Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Viva Las Vegas



The seriousness and depth of contemporary politics came to the fore yesterday when Nevada Democrat Harry Reid joined Republican opponent Sharon Angle in opposing construction of a mosque and community center near Ground Zero in Manhattan, approximately 2200 miles from Las Vegas.

Citizen K. has learned that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg conducted a conference call with Reid and Angle in which he expressed thanks for their concern. The precise responses of Reid and Angle are unknown, but I can reliably report on Bloomberg's end of the conversation:
"Senator, Ms. Angle, I'd like express my heartfelt gratitude for your interest in New York and your concern for the people living here...

"Yes, I do have to thank you. That you could make time to express your opinion about events in a city on the other side of the country when Nevada has a 14.2% unemployment rate and the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, well...I'm touched to say the least...

"Along those lines, though, I have concerns of my own that I'd like to run by you. As you may know, we have a lot of Catholics here in the Big Apple. New York is also, I'm proud to say, the home of many successful career women. Both groups have their notions and, well, the thing of it is...well...they're awfully offended by the whorehouses in Nevada and would like you to shut them down.

"Look, it's no skin off Elliott Spitzer's nose if a coed wants to go to Nevada to auction off her virginity, but it looks bad if I don't express the same interest in Nevada that you've so courageously shown in New York.

"I'd hate to see this become a political football. When you get right down to it, though, who can come out in favor of whorehouses? A pimp, maybe, but that's about it. Say, are either of you?...Oh, never mind: The less said the better."

20 comments:

Lydia said...

Very clever! What a unique angle on all this sh..

Unknown said...

exacrly!!!!! well said:-)

K. said...

Well, dammit, someone had to say it! And thanks!

Some should organize a letter writing campaign that asks the following: "We know how Senator Reid and Ms. Angle feel about churches in Manhattan. But what is their position on brothels in Nevada?"

Scrumpy said...

Love it.

And thanks for adding to my Vegas fever. Just two and a half more weeks!

K. said...

Don't let the hubs away from Bella's!

Shaw Kenawe said...

Great point, Citizen! This controversy is nothing more than political hackery churned up to impact the coming elections in November.

Roy said...

I'm sorely tempted to fire off an email to Reid: "Hey Harry! Grow a pair, willya!" Making concessions to the Angle crowd will only disgust and alienate his own voter base. Every time Sharron Angle opens her mouth Harry gains more votes; why does he think he has to pander to her groupies?

Bloomberg's a hoot! Whenever The Prairie Home Companion plays at the Town Hall in NYC, he's there as part of the show.

K. said...

Shaw: "Hackery." What a great word!

Roy: I can't pretend to know anything about Nevada politics, and I suspect that I don't want to. The thing is, in a year this will have the relevance of Elian Gonzales. The great capacity of large amounts of people to allow themselves to get worked up over nothing never ceases to amaze.

T. said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.

Scrumpy said...

Believe me, he is smart enough to at least pretend he has no interest in such things. :)

Foxessa said...

On the money and funny.

Too bad mayor mikey isn't actually going this far.

Love, C.

Leslie Parsley said...

You devil you. That is absolutely hilarious and oh so true.

naomi dagen bloom said...

Very, very entertaining take on busy-bodyness (sp?) of politicians who do not want to focus on real issues such as where is U.S. going with continued unemployment.

Disappointed with way Keith Oberman and Rachel Maddow shows have continued to focus on T-party doings. The latter can be positively uplifting when she brings on people who are smart and offer intelligent appraisals of our condition. Oh, yes, ratings.

Frank Partisan said...

In Minnesota the GOP endorsed Tom Emmerett for governor. He is supported by Palin. His first day campaigning he came out against the minimum wage for wait staff. He will probably lose.

Your main point is correct. The diversionary issues, are to keep the GOP's economic positions hidden.

We are living in a world economic crisis. It's bigger than any single country. The world will recover, but not quickly.

Darlene said...

Oh, you are too funny. I am laughing so hard I can hardly see.

Turns out that it really isn't a mosque anyhow and the Imam belongs to the branch of Islam that preaches peace and love and the terrorists hate him.

I just love it when politicians engage their mouths before they put their brains in gear. That's assuming they have a brain.

stupid and contagious said...

Hey, there ain't nuthin' wrong with no whorehouses! Well, except the big one on Capitol Hill!

The trio of drones you talk about are all controlled by the same arcane taskmaster. The scripted exchanges are just bad pantomime.

This whole 'Mosque' BS of course is a total sham intended to divert the attention of the masses from important stuff that's going on both Stateside and further afield.

It also helps inflame anti-Moslem hatred - which greatly helps those who are unjustifiably invading / occupying two sovereign Moslem territories (and very soon probably three, after some 'false flag' op is blamed on Iran.)

Importantly too when more and more folk are waking up to the reality of the nefarious 9/11 lies, on the eve of another anniversary and not long before the significant tenth anniversary, this - by very false logic - reinforces the insane blaming of Moslems for the 9/11 bombings (a 'false flag' op which had nothing whatsoever to do with any Moslem group.)

paula said...

Thank you, K, for saying what needed to be said, and doing it so well.

I asked an editor of mine (who happens to be Muslim) how he keeps sane with all the anti-Muslim rhetoric flying around and he said he dismisses it as the rants of ignorant people. Let's hope all Muslim Americans are as tolerant of religious bigots as he is.

Anonymous said...

K. this is also a very clever packaging job by the righties. It's two blocks away from the site for starters and technically not even located in the financial district. It also includes a mosque among its various other amenities including classrooms where people could feasibly go to diminish their ignorance on various subjects. And the way this election year is going it's pretty obvious the blowhards are strapped for the usual wedge issues. So throw out the words mosque WTC and 9-11 and hope somehow it will all stick to Democrats, say those in Nevada for starters, what the hell it's worked in the past... Just returned from a lightning fast trip to my dear nephew's hippie wedding complete with a Sasquatch driveby in the shadows of Mt. Baker. We need to talk about the Pacific Northwest my friend...WOW !!!

K. said...

You should have told me that you were going to be up here! Mount Baker isn't that far away. A good movie set in that neck of the woods is This Boy's Life, based on Tobias Wolff's memoir and starring a 14-year old Leo DiC.

I thought long and hard about which construction to go with, but at the end of the day "brothels in Nevada," "bordellos in Nevada," or even "seraglios in Nevada" didn't have the same ring as "whorehouses in Nevada." Just their luck!

nursemyra said...

Great post K