Thursday, July 26, 2007

Starting the Rumpus

One of my favorite quotes to throw out for various occasions is "Let the wild rumpus begin!", which is lifted from one of my favorite (and a favorite for many others as well) books a a child, Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are".

Sadly, in researching this post, I learned I have apparently been misusing the line all these years, and it should actually be "Let the wild rumpus start!". Sigh. Oh well, c'est la vie. I prefer my version, I think it rolls better off the tongue. Sendak needs to release a new version with my proposed improvement.

Tedski over at Rum, Romanism and Rebellion has a post up today discussing "buzz" about Tim Bee opting to run for county supervisor instead of challenging incumbent Gabrielle Giffords for the her Congressional seat after he gets term-limited out of the Arizona Senate when this session ends. I don't think anyone, including whoever is feeding those rumors to Tedski, believes that -- Bee is the best nominee Republicans can hope to get for that race, and if they don't get Giffords out in 2008 she may be ensconced until she chooses to leave on her own terms.

It didn't take long in the comments section for the ranks of "GiffOnators" (to borrow x4mr's term; the "villains" in question were ThinkRight, The Guard and TonyGOPrano) to start in with calling Giffords a "light-weight", a "Pelosi clone" and other such claims.

In defense of his claims, Guard at least pointed out this Daily Star story in which Republicans complained Giffords voted with Pelosi "96% of the time". I happily pointed out Republicans making such claims might be a little biased, and further noted more recent data which showed Giffords among those Democrats most willing to vote against the party line.

None of which is terribly significant ... it's just, for whatever reason, this was the first give-and-take exchange in some time that reminded me of all the hoopla and sparring over the CD 8 race in the run up to the elections last year. It felt symbolic somehow, like throwing out the first pitch before a baseball game. Ahhh ... the memories ... the days of 30+ comment threads ... it nearly brings a tear to my eye.

The last race didn't really get underway in the blogosphere until Jan. 2007. While I don't expect to see regular posting and threads on the matter for a couple months yet, things will still get heated up for next year's race months earlier than Jan. 2009. At least for me it feels like the warm-ups are already starting.

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin! Er ... Start! Er ... Begin!

Update: As of now, the associated comment thread on R-Cubed has 19 comments attached to it -- 30, here we come!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot to mention that the AZ Daily Star article confirmed what the Republicans were "complaining" about. She does in fact step-in-line with Pelosi.

Sirocco said...

You forgot to mention that same article mentioned most of the votes in question were procedural matters, and non-controversial. As things have moved toward other issues, her percentage has gone down (reference the more recent article I linked to).

It's not surprising most Dems would vote together on most issues. Heck, most Republicans vote in agreement with most Democrats if you are taking _every_ vote into account (which the person making the "96% claim did).

Touchdown said...

VW, I mean Sirocco,
When the National Journal puts out it's "Conservative & Liberal" ratings, this argument will be put to rest. I figure Raul will be at 98% and Gabby will be not far behind him...93to95%. The National Journal tosses all the procedural votes and uses the major issues.
BTW, I'm not a shill of the GOP, I'm too moderate for them. (honestly)
What is it with you & Tedksi & soccer? I'm an NFL fan, but I saw the Cosmos with Pele play in Seattle when I was a kid. I can't stand the flopping at the pro level (not in MLS).
later.

Sirocco said...

ThinkRight,

Off the top of my head, I don't get the reference to VW. Please feel free to enlighten me. :)

I'd be surprised if Giffords rates that far up the scale. I suspect she'll fall in that range where it's not as high as most Republicans would like to claim, but not as high as most left-wing types would like to see.

My family lived overseas when I was growing up. Football (Pro and college) is my second choice. Soccer was my first sport, and still my favorite ... although I enjoy virtually all of them if they are played at a high level. Even sports I don't know the full rules of (like Aussie Rules football, or Cricket).

Sirocco said...

And ... I see from a post you made on another board, VW = Volkswagon. No, your second thought is correct, it's a reference to the desert wind.

Touchdown said...

Hey I linked you up too.

Have a great weekend.

x4mr said...

Sirocco,

Having been brutally whipped about the head, face, and other body parts regarding the word from hell, "Orthography," I must beat you profusely.

It's Giffonator. An "O" follows the f. I will be merciless and consider it my mission in life that you get this correct in the future.

Don't mess with orthographic karma, or you might receive a romantic card from your significant other with your name misspelled. Such humiliation is devastating.

Sirocco said...

Fixed it x4mr, thanks for the correction. :P

Thanks for the link ThinkRight, I appreciate it.

x4mr said...

The orthography gods are pleased and have aborted their retribution.

Touchdown said...

tony GOPrano will link you too. He gets about 400-500 hits a day. I'm only at half of that 200-300. But, it's summer.

With Tony, just add his link and I'll email him to add yours.

You & transformer didn't play way too much dungeon & dragons as kids did you? My twin bro is an engineer and uses complex words too.

Touchdown said...

TonyGOPrano linked you up.

Sirocco said...

Thanks, I appreciate it. I have linked ot him as well, as you probably noticed.