Even political junkie can reach a saturation
point. I’m getting closer to mine. I could not watch the Republican National
Convention coverage last night, and not (solely) because I am blindly
partisan. I probably won’t watch all of
the Dems convention next week either.
Some days I need a break. I know
you understand particularly if you live in one of the top 10 media battleground
states that are being flooded with deceptive ads already.
I need a break and a diversion. So Thomas and I watched part of the movie Moneyball with Brad Pitt during Ann
Romney and Chris Christie’s scheduled appearances. It’s a movie about how smart, passionate
people who use facts, science and statistics can overcome a conventional wisdom
based on tired, empty platitudes matched with overwhelming financial resources. In that way, it is much like the Money Ball
gala in Tampa
this week. Facts take a Florida vacation, but
facts can be remarkably resilient. Facts
might even win.
I can’t help myself.
So I read Christie’s speech instead of
watching. Confession: I recorded it to
watch at a later date. Here are a few
pieces of commentary on his remarks based on my reading of the words of my
former Delaware
classmate:
“You
see, Mr. President, real leaders don’t follow polls. Real leaders change
polls.”
This is an interesting take on leadership, given
that his party’s nominee has taken every side of every position over his years
in politics. His ‘evolution’ on abortion
rights has paralleled polling numbers for his targeted electorate throughout
his career, and one only needs to look at how he has abandoned his signature
gubernatorial achievement, health care reform, in the face of its unpopularity
with his new friends.
“Tonight,
we’re gonna do what my mother taught me. Tonight, we’re gonna choose respect
over love.”
I recognize that Ann Romney and Chris Christie
were probably not initially scheduled to speak one after the other, except
Mother Nature had other plans. Still, to
hear Ann Romney say that she was “going to talk about love” in her address, and
then Christie throw in his dismissal of love immediately after, it was awkward.
“Now,
I know this simple truth and I’m not afraid to say it: Our ideas are right for America and their ideas have failed America.”
The ideas of the GOP are SO right for America that
the name of the last GOP President and his VP, who ruled for 8 years to open up
the century, were not mentioned the entire evening. Not once.
To quote Ann Richards, “Where was George?”
“Their
plan: whistle a happy tune while driving us off the fiscal cliff, as long as
they are behind the wheel of power when we fall.”
His choice of the words “fiscal cliff” reminded
me of the debt ceiling debacle last summer, when the full faith and credit of
the United States
was deemed by Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell to be “a hostage worth
taking.” It was the Republican caucus
that was whistling while S&P downgraded us.
“They
believe in teachers unions. We believe in teachers.”
OK, that’s a good line.
No, your party does not. John Boehner and Eric Cantor could not even use the word “compromise” in public for fear it would be interpreted as weakness. It’s on YouTube, you don’t have to look far. Richard Mourdock, GOP Senate candidate from Indiana said it best: ”I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view.” That’s not compromise – that’s capitulation, Einstein.
“It doesn't matter how we got here.”
Yes, it does. Those that ignore history are doomed to repeat it. That’s not blaming – that’s thinking. If your proposed policies made things worse, then it DOES matter how we got here since you are proposing that we do the same things all over again – deregulate, cut taxes for the rich, and hope things trickle down.
“Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear to end the debacle of putting the world’s greatest health care system in the hands of federal bureaucrats and putting those bureaucrats between an American citizen and her doctor.”
This could be the greatest contortion of the evening. The party that is fully committed to putting a federal bureaucrat between “an American citizen and her doctor”, be it through mandating medically unnecessary transvaginal probes designed to shame the victim, or denying a doctor the right to confidentially discuss guns as a health threat in the home with a patient, as Rick Scott wants in Florida, wants to save women from bureaucrats. He’s kidding, right?
“We
win when we make it about what needs to be done; we lose when we play along
with their game of scaring and dividing.”
I grow weary of pointing out the Republican zeal
for scaring and dividing Americans, but here I go again. The rationale for the war of choice in Iraq was built
on nothing but coordinated fear-mongering.
Who could forget the week long drumbeat using the phrase “a giant
mushroom cloud”? Also, who could forget
the oft-repeated line that dissent with GOP war policy gave “aid and comfort to
our enemies”? Today, one need only to
look at the discredited welfare attacks to know what party has division as part
of its strategy.
“Our
leaders today have decided it is more important to be popular, to do what is
easy and say ‘yes,’ rather than to say ‘no’ when ‘no’ is what’s required.”
The exception would be the Keystone Pipeline
decision, when approving it would have been politically expedient for the
administration and removed the issue from the national conversation.
“We
all must share in the sacrifice. Any leader that tells us differently is simply
not telling the truth.”
Really, Governor?
If we must all share in the sacrifice, then why can’t the Bush era tax
cuts for the top earners be returned to the Clinton era rates? Why are tax increases off the table if “we
must all share in the sacrifice”? Had
Obama said the exact same words, I have little doubt that the GOP would have
eviscerated him for asking for more sacrifice at this time. By the way, the last GOP President did not
ask for sacrifice. After 9/11, he told
Americans to go shopping. When he signed
the prescription drug bill, he did not ask that it be paid for. When Christie says we must all “share in the
sacrifice”, he talking about the poor paying more.
Tonight, Paul Ryan speaks at the Money Ball, and
odds are I will not watch. Anyone who
believes that turning Medicare into a voucher system and shifting costs to the
elderly is a good solution does not deserve my attention.
OK, I’ll record it. I can still soak in a little bit more before complete saturation.
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