Well now...

I've been reading a Hunter S. Thompson book called "Generation of Swine - Gonzo Papers Vol.2" which is basically a 300 pages of a two to three page ramblings/reports about U.S. politics in (you guessed it) the late 80's. Thrown in are a bunch of crazy things, lotsa booze, gunfire and gambling. Anyway - despite Thompson being on, how shall we say, "the fringe" of polite culture, he appears to be quite well connected and a number of prominent politicos are clearly okay with taking a call from him. But as his writings start touching on the Iran/Contra Scandal, it's interesting how his predictions for the political ramifications never materialized. He considered it very likely George Bush (Sr) would go to jail along with Oliver North and have his political career destroyed, even if he escaped prosecution. Course, we know how that played (and is still playing) out.

But he did bring up a really interesting point, and one that got me thinking. Running for President of the U.S. is the Big Leagues. Like, Hitler was in that league. Stalin was in that League. And at that level, things are played rough and dirty, and it makes me wonder if there's enough people who realize it.
There's a stat in the book that reads:
*Starting with 1968 the Republicans have won four of five Presidential Elections

(Change that with slightly updated figures - *that was written in 87) to six of nine Presidential Elections. That's pretty startling, considering what kind of platforms the conservatives really run on.

But like I said, at that level, stuff is run pretty rough, and one wonders if the Republicans are the only ones who know it. Hell, just scanning through the internets today, I came across this.
It's from the D.C. Madam - instructions as to what to do if she was ever found dead in an apparent suicide attempt. Which she was. She knew what kind of world she was living in...and I'm not even speculating there is a Presidential candidate in her black book of Johns, probly just a bunch of Senators and Reps, and lobbyists, and power-brokers. Nevertheless, ugly and dirty at that level can mean really ugly and really dirty.

I've got a few more ideas from this little book that I might get to later today, but for now, I have to go write a script for a cartoon.