[Adapted from Feb 5, 2008's, "Waiting To Breathe."]

A pause before the oncoming secessionist storm.

Well, here it is:  Super Duper Mega Hyper Tuesday — that monument to electoral greed pioneered by Southern Democrats in creating the first “Super Tuesday” in 1988. 24 states* now “Me-Too” it today. Which guarantees that campaigns will be mostly about media buys, and NOT about creating the political infrastructure that will take the eventual winner through the next four years.  The South Carolina Primary, which will “decide” the race. Or be decisive or somesuch. Certainly, it becomes difficult to stop Mitt if he’s not roughed up in South Carolina, of course. But we shall see.

In this age of Billionaires staking their chosen candidates like race horses at a cock fight, common wisdom is out the window. (As if were ever included.)

[* I give up. A week or so ago, it was stated with authority in one outlet that 29 states would vote. Then, 24. By the end of "tonight" it was 22. This from a media that tells you it's "trustworthy," "fair and balanced," etc. etc. ]

Look: when the Republicans of Iowa [2012] can’t even count their own votes in their own private caucuses, having made it a national showpiece and with plenty of advance warning, I have NO expectation of normalcy or sanity in the aftermath of that cluster … well, there’s a word for it.

Government of the media, by the media and for the media shall not perish from this Earth.

Forever and ever, Amen: film at eleven.

I think that Barack Obama is, perhaps, more correct than he knows in calling this* a choice between the past and the future. (* 2008)

This long political train wreck that began with Ronald Reagan can be directly traced, perhaps to the the battle on the streets of Chicago in 1968 between the Woodstock Nation and the “Establishment” — the World War II generation who were their parents.

The “Greatest Generation” gets their name from Tom Brokaw’s maudlin coinage in a couple of books that may well have been ghostwritten — these days who can say? Brokaw — February 6, 1940 — is talking about his parents and their friends, and the idea that you admire your parents’ generation is not exactly revolutionary.

Their reign begins with John F. Kennedy in 1961, and ends with George Herbert Walker Bush’s exit of the White House in 1993. Since then, it’s been the Baby Boomers: Bill Clinton (8/19/1946) and George Herbert Hoover Bush (7/6/1946).

Mick Jagger: 7/26/1943

Newt Gingrich: 06/17/1943

John Kerry: 12/11/1943

Rush Limbaugh: 1/12/1951

Tom Petty: 10/20/1950

Jane Fonda: 12/21/1937

Peter Jennings: 7/29/1938

Bernie Madoff 4/29/1938

Paul McCartney: 6/18/1942

Dennis Hastert: 1/2/1942

Jimi Hendrix: 11/27/1942

Fred Thompson 8/19/1942

George W. Bush: 7/6/1946

Robert Fripp (King Crimson) 5/16/1946

Bill Clinton 8/19/1946

Herman Cain 12/13/1945

Micky Dolenz (Monkees) 3/8/1945

Stephen Stills 1/3/1945

Donald Rumsfeld: 7/9/1932

Little Richard: 12/5/1932

Elton John: 3/25/1947

Willard Mitt Romney 3/12/1947

Bob Dylan: 5/24/1941

Dick Cheney: 1/30/1941

David Crosby: 8/14/1941

Trent Lott: 10/9/1941

John Lennon: 10/9/1940

Dick Armey : 7/7/1940

David Bowie: 9/8/1947

Tom DeLay: 4/8/1947

Iggy Pop: 4/21/1947

Hilary Clinton: 10/26/1947

Gene Simmons (of Kiss): 8/25/1949

Bill O’Reilly (of Faux): 9/10/1949

John Belushi: 1/24/1949

Tiny Tim: 4/12/1932

Ruth Bader Ginsberg 3/15/1933

Nancy Pelosi: 3/26/1940

Ringo Starr: 7/7/1940

Eldridge Cleaver 8/31/1935

Ken Kesey 9/17/1935

Jerry Lee Lewis 9/29/1935

Ron Paul 8/20/1935

Oh, and

Karl Rove: 12/25/1950 (right between Tom Petty and Rush Limbaugh)

Yes, evidently, he’s a Christmas baby. Kind of evil and creepy, ain’t it?

Rick Perry  3/4/1950

My point is this: The “Summer of Love” generation has been tearing this country apart politically, polarizing, pugnacious, determined to GET THEIR WAY from the battle on the Streets of Chicago in 1968 to the present day.

nineteen sixty eight

And, perhaps, it is TIME for that generation to begin to take a back seat to a generation raised on computers and cel phones, with a different take on the way that the world works, and a less confrontational approach to American society: The difference between a Rush Limbaugh and an Abbie Hoffman is only a difference of political affiliations, the essentially destructive nature of their political efforts is the same.

All right: they’ve dominated American political life for forty years and more. The “sexism” charges and the “racism” charges being thrown back and forth are hallmarks of THEIR generation. The desire to move beyond the same old ideological pissing matches and the same old approaches comes from later generations.

It’s time for another approach.

Of course, here’s your “youth” vote:

Michelle Bachmann 4/6/1956

Rick Santorum 5/10/1958

Jon  Huntsman 3/26/1960

Tim Pawlenty 11/26/1960

Barack Obama 8/4/1961

We will see what South Carolina, with its (as pandering, winking Ron Paul put it: “Well, South Carolina is known for their respect for liberty,” speaking in that well-known code that includes “Barack Obama is the biggest Food Stamp President of all time”) collective Republican wisdom will decide. Because, as voodoo statistics tell us, South Carolina has voted for the eventual GOP nominee since 1960, and therefore they will again this time. [See: Magical Thinking.]

It’s already brought us the intellectual acme — on the day before this all-important contest —  of Chuck Norris 3/10/1940 dominating the political discussion of the day.

This UTTERLY refutes MSNBC’s Chuck Todd 4/8/1972 screeching that Stephen Colbert 5/13/1964  is making a mockery of our Presidential Primary process:

Todd went after both Colbert and Jon Stewart for mocking members of the media, then backing off and saying “we’re just comedians” when the members of the media call them out on it. “Actually, no you’re not [comedians] anymore,” Todd said. “You are mocking what we’re doing, and you want a place in this, then you are also going to be held accountable for how you cover and how you do your job.”

Oh yeah. Holding comedians accountable for doing their jobs? How about holding the media accountable for … oh, never mind. [See: Magical Thinking.]

Considering that Chuck Todd is the baby of this entire gaggle of famous persons, I feel strongly that we’re in really good shape, when those ‘Seventies babies start coming on line.

Chuck Norris. America’s Most Influential Pundit.

Chuck Norris T-shirt

No wonder SAT scores keep going down.

Tomorrow, the true comedians of this entire sordid mess will speak. I wonder what they will say?

UPDATE: Newt wins. Delegate count: Gingrich 19, Romney 18.

Perhaps they were terrified by Chuck Norris.

Courage.

================

A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog.