Doug "Democrats for Bush" Anderson, a guitarist, poet and writer who lives in Seattle's very cool, and exceptionally multi-cultural Mount Baker neighborhood, is back to blogging at his main site, Sunbreak City.
Take a look. It's more geared to literature and culture than his campaign-season blog (first link, above), but Doug's refreshing political perspectives seep through nonetheless. Any Seattle artiste-y type who links to Mark Steyn and Booker Rising is my kinda guy. Especially if he's got the guts to "come out" for W. to his Seattle-lib pals, and can actually write, to boot.
After I linked yesterday to Doug's pro-Bush blog in my latest post on Puget Sound's alterna-bloggers, and later e-mailed him about a secret plan to foment cultural revolution in Sunbreak City, Doug shared some additional thoughts about the recent presidential campaign. Which he has kindly given me permission to share with you.
I hugely enjoyed the feeling of solidarity with Bush supporters of all stripes. Even amid a thicket of Kerry signs....I only had one or two seconds of doubt that Bush would win. I'm only sorry now I didn't know any bookies with whom to place giant bets on my - our - man. (Ed. - actually Doug, there WERE some blokes over in England taking many wagers that W. would win). I think I'm just now sliding down and leveling out from the great euphoria of our win.At the same time I'm glad for a bit less intensity in daily life; I see myself reverting to my old slug-self of letting our elected leaders just do their job. I think the Democratic party will implode or shatter (name your favorite verb of destruction) since it has not had the courage or focus to concentrate on real confrontation with a real enemy. I don't mean enemy as in war but as in opposition - something any party needs to survive. Once the Democrats started calling Bush and the Republicans Hitler and Goebbels, et. al., I knew it was over for the party. When you don't even have the basic focus to concentrate on real confrontation (as opposed to fantasy figures from history) I knew the Dems had completely lost their way.
All of which is to say..hmmm... what? I'm not really sure what to do about (my) Dems for Bush site, other than just leave it there as a reference. I'm not confident that I have a lot to contribute on the political front. I'm very interested in literature and how the imagination will process the world after 9/11. We are in a Grade A crisis and God knows the official novelists have not even tried to understand what is going on - beyond calling us Bush supporters morons & a*******. Probably I'll shift to more cultural commentary over at the Sunbreak City site.
I'll be reading regularly, Doug. Keep on posting.
And in case anyone is wondering, "sunbreaks" are a hedge-y term weatherpersons use here in Seattle. As in "sunbreaks likely today, along with scattered showers." Kind of covers all bases, without making any real commitment. Akin to the drivers of Subarus with nine different "progressive" bumper stickers, that I see all the time in the parking lot of the Seattle organic grocery where I buy my millet, spelt, amaranth, cherry juice, chevre and naturally raised pork.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 2, 2004 10:08 AM
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Cheers Matt - Thanks for the generous mention on your fine site...hmmm, now I have to try to do something to deserve it!
Doug Anderson
Posted by: Doug A. at December 2, 2004 05:19 PMI'v got a wild idea, Doug-Man. What if, in addition to the fine stuff you're doing now at Sunbreak City, you also weighed in there (again, perhaps) on the political aspects of "lifestyle" and "arts" coverage in our fine town's daily newspapers, and the two alternative rags.
Just a thought, and perhaps you've done some (or a lot) of this in the past. I notice your Sunbreak City blog archives certainly go back a ways, and I haven't had a chance to delve into all the older posts yet, tho I look forward to doing so.
But anyway, it seems to me there's been a political agenda burbling up through the somewhat-warped arts scene in this town, and for quite some time.
That's all well and good, and inevitable. But the actual frickin' content, as always, deserves ongoing critique.
And - here's the rub - not just from the annointed MSM arts critics, who all too often are unaccountably oblivious to the political ramifications of stuff like The Vagina Monologues, plus the endless and frankly pathetic "drag" revues some folks think we need here to maintain "diversity cred" in the arts, at the expense of quality and real innovation in the arts.
There's so much more about which to talk, arts-wise, in Seattle. And across Blue America.
I assert all this as a heretic, Indy-Pseudo Republican, with a blasphenous Heironymous Bosch repro'd triptych and weird modern art on the walls of my house; plus approximately 1,623 LPs in myriad genres; another 709 CDs; three guitars (two electric, one acoustic) all played in different alternate tunings; fresh diced lemon grass on my cutting board; and an "Eraserhead" poster staring me in the face of my workspace.
Yeah, I voted for Bush. So shoot me, Blue Amurika. Only....I'm in your bowels, like a gastro-intestinal bug that won't subside. Ever.
Rant off. Lemme know watcha think, Doug, or anyone else. Feel free to rip me a new one, as it were.
Posted by: Matt Rosenberg at December 2, 2004 07:23 PM