Last week’s
Republican Convention was a masterpiece of bumbling by a once-great party that
has been taken over by a “win at any cost” faction. While Clint Eastwood’s
feeble attempt at an attack on President Obama (while failing to mention that
he, Eastwood, is on record as pro-choice, believing that climate change is
human-influenced, and pro-marriage equality) got a lot of attention, it was VP
Candidate Paul Ryan’s speech that was the most egregious example of disregard
for the truth and for voters’ ability to tell truth from lies. In the words of
no less an authority than Fox News, “Ryan’s speech was an apparent attempt to
set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and
misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech.”
Counts of the lies
in Ryan’s speech vary, but it was not an isolated instance of lying in the
Romney/Ryan campaign. Ryan has also lied about or grossly exaggerated his
athletic accomplishments, and as recently as this weekend, Romney accused the President
of “throwing Israel under the bus,” despite the fact the both Israel’s
President and Defense Minister have praised Obama’s support for the Jewish
State and said that relations have never been better between the US and Israel.
In 1984, George
H.W. Bush made up a quote about Walter Mondale’s campaign that was both
damaging and untrue. Bush's press secretary said:
"You can say anything you want during a debate, and 80 million people hear
it"; when newspapers point out the lies, "So what?" he said.
"Maybe 200 people read it, or 2,000, or 20,000.'' Clearly this cynical
disregard for the truth has become part and parcel of the GOP’s campaign
strategy. In the words of W.C. Fields, "If you can't
dazzle them with brilliance, baffle
them with b******t."
To be fair, a
Politifact analysis of the two campaigns so far has rated 28% of Democratic campaign
material as untrue to at least a degree, as against 46% for the GOP, and I don’t
mean to condone only Republican lying, though a good deal more of the GOP side
seems to lean toward outright falsehoods, vs. exaggerations or misstatements.
When did
outright lying become acceptable in American politics, and what does it say
about our putative leaders’ respect for those whose votes they are pursuing? And
what does it say about us as voters that we are willing to excuse, condone, or
even accept lies as true even when they are proved otherwise? I’m not talking
here about the lunatic fringe that still believes the President is an alien or
a Muslim – I mean otherwise intelligent people who believe and spread stories without
bothering to check them or even after they’ve been checked and proved untrue.
I received
from a friend last week a photo purporting to be of Michelle Obama and her
daughters at the London Olympics, with the two girls wrapped in South African
flags. The accompanying email read “Michelle & the girls at the Olympics.
Gee thanks for supporting the United States, their country. What a bunch of
losers. See your tax dollars at work!!! How patriotic! The Obamas display their
colors at the Olympics…Really? South Africa? Gee, ladies, thanks for your
support!”
In fact, the
picture was taken a year ago when the First Lady, her daughters, and others in
her family made an official visit to Africa in June, 2011, to “focus on youth
leadership, education, health, and wellness.” The photo was taken when the
group landed in Pretoria, South Africa, and the girls were presented with
blankets in the South African colors by a group of children as a welcome gift.
June is mid-winter in South Africa, and having just returned from there I can
tell you it gets chilly – it was about 51 degrees that day and the girls
wrapped themselves in the blankets to keep warm.
This photo is
now circulating as further “proof” of the Obamas’ other-ness and is a blatant
lie designed as a dog-whistle to racism.
At what
point, I wonder, will we as the voting public say “enough” to both parties?
Come on, people, run on the substantive issues, run on your real record, and
stop trying to lie your way into office. Who cares if Paul Ryan ran a marathon in 3 hours or 4?
Mr. Ryan, is that something you want to stake your integrity on? President
Obama did NOT remove work requirements from welfare – Mr. Romney, is it worth
your pandering to the anti-poor people vote to run on that lie? Obamacare is
Romneycare – do you really want to disown a program that has worked and helped
millions in Massachusetts just to court the ultra-right?
I don’t know about you, but
for me integrity and respect in the leader of America and the world as do
policy and leadership. I will proudly vote for President Obama and most
Democrats, not because they are perfectly honest, but because they have shown
far more respect for the truth and for my ability to discern lies from honesty
than has the GOP and Romney.
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