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May 9, 2008, 16:37
Editorial
The machine has blown a fuse!
The dictionary defines it as “an apparatus consisting of interrelated parts with separate functions, used in the performance of some kind of work.”
The word of course is “machine,” and is often used to describe many things. One popular use occurred back in the 1970s when Cincinnati baseball fans called Bench, Rose, Morgan, Perez, Concepcion, Foster, Griffy and Geronimo the “Big Red Machine.”
Most fans will agree that each part of the team did indeed perform separately in order to reach a common goal.
In short, the machine concept worked in this case.
Too bad the idea isn’t always that successful.
Take, for instance, the so-called “Democratic Machine” in Washington; the one the National Democratic Committee put together. To put it mildly, one doesn’t have to be Alexander Graham Bell in order to pick up a telephone and know that it’s dead.
Big-name Democrats no doubt by now wish their brilliant invention had never seen the light of day because they now have two candidates fighting for the right to represent the party in the November election. Common sense suggests that’s good.
Wrong!
According to these particular inventors, that’s the worst thing that could possibly have happened and that fight has emptied both dugouts with a Jim-dandy family feud that, before it’s over, is apt to make the Hatfields and McCoys look like a family sing-along.
So we’ve got two U.S. Senators running against each other in a very tight race with party leaders (and that’s using the term loosely) urging one or the other of them to quit. Doesn’t make a lick of sense to some people, especially to sports-minded folks in these parts. Can you imagine Billy Gillispie or Bill Mike Runyon pulling his team off the court with only a few minutes left in the game just because he trails by a point or two? Give us a break.
But the big Democratic Machine has blown a fuse or something, or perhaps a couple of its parts are a bit jealous that they too never ever got to be president and can’t stand to see somebody else get the chance to achieve the highest office in the land.
And what about this super delegate thing? Who in the world ever came up with that idea anyway?
On the local level the Kentucky primary is just 11 days away and we’ll be able to jump into the national limelight for a day or two. In the meantime, however, here’s super delegate Gentle Ben perhaps jeopardizing his shot of following in granddaddy’s footsteps by picking sides before his constituency has a chance to express its opinion. At least the governor has agreed, at least as of this writing, to hold off expressing his choice.
The whole thing is crazy, and the big machine in Washington is becoming an embarrassment to Democrats everywhere.
May 9, 2008, 17:15
© Copyright 2005 Johnson County Newspapers, Inc.
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