Sunday, October 26, 2008

The McCain Mutiny Court Martial

Now that the GOPS are deserting the sinking ship (of state, or, rather, John McShame's run for the White House), one is reminded of the play and movie, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial.. In that story, the chief antagonist ship captain, Queeg, is depicted as lording over a U.S. Navy vessel much in the way the movies have portrayed Captain William Bligh, whose mean-spirited dictates prompted the rebellion aboard the H.M.S. Bounty.

In The Caine Mutiny, Queeg is depicted as going bonkers over who swiped the last servings of fresh strawberries. We soon gather that the man is a service-scarred schizoid with paranoid delusions. When Humphrey Bogart played Queeg in the film version, he used a facial tic and a compulsive habit of squirreling a couple of ball bearings in his palm while he testified at the resulting court martial of the officers who took command of the Caine.

Earlier, I posted a comment saying that the only thing lacking in the Queeg = McShame equation was ball bearings. I now see that I am at least only part incorrect. On Meet the Press today, McShame responded to some tough questions by Tom Brokaw by rolling over and over in his fingers a pen he might have needed for a debate. But this was not a debate; hence, why the writing instrument? Clearly, the pen is McShame/Queeg's set of ball bearings.

It was simply pathetic to sit and listen to his stuttering, illogical, non-sequitrous responses. One heard a desperate man, claiming, for example, that he disagrees with the polls. Duh! What are polls but public expressions of opinion. In effect, McShame disagrees with the public. He claims that it will be a long night November 4th. I don't think so. I think it will all be over by 11 p.m. Eastern. Meanwhile, check out the Great Bogart as Queeg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9KlQPX1qiE