Forgive me. I thought we were a nation that cared about truth. Forgive us. For we are a nation of idiots. I suspect this statement won't enhance my chances for victory if I were to decide to run for public office. On the other hand, the evidence is overwhelming---we ARE a nation of idiots. How else can any rational person explain that a majority of our citizenry accept without question the ridiculous mean-spirited lies the Republican spin machine cranks out?
Have you heard about the new book "Obama Nation"? A Karl Rove-ish Swift Boat redux. The New Republicanism cares only about results and cares nothing about process. The New Republicanism, as a core value, believes that it is justified in telling lies about exceptional citizens, who happen to be Democrats running for executive office. Why? Well, for one thing, they can get away with it. They know that most Americans are not critical thinkers. Collectively, we are dumb and lazy, willing to believe whatever toxic lies the Republican Rovers spew in our general direction.
For another, it gets results! Witness the re-election of W in 2004. W's performance as our president from 2001 to 2004 will go down in history as a disaster, yet our nation of idiots re-elected him. And for us to re-elect W in 2004 proves, once again, they we as a nation are gullible and foolish. Of course, there is also the possibility that both elections were rigged, Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.
What amazes me most, though, is the hypocrisy. The Republican's are attempting to marginalize Barack claiming he is an elitist. Let's see, Obama grew up in a household with a single parent, excelled at academics and athletics, and lacked any of the privileges one normally associates with elitists.
McCain, on the other hand, was the son of an admiral and the grandson of an admiral. He didn't deserve to get into the US Naval Academy but strings were pulled and it happened. Never an exceptional student, McCain's chief to notoriety seemed to lie in his ability to survive as a POW in Vietnam. I'm sure this was a miserable time for him, but is the ability to not die while being fed crappy food by Communists really something that qualifies someone to be the Leader of the Free World?
So who's the elitist? Let's not forget that McCain's wife is mega-rich, if not a billionaire, she's close. And despite all this, McCain is asking for Americans to vote for him because Obama, not McCain, is an elitist.
By now, everyone has seen McCain's add comparing Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. This stretch of reasoning is priceless. I think it goes like this: because Barack has become famous, he is like Spears and Hilton. Since Spears and Hilton are dumb, lame celebrities, Barack must be a dumb, lame celebrity. That's called a syllogism. Our nation of idiots doesn't know much about these and falls for the trap. Shame on us. Funny how the person many Republicans say was our greatest president, Ronald Reagan, was a celebrity, and in spite of this disqualifying attribute ("Bedtime for Bonzo"), not to mention his dementia, he managed to do a bang up job as president.
Barack's celebrity world-wide seems to derive from the sense of hope he inspires. Nobody since JFK has inspired hope at home and abroad. The Republicans realize that they can't inspire hope. The stock-in-trade of the Republican Party has been reduced to lies and fear-mongering. Shame on us, the nation of idiots, that this seems to work so well.
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