Donald Trump's Chinese Toy

I just watched Margaret Brennan's interview on Face The Nation with Attorney General (emphasis on "general") Barr and I am still shaking my head. The man continued to give a version of this past week's happenings that even cell phone videos cannot justify. This would have worked in the 1960's, but not today. Thank you technology!

"To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle."

George Orwell

I have come to the conclusion that questioning, reporting on, quoting, or opposing this president and his administration is an attempt in futility. One would have better luck trying to grow corn in a field of quicksand. Donald Trump and his minions can produce a falsehood as easily

 and thoughtlessly as you and I produce carbon dioxide.

It's more like that little 

Chinese finger trap we played with as kids: Put your fingers in and simply pull them out again, right? The harder you pulled, the tighter the woven toy became. The harder we try to expose the truth and mechanisms of this administration, the more we get caught in the maze of lies, misdirections, and bullshit. 

Pushing Their Lies...or Just Pushing Their Luck ?

A dear friend of mine has a saying that pretty much describes the Team Romney style of campaigning for the highest office in this country: "Dazzle 'em with your bullshit." Of course, I don't think it's just political ploy for these people.....I'm beginning to think it's a way of LIFE.

We don't need no sticking FACTS.

"During a discussion this morning with Laura Ingraham on the subject of Romney’s truthfulness, or lack thereof, they played a clip of Democrats and other liberals accusing Romney of having lied during the debate. Afterward, Steve Doocey sneered, “That’s all they got?”

http://www.newshounds.us/who_cares_if_romney_lied_during_the_debate_he_looked_good_10092012

Who cares if his rapid-fire speech, and oh-so-caring demeanor were nothing but a last ditch effort to appeal human-like for the "undecided" voters....the ones that wait till the last minute to even get interested at all. In the words of Don Henley it goes something like this:

Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here 

I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear.... 

We can do "The Innuendo" 

We can dance and sing 

When it's said and done we haven't told you a thing 

We all know that Crap is King.....

An article in Rasmussen Reports (horrors!) summed the impression I got as I forced myself to watch this performance the other night:

"True, President Obama looked tired, while Romney was brimming with old ideas. But Romney's master-of-the-universe act was not universally admired. It will be turned on him...

Team Romney was understandably bucked up by Obama's failure to punch back. But Obama and his people eventually will. When they do, the master-of-the-universe bit will get taken apart -- and in a masterful way."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_froma_harrop/mitt_s_master_act_not_beloved_by_all

I certainly hope so!

Update: I'm Not Alone

I was beginning to think I was living in my own alternative reality, that I was looking at things differently than most intelligent people. But alas, I found I'm not alone. Today I read this:


Paul Krugman         NY Times Opinion Pages

The Mighty Wurlitzer in Acton

Read the comments on today’s column and you’ll find many, many references to the alleged fact that the estimated cost of the ACA has risen by a trillion dollars — which happens to be a complete lie.

The remarkable thing is how quickly the lie has become part of what everyone on the right knows. And even if some of the people citing this “fact” could somehow be convinced that it wasn’t so, they’d brush it off, because there’s such a pattern of liberal duplicity, demonstrated by lots of other supposed facts — all of which are also lies.

This is the reality of modern American politics: a large and cohesive bloc of voters lives in an alternative reality, fed fake facts by Fox and Rush — whom they listen to out of tribal affiliation — and completely unaware that it’s all fiction.

It’s also, by the way, why attempts at outreach by Obama will fail. Even if he gives the GOP 95 percent of what it wants, these voters will never hear about it; they will still know, just know, that he’s a radical bent on destroying America.

The problem remains: how do we combat this perception? Are we doomed to be overwhelmed by the radicals on the Right and their well organized (and funded) propaganda machine? Have people lost all common sense? Or are we too far down the rabbit hole these days to pull ourselves out?