26 | January | 2012 | Existential Ennui

Tags

Chris Christie, Election 2012, fact-checking, gay rights, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Saul Alinsky, wacko right

Geesh, you guys should’a shut me up. You know I can talk on forever.

It doesn’t seem that I missed a lot. Same o’ same o’ as they say. The Mitt/Not Mitt heavyweight champeenship is still underway. It’s a slugfest.

Mitt has grown a pair of sorts by the last debate, but it’s still unclear whether he can sustain it. It’s a bit like a kid who finally lands a haymaker on the neighborhood bully, but then starts to shake himself silly when he gets into his bedroom and realizes, “whoa, now I’ve gone and done it.”

The Newt (I rewrite history EVERY day, let me do it for you) Gingrich is busy shorin’ up the breaches in the wall, pluggin’ the holes, and all-around changing the facts to suit his new best friends–old Floridians.

In the last debate it seems that Mittens landed a few. Newt, while not bloodied, was knocked back on his heels a bit. Of course, he’s blamed everything on the MSM. He moans to Fox Noise that he “probably should have complained when Bryan Williams asked the audience to withhold their applause during the debate so that more questions and responses could occur.” Such orders, Newt says, are “undemocratic” and suppress free speech.

Except that according to Chuck Todd of NBC, that statement has been made at EVERY debate by EVERY moderator. It just so happens that this crowd decided to actually listen rather than support “their candidate.” Newt undoubtedly does play off the audience well, and didn’t get that opportunity and so seeks to deflect blame somewhere else. (Part of the GOP mantra is always to blame somebody else, what’s new?)

One of the things that Republicans don’t like is protection of minorities (other than themselves of course). That’s why they don’t like programs that insure basic services to the poor. They would never agree that government’s basic duty is to ensure that every citizen has the basics of food, clothing, housing, education, health care, and a decent job. If you want people to be creative and bring forth their natural innovative spirit, why it seems to me, you have to get past struggling to eat each day. But the GOP thinks that the fit survive, and the rest, well, it would be most convenient if all of them could be housed in say North Dakota, where they could be put to some useful work, such as making license plates.

Why Chris Christie thinks voting is the way to get things changed. Majorities rule, and according to him, the civil rights movement was a waste of time; we should just have voted on it. No need to do all that messy marching and stuff. Which is all to say, he intends to veto any legislative passed marriage equality bill passed in his state. That’s the way to be “non-committal Chris, when you wanna run for the big house.

You can’t make this stuff up. As we struggle to re-invigorate an economy, Newty has just the ticket–a permanent settlement on the moon. Oh I forgot, Newt is campaigning in Florida. My bad. But I do have a suggestion for who might be its first permanent resident.

A blog you might check out is The Christian Left. I know, shocking to imagine such a thing, but we are out there! And they have a very good post on “the twenty most dangerous conservatives and their organizations”. I urge you to check it out. (h/t to The Fifth Column)

Oh, and did I mention that the above mentioned Fifth Column is a worthy blog? Yes, I know, too many blogs, not enough time, but it’s just ONE more, really.

I rely on websites like Politfacts to help me sort through the various statements made by politicians. It seems that I must learn to be more careful. There is a short, but informative article by Paul Krugman as to why Politfacts has been suspect as of late. It’s just not reporting the fact’s ma’am. And that is unfortunate. This is not the first time I’ve come across disputes about their accuracy unfortunately.

Which brings me to the point. Is it just me or was there a time when a politician being caught in a bold-faced lie would herald the end of a campaign? Today, it doesn’t even stop them from repeating it. In fact, they assume it’s hurting so they continue with vigor. I lay it down to the utter contempt politicians, in the main, have for the average citizen. They assume we wouldn’t know any better anyway, and that most of us won’t even hear of the truth. Cynical? Yes, but I am guilty of just that: cynicism.

Move over George Soros and Van Jones, there is a new villain in town: Saul Alinsky. Newty can’t stop from talking about him. He’s one of those dangerous and possibly commie community organizers. So I guess it is helpful to learn a bit about him. Wikipedia is always a good start to get a general look. So do so, if you are interested. By-the-by, those in the know, suggest that Newt is using the Alinsky playbook to the hilt, which is irony, which is lost on Newt, or would be explained away by Newt, but just saying everyone is wrong.

I’ll leave you with a his response as to whether he ever considered joining the Communist Party:

“Not at any time. I’ve never joined any organization—not even the ones I’ve organized myself. I prize my own independence too much. And philosophically, I could never accept any rigid dogma or ideology, whether it’s Christianity or Marxism. One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as ‘that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you’re right.’ If you don’t have that, if you think you’ve got an inside track to absolute truth, you become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated. The greatest crimes in history have been perpetrated by such religious and political and racial fanatics, from the persecutions of the Inquisition on down to Communist purges and Nazi genocide.”

What’s on the Stove? Wild and Wacky Taco Soup! That recipe will be up in a couple of days.