How So?

How is it that virtually no talk show host or interviewer ever asks this simple question, how so? For example, when Hank Williams Jr. compared Obama to Hitler why didn’t someone ask him how so? I suppose it could be that they assumed that anyone that stupid wouldn’t be able to answer so they just didn’t bother. Similarly, why was this apparently deranged individual who claimed Obama was worse than 9/11 allowed to escape without being asked how so? Perhaps again it was because it was so incredibly stupid they assumed he wouldn’t have a coherent answer, but perhaps it was they didn’t want to embarrass him, or perhaps it was just that they didn’t want to waste the time.

The above two cases are so obviously loony I guess it really doesn’t matter as surely no one would take such nonsense seriously (but they did get applause). But this lack of curiosity on the part of Newspersons has been disturbing me for a long time. People are allowed to get away with saying things that are so blatantly untrue it makes you wonder. Of course George W. Bush was probably the best case in point. He often, in fact almost routinely, said things that were such obvious lies you couldn’t believe what you were hearing and yet he consistently went unchallenged. Dick the Slimy and Rumsfeld the Senile were just about as bad. In other words our “leaders” have been allowed for years to get away with lying to us with no fear of being exposed or challenged. Maybe reporters or talk show hosts were afraid of recriminations if they dared to ask anyone how so? I guess there could also be another more mundane reason, the television format simply doesn’t allow time for questions. Whatever the reason, think how many thousands of innocent lives and how many billions of dollars could have been saved.

We know that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, Oh, how so? The Iraqi oil will pay for this action by itself. How so? We are fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here. How so? Iran is intent on making a nuclear bomb that would be a threat to Israel and the whole world. How so? I could of course go on and on in this vein but I’m sure you get the picture. Our MSM allowed us to be led into the most illegal, unconstitutional, and criminal behavior in the annals of history without once ever seriously questioning those who were intent on leading us down these deadly illicit paths. Our historically touted “Fourth Estate,” once it was taken over by a small number of corporate owners, became complicit in our war crimes and simply no longer exists as it once did. We no longer have “news,” we only have what they deign to tell us, and what they deign to tell us is only what they want us to hear.

Mitt Romney, who will apparently be the Republican candidate for President running against President Obama, has given what is touted as a major Foreign Policy speech. He vows to have a “New American Century” and never to apologize for America, and in fact to return us to the disastrous Bush/Cheney years. One might well ask, how so, Mitt, how so? He seems to have absolutely no understanding of reality. The American century is over, the days of colonialism are over, the might of America is not what it once was, we are no longer the sole superpower in the world, things have changed over the years. You might have heard about them had you actually made any effort to learn or understand anything other than simply running for President. As near as I can t tell Romney is no better informed or on top of things than either Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann. I think he is basically a phony who will do or say anything to get elected and is also totally out of touch with the reality of everyday life in the United States. Anyone in his position who could actually say he, too, is unemployed, obviously has no understanding of the problem. Or better yet, claiming his five sons, none of whom have served in the military, are actually serving the war effort by supporting him for President, betrays his lack of understanding even more clearly. He is a “Nerd,” actually probably a Nerd’s Nerd, if not just another empty suit. Quite frankly I don’t believe Republicans are serious about winning in 2012, and they are willing to sacrifice a candidate now for a more realistic chance in 2016. I don’t believe Obama is as vulnerable as they and their controlled media want us to believe. Their failure to cooperate and govern for the sole purpose of defeated Obama may be working in their view but I doubt that even the American public is that stupid. In the spirit of full disclosure I must confess I am often wrong. But as for Romney, I say “Bring him on.”

In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.

Ambrose Bierce