Comments on: Flaming the Left

By: Ahistoricality

Ahistoricality — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 02:56:18 +0000

Political Limerick: Shorter Kieran Healy

There once was a blogger named Kieran
who distilled down the names he’d been hearin’
right wing nuts call
liberals to “small
minded, treasonous villain.”

By: Shelby

Shelby — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 16:48:50 +0000

Chris,

Thanks, that makes rather more sense. I hadn’t noted that one by Frost before, though I much enjoy his work. Thanks!

By: bad Jim

bad Jim — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 09:01:08 +0000

We have proclaimed that since we are at war
we can’t afford the luxury of reason.
No one may question what we’re fighting for.

Our noble cause may vary with the season,
but 9-11 is forevermore.
Alternatives we’ll simply slather sleaze on.

By: Chris Clarke

Chris Clarke — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 03:27:50 +0000

Shelby, that’s a riff on Frost’s A Soldier.

He is that fallen lance that lies as hurled,
That lies unlifted now, come dew, come rust,
But still lies pointed as it ploughed the dust.
If we who sight along it round the world,
See nothing worthy to have been its mark,
It is because like men we look too near,
Forgetting that as fitted to the sphere,
Our missiles always make too short an arc.
They fall, they rip the grass, they intersect
The curve of earth, and striking, break their own;
They make us cringe for metal-point on stone.
But this we know, the obstacle that checked
And tripped the body, shot the spirit on
Further than target ever showed or shone.

By: Shelby

Shelby — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 22:48:07 +0000

Kieran, very nice!

Jet, well analyzed, but alas, unfunny.

Chris, good lord, is that original? Or are you riffing off a Shakespeare or Donne sonnet I’ve overlooked? Either way well done.

By: Dave F

Dave F — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 09:24:54 +0000

The worst are full of passionate conviction.
As usual.

By: bad Jim

bad Jim — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 07:44:41 +0000

Clarke’s on it, proof that no matter how bad the situation, it can always get verse.

(Delicious is tasty, too.)

By: Jake

Jake — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 22:33:12 +0000

Chris—I’d like to think that’s the first time Mencken, Brecht and Stallone have all occurred in the same sentence.

By: Chris Clarke

Chris Clarke — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 22:30:10 +0000

They are the fallen flames, the lies of churls,
Those lies unblogged now, done through disgust,
But still lies, dented as they plough the dust.
If we the flamed on reading them have hurled,
Seen no Reds worthy to have been their mark,
It is that on the Left we see too clear,
Forgetting that as liberal faggot queers
Our missives always make too high an arc.
They soar o’er dittoed heads, their facts are checked
Yet never heard above the rightist drone;
And so we cringe at one more Limbaugh clone.
Oh this we know: a Mencken or a Brecht
Could flame them till the night resembled dawn
And still they’d grunt and grimace like Stallone.

By: Delicious pundit

Delicious pundit — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:56:31 +0000

Wow, the above almost looks worse than it reads. Almost. One more try:

Your scansion does the Left no favors.
It’s on the rocks; I like it neat
True, they shouldn’t call us traitors
But now, it seems, we’ve ugly feet.

But say we wrote a perfect spondee
Skeptical of Bush and Condi—
Our offense is our dissent.
Bush and Country, equivalent.

To toe the party line is sweeter:
Just keep in file to the right
Call that tunnel’s darkness Light
And claim we only torture meter.

And if by chance that doesn’t work
Bellow out, “Trahisons des clercs!”

By: Delicious pundit

Delicious pundit — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:54:04 +0000

Your scansion does the Left no favors.It’s on the rocks; I like it neatTrue, they shouldn’t call us traitorsBut now, it seems, we’ve ugly feet.

But say we wrote a perfect spondeeSkeptical of Bush and Condi—Our offense is our dissent.Bush and Country, equivalent.

To toe the party line is sweeter:Just keep in file to the rightCall that tunnel’s darkness LightAnd claim we only torture meter.

And if by chance that doesn’t workBellow out, “Trahisons des clercs!”

(See also here.)

By: gzombie

gzombie — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 19:08:42 +0000

At least Kieran knows how to avoid sentence fragments.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 18:46:30 +0000

I find that the sure fire way to point out how Left-wingers have completely lost the plot. Is to sit back and let them talk. Typically the moonbat will assume, as there’s no one arguing against him, he’s with “family”. He then lets his guard down and starts to speak honestly. Immediately illustrating to one and all exactly what the term “fascist moonbat” really means.

Why go through the trouble of having to try and convince others that large portions of the “Left” are treasonous animals when the loony leftist can do it for you?

By: Ben Alpers

Ben Alpers — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 18:34:30 +0000

Ooops….let me fix the formatting of that…

Flaming the left ought to be easiest
Lying about them goes back so far
An emblem of wingnuts being dishonest.

Yet more and more posts roll by noisily.
Outside the war’s incomplete unrest
builds and disperses the pie in the sky.

And bullshit heaps up on the horizon.
None of them cares for us. Nothing shows why
At this unique distance from comprehension

It becomes still more difficult to find
Words at once true and kind
Or not untrue and not unkind.

By: Ben Alpers

Ben Alpers — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 18:33:35 +0000

With apologies to Philip Larkin…

Flaming the Left ought to be easiestLying about them goes back so farAn emblem of wingnuts being dishonest.

Yet more and more posts roll by noisily.Outside the war’s incomplete unrestbuilds and disperses the pie in the sky.

And bullshit heaps up on the horizon.None of them cares for us. Nothing shows whyAt this unique distance from comprehension

It becomes still more difficult to findWords at once true and kindOr not untrue and not unkind.