Sherry Chandler

AUSTIN, Texas — The sheer pleasure of getting lessons in etiquette from Karl Rove and the right-wing media passeth all understanding. Ever since 1994, the Republican Party has gone after Democrats with the frenzy of a foaming mad dog. There was the impeachment of Bill Clinton, not to mention the trashing of both Clinton and his wife — accused of everything from selling drugs to murder — all orchestrated by that paragon of manners, Tom DeLay.

Media Matters collected some gems of fairness. For instance, Monica Crowley with MSNBC, in the wake of John Kerry’s botched program, astutely observed “how lucky we are that he was not elected president. … The Republicans remain the grown-ups, the responsible ones on national security.”

How many dead Americans has this grown-up war resulted in?

And how darling of Fox’s Juan Williams, upon learning polls show the people favor Democrats on taxes, to say, “To me, that’s crazy.”

And how many times did Chris Matthews use the Republican talking points about Nancy Pelosi? Extremist, uncooperative, incapable, unwilling to work with the president.

So after 12 years of tolerating lying, cheating and corruption, the press is prepared to lecture Democrats on how to behave with bipartisan manners.

Read the entirety at Creators. com.

Dear readers,

I’ve had an exhausting but very satisfying week.

Tuesday: I don’t need to say anything about this election that isn’t already being said better by various writers and commentators. I confess to indulging in a little schadenfreude. I even watched a Bush press conference all the way through (first time in six years). But mostly I’m just relieved to be able to have a little faith in our processes again, to think that after all the United States of America is not a country that condones torture and the abuse of human rights, not a country that can be snookered forever by character assassination and meanness in politics. Perhaps Abraham Lincoln was right, after all, when he said you can’t fool all the people all the time.

That said, I do recommend a couple of analyses: Sidney Blumenthal’s Fall of the House of Kitsch at Salon (you’ll probably have to sit through a commercial) and Tom Engelhardt’s Outlaw Empire Meets the Wave.

Wednesday: After the jangle and noise of the election, the Connections reading came as oil on troubled waters. The audience was small but appreciative, the atmosphere quiet and warm. The poems — well, they were some of my favorite local poets writing at their best. The artwork is outstanding. I urge those of you who live locally to make the effort to view it. The exhibit is up through the Gallery Hop next Friday.

Thursday: Molly Peacock.

Really, nothing more need be said. The woman’s spiritual joy and creative energy permeates a room and is, fortunately for me, catching.

So, political and spiritual balance restored and creative wells refilled, I will now rise from this computer to face the challenges of an ordinarily extraordinary Friday.

Namaste.

One additional note. Molly said that working in form gives her permission to use emotional content without being labelled “merely confessional.” This remark echoes one I heard Andrew Hudgins make several years ago. Only I think he used the word “dangerous.” It’s what got me started trying to wrap my head around form. Form is not constricting but freeing.