The PUMAs rock

During the Bush years I eventually reached the point where I couldn't so much as see his mug on the television without quickly changing the channel. I haven't suffered Bush derangement Syndrome so much as that feeling you get when a song comes on the car radio that you don't want polluting your earspace. The only reason I didn't wander completely off the Republican reservation is that however big of an idiot I think Bush is, I hate the progressive left with the burning intensity of a thousand suns. And it is a very personal kind of hatred. So I was pretty much disengaged from politics for a couple of years because I simply lost the stomach for it.

The problem with being a conservative/libertarian in New york City isn't that you're outnumbered ten to one, but rather it is the fact that for a cosmopolitan city, people are incredibly sheep-like and insular. If they want to embrace left-wing politics, fine. Have at it. But most people lead ambitious and materialistic lives which are completely at odds with their politics. And they are devoid of any self-awareness because they read the same predictable news outlets and offer the same predictibly shallow opinions that meet with everyone else's predictably uncritical approval.

Classic examples being an idiot Columbia grad who chastised me for "dissing Castro" while she herself works in banking. Another Columbia grad I used to date telling me about her parents' cat "Trotsky" arouses similar indignation ... seeing as her father is a fucking commodities trader. Then there's the Harvard MBA I know who works for a business magazine and listens to Pacifica Radio. And the socialist Yalie friend who directs commercials for a living, which means during the 200+ days a year he doesn't have to work he's sitting on his ass in his $1.5 million apartment and pestering me with emails and links trying to convert me to his progressive, global citizen bullshit.

What am I supposed to say to such people? Facts are unimportant to them. All that matters is what is emotionally-satisfying to them. And it doesn't help when the inarticulate Bush and the drunken sailors in congress made defending anything next to impossible. So I simply avoided politics.

Then the Democratic primary happened.

And there it was, plain as day. The left was split between the loons and the idiot children for Obama with the preponderance of normal everyday Americans and thoughtful, substantive liberals in the Hillary Clinton camp. The media crawled up Obama's asshole and it was absolutely bewildering to watch Hillary get the Republican treatment. They managed to completely alter my opinion of her due to the way the media and fellow Democrats treated her and the grace in which she handled it. It jolted me back into politics in a way that I doubt McCain himself could have inspired me.

Since this summer I've been reading the Hillary Clinton Forum as well as various PUMA sites pretty much every day. I never posted because I didn't feel it was my place and when they closed registration for the general election I was glad that they did. When you live somewhere like NYC where so many liberals are politically sleep-walking, it is exhilarating to watch a group of people like the PUMA's awake from their slumber. And their forum has been the first that I read every morning and the last one before I go to sleep. They're an amazing group of people.

I hope they remain aware of what Republicans face in the media after this election is over and continue to view the news with a degree of distrust. And I hope they understand that we are more like them than the progressive left is. Even if we don't agree on everything we are in the same fight for the soul of America. And the thought of them going back to the other side scares me a little because their passion and energy is probably the only reason this election is somewhat close considering all the obstacles in McCain/Palin's way.

A couple of good PUMA articles. Note the angry comments from lefties which follow them:

Sarah Palin is a brainiac
An Obama speechwriter backs McCain