Bagpipes?

Spotty loves his hometown. The memory of man or dog does not run to a time when it wasn’t Republican. But a fresh wind is blowing. John Kerry carried Spot’s burg in 2004, and in the Minnesota senate district (41) where Chez Spot is located a great DFL candidate is running for the seat held by a first term “extra chromosome” conservative. The war in Iraq is going very poorly, and a large number of people showed up recently at an anti-war rally on the equivalent of Main Street. The governor, to whom our current state senator is closely tied, is unpopular, losing to a couple of possible opponents in new polling.

This has all left the local Repubs in a state of high agitation.

Two of the more reliable local Republican bagpipes, Bob Maginnis and Brien Martin, had letters in the local weekly last week, here and here. Spot has noticed that these two often have letters in the paper at the same time. Spotty figures they have a little writing club where they get together periodically over a glass of bile and write letters to the editor.

Both Bob and Brien have a bee in their bonnets (Spot loves alliteration) about the growing anti-war sentiment here in Cakeville. Bob laments that by protesting the “legal” invasion of Iraq, protesters are merely giving “aid and comfort to our enemies.” This issue has come up on the Stool before, and here, too. The comments to the posts are especially illuminating. Short version: our bumbling, incompetent administration has given a helluva lot more aid and comfort to the enemy than war protesters ever have.

Bob calls the people involved in the protests “liberal fringe.” Well, Bob, the fringe is getting pretty long, since it includes most of the country these days.

Brien (“Brien” is another word for inaccurate blunderbuss in some dialects of English) writes, with peccable logic, that “9/11 brought Iraq to a head.” If by that Brien means it gave the neo-cons an excuse to invade Iraq, Spot supposes that Brien is right. Brien says we should assume that Iraq was involved in 9/11, since it is “logical.” Hysterical laughter. Sorry. Islamic fundamentalists hated Saddam.

Brien, as a local high school teacher says, Don’t assume; it makes an ass out of you and me.

Tags: Bob Maginnis and Brien Martin are bagpipes on Iraq