{"id":161,"date":"2006-01-24T15:31:19","date_gmt":"2006-01-24T15:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/macphoenix.com\/?p=161"},"modified":"2006-01-24T15:31:19","modified_gmt":"2006-01-24T15:31:19","slug":"two-bit-ballet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macphoenix.com\/index.php\/2006\/01\/two-bit-ballet\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-bit ballet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the Bush Administration, I am reminded of a cartoon of an anthropomorphized animal, dancing around in a tutu, on a stage that is in tatters from the stage lights and curtain weights that have fallen from above, each leaving a splintered crater in its wake. The cartoon character is blissfully unaware of each hurtling object, and manages to dance away from the spot just before the next sandbag would have made him into a pancake. There is some [Carl Starling][1] music playing, no doubt, and the feet of the character&#8217;s leotards are comically ill-fitting.<br \/>\nAnd while it is my very nature to laugh inappropriately, to guffaw loudly at the blackest comedy, I can only smirk inwardly at the dancing idiot in this cartoon, because he&#8217;s ruining a perfectly fine country. Let&#8217;s call him [Commander Codpiece][3].<br \/>\nEach falling object is labeled with some crisis that the Bushies couldn&#8217;t handle: The Economy. The Chinese spy plane. 9\/11. The failure to capture Osama. North Korean nukes. The lies and hyperbole leading up the Iraq war. The Iraq war. Katrina. The Abramoff money-laundering lobbyist scandal. The NSA spying without warrants. Iran.<br \/>\nEveryone is aware of these things, but there are too many people who are just [entertained by the silly dancing][2]. Some people assume because he&#8217;s on stage, he must be respected. I just see an idiot dancing to funny music. Some assume Commander Codpiece shows skill by avoiding the falling debris. Whereas I see a very lucky cartoon character who has a [sympathetic director][4]. And I&#8217;ll be very happy when the little pig comes out, stuttering, &#8220;That&#8217;s all folks!&#8221;<br \/>\n**Update:** Oh, Medicaid. They couldn&#8217;t handle that one, either. And Energy and Environmental initiatives. And Harriet Myers. And pretzels.<br \/>\n[1]: http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carl_Stalling &#8220;Or Raymond Scott music, depending on your level of geekitude.&#8221;<br \/>\n[2]: http:\/\/atrios.blogspot.com\/2006_01_22_atrios_archive.html#113805609193310561<br \/>\n[3]: http:\/\/www.theworriedshrimp.com\/DeficitDubya32.html<br \/>\n[4]: http:\/\/www.danzigercartoons.com\/cmp\/2005\/danziger2462.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the Bush Administration, I am reminded of a cartoon of an anthropomorphized animal, dancing around in a tutu, on a stage that is in tatters from the stage lights and curtain weights that have fallen from above, each leaving a splintered crater in its wake. The cartoon character is blissfully unaware of each hurtling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_import_markdown_pro_load_document_selector":0,"_import_markdown_pro_submit_text_textarea":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rant"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nj3d-2B","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/macphoenix.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/macphoenix.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/macphoenix.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macphoenix.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macphoenix.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/macphoenix.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/macphoenix.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macphoenix.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macphoenix.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}