The Grandest "Con" of All

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

“A confidence trick is also known as a con game, con, scam, grift, hustle, bunko, bunco, swindle, flimflam, gaffle, or bamboozle. The intended victims are known as marks. The perpetrator of a confidence trick is often referred to as a confidence man or woman, con man or woman, con artist or grifter. When accomplices are employed, they are known as shills.”

I know I have mentioned this Republican con before, but it is so transparent, so blatant, so hypocritical, and unfortunately so important I simply cannot go without commenting further. On the one hand I cannot imagine they might actually get away with this, but on the other hand, because of the irrationality of American voters I fear they might.

This has to do with the issue of jobs. Republicans are now saying at every opportunity, “Mr. President, where are the jobs?” implying that President Obama has somehow failed to create jobs. The fact of the matter is, Republicans have blocked every attempt Obama has made to create jobs and they have also put forward no legislation of their own to create any jobs. Not only that, they are also responsible for the massive loss of jobs in the public sector. It has been Republican Governors and their State administrations that have been responsible for the cutting of funds for public employees in favor of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, resulting in the layoffs of teachers, firemen, policemen, and others, so even though the private sector has created some jobs in spite of Republican opposition, the public sector has lost jobs, thus making the unemployment picture much worse than it would have to otherwise be. Rather than create jobs they have focused on attacking unions, women, Planned Parenthood, food stamps and other social programs. This is hypocrisy carried to levels previously unknown.

As this is so obvious I cannot understand why Democrats have not mounted an all-out effort to expose it at every opportunity. They should make the most important aspect of their campaign, the absolute refusal of Republicans to compromise or help on anything Obama has proposed. If they want to know what the problems are with our country all they need to do is look in the mirror. If Democrats let Republicans get away with this incredible scam they deserve to lose.

And once again I am mystified at the way things are claimed to be developing, especially the polls. I don’t believe the polls at the moment mean much of anything but it is claimed by almost all of the pundits that this election is going to be close, a real “nail-biter.” The polls apparently show Obama and Romney neck-and-neck most everywhere. I cannot understand who and where they are polling. Republicans have alienated virtually every voting block in the country: Blacks, Latinos, young people, old people, Muslims, unions, and most importantly of all, women. Are none of these constituents being polled? As far as I know the only elements favoring Obama are veterans and blue-collar Whites. So how can the polls show such a close race? It would seem to me than anyone with any knowledge of the situation would predict a landslide victory for Obama, if only because he would seem to be by far the least of two obvious evils.

If it could possibly be any consolation, rest assured that we still have five months more to listen to outrageous lies, false accusations, stupid claims, ridiculous rhetoric, and outright imbecility. In my opinion no human population in their right minds would put up with this for months and months on end. The corporations that that are making money faster than ever in the history of the world are now spending it on television ads on stations they also own, basically transferring fortunes from one part of their empire to another, cheating the public out of any significant input into the elections, and making sure the status quo is not going to change in any significant way. It’s the American way! “Money can’t buy me love,” but unfortunately it may buy elections.

Say you don't need no diamond ring
And I'll be satisfied
Tell me that you want those kind of things
that money just can't buy
For I don't care too much for money
For money can't buy me love

The Beatles