{"id":39867,"date":"2014-01-02T12:15:51","date_gmt":"2014-01-02T18:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=39867"},"modified":"2014-01-02T11:53:35","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T17:53:35","slug":"frequently-asked-questions-xi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=39867","title":{"rendered":"Frequently Asked Questions XI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are “Avery Librelle” and “Moonbeam Birkenstock” guys or girls?<\/strong>:\u00a0 Isn’t it perfectly obvious? \u00a0I think that’s pretty clearly answered here<\/a>. \u00a0Or at least I think so.<\/p>\n

You only attack the left? \u00a0Why don’t you go after the miscreants on the right? \u00a0Especially in the GOP?<\/strong>: \u00a0That’s a fair cop, sort of. \u00a0Partly because we have a state full of media, “progressive” groups, “watchdog” non-profits and bloggers (pardon the serial redundancy) who already watch the right. \u00a0 I’m adding balance in my homespun little way. \u00a0And partly because I generally agree with the right. \u00a0Because I’m a conservative<\/em>!<\/p>\n

And I attack the left more than the right because I reasonably believe that “the right” – conservatism – is a generally better, more valid, more noble idea than the “progressivism” of “the left”. \u00a0And “the left” is currently on the ascendant in this state and the US.<\/p>\n

You will note – if accuracy is what you seek, and I’m just sure <\/em>it is\u00a0– that the most-viewed post in the history of this blog is entitled “Note to Bill Frist: \u00a0You Suck<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

You know who Bill Frist was. \u00a0Right?<\/p>\n

So that means you’re biased!<\/strong>: \u00a0Well, duh. \u00a0I am, and I make no bones about it. \u00a0Although another part is this; I don’t do much “reporting” on whatever’s going on in the GOP’s bureaucracy because, frankly, the subject – bureaucracy – bores me. \u00a0You’ll note I rarely write about the inner workings of the DFL, either, and when I do, it’s usually to link to someone else’s writing.<\/p>\n

Covering bureaucracies is like watching paint dry, or watching writers from the oldMinnesota Independenttrying to meet people at bars; it’s slow, nothing much happens, and it’s pretty predictable.<\/p>\n

Conservatism is dead. \u00a0Millennials are deserting the GOP. \u00a0It’s time to update your approach<\/strong>: \u00a0That’s not a question. \u00a0But it brings up two questions.<\/p>\n

First: \u00a0Since when have people under thirty ever<\/em> been Republicans or conservatives? \u00a0 \u00a0Good lord, I’m almost as sick of hearing society has to jump to the wishes of “Millennials” as I am about Baby Boomers.<\/p>\n

Second: \u00a0Why? \u00a0One of conservatism’s beliefs is that new ideas face a fairly stern burden of proof. \u00a0Which isn’t sexy for, say, marketers to try to sell, and it’s not something “young people” are disposed to believe, but it’s true. \u00a0 So put your “new” ideas out there, and let’s debate! \u00a0The kicker is, ideas in the world of society and politics are like pop music; there really are no new ideas. \u00a0They’ve all been around for a while, and most of them are untried for a reason. \u00a0Which isn’t to say that something new, or a new take on something old, isn’t possible; it’s just that you need to make the sale.<\/p>\n

Can you make the sale?<\/p>\n

There is no difference between Republicans and\u00a0Democrats!<\/strong>:\u00a0 Again, mostly statements, not really questions, here.\u00a0 But if that were true, wouldn’t at least one <\/em>Republican have voted for Obamcare?\u00a0<\/p>\n

So what about your various stalkers?<\/strong>:\u00a0 Oh, them?\u00a0 One of them has been pretty tame for a while here, as far as I can tell.\u00a0 The other – well, I’ve been ignoring him for over a year and a half.\u00a0 I think he misses the attention – he’s reportedly gone quite over the edge recently but – here’s the kicker – I wouldn’t know.\u00a0 I read “his” material less than I read the Strib<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who do you support for Governor and Senator?<\/strong>:\u00a0 I’m starting to develop some preferences.\u00a0 But I’d never talk about ’em publicly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Part of it is that I genuinely don’t have my mind made up completely, and all the candidates have a lot more questions to answer – some of the, many many many more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And part of it is that if\u00a0<\/em>I did <\/em>come out and express a preference now, five months before the convention, it’d be kinda hell on bookings for the show, now, wouldn’t it?<\/p>\n

Keep ’em coming!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are “Avery Librelle” and “Moonbeam Birkenstock” guys or girls?:\u00a0 Isn’t it perfectly obvious? \u00a0I think that’s pretty clearly answered here. \u00a0Or at least I think so. You only attack the left? \u00a0Why don’t you go after the miscreants on the right? \u00a0Especially in the GOP?: \u00a0That’s a fair cop, sort of. \u00a0Partly because we have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[222],"class_list":["post-39867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mitch","tag-faq"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39867"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40932,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39867\/revisions\/40932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}