Running Off at the Keyboard

• I didn’t watch the political conventions … I don’t like infomercials.
• Suppose you were a politician, and suppose you make stuff up. Oh, wait! I repeat myself.
• When did journalism and fact checking get a divorce?  Even TV news is tabloidesque these days.
• Why do we need a 24-hour news cycle? What happened to the concept of “TMI”?
• Why don’t we hear politicians debating health reform as a moral issue? [OMG! I just used politicians and moral in the same sentence. My bad.]
• It’s morally acceptable to have 40+ million Americans going around without health insurance, right? After all, they can just go to the ER if they need treatment, right? That doesn’t cost me anything, right?
• Someone in Arizona, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, etc. please remind officials like Sheriff Joe Arpaio the meaning of xenophobia? [Did Emma Lazarus even know that word?]
• Will Rogers said, “The American people will forgive almost any weakness, with the possible exception of stupidity.” If he were around today, he might amend that statement.

 

• For example, “We will never have the elite, smart people on our side.” –Rick Santorum, to the “Values Voters” summit last weekend. 

          Oh my! Need I say more? 

• To see this guy on video, go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n5oa55EsmI.]
• How ‘bout we do this? We finish this election season then lock the lawmakers in the capitol building. Total news blackout, just like when labor negotiations get serious. All they’re allowed to do is roll up their sleeves and get to work. No C-Span. No news conferences. No press releases. In about 18 months we’ll check on how they’ve done and decide whether to renew their contracts. 

Your homework assignment for today: After you look up Emma Lazarus—hint: “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”—go to a dictionary and look up the meaning of mountebank. Use the name of any politician, and the words mountebank, gullible and voters in a sentence.

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