Cocktails at The Scratching Post: August Memories

Hi, guys, I’m stalling on my packing, again.  The other conferees should be arriving in DC tonight to begin the festivities tomorrow morning.  But Brook has a ceremony for her final day of camp tomorrow so I will be getting in late tomorrow night.  😦

In the meantime, I am musing over the Hillary Web chat today and like Kbird, the whole thing seems vaguely reminiscent.  It makes me think of August, 1991.  Mikhail Gorbachev was the President of the Soviet Union.  He was a loyal communist party member.  His wife Raisa was a scholar on the subject of communism and frequently tweaked Nancy Reagan’s buttons.  She was delightful!  Anyway, Mikhail was a reformer with a soft spot for laborers.  He thought the whole system needed an overhaul so he introduced a couple of concepts to encourage openess and restructuring or perestroika.  He was encouraging a period of internal self examination. That openness set some machinery in motion but not quite what Gorbachev had expected.  Instead of wanting a reform of communism, the public seemed intent on getting rid of it.  The unrest had gone viral and was rapidly escalating in intensity.

Who is this man and why does he have a map of the Malay peninsula on his head?

Umm, that didn’t go over too well with some of the soviet hardliners.  So, while Gorbachev was vacationing in the Crimea, eight hardasses staged a coup.  They put Gorbachev under house arrest, told everyone he was “sick” and cut the phone lines to his dacha.  If my memory serves me correctly, somehow he smuggled out a video of himself to give the world a heads up. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, er, Kremlin, Boris Yeltsin took advantage of public sentiment and stared down the coup plotters.  International attention was riveted on what was going on.  Would there be another Tianneman Square event or would that somehow be averted?  In three days, it was all over.  The coup plotters were overthrown, the statue of Lenin was dismantled and the Soviet Union was no more.

Now, to me, it sure looks like the powers that be would like Hillary’s online fans to sit down and shut up.  The natives are getting restless and they are in a dither.  So, they have Hillary under virtual house arrest and strongly encourage her to get hold of the situation.  She has to play the game but if anyone can’t see through the answers to the questions from this morning, they aren’t paying attention.  She’s stated several things that just don’t ring true, like Obama’s committment to universal healthcare.  Are you kidding me??!

The bottom line, guys, is that this is rapidly spiralling out of the control of the DNC, the media and even Hillary herself.  The 18,000,000 voters will have their say.  We will not get in line.  We want our voices heard at the convention and we have every right to expect that our votes will be honored in a fair, open and transparent way.  So, if any of you were discouraged by the unity pony stuff she was mouthing, don’t be.  The Dean Democrats are getting nervous and confused.  But we aren’t under Hillary’s control.  She is not responsible for what we do and a forced webchat with those of us who are causing them the most grief is going to fail.

Crank it up to 11, PUMAs!

Welcome to the Cocktail Party at the Scratching Post.  I am your hostess for tonight.  You will find our bar to the left of the door.  The nice looking dude with the amazing tan and flair with the bottles is Rico, our bartender.  Tonight, we are offering causmos at $10.00 for help pay the small vendors that still need to be paid from Hillary’s campaign.  You can make a donation here.  We are also offering Pink Pumas to help defray the cost of the PUMA Den in Denver.  We’ll try to coordinate another fundraiser in a few days to help Gary and Mawm fuel their RV to Denver.  If you’d like something a little more topical, Rico is making a Soviet.  But you can order anything you like.

Tonight’s entertainment is from another era.  Doris Day sang with Les Brown’s band back before she was a virgin (it’s an old joke).  This song is bouncy and light, perfect for an evening when we’ve been fed Unity Pony all day but the message underneath is the one we’re really listening to.  I Ain’t Hep to that Step, But I Dig it:

Ladies and Gents, we run a classy joint here.  Everyone is welcome, even OPUMAs.  But let’s keep the ugly scenes to a minimum.  Check your trigger words with our lovely checkroom attendent, Florence.  The waiter’s will be circulating in a minute with panseared scallops with creme fraiche and domestic caviar, shrimp and grits and peach compote, cheese and crackers.  Please drink responsibly and tip your wait staff generously.