Tag Archives: Democrats

GOP Red Wave Doesn’t Materialize

By Robin Bates | Published: November 9, 2022

Longfellow’s “The Brook and the Ocean” capture some of the dynamics of the 2022 mid-term election.

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Are Dems Hampered by “Moral Claptrap”?

By Robin Bates | Published: January 21, 2020

Wilkie Collins’s villainous Count Fosco will do whatever it takes to win–which puts him in the company of Trump and McConnell’s GOP.

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Cruz as Beowulf? Try Grendel

By Robin Bates | Published: October 28, 2015

Thursday Normally I would be delighted with a New York Times article that matched up presidential candidates with works of literature, such as Ted Cruz with Beowulf, Hillary Clinton with Persuasion, and Bernie Sanders with Around the World in 80 Days. This piece, however, strikes me as so uninformative that it’s all but useless. I’ve tried […]

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Waiting for Biden, Paul Ryan, & Reagan

By Robin Bates | Published: October 19, 2015

Some Democrats are waiting for Joe Biden and many Republicans are awaiting the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan. Samuel Beckett foresaw in all in “Waiting for Godot.”

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Hunkering Down in Hard Times

By Robin Bates | Published: November 5, 2014

When your side loses in an election, be like Mary Oliver’s blue heron: hunker down, absorb the blows, and keep the fire of hope burning.

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An Austen Romance for Dems and GOP?

By Robin Bates | Published: November 9, 2012

It proved easy to apply the election to Toni Morrison and Jane Austen in my classes.

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Slouching towards Bethlehem?! Get a Grip

By Robin Bates | Published: October 4, 2010

“We are starting to wonder whether Congressional Democrats lack the courage of their convictions, or simply lack convictions,” stated a recent New York Times editorial. The editorial was displeased that the Democrats were afraid of standing up against the Bush tax cuts, due to expire by the end of this year. What with cowardly Democrats […]

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Republican Invective and King Lear

By Robin Bates | Published: March 25, 2010

One of the memorable moments in the history of the U.S. Congress occurred in 1954 when Joseph Welch, head counsel for the United States Army, found one of his young lawyers being attacked by Joseph McCarthy.  The turning point in the hearings occurred when Welch said forthrightly, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I have […]

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