Best of the Blogosphere, Part 3: Kung Fu Monkey Misses Republicans

(Third in an occasional and entirely whimsical series. Other entries here.)

I know that so far this "best of the blogosphere" series has been "best of the funny blogosphere", and that this is, which makes three in a row, which by Talmudic principles means that they all will be -- but really, they won't, and I promise that the fourth entry in this series, whenever it happens, will be Something Serious.

Probably.

But in the meantime, I want to introduce you to Kung Fu Monkey. It's written by a stand-up comedian/physicist/screenwriter/comics writer named John Rogers, and he writes a lot about writing, which is smart but probably limited in its audience, and he rants about politics, in a way that is not only hilarious, but also (as the best comedy is (as KFM himself has pointed out)) smart, telling us things we need to hear.

He's written a lot of great posts, but the one that I'm here to talk about today is "I Miss Republicans". It's a particularly good post because it puts into words what a lot of us have been feeling for many years (how many depends on who you are, but there are a lot of us). KFM puts it this way:

No, seriously. Remember Republicans? Sober men in suits, pipes, who'd nod thoughtfully over their latest tract on market-driven fiscal conservatism while grinding out the numbers on rocket science. Remember those serious-looking 1950's-1960's science guys in the movies -- Republican to a one.

They were the grown-ups. They were the realists. Sure they were a bummer, maaaaan, but on the way to La Revolution you need somebody to remember where you parked the car. I was never one (nor a Democrat, really, more an agnostic libertarian big on the social contract, but we don't have a party ...), but I genuinely liked them.

How did they become the party of fairy dust and make believe? How did they become the anti-science guys? The anti-fact guys? The anti-logic guys?...

-- Of course the sub-text behind this is not only missing Republicans, but being frustrated as all !@#$% with those Republicans who don't see what has become of their party.

The rest of the post is wonderful, too -- funnier, if mostly on one specific example of this phenomenon (mostly, because he ties it back together at the end.)

KFM's politics are not mine -- for one thing, he lists John McCain as one of his exceptions, which is clearly wrong. (I wonder if he'd say the same thing now?) And... well, other things, too. But that's not the point. The basic point, the key point -- that Republicans Are Missed, with the all-crucial implication that this is because They Aren't Here Any More -- is right.

So it is well worth a read -- and, if you came across it before, it is well worth a reread; hence (for that is the key criteria) I hereby declare that the third official Attempts Best of the Blogosphere™ post is Kung Fu Monkey's I Miss Republicans. Go read it; you won't be sorry.

And if you like it, there are a lot more where that comes from. Some I would recommend in particular are Lunch Discussions #145: The Crazification Factor; Bar Talk (previously linked in my Dershowitz round-up); and Learn To Say 'Ain't', but really, there are a lot of good ones. Still, I Miss Republicans is a great place to start. Check it out.