politics: I shouldn't care about Shadegg anymore, but ...

I do. I don't live in his district anymore. And I believe I may live in just about the bluest neighborhood in Arizona now (my governor, state legislators and US representatives are all Democrats). But this shameless sycophant is positively insufferable. Most of the other Arizona Republicans range from the positively loony to the almost tolerable to borderline fascist but high enough in profile that other people know already. But where does this leave John Shadegg?

A singularly undistinguished intellect, he hasn't ever really had a good, important idea to put forth. Rather, he admits to shamelessly and mindlessly peddling the neofascist agenda that's destroying America, whatever his own feelings on the issues, though admittedly not in so many words. After all, this imbecilic toadying has gotten him a lot of money and key committee appointments so far, so why quit now? Add to that the fact that his Paradise Valley and East Phoenix electorate votes Republican the way a corpse twitches when you apply electrodes to its musculature, and mix in a few sprinkles of money from Tom DeLay's Corporate Bribery, Graft and Corruption PAC (or whatever he's calling it these days) and, well, heaps of other corporate and special interest money, and really, you have a recipe for success, even if you are an incompetent boob.

Seriously. They'd vote for a twitching corpse if it had an (R) after its name. And then they'd re-elect it.

Ahem. Anyway.

True to form, he submitted this useless waste of paper and ink to the local newspaper, blindly failing to notice that the Bush administration plan for Social Security would utterly eviscerate the most successful social program in the history of the United States (come to think of it, the WPA was pretty darned successful, but Social Security dwarfs even its not insignificant size and economic impact) rather than save it. And he takes the Democrats to task for failing to provide a solution that will 'save' Social Security.

Um. Dude.

It doesn't need saving, any more than someone with a skinned knee needs 'saving.' No plan? Try raising or eliminating the cap on payroll taxes. Presto! Elegant, simple, and doesn't involve mortgaging the future security of America to engorge the gigantic ticks that are the financial services lobby with the blood of working Americans.

But at least he has the party line down, the same party line Jeff Gannon spewed so ably when accusing the Democrats of being 'divorced from reality.' Well, Mr. Shadegg, et al., we are divorced from the 'reality' you've tried to create. We're wise to your shell game. We're in the reality-based community here.