Stu Blog

There are a lot of stupid political attacks in America, but for some reason this one sticks out.  John Dingell, who has held his seat in the house since 1955, is running against challenger Rob Steele in Michigan.  Dingell has won reelection 27 times, and routinely wins by 20 and 30 points.   Either Dingell or his father has held the seat since 1933, seven years before Winston Churchill became prime minister of the UK.  The idea that he should still have this job is completely absurd.

Should Rob Steele be the guy to replace him?  I know it’s hard to tell.  But, I’ve developed this handy test to figure out which candidate to vote for.

Question 1.  Is CANDIDATE the guy who has been in office since 1955?    YES/NO

If no, vote for him.

Feel free to pass this handy quiz around to your friends in Michigan.

So far, somehow, Dingell is still heavily favored to win.  But, in a very bad sign for democrats, the race has become competitive enough that Dingell has launched some of the most bizarre and sloppy attacks I’ve ever seen this side of Alan Grayson.  (Unlike Grayson, I don’t believe Dingell is an awful person in general.)   We’ll examine some of the claims in detail in coming days during a 34,000 part series.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the sequel to 1987’s Wall Street, hits theaters this weekend.  It is best known, of course, for Michael Douglas and his character Gordon Gekko’s “greed is good” speech.  There’s only one problem: at no point did Gordon Gekko actually say “greed is good.”

The quote “greed is good” has been repeated so many times that in the new trailer, even Gordon Gekko himself thinks he said it.

He says “Someone reminded me I once said ‘greed is good.’  Well, now it seems its legal.”

First of all, greed has never been illegal, could never be illegal, and will never be illegal—at least not realistically–unless you’re God it’s a bit tough to enforce.  But more importantly, maybe Oliver Stone should watch his own movies again.  Gekko didn’t say “greed is good.”

What did he say?   Why does it matter?  (It does.)  I wrote about it in Fusion magazine late last year.  “But I don’t subscribe to Fusion!” you say.  Well, it’s time to redistribute the wealth a little bit.  Free access to the Fusion column here.

For you unwilling to take government handouts…you can subscribe here.