Truth or No Consequences

One of Donald  Trump’s regular talking points is what a lying press we have. Trump may be wrong on many things but this is not one of them. Just in the last seven days I encountered three bald-faced lies that really pissed me off.

Slate’s Trumpcast

I subscribe to a podcast by Slate called the Trumpcast. The entire mission of its host, Jacob Weisberg, is to discredit, mock and basically hate on Donald Trump. With that premise it might be foolish to fact check the show but one guest really irked me because I KNOW MY TV!!

The guest was Virginia Heffernan, a media critic with a good resume and a desire to lie about The Donald. She was on the Trumpcast to educate Weisberg and his listeners about Trump’s hit NBC show The Apprentice. Not only did she fail to accurately describe the show’s modus operandi, she called Trump’s “firing” decisions, more often than not, capricious and arbitrary. Ehhh … LIE, OUTRIGHT LIE! Before he became a birther, I watched Trump’s show religiously. In almost every case Trump eliminated one of the weakest contestants. The exceptions were usually stronger players who self sabotaged in the “board room”.

Of course, Weisberg lapped up the misrepresentation with glee. Ms. Heffernan also neglected to mention the season devoted to those who had been laid off in the bad economy or the fact that every season of Celebrity Apprentice raised gobs of money for charity. That wouldn’t comport with our image of Trump as heartless greedy asshole. (By the way, Weisberg actually hosted an episode dedicated to an “intellectual analysis” of whether Trump is an official asshole.)

The Rachel Maddow Show

In this case MSNBC darling Maddow either didn’t do her homework or simply lied. I suspect the latter.

She showed a video of Trump calling Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Pochahontas. She then claimed Trump was mocking Native Americans. Noooo, he was mocking fake Native Americans. Now, I don’t claim to know the truth of Warren’s heritage but I do know for years, the right has doubted her claim of being part Cherokee. Maddow knows this too but would rather leave the viewer with the impression Trump is just a bigot.

The Nicole Sandler Show

In this case, the host is not the perpetrator of the lie but the exposer. This lie is simple but pervasive. Almost every time the MSM tells us the delegate counts of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they include the number of superdelegates (folks wiser than mere mortals to keep us from picking the “wrong” candidate). Nicole points out one simple problem with this. The superdelegates haven’t voted yet!

They don’t vote until the convention. So every superdelegate count we see is an estimate. Of course the estimate is designed to propogate the myth of Hillary’s inevitability. This lie is so vile, even the corrupt DNC has asked the networks to stop doing it, to no avail.

Despite all his foolishness, Trump is owed a debt of gratitude for turning up our scrutiny of the “lyin’ press”.

What do you think? The bar is open.

Did This Go A Bit Too Far?

Last Wednesday night there was no hiding the joy of the MSNBC anchors at the total and utter failure of the Republican attempt to bring the country to its knees over Obamacare. Schultz had his usual swagger. Maddow took the usual analytical approach and had an index card for every “ransom” demand the Republicans made and lost, reading each one aloud and tossing it in the air with a “didn’t get that” and a grin on her face.

But for sheer over the top drama betraying a clear animosity for conservatives, the prize must go to Martin Bashir. Martin quoted Oliver Cromwell from his address dismissing Parliament in 1653. Martin said the words apply today. I could not find a link to an intact video of Bashir’s closing moment of his show but I did screen capture the text of Cromwell that Bashir read from in his best theatrical British accent.

It is really hard to gauge how one should react to this. I viewed the Republican shut-down tactic as plain stupid. It didn’t really inspire any animosity in me. So at first blush I found Martin’s dramatic recitation absolutely hilarious. But if we bother to take Bashir seriously, then we must conclude he has a real hatred for at least part of the Conservative movement.

In fact, if we look at the entire “drop dead” reaction of the left to the Ted Cruz inspired revolt, one must draw a much bigger conclusion. The days of liberals saying “I’m a lover, not a fighter” appear to be long gone. We have a government in which each side (with exceptions of course) truly hates the other. While the people of this great nation just want to get up in the morning and go to work, our government is engaged in a multi-level civil war — Democrats against Republicans and Old School Republicans against the Tea Party. The only thing we have not yet witnessed (unlike in other legislative bodies around the world) is an actual fist fight breaking out on the floor of the House. At his point, I wouldn’t rule that out in the not-so-distant future.

Respectfully,
Rutherford

Akin’s Comment Doesn’t Begin or End with Akin

Today I offer a quick shout-out to Missouri Representative Todd Akin for single-handedly exploding the Republican Party. For the uninitiated, Akin’s comments did not come out of the blue.

They are part of a long tradition of GOP medical gobbledygook regarding rape and pregnancy as detailed by Rachel Maddow.

For those who don’t want to sit through Rachel’s 20 minute presentation, here is a summary of Republicans being stupid:

James Leon Holmes — 1980 — Pregnancy from rape as frequent as snowfall in Miami.
Stephen Freind  — 1988 — Female secretions stop rape related pregnancies.
Clayton Williams — 1990 — Rape is like the weather, relax and enjoy it.
Henry Aldridge — 1995 — Juices don’t flow — it takes cooperation to get pregnant.
Fay Boozman — 1998 — Fear triggers hormonal changes that prevent pregnancy.

So Akin is another in a long line of GOP operatives spouting biological nonsense about rape. Akin is receiving enormous pressure to withdraw from his race against sitting Senator Claire McCaskill. If Republicans think Akin’s exit from the national stage will end the debate, they’ve got some more thinking to do. Akin’s brother in anti-abortion thought is none other than VP candidate Paul Ryan. Ryan and Akin co-sponsored HR3 (an abortion funding bill) that attempted, in its first draft, to refine the term rape to “forcible rape“. Sounds a bit like Akin’s “legitimate rape” doesn’t it? Despite the Romney campaign’s repudiation of Akin’s comment, Paul Ryan has Akin hanging around his neck and if Democrats are smart, that will remain the case regardless of Akin’s future.

While many women believe the life of the unborn takes top priority and forces the decision of whether or not to terminate a pregnancy, there is also a sizable number of women who want complete reproductive freedom, and at the very least, believe that rape and incest are valid reasons for an abortion. Any hopes the GOP might have had to bury Paul Ryan’s record on this subject have just blown up in their faces. Only pro-life absolutist women will stick with Romney/Ryan. The rest could be a lost cause for the ticket.

Respectfully,
Rutherford

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