Eminentoes
Garrison Keillor Regrets
This fine writer has a lousy political voice.
(Page 2 of 2)
/p>
Norm got a free ride from the press. St. Paul is a small town and anybody who hangs around the St. Paul Grill knows about Norm’s habits. Everyone knows that his family situation is, shall we say, very interesting, but nobody bothered to ask about it, least of all the religious people in the Republican Party.br> Stung by the reactions, Keillor published his reply to critics a week later, getting even more bile off his stomach in “Minnesota’s Shame.” Had he gone over the top with the first essay, in the second, he went even further, saying, among a great many other things, “Thus the use of Iraq as an election ploy, openly, brazenly, from the president and Karl Rove all the way down to Norman Coleman, who came within an inch of accusing [opponent Paul] Wellstone of being an agent of al-Qaida.” That was just plain false, as anyone willing to dig through the newspaper files could find out — and did.
Keillor’s latest, another ad hominem attack on Republicans, appeared in the Baltimore Sun June 8, titled, “With ineptitude on full display, the party’s over for Republicans.” In it, Keillor focuses on one Republican stratagem, of calling attention to Nancy Pelosi as a “San Francisco Democrat.”
“‘San Francisco’ is a code word for ‘g-a-y,’ and after assembling a record of government lies, incompetence and disaster, the party in power hopes that the fear of g-a-y-s will pull it through in November,” Keillor writes. Later, he calls, Republicans “Sturmbannfuhrers.” Granted that the use of Nancy Pelosi is what litterateurs call “antonomasia,” the name stands for a great deal more in San Francisco politics than a gay population: gun control, pet guardianship, crime on the streets, bums sleeping and excreting wherever they wish, City Council resolutions condemning Israel and the war in Iraq, and so much more.
It is telling that the column appeared in a second-rank newspaper. Two or three years ago, he could have had his choice: Washington Post, New York Times, anywhere. Not anymore.
Keillor isn’t the only one to fall victim to the political poison, of course. Laura Ingraham has devoted a book, Shut Up and Sing, to the all-too-many artists who presume to political wisdom. And I’d like to give Keillor the benefit of the doubt. Now, at age 60, with 30 years of writing a two-hour radio show behind him, perhaps he’s just tired. I hope that’s all it is. “A Prairie Home Companion” hasn’t been very funny for quite a long time. Maybe it’s just time to quit.
Lawrence Henry writes every week from North Andover, Massachusetts.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (3) | Leave a comment
Related Articles
More Articles by Lawrence Henry
More Articles From Eminentoes
http://spectator.org/archives/2006/06/16/garrison-keillor-regrets
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Anothernorwegian| 7.23.09 @ 6:11PM
Am doing some research on Keillor and ran across this article. I'm familiar with the, yes, extremely mean comment he made about Coleman, and wondered at the time what was wrong with him. Well I'm about 20 years older than I was when I first read "Leaving Home" by Keillor.
My differences with Keillor (aside from his disgusting attack on Coleman) are probably well, different than yours. Here's the deal. I am also an American Norwegian, also raised in the Plymouth Brethren tradition. In his books he calls us the Sanctified Brethren, and because his relatives had a "home church" gathering, he was apparently not happy with this situation, he made good money on his books mocking not just the PB's, but in my opinion, God Himself. That would leave him little room to accuse anyone else of "selling their souls". I just re-read parts of his Lake Wobegon book, and the filthiness in it is extraordinary.
I was raised in the Detroit area, and there still are several PB assemblies in that area and across the river in Ontario. It isn't just that my experience with the "Brethren" was much more positive that Keillor's apparently was, but he massively mis-represents what this particular tradition is actually like. He is funny, but he was funny in a very mean way long before his meanness became apparent to others... apparently.
I doubt whether Keillor is even aware that Pastor Don Cole - who until recent ill health, answered questions on a Christian open forum (syndicated nationally) for years - is/was Plymouth Brethren who labored for years on the foreign mission field. Keillor never acknowledges, if he even knows, that people like Canadian Jon Dellandrea (google it, no time here) are/were Plymouth Brethren, or that one of the largest PB assemblies is in Littleton Colorado (Littleton Bible Chapel), or that one of the prolific PB writers (deceased) the brilliant William McDonald, gave up a Wall Street career to teach Bible students.
The thing about Gary is he never was honest and always was mean. But talented and funny will take you a ways, if you are not concerned about the condition of your soul.
Scott A Joseph, MD| 12.22.09 @ 5:12PM
Well, check out his Mel Gibson imitation in Salon recently.
But the man who knew Keillor best was the great Minnesota writer Michael J Nelson. Check out his "Deathrat," a great comic novel in which he skewers Keillor for being a pompus jerk.
Scott A Joseph, MD| 12.22.09 @ 5:13PM
Sorry, typo: "pompous jerk" is correct.