ratfucking et al

While I recognize that the current debate and consternation between the two Democratic candidates is good and healthy (what with being a democracy and all), the tone that some members of each camp seem to be taking with one another has always seemed a little over the top.

There is a term which emerged out of the Watergate investigations which might be useful here: ratfucker. This is a political operative who has the interesting position of thinking up rotten things to do to the opposition party.

Let us for a moment step into the way back machine and embrace the greatest ratfucker of them all - Karl Rove. He began the public segment of his career with - this will shock you - Richard Nixon. Before then he did whateverthefuck one does in preparing for a career steeped in Doing Evil. Pulling the wings off of flys and the heads of off dollies, worshiping cathulu, squeezing that little bit of humanity out of his soul so that it would not accidentally pull a Grinch on him. Bastards. Who the fuck knows?

Segretti recruited Karl Rove, the executive director of the College Republicans, to work in this dirty tricks campaign. In the fall of 1970, Rove had used a false identity to enter the campaign office of Democrat Alan J. Dixon, who was running for Treasurer of Illinois. He stole 1000 sheets of paper with campaign letterhead, printed fake campaign rally fliers promising “free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing”, and distributed them at rock concerts and homeless shelters, with the effect of disrupting Dixon’s rally.

Segretti went to jail for that one, Rove just moved up the food chain. As a protégé of Segretti, Rove helped to paint Nixon opponent George McGovern as a “left-wing peacenik”, in spite of McGovern’s heroism during World War II piloting a B-24.

I am stealing much of this from a deliriously hysterical post which really is a must read. In a classic move he took the position of the Director of the College Republicans from Robert Edgeworth by using a different version of the C.R. constitution. The election was a tie, so the decision was made by George Herbert Walker Bush. Ok, tell me with a straight face that the republican party is not composed entirely of creepy incestuous back scratchers.

Oh, my point? Well is was supposed to be simple. When you get some troll showing up and being all psycho and reactionary - serving no purpose at all except to sow disagreement, maybe you are just being visited by a ratfucking stooge. Reading the comments on the above mentioned post and you will come to realize that this message just bounced right the hell off the pointy heads of the commenter's. Things have gotten to heated up and crazy, that I don't think that they need to have stooges any more.

Imagine how proud this makes Karl.

Two quick comments: (1) I do not labor under the impression that the Democrats are somehow not creepy and incestuous. They just lack the high gloss approach that the repos have. (2) I have waited a long time to use the phrase 'ratfucking stooge' in my writing. Thank you for humoring me.