Thursday, February 25, 2010

Springer vs. Springer

I really wanted to write a post making fun of the HamCo Republican Party for inviting Michele Bachmann to be the keynote speaker at its annual Lincoln-Reagan dinner tomorrow night.

I was particularly appalled by the choice because for the last couple years, every now and then I think about whether I should be a Republican instead of a Democrat. But then the GOP puts someone like Bachmann front-and-center and I realize that's not a real option. (Or I am reminded that the party's extreme right wing controls its stance on social issues.)

But there's a problem with writing that post. The HamCo Democratic Party--the party to which, for the time being, I belong--is having its own event tomorrow night. Its "guest of honor" is Jerry Springer.* I'm not thrilled that Democratic-endorsed judges are appearing at an event headlined by the king of trash TV.

So the question is: what's worse? That the HamCo Republicans can't find a better keynote speaker than the Jerry Springer of Congress, or that the HamCo Dems can't find a more suitable guest of honor than the real Jerry Springer?

* In 2003, when Springer was considering running for the Senate, I met him. He was at a Mt. Adams bar (much more sober than I was). He sat for hours talking to people about his ideas and plans and why he was considering getting into the race. He's a very intelligent, thoughtful man. I wish he hadn't spent the last quarter-century using his television show to pollute our culture and, frankly, to exploit people who aren't as smart or as rich as he is. But he has, and we shouldn't pretend that he's a serious individual when his actions are to the contrary.

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