting him years ago and watching him rejuvenate Harvard Pilgrim into a thriving business once again.
Wait though, he likes this guy who loves the gays! This is really the political equivalent of “Dude, I have a gay friend!” This whole paragraph is a waste of space to be honest. It reeks of the reach across the aisle bipartisan schlock that is so en vogue at the moment.
I am absolutely for the 2nd Amendment. But I also think this country has become so beholden to special interest and lobbyists that we have completely sacrificed the safety and well being of the individual American citizen. Why should our Police Officers have to worry about automatic weapons? What logically thinking human would think it’s ok that a ‘citizen’ to carry a weapon capable of discharging 1000 rounds a minute? I understand one thing, that’s big business, and big business is what we’ve allowed to take over in far too many places and in far to many areas that the people need to take back. I also think we need to put some ground rules out there as it pertains to rights here. Commit a felony? Sorry, you have no right to EVER bear arms.
GUNS! Apparently Curt Schilling has a serious hard-on for the second amendment. How he interprets that or manages to consider it in a social and legal context is left incredibly vague, but he does support it. He really supports your right to a gun, but not too big a gun. No criminals either. The problem is that this is all empty rhetoric. It does nothing to flesh out the important distinction of arms being an implicit personal right in the constitution or one of militias and defense forces that does not imply a personal obligation to build your home out of ammunition. This is one of the weaker positions I’ve heard of. It takes no strong stand and the only hint toward the constitution and what is contained in it ends with the citation of the amendment.
Thankfully, he understands one thing. That thing is apparently big business. Not sure how this slid in here. Or what evidence he has to back up this understanding, but for some reason he seems to think that it is important for us to know. Big business is a danger to this country, but simply saying you think it should get out of guns is foolish. There needs to be a concerted effort to remove the influence of big business from areas such as gun control. I would also like to know if Schilling’s preternatural understanding of big business extends to removing them from areas like healthcare, finance, military contracts, sexual education and energy policy . I have a feeling that Schilling isn’t exactly going to become some Knight in shining armor here to slay the evils of corporate influence in Washington. If anything he shows that he would be little more than a Don Quixote tilting at windmills and saving damsels who were never in need of his assistance.
To be clear I have no ambition to enter into a life of politics, or to be a career politician, none. I am flattered that some people felt I’d be the right person for this. None of that means I would, or will, attempt to run for the vacant Senator’s seat here in Massachusetts. Were I to even consider this it would be for 1 term and 1 term only, and then only to do everything in my power to rid this state of the tired an unethical people that have run it into the ground and help it begin the healing process, and once again become a thriving state to live and work in.
Here we have Schilling channeling Winston Churchill. Apparently, he is going to come in and do the dirty work nobody else could. Thank god for Schilling, because who but an inexperienced baseball player turned pseudo-politician would be fit to undo corruption that stretches back far enough to be linked to men that no longer walk the earth. If it wasn’t done by better and more intelligent men, I am hard pressed to think that a guy named Curt is going to start throwing the money changers from the temple.
A run for the Senate is a massive undertaking, both personally and financially. I’m not even close to a Rhodes Scholar or Ivy League graduate, but I also know I’m watching many people with those exact credentials run this state, and this country, into the ground. You don’t need either to serve the people of the commonwealth, what you need is an unbridled and unattached passion to change peoples lives for the better. You need to not be beholden to all of those groups that offer the ‘we pay now, you pay later’ handout.
I have no idea if I’ll even do this, but if by some slim chance I do it won’t be a joke, and it won’t be for laughs. These are deadly serious times at home and abroad and this country absolutely has to elect public servants who don’t head to Washington with an “Out of sight out of mind” approach to us living back home.
The end, finally, the light at the end of this tunnel. Apparently since Ivy Leaguers and Rhodes Scholars messed things up, we should look towards guys like him. No dice Schilling. Physicists haven’t quite defined string theory yet either, but I wouldn’t go put my garbage man on the case because of it. I’d find more physicists. The reason is because people are always people and have their flaws. Politicians may even have more than the rest of us, and it seems the smarter and more experienced the more flaws they have. This is fine with me, they will always be like that. What we shouldn’t do is think electing idiots with “opinions” (those quotes are justified considering how vacuous the entire post is.) and face recognition to positions that allow them to make massive decisions for years. This is a novelty vote, and like all novelty items, they lose their appeal after some time. I am interested to know who thought he would be good for this job, because I was under the impression that he brought it up. I haven’t seen one voice of true or intelligent support from someone without a Red Sox avatar on a sports site.
Schilling is right about one thing though, “these are deadly serious times at home and abroad.” In fact they are so serious right now that the intelligent portions of our country should be vomiting in their collective mouth about the idea that Curt Schilling should represent the good people of Massachusetts. The time to have someone trying this out because they’re too old to pitch is one of the biggest dangers we face at the moment. When athletes, extremists and glorified PR people start defining our national direction, we will have made our republic into little more than a joke to be manipulated by those with their hands on the puppet strings. Curt Schilling, go play golf, take up macramé, just stay away from the capital. You aren’t that important, and you’ve allowed your ego to become genuinely reckless. All I can hope is someone catches this ball and throws it back to the pitcher before it hits the ground.
Tags: curt schilling, Joe Wright, MLB, politics
