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Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 26 Feb 2019, 9:39am
by Dr. Medulla
WestwayKid wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 9:31am
On Inauguration Day (January 20, 1969), Johnson saw Nixon sworn in, then got on the plane to fly back to Texas. When the front door of the plane closed, Johnson pulled out a cigarette—his first cigarette he had smoked since his heart attack in 1955. One of his daughters pulled it out of his mouth and said, "Daddy, what are you doing? You're going to kill yourself." He took it back and said, "I've now raised you girls. I've now been President. Now it's my time!" From that point on, he went into a very self-destructive spiral - Historian Michael Beschloss
After he was exiled to his ranch, he let his hair grow longer, which some have suggested was an unconscious admission that the kids who helped drive him out were right. Maybe. Or maybe he just no longer gave a fuck because he'd squandered a career and sped hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and Americans to an early death.
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 26 Feb 2019, 10:13am
by WestwayKid
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 9:39am
WestwayKid wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 9:31am
On Inauguration Day (January 20, 1969), Johnson saw Nixon sworn in, then got on the plane to fly back to Texas. When the front door of the plane closed, Johnson pulled out a cigarette—his first cigarette he had smoked since his heart attack in 1955. One of his daughters pulled it out of his mouth and said, "Daddy, what are you doing? You're going to kill yourself." He took it back and said, "I've now raised you girls. I've now been President. Now it's my time!" From that point on, he went into a very self-destructive spiral - Historian Michael Beschloss
After he was exiled to his ranch, he let his hair grow longer, which some have suggested was an unconscious admission that the kids who helped drive him out were right. Maybe. Or maybe he just no longer gave a fuck because he'd squandered a career and sped hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and Americans to an early death.
He came across as a very haunted man in his final years. His last interview with Cronkite is almost chilling.
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 26 Feb 2019, 10:18am
by Dr. Medulla
WestwayKid wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 10:13am
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 9:39am
WestwayKid wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 9:31am
On Inauguration Day (January 20, 1969), Johnson saw Nixon sworn in, then got on the plane to fly back to Texas. When the front door of the plane closed, Johnson pulled out a cigarette—his first cigarette he had smoked since his heart attack in 1955. One of his daughters pulled it out of his mouth and said, "Daddy, what are you doing? You're going to kill yourself." He took it back and said, "I've now raised you girls. I've now been President. Now it's my time!" From that point on, he went into a very self-destructive spiral - Historian Michael Beschloss
After he was exiled to his ranch, he let his hair grow longer, which some have suggested was an unconscious admission that the kids who helped drive him out were right. Maybe. Or maybe he just no longer gave a fuck because he'd squandered a career and sped hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and Americans to an early death.
He came across as a very haunted man in his final years. His last interview with Cronkite is almost chilling.
An extreme example of a retired workaholic. A guy whose life is consumed by ambition and insecurity, makes it to the top, fucks it up, and knows that there's nothing else for him to do. Even without the heart condition, an early death seemed foretold. My dad was a workaholic and his first year of retirement almost killed him and my mother. He was constantly underfoot. If he hadn't thrown himself into golf, bowling, curling, and a couple service organizations, he really would have died of boredom.
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 26 Feb 2019, 10:41am
by revbob
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 9:22am
revbob wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 8:19am
I used to work with this old Mainer who would tell this story about so.e dude in the LBJ administration who like to swim in the nude and LBJ would say the guy was "trolling for corksuckers". I forget where he got his info from but I worked with this guy for like 15 years or more and I heard that story/anecdote at least a dozen times.
I could see that being LBJ himself.
Its possible that I am misremembering. I tended to tune the guy out a lot because it was always Maine this and golf that. There must have been a Maine or golf reference to the story as well or he would not have told it.
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 26 Feb 2019, 10:55am
by WestwayKid
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 10:18am
WestwayKid wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 10:13am
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 9:39am
WestwayKid wrote: ↑26 Feb 2019, 9:31am
On Inauguration Day (January 20, 1969), Johnson saw Nixon sworn in, then got on the plane to fly back to Texas. When the front door of the plane closed, Johnson pulled out a cigarette—his first cigarette he had smoked since his heart attack in 1955. One of his daughters pulled it out of his mouth and said, "Daddy, what are you doing? You're going to kill yourself." He took it back and said, "I've now raised you girls. I've now been President. Now it's my time!" From that point on, he went into a very self-destructive spiral - Historian Michael Beschloss
After he was exiled to his ranch, he let his hair grow longer, which some have suggested was an unconscious admission that the kids who helped drive him out were right. Maybe. Or maybe he just no longer gave a fuck because he'd squandered a career and sped hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and Americans to an early death.
He came across as a very haunted man in his final years. His last interview with Cronkite is almost chilling.
An extreme example of a retired workaholic. A guy whose life is consumed by ambition and insecurity, makes it to the top, fucks it up, and knows that there's nothing else for him to do. Even without the heart condition, an early death seemed foretold. My dad was a workaholic and his first year of retirement almost killed him and my mother. He was constantly underfoot. If he hadn't thrown himself into golf, bowling, curling, and a couple service organizations, he really would have died of boredom.
His dad died at 60 - so he apparently thought he'd also "buy the farm" around that age. He looked so old in his final years - hard to fathom that he was only 64.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... nt/376281/
This is a fascinating read and there is a mention about his hair growing longer:
So Johnson suffered the election in silence, swallowing his nitroglycerin tablets to thwart continual chest pains, endorsing McGovern through a hill country weekly newspaper, meeting cordially with the candidate at the ranch. The newspapers showed a startling picture of Johnson, his hair almost shoulder-length. Former aide Bob Hardesty takes credit for this development. "We were working together one day," Hardesty recalls, "and he said, in passing, 'Robert, you need a haircut.' I told him, 'Mr. President, I'm letting my hair grow so no one will be able to mistake me for those SOB's in the White House.' He looked startled, so I explained, 'You know, that bunch around Nixon—Haldeman, Ehrlichman—they all have very short hair.' He nodded. The next time I saw him his hair was growing over his collar."
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 26 Feb 2019, 11:41am
by Dr. Medulla
That piece chose not to run one of LBJ's more colourful observations about Nixon's fiscal policy: "It's the worst thing since pantyhose ruined finger fucking."
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 05 Mar 2019, 2:22pm
by Flex
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 05 Mar 2019, 2:27pm
by Dr. Medulla
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 05 Mar 2019, 3:09pm
by Silent Majority
I honestly thought she'd give it another shot. Thanks, brocialists.
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 05 Mar 2019, 3:48pm
by Dr. Medulla
Silent Majority wrote: ↑05 Mar 2019, 3:09pm
I honestly thought she'd give it another shot. Thanks, brocialists.
Harris' and Gillibrand's presence make Clinton irrelevant, covering the female, corporate liberal angle, and they don't have the tag of being the retread so disliked/incompetent that she lost to a bumbling sociopath.
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 05 Mar 2019, 3:51pm
by Flex
Yeah, I don't align with Harris or Gillibrand ideologically, but I don't begrudge them going for it. Either strikes me as basically electable if it comes to that. I have no idea why a critical mass of Dems would support Hillary over either of them, and apparently Clinton had the same thought.
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 05 Mar 2019, 4:14pm
by Dr. Medulla
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 05 Mar 2019, 4:15pm
by Silent Majority
Flex wrote: ↑05 Mar 2019, 3:51pm
Yeah, I don't align with Harris or Gillibrand ideologically, but I don't begrudge them going for it. Either strikes me as basically electable if it comes to that. I have no idea why a critical mass of Dems would support Hillary over either of them, and apparently Clinton had the same thought.
Fuck, man, I'd rather Harris be the first woman President than Hillary. A reasonable horrible compromise of the type you'd make in the 90s.
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 05 Mar 2019, 5:19pm
by Kory
This scene is better in
Dracula: Dead and Loving It.
Re: The Future of the Democratic Party
Posted: 05 Mar 2019, 5:21pm
by Kory
That Nick Merrill tweet at the end is rather rich.
