Slow Learners

Texas man arrested for
stuffing bass with lead
in attempt to win contest.

It strikes me as amusing (but also kind of sad) to watch many of our so-called leaders come across as such slow learners. In the past few years I have seen over and over again their attempts to deny they said or did something only to be shown on video or caught on audiotape that they did, in fact, say or do precisely that which they are denying. One latest example comes from Mike Huckabee, potential candidate for President. In an interview with a student reporter Huckabee made comments comparing gay marriage to bestiality and incest and suggested gays should not be allowed to adopt children because children are not “puppies.” When the student’s interview was reported in the student paper it generated considerable interest because of these remarks. Huckabee then attempted to blame the student for misrepresenting what he said and challenged him to present the entire interview. So the student did so, demonstrating that he had reported accurately precisely what Huckabee had said. Bill O’Reilly is another recent case in point. He insisted that no one had ever said someone could be put in prison for not having health insurance. I can’t remember if it was Jon Stewart or Steven Colbert, but one of them immediately showed not only one but several instances in which this had occurred on O’Reilly’s show. I find it hard to believe that Huckabee and O’Reilly are unaware of not so modern anymore technology like audio and videotape that will prove them wrong.

If these were isolated incidences of this it would be one thing, but they are not. Indeed, Stewart, Colbert, and Maddow are virtually making careers out of proving people to be liars and hypocrites by demonstrating repeatedly that you cannot get away with hypocrisy and lies like politicians did routinely in the past. There is now an organization called PolitiFact that exists for the sole purpose of fact checking statements made by politicians and others on some shows. As this now happens with such frequency it makes you wonder why they continue to lie so commonly. I suspect it may be simply that politicians cannot function without lying when they are confronted with questions they do not want to answer, or cannot answer. Not wanting to look stupid or be embarrassed they make something up and end up appearing even more stupid and hypocritical. Of course it could be the case that if all of them had to tell the truth all the time there would be chaos. I suppose they sometimes know that if they answer truthfully they might not get elected, so they just lie and hope no one will be the wiser and there will be few, if any, consequences. Have we finally stumbled into a situation where politicians and others will be forced to always tell the truth? I doubt it, because the truth hurts, and politicians above all others cannot risk hurting anyone with a vote. I suppose it is also the case they believe their supporters will support them whether the lie or not, and those who don’t support them won’t matter. I guess it is unlikely that our political system can work without a generous supply of prevarication and hypocrisy. Sad, I think, but true.

More importantly, and even more sadly, there are some slow learners who are even worse. John McCain is a good case in point. He has now urged that we take action (“pull the trigger”) on Iran. He was, you may recall, in favor of the “war” against Iraq. This was a completely unnecessary “war” that has cost the lives of somewhere around a million people, mostly innocents, has forced some 4 million to give up their homes and become refugees, has involved torture and the use of illegal weapons of various kinds, blatant war profiteering, and has brought about absolutely untold misery for millions of people. Apparently McCain has learned nothing from this and is urging that we attack still another country for no reason other than he thinks we should (and of course the Israelis want us to). The latest I heard is that Iran is at least one year away from even being able to process weapons quality uranium, and is at least five years away from being able to produce a bomb (and which has not been actually proven they even want to do so). But McCain wants to attack them anyway. In addition to being apparently a slow learner I think he is also insane, along with his other right-wing warmongers. Not only would attacking Iran be a stupid idea, it would almost surely bring about consequences far worse than our unnecessary attack on Iraq. His buddy, Joe Lieberman, is every bit as bad if not worse. How these people can even contemplate an act so awesomely awful, given our recent experiences in losing “wars” is entirely beyond my comprehension. I am beginning to wonder if they have any human qualities whatsoever.

LKBIQ:
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
Sir Winston Churchill

TILT:
There is little or no agreement on whether or not you should wash a llama.