[best accompanied by Who Killed Davey Moore, written & performed by Bob Dylan]
Who killed Davey Moore
Why an’ what’s the reason for?“Not I,” says the referee
“Don’t point your finger at me
I could’ve stopped it in the eighth
An’ maybe kept him from his fate
But the crowd would’ve booed, I’m sure
At not gettin’ their money’s worth
It’s too bad he had to go
But there was a pressure on me too, you know
It wasn’t me that made him fall
No, you can’t blame me at all”
What to conclude from the ascendency of Donald Trump within the Republican candidacy? Where is the party of our mothers and fathers? The party that stood with business and yearned for a free market economy? The party that served as a check on the worst silliness and excess of their chief national rivals, the Democrats?
Taken over by righteous anger, fear, and hate. Taken over by know-nothingism. Taken over by Donald Trump. How did the party of Lincoln let this happen? How did party leadership turn the party of Reagan to this?
With apologies to Dylan, to Davey Moore, and to everyone with a sense of rhyme or meter:
Who killed the Republican presidency?
Why an’ what’s the reason for?
“Not I,” says Lee Atwater
“I taught that hate was a major tool
To get the votes of panicked fools
But hate was not a philosophy
I won elections, I didn’t lead
It wasn’t me that made it fall
No, you can’t blame me at all”
“Not I,” says Karl Rove
“I carved up voting districts so expertly
That now the race is in the primary
I just ensured wins for the GOP
You can’t blame candidates on me
It wasn’t me that made it fall
No, you can’t blame me at all”
“Not I,” says Mitch McConnell
I stubbornly dug in my heels
And for eight years refused to yield
I needn’t offer new proposals
Just blame Obama for the nation’s ills
It wasn’t me that made it fall
No, you can’t blame me at all”
“Not us,” says the Tea Party
We supported the most extreme
Candidates on our team
We wouldn’t talk or negotiate
With those Democrats we hate
It wasn’t us that made it fall
No, you can’t blame us at all”
“Not us,” says the media
We gave equal time to any and all
Who said things that left us enthralled
Distorted coverage we’ll abide
We report, you decide
It wasn’t us that made it fall
No, you can’t blame me at all”
“Not me,” says the rich donor
I just wanted the government off my back
And didn’t care Trump was a hack
He promised me we’d be great again
So I gave him a million (or ten)
It wasn’t me that made it fall
No, you can’t blame me at all”
Who killed the Republican presidency?
Why an’ what’s the reason for?