A LITTLE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE
Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn’t there.
He wasn’t there again today;
Oh, how I wish he’d go away…
–Wm. Hughes Mearns
I was reminded of the above (from the 1899 poem ANTIGONISH) by this opening paragraph of a column by Susan Page in USA TODAY:
“At the [9/1/18] memorial service he had carefully planned, John McCain managed to deliver a final and defiant rebuke to the man who wasn’t there, whose name was never uttered.” In that spirit, I too will honor John McCain by not mentioning the name of the man who wasn’t there. We all (who follow the news) know the name of the man who wasn’t there, and we all know why he wasn’t there.
Susan Page goes on to quote the following words spoken so eloquently at the service by Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Arizona Senator:
“We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness, the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who lived lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served.”
The little man who wasn’t there once said that John McCain was no hero. The little man who wasn’t there isn’t fit to say ANYONE is no hero, because a narcissistic, bullying, amoral coward has no standing to judge the worth of anything, much less heroism.
“Oh, how I wish he’d go away”….but it will take more than wishes. It will take our votes. Nothing less than a resounding vote against political enablers of the President will convince Republicans that it’s in their self-interest to ‘flip.’ And make no mistake — to them, political self-interest (and living to fight another day) is everything.
The Observation Post 
Carmen 5:07 pm on September 2, 2018 Permalink |
I might have told you this before, mister muse, but when I was in Australia during the summer of 2016, the news reporters on ABC routinely referred to him as ‘whats-his-name’, usually with a smirk. No one could quite believe he was actually even in the running . . . the joke didn’t last. 😦
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mistermuse 7:05 pm on September 2, 2018 Permalink |
Carmen, the joke didn’t last, but The Donald is still a joke. 😦
Btw, the poem ANTIGONISH was based on a ghost story from your neck of the woods, Antigonish, Nova Scotia…but you probably knew that.
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Carmen 7:07 pm on September 2, 2018 Permalink
I wondered !!
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Paul Sunstone 12:55 am on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
There is so much wrong with that man I am ashamed he’s even a citizen, let alone a president.
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mistermuse 8:44 am on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
You got that right, Paul. I can’t stand the sight of the man.
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SoundEagle 🦅ೋღஜஇ 10:48 pm on September 7, 2018 Permalink |
Indeed, Paul! And that man should take the following two quotes from Lao Tzu to heart:
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
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mlrover 4:35 am on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
I rarely agreed with McCain but always respected his dedication to service and the Constitution. There are very few left in the Republican party with his integrity. Those who rule in Congress have none. I’ve never expected politicians to be honest, but prior to this, they attempted to disguise their greed and lack of compassion for others.
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mistermuse 8:46 am on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
I couldn’t agree more with everything you say, mirover.
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calmkate 7:45 am on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
Conspicuous by his absence … but what a relief for everyone!
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mistermuse 8:52 am on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
The little man who wasn’t there wasn’t invited, but he probably wouldn’t have come anyway. He even had to be talked (by his staff) into honoring McCain by lowering the White House flag to half-staff, according to reports.
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calmkate 9:05 am on September 3, 2018 Permalink
😦
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masercot 8:36 am on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
I’ve never seen a purple cow
I never hope to see one
But, I can tell you anyhow
I’d rather see than be one…
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mistermuse 8:56 am on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
Same for an orange man, except I don’t even want to see one.
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Richard A Cahill 11:29 am on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
McCain’s biggest regret, I’m sure, was that he didn’t live to see the end of Trump’s Presidency. May we all be more fortunate.
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mistermuse 12:38 pm on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
The end can’t (and didn’t) come soon enough, Ricardo.
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Resa 6:23 pm on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
Excellent musing!!!!!
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mistermuse 6:43 pm on September 3, 2018 Permalink |
Thanks, Resa. I wanted to write an anti-Trump post for which I didn’t have to give most of the credit to Shakespeare (TO SEE OR NOT TO SEE on Aug. 28). 🙂
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rivergirl1211 2:21 pm on September 10, 2018 Permalink |
To this day… I have not called him President, I just can’t force myself to say it! I do however have a large collection of alternate titles for him, none of which I shall mention here. And yes, your title says it all. He truly is a little man, in every sense of the word.
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mistermuse 2:39 pm on September 10, 2018 Permalink |
Unfortunately, we can’t vote him out of office on Nov. 6, but at least we can vote to wrest control of Congress from the GOP and make life as miserable for the little man as he is making it for us.
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rivergirl1211 2:41 pm on September 10, 2018 Permalink
And I will continue to rail at every lazy American who refuses to get up off the couch and exercise their right to do so. I’m so sick of hearing “My vote doesn’t count” ! Bush beat Gore by 537 votes… wake up people!
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mistermuse 5:22 pm on September 10, 2018 Permalink |
In my state (and I assume in most, if not all, states), you hardly even have to get off your couch — you can vote by absentee ballot. So, you can go right back to sleep after you get off the couch, vote, and put it in your mailbox….five minutes of one’s time to make the GOP pay for selling their soul to the devil.
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