Tag Archives: Republicans

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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The Presidential Candidates in Wonderland

By Robin Bates | Published: December 8, 2011

Should we dismiss all the rhetoric coming from the Republican presidential candidates as the gryphon in “Alice in Wonderland” dismisses the “off with their heads” commands of the Queen of Hearts?

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Leaders Who Don’t Want to Govern

By Robin Bates | Published: March 14, 2011

“Nature, be thou my goddess,” exclaims Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester in King Lear as he prepares to embark on a course of action that, before he is stopped, results in the disinheritance of his legitimate brother, the blinding and banishment of his father, the poisoning of one sister by another, and the execution […]

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Alyosha Karamazov’s Plea for Straight Talk

By Robin Bates | Published: January 26, 2011

Is it just because I’m an Obama supporter or has political rhetoric reached new levels of inanity? And the rhetoric I have in mind is not that of Tea Party supporters, which is not new. I saw such self-indulgent calls for revolution coming from the left in the early 1970’s. No, I’m thinking of the […]

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Who Owns the American Revolution?

By Robin Bates | Published: September 27, 2010

Ever since Barack Obama was elected, we’ve been hearing claims that his presidency is illegitimate. Any number of people—including some who should know better—are draping themselves in revolutionary garb. This includes those responsible for the Republicans’ recent Pledge to America, where the authors declare “the governed do not consent.” The reference, of course, is to the […]

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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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