sisu

A meme of one's own

Photoshop montage by Sissy Willis with butterfly photo by Patrick Persons

Coming soon to a political theater near you.

[with thanks to Andrew Sullivan and Roger L. Simon and Daniel W. Drezner for inspiring our Muse]

Get Bill Safire on the phone

What is "the metropolitical chair"?

We looked up what appears to be the meme of the day, "metropolitical," first spotted on Roger L. Simons' blog this morning (see previous post) to denote a member of the politically homeless community, and found the following definition at hyperdictionary and other sites:

Of or pertaining to a metropolis; being a metropolis; metropolitan; as, the metropolitical chair. --Bp. Hall.

Merriam-Webster's Unabridged has more:

obsolete: Metropolitan 2: One who lives in or has manners, customs, or ideas characteristic of a metropolis

[Etymology goes back to Late Latin, mother city, from Greek mtropolis, from mtr-, mtr mother + -o- + polis city]

As Drudge says, developing . . .

It's no party

"Jeff Jarvis is accusing me this morning of 'going both ways' -- that is of being 'Metropolitical' -- neither Democrat nor Republican, says Roger L. Simon:

Well, of course, he's right. But the problem for us "Metropoliticals" these days is that we have nowhere to go at election time. What if you're one of these people who thinks that Gay Marriage is a natural outgrowth of the human rights movement and that the War on Terror is protecting those same rights? That's not a contradiction in my mind. In fact, it's almost evident. But neither political party seems prepared to accept this. That leaves me... and other "Metropoliticals"... making compromises (and not just about that issue).

At the moment, I'm leaning toward Bush because without a victory over Islamofascism the rest is irrelevant. But am I happy with this? Of course not . . . Maybe some day there'll be a true "Metropolitical" candidate. Now there's something for the Internet to generate, after it shakes off its guilt for Howard Dean.

Political homelessness

"Is the blogosphere turning against Bush? A little," says Andrew Sullivan:

The president is in a lot more trouble than he seems to think. His cocky partisanship Tuesday night was unnerving.

I'm a fiscal conservative, social/cultural liberal and foreign policy hawk. Neither party provides a comfortable home for people like me.

The war made my support for Bush stronger than I ever expected. I still admire his courage during that terrible time and respect his tenacity against terror. This time, I'm leaning toward Bush for those reasons but appalled by his fiscal recklessness, worried by his coziness with the religious far right, and concerned that he has no forward strategy in the war. I'm equally concerned about the obvious irresponsibility of the Democrats on national security (and spending) at a time of great peril. But at least they're not going to bait gays . . .