Vonnegut - a man without a country

poputonian at Digby's has posted an article which quotes extensively from the A Man Without A Country, the newest book of one of my favourite authors (and certainly my favourite 84-year old author), Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Digby's trying to explain to a neocon why it's worth listening to wise people, even if they're elderly. Here's an illustrative excerpt from Vonnegut's book followed by a reprise of a favourite of mine by Digby.

Vonnegut:

But I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened instead is that it was taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d'etat imaginable.

I was once asked if I had any ideas for a really scary reality TV show. I have one reality show that would really make your hair stand on end: "C-Students from Yale."

George W. Bush has gathered around him upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka Christians, and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or PPs, the medical term for smart, personable people who have no consciences.

Digby:

I will repeat my favorite little story to illustrate:

I remember as a child a strange little neighbor girl who was found in her backyard swinging her cat by the tail against the sidewalk screaming "you're gonna love me!"

That's neoconservatism. It's so insane, I believe almost anything is an improvement.