Leah’s finishing off bed time with Ava last night, and I settle in downstairs in front of a fascinating profile of Richard Nixon showing on PBS. As my better-educated readers probably already know, the story on Nixon is that he was a fairly vicious, often spiteful political opponent who never met a sleazy campaign tactic he didn’t like. Throw in an acute case of Little Man’s Syndrome, and you get a portrait in power eerily similar to that embodied by one of the contestants for the 2008 White House. Those who don’t know history, etc., etc.
So I’m just getting to the point in the history where Nixon earns the Republican nomination for President in 1968, and Leah arrives. “I’m so sick of politics!” And with a couple clicks of the remote, we’re watching Audrina Patridge wiggle out of her bikini top for the 30th time on MTV. So is she going to Cabo with Justin Bobby, or not? I mean, Justin Bobby treats her like dirt, and now she’s “seeing” someone who’s really cool and who makes her happy (’cause that’s what it’s all about: Audrina’s happiness). Justin Bobby blew it! But now here are Audrina and Justin Bobby, skinny dipping in the pool at a mysteriously-affordable pad in L.A. L.C. is simply beside herself when confronted with her friend’s bad relationship decisions.
I don’t wonder much at the sorry state of our country, but that doesn’t mean I want to be slapped in the face with its failings. Maybe I should just take up knitting.