I must say as a lifelong conservative (no “neo-con” I), I find the liberal charge of hypocrisy against Governor Sanford to have some merit. Even if it is rather opportune and morbidly gleeful, like the macabre glee of a buzzard as it flies over and circles its next meal — here the proverbial, bloodied carcass of the day’s daily roadkill. Of course the true issue here is much deeper and more profound than just a simple act of dalliance on the part of Sanford.
Nevertheless my first reaction in justification of his behavior was to compare it to the abdication of King Edward VIII from the throne of England for the sake of his great love for the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. My second impression was what I elicited from hearing him being described by some liberal, Democrat pundits as a man undergoing a “midlife crisis.” Well, I see it rather differently. In fact I am reminded of what one of my former professors of the Classics described when commenting on the rather eccentric, insufferable and annoying behavior of a male colleague of hers, whom in addition, I had the misfortune of having endured while a student of his in Rome. Well, she very accurately and aptly characterized him as a fifty-ish male undergoing “male-menopause.” How precise and right on she was! (By he way, I also characterized him as a fifty-ish “hippy” as well.) And Governor Sanford seems to fit this bill in spades (definitely as undergoing “male menopause” however definitely not a hippy, or at most a “hippy” wannabe).
But again, I must re-emphasize the point that there are broader and more meaningful issues at play here. There are very fundamental and profound issues concerning scandal herein and how the different players; how the political parties and factions are viewed and portrayed by both the talking heads of the “lame” main-stream, liberal media elite and by the American public generically. First and foremost, whether fairly or not, conservatives when it comes to personal, sexual dalliance and to sexual scandal in particular; are viewed and criticized as hypocrites, a fundamental charge which currently in America is probably, if not the very worst charge politically, certainly is right up there at the top of such accusations and allegations. And as such it is literally the political “kiss of death” for conservatives.
Again, whether fairly or not, liberals when it comes to sexual dalliance and the scandal thereof, therein; are viewed much more differently. Essentially it’s lowlife, immoral, scumbag, liberal cock hounds will be lowlife, immoral, scumbag, liberal cock hounds and no one save for moralist prudes, social conservatives and puritanical, Christian hypocrites really gives a rat’s ass.
Article comments
1 - Ruvy
Before I even tried to read this, I wanted to see how many pages you had taken up with this essay of yours, Irvin. Boy, you are long-winded!
I try hard to keep my articles under four pages for a reason. Those of you intelligent enough to read them will get terribly bored otherwise. I admit, I don't always succeed. But Irvin, events in MY neck of the woods are a whole lot more eventful than in your neck of the woods.
If you had the sense to come to Israel to live (and go to synagogue and bless the congregation when they called for kohanim), would you be able to keep your articles about this place under 20 pages?
2 - Ruvy
Oy vey!!! I did slog through your 10 pages of "article". I could have accomplished more sitting on the toilet defecating - you know, taking a shit, dumping a load, filling the Palestinian Authority refrigerator. I didn't do Latin or Greek, or I could have stuck in a half dozen more euphemisms drawn from the languages of the savages of Ionia and Rome.
Your talents are truly wasted writing about American political figures. They are so pathetically boring! And what is a nice Jewish young geezer like you doing worried about Christian morality? Who gives a damn!
You are a Child of Israel, a descendant of the High Priest, Aaron. What does the alleged morality of American pagans have to do with you? You demean yourself, dipping yourself in shit. You shouldn't.
Come home Irvin. If you want to write about hypocrites, tear apart Israeli politicians, who are far worse than American ones because the prices they exact with their hypocrisy is so much higher.
Believe me, with your writing style, you'll give the bastards heart attacks - they are not used to being put down in four different languages in one article. They'll fall over like tenpins - especially the real self-righteous ones with the guilty looks, the long beards and the kippot on their heads.
You have a great future being a bum here with an acid pen!
3 - Irvin F Cohen
Thank you Ruvy.
I guess, I suppose.
Sorry, but as much as I love my Jewish brethren and the state of Israel as both an idea/ideal and as an actual nation-state, whether for good or evil, I must confess and declare unequivocally and dogmatically that I am first and foremost an American.
I must also confess that I have had a divided loyalty in this matter throughout my entire life, from the time I first went to Hebrew School 55 years ago, till Marine Corps boot camp in 1967 at Parris Island. I graduated a week after the Six Days War and was in the envious position of having become one of a handful (literally a number which could be calculated on one hand with a few digits left to spare) of resident "super Jews" in the eyes of my fellow Marines (Jarhead/Leatherneck/dumbass fellow Americans).
I suddenly found myself in a dilemma when I asked myself the questions, "am I in the right military in the right war? And don't I really belong in Israel fighting for my Jewish brethren and for my Jewish heritage?"
Well I decided to stay and fight for America, but that burning issue has always been in my mind ever since then. In fact it arose again and was brought home to me with greater impact with the Yom Kippur War in 1973. I had just gone back to college and was dedicated to the overplayed concept of the pursuit of the all mighty, all powerful, all-doors opening, absolutely necessary gateway entrance of a college degree and supposed, so-called education; into the upper echelons of American society and its vaunted middle and upper middle classes. But if I was going to waste the next three or more years of my life, I was determined to attain and achieve a meaningful education - so therefore my study and pursuit of the Classics.
Well as fate would have it, I was already over a year into this so-called, supposed great sojourn when the Yom Kippur War leapt onto the scene and my latent ambivalence towards my own divided loyalty was then also reawakened. So I muddled over this issue for a dew days and then decided quite stoically and fatalistically to join the Israeli Army. But this is where "toujours cherchez la femme" also comes into play.
I had a "schicksa" girlfriend, very young, in fact ten years my junior, but very beautiful, and very mature, in fact much more mature than I (ever was or will ever be). In fact I cleverly and secretly referred to her in a rather cutsie-wootsie fashion as the "eighteen year old" which, when i revealed this little secret of mine to her, to my utter surprise and joy, she delighted in and found extremely amusing. Well she was the very first to whom I revealed my intention and determination to give up everything for the sake of Israel.
Her advice to me was to cool my jets and not be so rash and to wait a few days and see how things might turn out. Her point: maybe I didn't need to go, maybe the Israelis would reverse their fortunes and seeming dire straights, and in the final analysis would crush and ultimately defeat their enemies. And in my deepest desires, if allowed, to absolutely annihilate the motherfuckers too; so that there would finally be peace in the Holy Land, in our ancestral homeland - oh how truly fucking naive I was!
Well, I took her advice to heart and in the space of less than a week the Israelis turned the tables on their enemies, kicked ass and took names. Well, events bore out her advice quite well and I no longer felt any urgency nor exigency nor necessity to run off to Israel - for they had things under control as usual.
But you must understand Ruvy, that this girl was what all good Jewish "boychiks" secretly and not-so secretly pine for; for you see she was a divine, dynamite, blonde, blue-eyed, très sensuelle et sexy, utterly desirable "shicksa" goddess with a hot-hot-hot dyn-oh-myte body and a perfectly, divine and beauteous face simply to-die-for. And so consequently I stayed.
I know that must me make me rather craven in your eyes. But we men, all men, whether Jewish or gentile, have been put on this earth by both God and nature with only one purpose, and I emphasize, with one only - simply stated, to be "whupped" as in "pussy whupped" and to be brainwashed and thoroughly trained and indoctrinated into liking and in fact just simply adoring and craving it more than life itself.
At any rate, a year later I transferred to another university across the country and that ended our great romance. For you see, I really was that stupid and even more so, my fantasies and masculine libido drove me to believe that I had to spread my immature, adolescent sexuality and stupidity to greener pastures throughout the land. Yeah I really was that immature and stupid - as all of us men truly are.
And what pray tell is the point of all of this? The point is, as much as I love Israel and the concept of a national, Jewish nation state, nevertheless, I am still first and foremost an American. And will remain as such till my last dying breath (which seems at this point in time, to be a lot sooner than I would like).
By the way, I consider reform Jews to be essentially Christians and a lost cause. Worse yet they are quite typically libs, commie-libs and atheistic leftists ad nauseam, ad infinitum. As for Conservative and Orthodox Jews, I respect and consider them to be real Jews. But as I likewise detect in you, I am rather disquieted and often angered by the Ultra-Orthodox Jews too.
So Sholom for now Ruvy, but know this and know it quite well - I like you and your stuff, but sorry bro', ain't goin' nowhere from here (save for my grave).
4 - Ruvy
NU? You got laid by a shiksa? Big deal!! So did I! More than once, and by more than one shiksa! And right around the same time you were having your great romance, I was screwing this hot piece in every position I could get my not quite in shape body to go in. It wasn't love, but it sure was lust in the grand tradition of "the old daunce". It was grand. But in her heart, she hated Jews (some comment would slip out now and again), and that pretty much determined that no matter what she said later, and no matter how good she was in bed, the serpent of Jew-hatred would come out sooner or later and bite me - more likely than not right in the balls; there was this minor matter of "a Jew is the child of a Jewish mother". I think you get the idea.
The only good thing the "reform" Jews ever did in history was to try to get rid of this matrilineal shit. But like you said, they are essentially Christians playing yid. The ones I really feel sorry for are the Christians who convert to Judaism under a "reform" rabbi - or rabbit, or whatever you call the women who call themselves "rabbi" in the "reform" movement. The converts really love Judaism - and what they are getting from the "reform" is a thin watered down gruel of a heritage. If G-d is good to me, there is this woman who I'm trying to help make aliya. She loves, G-d, she loves Israel - but she converted under a "reform" rabbit - oops, I mean rabbi. I'll have to teach and teach and teach, and so will my wife - so this kind woman will comprehend the deep, rich heritage she bought into when she walked away from Christianity.
Look at it this way, Irvin. I'm going to be very frank (or george, but NOT peter) with you. WHEN the US dollar loses its reserve status, your standard of living will plummet right through the floor. This is not a matter of if anymore, but when. If you will have died before this, it won't matter. But if you are still alive, it will be a matter of catch as catch can, and you hint that time and chance have indeed happened to you.
Things will get very unpleasant, to put it politely. It's no way for an old guy to suffer. I fear for what will happen to my father-in-law in the assisted living center he is in with the hot and cold running nurses. When their salaries are worth nothing, they won't show up. They also have families to feed.
Plans are being made here to deal with the crisis that will hit you and all your fellow Americans like a boat-load of elephants shit. Israelis have lived through hyper-inflation before, and will have to deal with a very unstable world economy that you will bear the brunt of in the States. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, and that is America's future.
So, give the Promised Land another look, will you? A flag - any flag, including the blue and white one of the Zionists - is just a cloth. You have a heritage that goes back 106 generations or so that you can at least enjoy in your final days or years - whatever it is that G-d chooses to grant you. And in Israel, even on the crowded buses, they give an old guy a seat. "Grampa" they'll tell you in Hebrew, "sit down and relax." Who knows? you might even meet a pretty girl here!
5 - Fingal O'Flahertie
As a shegetz, I wholeheartedly agree with both of you. Shiksas are much better in bed than Jewesses. I've had more than enough disappointing sexual encounters with Jewesses to confirm this dour view. Since Ruvy in particular seems like an expert in Judaism, perhaps you can explain what it is about Jewesses that makes them such inhibited sex partners. And lest you blame this on my own inadequacies, suffice to say that I've no complaints from the many shiksas I've bedded.
6 - Ruvy
Fingal, you have my sympathy. Not deep sympathy, mind you, it can disappear after my cup of coffee.
The hot Jewish girls are here in Israel, and they are cute, and they pump out kid after kid after kid, and they stay cute. But stay in America, Fingal. We like to keep the good stuff to ourselves....