A White Lie and a Pedagogical Lesson; Wherein the Shit Hits the Fan

4 March 2008:

Texas TRS bloggers do the Two-Step. They cast their primary votes during the day and return to their polling station later that evening to caucus.

5 March 2008:

TRS bloggers share their experiences: M reports that her experience was anti-climatic and criticizes the entire process as anti-democratic; I admit that my caucus was anything but sexy, Harrogate claims that his experience was boring, although his retelling of the story suggest otherwise, as he found himself "in the middle of things"; and Paperweight reveals that his caucus was "a waste of FUCKING time" [emphasis his].

Following these less-than-stellar reviews of the Texas caucus, Megs reminds Situationers that their suffering was worthwhile and calls for a joint ticket. Solon quickly offers arguments against a joint ticket.

Meanwhile...

Harrogate, Sarah, and I convene in Harrogate's office. We further discuss the caucus. Even though our experiences fell short of expectation, Harrogate notes that Solon probably wishes that he was still in Texas so that he could caucus. The reason: the idea of deliberative democracy in action makes him "cream his jeans." Sarah and I laugh at this expression, as neither of us have heard it since middle school. Admid our laughter over creamed jeans, a very bad idea emerged: let's fool Solon. Yes, let's see how excited he gets knowing that one of us is a delegate. With hesitation, Sarah consents. I sit in the corner, still laughing over the expression.

Sarah makes the fateful statement in the comments section of Megs's post:

I just wanted to let you all know that I hung around for the end of the caucus and was chosen as a delegate.

Four minutes later, Solon replies:

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO jealous...

But the conspiracy was short-lived, for Sarah could not live with the lie. She could not continue to toy with Solon's emotions, and so she revealed the entire plot on TRS.

Harrogate back-pedals and claims that the conspiracy against Solon was a pedagogical lesson designed to show "what voters in Florida and Michigan must have felt, on learning that they would not, in fact, get to have a say [in the democratic primary], because of sealed agreements made by removed forces." He then quickly changed the topic back to the joint ticket. But, alas, it was to late. Things were headed downhill. Quickly.

Solon is obviously hurt, as he does not respond for some time.

But Megs fights the good fight, closing the day with a post that identifies "an actual delegate." Stab. Ouch.

6 March 2008:

Harrogate begins the day with a post on the "Michigan and Florida Clusterfuck." Solon replies to said post, addressing Harrogate with a new epithet, "Oh Wise Harrogate, supporter of Senator Clinton and, hence, possessor of the truth; teacher of pedagogical lessons." Much like Romney after Huckabee's win in West Virginia, it seems that Solon is pissed.

The aggression against Harrogate continues. And he feels it. He calls Oxymoron, upset that the seemingly innocent "delegate" joke has backfired and made things very, very bad.

Then Paperweight fuels the fire, publishing a post that asks Obama supporters to tell him why he, like many of them, should hate Clinton. I try to neutralize some of the antagonism in the post--and some of the tension on TRS, in general--by commenting on his use of "fucking" throughout his post. But my efforts fall short, as Megs feels that she and Solon are being attacked by PW. More fun ensues.

Eventually, M calls for everyone to take a breather, to focus our energy towards our dissertations. She is more successful in this attempt to steer us away from heated political discussion than in her previous attempt.

Things come full circle when Megs asks Reverend Todd to comment on the current issues being discussed the Rhetorical Situation. I inform Megs that the Good Reverend hasn't been following our discussions because he is busy studying his delegate's packet. Ha!