You know, the ten minutes each day I think about the primitives on Skins's island--purely as an academic exercise in anthropology, remember--have been of late increasingly consumed by wonderment about the real motives of my fellow Nebraskan.
I'm already up to thinking about it seven out of those ten minutes each day, which means franksolich isn't able to pay much attention to all the other primitives eager to be an object of interest.
Anyway, when Omaha's Ed Norton first announced on Skins's island that he was running for the city council in Bellevue, Nebraska, I took his words at face value, having no reason to not believe him.
There's been scandals about expense accounts of Bellevue city employees in the news lately (at least it's news around here, but probably small potatoes elsewhere, especially in blue cities and blue states), and remember, Omaha Steve is always looking for a free ride.
At the time, one could almost see him saying to Marta, "You know, dear, if I ran for one public office and you ran for a second one, we'd get expense accounts.....meaning we could get a free ride to Star Trek conventions and stuff on the taxpayers' dime, if we coincided 'city business' with Trekkie meetings.
"We could fly all over the country, first-class airfare, five-star hotels, top eateries, for free."
So yeah, sure, my fellow Nebraskan's pledge to run for public office sounded credible at first.
However, it did seem odd--and rather counterproductive, against his own best interests--that Omaha's Ed Norton made the vow to run to the primitives on Skins's island. Being known for hanging around Skins's island is not conducive to winning elections, as history has demonstrated.
I never kept track, but can recall, vaguely, at least six primitives who ran for local or regional offices the past, oh, eight years maybe, and none of them ever won. Not even the one running for something in a deep blue city in deep blue Massachusetts. They were all done in by their reputations for being moonbats, and their association with Skins's island helped build those public reputations as moonbats.
I thought perhaps Omaha Steve isn't an especially bright bulb, if he overlooked this. After all, his situation is analogous to that of a white guy posting hate-messages on a Ku Klux Klan message board, and then turning around and running for public office in a majority-black area.
Not the wisest course of action, for someone whose values are anathema to the decent and civilized people of Bellevue.
When my fellow Nebraskan decided to run, if he were serious, he would've immediately.....and very quietly, without a word.....left Skins's island, and hope that during the intervening year, all memory of his existence as a primitive on Skins's island would fade away, and no one would connect the internet primitive with the real-life political candidate.
Well, I did some flip-flops about Omaha's Ed Norton's intelligence and common sense, and flopped back to where I don't think he's, really, especially unintelligent; that he was probably aware of the albatross his association with Skins's island would bring.....but just that he really didn't care.
I'm wondering if Omaha Steve doesn't care because he was never serious about running for office.
What I'm thinking now is this: if I recall correctly, he first aired his plans on Skins's island on a Sunday afternoon (the memory may be faulty, so don't take that for granted).
My fellow Nebraskan was probably sitting at home, in a good mood and jolly and all that, but at the same time felt a "need" for some attention, for some ego-petting.
Omaha's Ed Norton is notorious for being an impulsive person, doing things simply because at the moment, they make him feel "good."
So he wanted some attention, some ego-stroking, and decided he'd get it with some sort of bombastic announcement; which he did, the primitives oohing-and-aahing all over him that particular lazy afternoon.
This would be the same as if franksolich, if franksolich were an impulsive person craving attention, announced here in the DUmpster that he was running for county surveyor of Knox County, Nebraska.
People here would ooh-and-aah, slap me on the back, wish me luck, tell me what a great guy I am, what an asset I'd be to the people of Knox County, and even hint of the courageous, the daring, the adventure, of it.
I would get a couple hours of applause and platitudes, even though, as one can already reasonably assume, franksolich has no intention of running for county surveyor anywhere, any time.
But at least I'd get a short-term "lift" or "high" from all the praise heaped upon me.
And that's all my fellow Nebraskan wanted; some attention, some ego-stroking.
I don't think Omaha Steve was serious, I don't think he is serious. In fact, I suspect he's trying to find some way of weaseling out of his predicament. He made a promise that he never really intended to keep.
I think he needs to feel some pressure to keep his promise, and run.
