A Club of Liars, Demagogues and Ignoramuses

[mpohl 1]

A Club of Liars, Demagogues and Ignoramuses

A Commentary by Marc Pitzke

The US Republican race is dominated by ignorance, lies and scandals. The current crop of candidates have shown such a basic lack of knowledge that they make George W. Bush look like Einstein. The Grand Old Party is ruining the entire country's reputation.

Africa is a country. In Libya, the Taliban reigns. Muslims are terrorists; most immigrants are criminal; all Occupy protesters are dirty. And women who feel sexually harassed -- well, they shouldn't make such a big deal about it.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the US Republicans. Or rather, to the twisted world of what they call their presidential campaigns. For months now, they've been traipsing around the country with their traveling circus, from one debate to the next, one scandal to another, putting themselves forward for what's still the most powerful job in the world.

As it turns out, there are no limits to how far they will stoop.

It's true that on the road to the White House all sorts of things can happen, and usually do. No campaign can avoid its share of slip-ups, blunders and embarrassments. Yet this time around, it's just not that funny anymore. In fact, it's utterly horrifying.

It's horrifying because these eight so-called, would-be candidates are eagerly ruining not only their own reputations and that of their party, the party of Lincoln lore. Worse: They're ruining the reputation of the United States.

'Freakshow'

They lie. They cheat. They exaggerate. They bluster. They say one idiotic, ignorant, outrageous thing after another. They've shown such stark lack of knowledge -- political, economic, geographic, historical -- that they make George W. Bush look like Einstein and even cause their fellow Republicans to cringe.

"When did the GOP lose touch with reality?" wonders Bush's former speechwriter David Frum in New York Magazine. In the New York Times, Kenneth Duberstein, Ronald Reagan's former chief-of-staff, called this campaign season a "reality show," while Wall Street Journal columnist and former Reagan confidante Peggy Noonan even spoke of a "freakshow."

That may be the most appropriate description.

Tough times demand tough and smart minds. But all these dopes have to offer are ramblings that insult the intelligence of all Americans -- no matter if they are Democrats, Republicans or neither of the above. Yet just like any freakshow, this one would be unthinkable without a stage (in this case, the media, strangling itself with all its misunderstood "political correctness" and "objectivity") and an audience (the party base, which this year seems to have suffered a political lobotomy).

Factually Challenged

And so the farce continues. The more mind-boggling its incarnations, the happier the US media are to cheer first one clown and then the next, elevating and then eliminating "frontrunners" in reliable news cycles of about 45 days.

Take Herman Cain, "businessman." He sat out the first wave of sexual harassment claims against him by offering a peculiar argument: Most ladies he had encountered in his life, he said, had not complained.

In the most recent twist, a woman accused Cain of having carried on a 13-year affair with her. That, too, he tried to casually wave off, but now, under pressure, he says he wants to "reassess" his campaign.

If Cain indeed drops out, the campaign would lose its biggest caricature: He has been the most factually challenged of all these jesters.

As CEO of the "Godfather's" pizza chain, Cain killed jobs -- but now poses as the job-creator-in-chief. Meanwhile, he seems to lack basic economic know-how, let alone a rudimentary grasp of politics or geography. Libya confounds him. He does not believe that China is a nuclear power. And all other, slightly more complicated questions get a stock answer: "Nine-nine-nine!" Remember? That's Cain's tax reduction plan that would actually raise taxes for 84 percent of Americans.

Has any of that disrupted Cain's popularity in the media or with his fan base? Far from it. Since Oct. 1, he has collected more than $9 million in campaign donations. Enough to plow through another onslaught of denouements.

No Shortage of Chutzpah

Then there's Newt Gingrich, the current favorite. He's a political dinosaur, dishonored and discredited. Or so we thought. Yet just because he studied history and speaks in more complex sentences than his rivals, the US media now reflexively hails him as a "Man of Ideas" (The Washington Post) -- even though most of these ideas are lousy if not downright offensive, such as firing unionized school janitors, so poor children could do their jobs.

Pompous and blustering, Gingrich gets away with this humdinger as well as with selling himself as a Washington outsider -- despite having made millions of dollars as a lobbyist in Washington. At least the man's got chutzpah.

The hypocrisy doesn't end here. Gingrich claims moral authority on issues such as the "sanctity of marriage," yet he's been divorced twice. He sprang the divorce on his first wife while she was sick with cancer. (His supporters' excuse: It's been 31 years, and she's still alive.) He cheated on his second wife just as he was pressing ahead with Bill Clinton's impeachment during the Monica Lewinsky affair, unaware of the irony. The woman he cheated with, by the way, was one of his House aides and 23 years his junior -- and is now his perpetually smiling third wife.

Americans have a short memory. They forget, too, that Gingrich was driven out of Congress in disgrace, the first speaker of the house to be disciplined for ethical wrongdoing. Or that he consistently flirts with racism when he speaks of Barack Obama. Or that he enjoyed a $500,000 credit line at Tiffany's just as his campaign was financially in the toilet and he ranted about the national debt. Chutzpah, indeed.

Yet the US media rewards him with a daily kowtow. And the Republicans reward him too, by having put him on top in the latest polls. Mr. Hypocrisy, the bearer of his party's hope.

"I think he's doing well just because he's thinking," former President Clinton told the conservative online magazine NewsMax. "People are hungry for ideas that make some sense." Sense? Apparently it's not just the Republicans who have lost their minds here.

The Eternal Runner-Up

And what about the other candidates? Rick Perry's blunders are legendary. His "oops" moment in South Carolina. His frequently slurred speech, as if he was drunk. His TV commercials putting words in Obama's mouth that he didn't say (such as, "Americans are 'lazy'"). His preposterous claim that as governor of Texas he created 1 million jobs, when the total was really just about 100,000. But what's one digit? Elsewhere, Perry would have long ago been disqualified. But not here in the US.

Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann has fallen off the wagon, although she's still tolerated as if she's a serious contender. Ron Paul's fan club gets the more excited, the more puzzling his comments get. Jon Huntsman, the only one who occasionally makes some sort of sense, has been relegated to the poll doldrums ever since he showed sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators.

Which leaves Mitt Romney, the eternal flip-flopper and runner-up, who by now is almost guaranteed to clinch the nomination, even though no one in his party seems to like or want him. He stiffly delivers his talking points, which may or may not contradict his previous positions. After all, he's been practicing this since 2008, when he failed to snag the nomination from John McCain. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

As an investor, Romney once raked in millions and, like Cain, killed jobs along the way. So now he says he's the economy's savior. To prove that, he has presented an economic plan that the usually quite conservative business magazine Forbes has labeled "dangerous," asking incredulously, "About Mitt Romney, the Republicans can't be serious." Apparently they're not, but he is, running TV spots against Obama already, teeming with falsehoods.

Good for Ratings

What a nice club that is. A club of liars, cheaters, adulterers, exaggerators, hypocrites and ignoramuses. "A starting point for a chronicle of American decline," was how David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker, described the current Republican race.

The Tea Party would take issue with that assessment. They cheer the loudest for the worst, only to see them fail, as expected, one by one. Which goes to show that this "movement," sponsored by Fox News, has never been interested in the actual business of governing or in the intelligence and intellect that requires. They are only interested in marketing themselves, for ratings and dollars.

So the US elections are a reality show after all, a pseudo-political counterpart to the Paris Hiltons, Kim Kardashians and all the "American Idol" and "X Factor" contestants littering today's TV. The cruder, the dumber, the more bizarre and outlandish -- the more lucrative. Especially for Fox News, whose viewers were recently determined by Fairleigh Dickinson University to be far less informed than people who don't watch TV news at all.

Maybe that's the solution: Just ignore it all, until election day. Good luck with that -- this docudrama with its soap-opera twists is way too enthralling. The latest rumor du jour involves a certain candidate who long ago seemed to have disappeared from the radar. Now she may be back, or so it is said, to bring order into this chaos. Never mind that her name is synonymous with chaos: Sarah Palin.


URL:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,800850,00.html

[kelpdiver 2]

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Says a German writing for a German pseudo-newspaper.

And we should care because?

because virtually every sentence written is objectively correct?

[rehmwa 2]

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Quote

Says a German writing for a German pseudo-newspaper.

And we should care because?

because virtually every sentence written is objectively correct?

clearly super objective and balanced - straight from the 'everyone on side A is pure evil and everyone on side B is pure good' pile of cliches

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[billvon 3,072]

>The US Republican race is dominated by ignorance, lies and scandals.

As would the democratic side, if there were a race there this year.

[mpohl 1]

EXACTLY!

And that's why this country is going down the drain in a heart beat. Facts don't matter! Truth doesn't matter! But the US still insists on "educating" the whole world about right from wrong!!!

And their presidential candidates can't even get the country of Africa right!

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>The US Republican race is dominated by ignorance, lies and scandals.

As would the democratic side, if there were a race there this year.

[mpohl 1]

You should care because that's really how the rest of the world perceives the US, American politics, and Americans!

And you should especially listen if it comes from the most successful export, economically competitive (!), nation, in the world! After all, isn't everything in the US about competition? And not about "us" any more?

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Says a German writing for a German pseudo-newspaper.

And we should care because?

Pffft. Weak.

[kelpdiver 2]

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clearly super objective and balanced - straight from the 'everyone on side A is pure evil and everyone on side B is pure good' pile of cliches

I didn't see it make any reference to the Donkeys in the column. Might want to see if the authored penned something back in 2007.

[kelpdiver 2]

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And their presidential candidates can't even get the country of Africa right!

This was actually the only line I noted that was skirting with the truth. It was a bit of a reach to conclude that Bachmann was saying Africa was a country. An unnecessary stretch given the rest of the things she was saying at the time.

[billvon 3,072]

>And that's why this country is going down the drain in a heart beat. Facts don't
>matter! Truth doesn't matter!

It matters - but it doesn't sell.

>You should care because that's really how the rest of the world perceives the US,
>American politics, and Americans!

Yep. Of course Europeans are no better. Sure, we have some crooked politicians - but nothing that comes close to a Berlusconi. Our economy is a mess, but we're better off than Greece. We have lots of womanizing politicians but France puts us to shame.

Which is to say - politicians are pretty much the same all over the world.

[mpohl 1]

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>And that's why this country is going down the drain in a heart beat. Facts don't
>matter! Truth doesn't matter!

It matters - but it doesn't sell.

*** SAD! SAD! SAD! A society like that is rotten from within!

>You should care because that's really how the rest of the world perceives the US,
>American politics, and Americans!

Yep. Of course Europeans are no better. Sure, we have some crooked politicians - but nothing that comes close to a Berlusconi. Our economy is a mess, but we're better off than Greece. We have lots of womanizing politicians but France puts us to shame.

** I don't care with who, with how many wives and mistresses our elected officials copulate in the bedroom. Joschka Fischer is on his fourth wife, our ex-chancellor also had four. And I had more girlfriends than that! Results are what count. And that's why Berlusconi is a persona non gratia**

Which is to say - politicians are pretty much the same all over the world.

[doorgirl 0]

This might be considered objective if the author mentioned why he puts Ron Paul in the same category as the rest of these jokers. With no mention of why he believes that Ron Paul is a liar, demagogue or ignoramus I can only assume that since he is none of these things the author could only ignore him and hope he goes away.

If you are fed up with the status quo we see here and in Europe, Ron Paul is the only viable choice for President. He scares a lot of the power brokers and media types because he doesn't play their game, so they try to shut him down or ignore him. Unless you actually like what these power brokers and mass media are doing to the world, it is time to look seriously at Ron Paul.

[sundevil777 102]

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Or that he consistently flirts with racism when he speaks of Barack Obama. Or that he enjoyed a $500,000 credit line at Tiffany's just as his campaign was financially in the toilet and he ranted about the national debt. Chutzpah, indeed.

What "flirting with racism"? Probably just assuming if you don't like Obama then it must be because of race.

Why does it matter what he does with his own money at Tiffany? If he spent it on a McLaren F1 or a sailboat or a plane or a trip to Italy with a huge entourage like the Obama family did would that be any better? It is his money, and has nothing to do with the national debt.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[Andy9o8 2]

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What "flirting with racism"? Probably just assuming if you don't like Obama then it must be because of race.

No, it stems from Gingrich's calling Obama a "food stamp president". Of course it was thinly-veiled "code", intended to tap into the same racist feelings that, for (one) example, the repeated use of Obama's middle name "Hussein" during the 2008 campaign was intended to tap into.

As for the crocodile tear-laced, intelligence-insulting denials and diversions predictably put out by Gingrich and those who would rally to defend him on that point, well, they can all just go fuck themselves.

Here's your card, boys.

[mnealtx 0]

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What "flirting with racism"? Probably just assuming if you don't like Obama then it must be because of race.

No, it stems from Gingrich's calling Obama a "food stamp president". Of course it was thinly-veiled "code", intended to tap into the same racist feelings that, for (one) example, the repeated use of Obama's middle name "Hussein" during the 2008 campaign was intended to tap into.

As for the crocodile tear-laced, intelligence-insulting denials and diversions predictably put out by Gingrich and those who would rally to defend him on that point, well, they can all just go fuck themselves.

Here's your card, boys.

Project much?

Keep the card for yourself... you obviously need it what with all those 'code' words you see.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Andy9o8 2]

Ah. I quote directly from my post #16.

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As for the crocodile tear-laced, intelligence-insulting denials and diversions predictably put out by Gingrich and those who would rally to defend him on that point, well, they can all just go fuck themselves.

[Belgian_Draft 0]

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EXACTLY!

And that's why this country is going down the drain in a heart beat. Facts don't matter! Truth doesn't matter! But the US still insists on "educating" the whole world about right from wrong!!!

And their presidential candidates can't even get the country of Africa right!

Quote

>The US Republican race is dominated by ignorance, lies and scandals.

As would the democratic side, if there were a race there this year.

Have you informed the continent of Africa that it has been downgraded to a country? They may like to know.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[mnealtx 0]

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Ah. I quote directly from my post #16.

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As for the crocodile tear-laced, intelligence-insulting denials and diversions predictably put out by Gingrich and those who would rally to defend him on that point, well, they can all just go fuck themselves.

FDA food stamp stats:
2008: 28.2 million on food stamps
2009: 33.5 million
2010: 40.3 million

As for the crocodile tear-laced, intelligence-insulting accusations of racism and diversions predictably put out by Obama and those who would rally to defend him on that point, well, they can all just go fuck themselves...in spades.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[sundevil777 102]

He is a food stamp president. Lots (or even more, if I remember correctly) of those classified as living in poverty are white compared to black.

Even supporters of the pres used his middle name. He could have had it changed if he didn't like it.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[sundevil777 102]

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Quote

Quote

What "flirting with racism"? Probably just assuming if you don't like Obama then it must be because of race.

No, it stems from Gingrich's calling Obama a "food stamp president". Of course it was thinly-veiled "code", intended to tap into the same racist feelings that, for (one) example, the repeated use of Obama's middle name "Hussein" during the 2008 campaign was intended to tap into.

As for the crocodile tear-laced, intelligence-insulting denials and diversions predictably put out by Gingrich and those who would rally to defend him on that point, well, they can all just go fuck themselves.

Here's your card, boys.

Project much?

Keep the card for yourself... you obviously need it what with all those 'code' words you see.

Quite right!

It is interesting that he put himself in the role of passing out the race card. Having a plentiful supply on hand is a good idea when they are used so freely.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[kallend 2,106]

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>. We have lots of womanizing politicians but France puts us to shame.

.

Womanizing is bad?

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[billvon 3,072]

>Womanizing is bad?

It shouldn't be. I mean, heck, if Cain had gotten up there and said "hell yes I slept with all those women; they couldn't keep their hands off that black walnut" he might even be leading this race!

[ryoder 1,590]

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This might be considered objective if the author mentioned why he puts Ron Paul in the same category as the rest of these jokers. With no mention of why he believes that Ron Paul is a liar, demagogue or ignoramus I can only assume that since he is none of these things the author could only ignore him and hope he goes away.

If you are fed up with the status quo we see here and in Europe, Ron Paul is the only viable choice for President. He scares a lot of the power brokers and media types because he doesn't play their game, so they try to shut him down or ignore him. Unless you actually like what these power brokers and mass media are doing to the world, it is time to look seriously at Ron Paul.

Agreed. But he says what he really thinks, instead of what he believes people want to hear. That is a fatal character flaw in the 'Merkun political morass.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[kelpdiver 2]

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Agreed. But he says what he really thinks, instead of what he believes people want to hear. That is a fatal character flaw in the 'Merkun political morass.

well, that, and as is common to Libertarians, he often ignores practical reality in how some of his notions would be implemented (like health care reform). It's easy to be uncompromising and consistent when it's just a talking point rather than actual policy.

Just compare Obama's plan in 2008 to what he actually did. And I'm referring to choices he made, not choices that were forced by Congress. He ended up continuing many of the Bush policies he derided - it wasn't so black and white when he was now responsible.

So it is quite fair to ask - is Paul actually capable of being in command, or is he better suited as the philosopher for his party (one that really isn't listening anymore). It's a pity how the Tea Party quickly disintigrated...it could have lead the GOP back to its roots and given us a real choice in the election, rather than be the circus of 2011. Is it already dead? Irrelevant?

[billvon 3,072]

>So it is quite fair to ask - is Paul actually capable of being in command, or is he
>better suited as the philosopher for his party (one that really isn't listening anymore).

He's far better suited as a philosopher that need not concern himself with the practical implementations of his philosophy.

That being said, I still think it would be worthwhile to have him as a US President. The country would become even more dysfunctional than it is now, and we'd end up with a mess that would take decades to clean up. But out of that might come a few nuggets of libertarianism (tempered with common sense and experience) that could help us all in the long run.

[billvon 3,072]

Both of you cut it out.