What Pres. Lincoln should have said was, "You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, and that's good enough to win an election." Neither candidate for the highest office in the land has mentioned who would be on their respective cabinets, who would play for all the swell programs they are promising, or how soon we would see "change." Rather we have "deuling lipstick" comments! I try to keep a stiff upper lip on my European trips, but it is getting harder and harder to explain what we are doing over here.
Once upon a time, you could remake your image and get away with it. Now, we have everything on tape and can replay it at a moment's notice. Unfortunately, we are not only lazy, but ignorant. [Why else would all those emails from "former Finance Ministers of Nigeria" and the such scam us?] The other night Jon Stewart (Daily Show) played the acceptance speeches of Mr. Bush at the 2000 GOP convention and Sen. McCain's this year. If some of the contestants on "America's Got Talent" could be that synched, they could win. But, like a lot of seniors, what America's Got is not talent, but short-term memory. If we actually took the time to watch earlier speeches by politicians, we would see thay all pretty much "flip-flop." It's just that the first to shout "flip-flopper" wins the propaganda war.
While Congress has a 14% approival rating, over 90% of the incumbants will be re-elected. Telling the truth will get you ousted. Remember Jimmy Carter saying we have an energy crisis and we're addicted to oil? Threw the bum out, didn't we? How do you like $4/gal gas, hmmmm? If any of the people in Congress actually laid out the problems, we'd throw them out, too. We don't want to hear that we're pampered (give up our SUVs or air conditioning just to save the world...hah!) or use too many resources (why fix something when you can throw it out and get a new one?). Since people are voting against their financial interests, there must be a reason. Maybe fear has something to do with it.
Obama made the mistake of exposing the GOP plan: raise tensions so the masses will cling to their religion and guns! When we are convinced that the "bad guys" are coming to kill us, we attend church (or synagogue or whatever) and stockpile arms. [Within minutes of John Kerry announcing his VP candidate, Homeland Security raised the color warning. No reason other than to re-focus the public on being afraid, I fear.] I seem to remember that the safest place to be was in Red Square in Moscow during the Cold War. You would never be bothered by a petty thief or mugger. All freedoms were taken away for absolute security...the KGB would protect you for that little price. So now, the Homeland Security bill allows wiretapping without warrent, the gov. can ask what books you read, hold you forever "on suspicion", etc. All in the name of security, we have our freedoms taken away. Why? So we can protect our freedoms, of course!
Try putting lipstick on that pig!
