A ruse is a ruse, etc.

April 16th: Tea bagging jokes have been strained dry; cardboard expressing grammatically challenged shouts laid aside for landfill rubbish; and Thomas Jefferson costumes returned to await an uncertain future. All in all, the heavily promoted, media manufactured ‘populist’ revolt provided the staff with thirty minutes worth of YouTube entertainment. It was a tad sad to see Ron Paul holdovers standing next to gun nuts adorned in spring ski mask attire or hear young Hannity imitators struggle to explain how community organizing is anathema to democracy. The unfocused potpourri of discontent reminded me of John Kennedy Toole’s “A Confederacy of Dunces”. Ignatius J. Reilly, the novel’s colorful protagonist, would have felt at home mingling delusions with Don and Dawn Quixote. Angry and confused as to why the goddess Fortuna has dealt them such a low blow, I suppose an afternoon spent protesting the country’s lack of proper “theology and geometry” is healthier than hitting the bottle.

So now what? Without tea parties to hawk, what will Fox News do to occupy air time? Since they seldom delve into news -- as in stuff happening in real time and space -- what fresh Obama Administration atrocity can inspire the Soupy Sales’ school of journalism to even greater heights of inanity? Perhaps aversion to the Patriot Act’s insidious assault on civil liberties might nudge former AG Alberto Gonzales out of his spider hole to denounce Big Government malfeasance, permitting Citizen Beck another opportunity to symbolically immolate himself with fake libertarian despair. Good thing Joe the Plumber is always available to offer terse observations about…whatever. Blessed with extra-sensory perception, he doesn’t need to read fine print before pronouncing judgment against things he can’t spell. When not receiving a pay check to portray the ‘working man’, Joe’s probably bugging Roger Ailes for a shot at showcasing his peculiar curb appeal. If Ailes had an ounce of true comedic talent, he’d partner Joe with John Gibson.

Isn’t it striking how conservative Republicans morph into libertarians after they lose an election? Although liberals are howling over the continued gathering of illegal domestic surveillance, the freshly minted libertarians remain mum. Mr. Yellowman likes the term “situational Minutemen” to describe well-entrenched Reagan Revolution blue coats: Government becomes a tyrannical roadblock to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” only when Democrats are in power. The much ballyhooed core belief system that gives conservative/libertarian Republicans an ethical edge over their political counterparts on the left develops extraordinary flexibility once they capture the brass ring. This may explain why ten weeks into the Obama Administration conservative/libertarian Republicans have suddenly rediscovered their Jeffersonian mojo.

What are the odds AM 1310’s Mark Kinsley will grace a ‘spontaneous’ demonstration against wasteful Bush Administration spending? Granted, public indignation concerning the hefty debt accrued invading and occupying a country that wasn’t connected to the 9-11 attacks is six years too late. But since he was comfortable fronting protests against President Obama’s scheme to lower taxes on Americans making less than $250 K per year, I’m not sure intellectual honesty is that big an issue for talk radio personalities or new found ‘libertarian’ amigos.

Juan Don