WOID XVIII-31. Feel the Pain with John McCain
reprinted from WOID: A journal of visual language
If Rudy Giuliani’s George Bush on steroids, what does that make John McCain – Ronald Reagan with PTSD? That’s about right if you figure Ronald Reagan was Richard Nixon without the shifty look and John McCain is Richard Nixon minus the reputation for being shifty, minus Reagan’s insouciant bonhommie.
Most Republican politicians remind me sooner or later of the paterfamilias played by Rodney Dangerfield in Natural Born Killers. But, as Tolstoï was going to write until Madame Tolstoï stormed in and ruined his concentration, "All Republican families are different, depending on the political calculations of the moment." In this case, McCain’s been using his daughter to pump a few cheap laughs out of his audience. The line is (cue the track):
If anyone knows of any job openings for an Art History major, see me after the event.
It’s a sneaky ploy, because, the people who know about art history jobs aren’t too likely to be at these events to begin with. The people who know about art history jobs aren’t the type to believe that the only real jobs around are the types that real male he-men hold: like the job of shipping jobs overseas, or maybe working a fork-lift because all the other real male he-man jobs (like pushing a plow, for instance), have been shipped overseas.
The people who know about art history jobs know that the culture industry is a large part of the US economy, and that there are many people gainfully employed in symphony orchestras as well as museums. And in the theater. And even in the ballet. And such people may well want to ask John McCain what he intends to do if president for people like his daughter Meghan, besides asking around if there’s a job for her.
Robert Frost (the poet, John) once met a businessman in a train compartment. "I’m a businessman," said the businessman. "I write poetry," said the poet. "Poetry!" said the businessman. "Hell, my wife does that!"
Watch out, John. Some wives and daughters vote. Some of them even run for president. Some are even art historians and make a living at it. Welcome to the twentieth century.