Mark Halperin, covering Scott Walker's campaign announcement, tweets this:
At Dave's diner in downtown Waukesha, they serve "American fries." And some quality Mexican food. #OnWisconsin #OurAmericanRevival
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) July 13, 2015Yup -- it's 2015, so you thought hating the French was something that went out of fashion a decade ago, but no:
(I'm not sure about that "quality Mexican food," and I'm absolutely not sure I trust Halperin, who grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, to be the judge of that. The menu posted on the restaurant's site in 2013 is strictly diner food, though we're also told that "Tuesday is all about fresh tacos... and the best homemade salsa!" So maybe that's what Halperin's talking about.)
(See update below.)
Meanwhile, Betty Cracker, in what she calls "a wingnut bar" in Florida, spots this:
I thought hating Michael Moore was as passé as hating the French ... and, well, I guess it is, in the sense that wingnut grievance collectors can't give up this hate, either. But this is meta wingnuttery -- the Hanoi Mike urinal target is an allusion to the Hanoi Jane (Fonda) urinal target, which never goes out of fashion, and apparently won't until the last Fox-watching Vietnam vet dies. Um, these folks do know that Michael Moore made his name long after the Vietnam War ended, right? (Apparently not, any more that they know that, as Betty writes, "we ladies don’t generally aim our pee, so toilet rim stickers are wasted on us.")
And here's one last wingnut grievance news item:
Ted Nugent and Kid Rock have teamed up to record a song in support of the Confederate flag.Nugent now lives in Texas, but he and Kid Rock are both from the Detroit area; the latter bought himself a mansion there a few years back. What's up with that?
The song, titled “Kiss My Rebel Ass,” was reportedly written and recorded in the space of a day after Nugent, seeing that Kid Rock had invited anyone protesting his use of the flag at his concerts to “kiss my ass,” reached out to express his support via text message....
Nugent, who’s been typically outspoken in his disappointment with the recent removal of the flag from the statehouse grounds in South Carolina, weighed in on the subject during a recent appearance on the World Positive Thinkers podcast.
“I believe that we always have to look at substance over symbolism, and I think we have to be honest,” argued Nugent. “If we burned every Confederate flag today, would they stop shooting each other in Chicago? If we burned every Confederate flag today, would we stop sanctuary cities from accommodating murderers and rapists and savage people?”
... “Kiss My Rebel Ass” will reportedly be available as a free download from both of their websites on July 17.
I get the feeling that not only is the Confederate flag not going away, it's becoming the national flag of angry heartland white people. I see Zandar mocking yesterday's Howell Raines op-ed -- Raines argued that the South is undergoing a demographic shift that's going to make it a lot less Republican very soon, as a result of Asians and Hispanics joining the non-white population in increasing numbers -- and Zandar is correctly skeptical, given the suppression of the non-white vote in the South (and pretty much anywhere else Republicans reign), and given the fanning of the flames of white resentment by the GOP and right-wing media. I think that's a contagion that's spreading beyond the South -- why are states that have traditionally voted Democrat in presidential elections electing Republicans governors and legislatures? This is a particular trend in the Midwest: Wisconsin, Ohio ... and Michigan. It's possible that the Confederate flag is being decoupled from the Confederacy, and soon it will just be the flag of anti-multiculturalism and meat-and-potatoes unhip classic rock. The 2016 election will tell us if something like that is already happening at the electoral level.
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UPDATE: In comments, Yastreblyansky writes:
That's a fucking breakfast menu, and "American fries" is a known term for what we in the East refer to as home fries.... I'm sure they serve French fries for lunch.And I should have taken a closer look at page 3 of the menu, because that's true:
What is it with wingnuts and spelling?
ReplyDeleteCANDIAN BACON
Sure--has anyone ever thought that refighting the reconstruction and de-legitimizing the Confederate flag would get rid of it? Its better to think of it like some chronic infestation or infection. You apply a strong medicine (national disapproval, contempt, historical education) to the weakest form (people using it or flying it who apparently don't know how hurtful and disgusting it is). That kills or eradicates it from in government property (perhaps) and from casual use by people who just do what their neighbors do. But its ends up isolating the reproducing bodies (southern private schools, private persons, racists, conservatives, self described "rebels" who are really just dissapointed conservatives, ). they will keep reproducing within their own communities and prohibitions on the flag from outside will just make them stronger. For a while. Its not a single stage process any more than spraying for roaches is. You always need several different modalities and poisons to eradicate any infection and sometimes all you can do is reduce it to a manageble level or exclude them from your living quarters.
ReplyDeleteHalperin's been downing cucumbertinis at the Applebee's salad bar. That's a fucking breakfast menu, and "American fries" is a known term for what we in the East refer to as home fries. I can't find a menu for Al's but I'm sure they serve French fries for lunch.
ReplyDeleteWould you like to ignore the first 7 words of that last sentence? I'm eating a Greek salad as I type, hence error-prone.
ReplyDeleteHad he ordered them, he likely would have been disappointed.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, on a breakfast menu, "American Fries" are also called "country fries" or something similar. They're basically cubed pan-fried potatoes.
Although Waukesha is shit, so I wouldn't put this past them.
Our white conservatives never left their "Terrible Two's/Three's."
ReplyDeleteIf you tell an unruly child that s/he can't have something, tantrum's ensue.
They also don't want to share anything.
Most, if not all, children go through this phase.
They think the world revolves around them and their wishes.
Eventually, more children outgrow the tantrums and the hatred of sharing.
They also learn that the are but a small speck on a large planet, with many different types of people on it.
Some people never outgrow, and never learn.
Those people, are conservatives.
And yeah, though we may have succeeded in getting rid of it on government grounds, hate and fear filled bigots will continue to fly it - and probably be buried in it.
The sooner, the better.
Yastreblyansky --
ReplyDeleteYou're right about "American fries" and "French fries" -- see the update. Thanks.
Lived in Waukesha since 1983, haven't been to Dave's yet.
ReplyDeleteLook, despicable as it is, I don't think anyone should be "banning" the Confederate flag. If bigots want to display it on their own privately owned property, clothing, cars, etc., that's their call, and also their responsibility to suffer the consequences of being given notice that civilized people disapprove.
ReplyDeleteWhat should be universally accepted without question is the notion that NONE of our government agencies (federal, state, municipal, school district, public university, county, etc.) should fly that rag.
Well over twice as many French military personnel died fighting for our side in the Revolutionary War than American commonwealth & colonial forces.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think folks who claim such reverence for the Boston Tea party and other icons of our nation's founding would know that, but, on the evidence, not.
I get the feeling that not only is the Confederate flag not going away, it's becoming the national flag of angry heartland white people.
ReplyDeleteThat's been true for 40 years already. Maybe 50.
@ Aunt Snow:
ReplyDeleteNo one is "banning" the Confederate flag, the movement to remove it from public display is focused on governmental agencies flying the flag, and its naturally presumed support of the Confederation and all it stood for.
I'm a Detroiter, like Nugent and Kid Rock. I've never understood people's affection for the Confederate flag. People have the legal right to display it, but why would anyone choose to? It just makes you look like a jackass or a Nazi. But go ahead, fly that flag, this is America. Asshole.
Give it one year, and the Confederate flag is a non-issue in American politics.