Paradoxes and Chickensh....

There are at least two paradoxical features in the ongoing current election process that would seem to demand explanation, or at least some serious thought.

First, as I have remarked previously, I find it genuinely paradoxical that Governor Romney can be virtually tied in the polls with President Obama. Romney and the Republican Party have managed to alienate almost every voting block that exists: Latinos, Blacks, Women, Seniors, Juniors, Evangelicals, and Muslims. There only real base of support is said to be less educated White males and maybe some fanatic Israel supporters. If this is the case, and it seems to me it must be, how is it possible that Romney could be tied in the polls with President Obama? It is a clear violation of common sense, to say the least. By any standard of reason Obama should be far ahead and one would predict he would win a second term by a landslide. Perhaps it has something to do with the polls, maybe racism, maybe something mysterious I know nothing about, perhaps none of that, but it is indeed a paradox.

Second, and somewhat related to the above, is Romney’s presumed base of less educated White working class males. Romney would appear to be diametrically opposed to their interests in virtually every way. Not only is he the poster boy for the 1%, he is known to be opposed to minimum wages, unions, food stamps, Social Security, Medicare, and virtually everything else that would improve the lives of those who favor him. He is also a notorious outsourcer of American jobs, a vulture capitalist of the first order who has multiple mansions, an elevator in his garage, apparently claimed a $47,000 deduction for his wife’s dressage horse, makes more money in two or three days than his supporters earn in a year, and has demonstrated repeatedly he is completely out of touch with ordinary Americans. You would assume this would not endear him to working class people. And yet, working class White men constitute his major support. If this does not constitute a paradox I do not know what would. I do not know the answer to this strange situation but I suspect at least part of it has to do with racism, and, as this population is less educated than some, it may also have to do with ignorance. Of course, this is the audience bombarded with utter falsehoods on a daily basis by Fox propaganda, Rush Limbaugh, and the other hate merchants who appear to be doing their jobs very well. It is widely known that viewers of Fox are among the least informed, and anyone that would listen to Limbaugh’s cacophony of lies and nonsense more than once is probably mentally handicapped in some way, or at least beyond hope of making reasonable decisions.

And now for more Congressional chickenshittery (thank you Rachel for such a useful term in describing Congressional behavior). It is said to be the case that a number of Democrats are going to vote with Republicans to censure Attorney General Holder, holding him in contempt of Congress. They are going to do this because the NRA has warned they are going to “score” the votes. That is, they will determine who voted for or against the contempt vote and presumably work against the re-election of those who do not vote to suit them. As a few Democrats will be running in areas where the NRA has a great deal of influence these individual will vote for contempt. If you understand the NRA wants us to believe “Fast and Furious” is a conspiracy to allow Obama to attack gun control laws (like maybe re-instating the ban on certain weapons), you can understand this is just another paranoid belief of the gun nuts. If you also understand that no Attorney General in history has ever been held in contempt, and that Holder did not even instigate Fast and Furious, you will also understand this is a purely political hatchet job to damage the Obama administration. Thus to vote against Holder you must believe that Fast and Furious was a conspiracy to take away guns instead of a law enforcement procedure to help catch illegal gun runners (which it apparently was, and hatched by the Bush administration), and/or Holder was personally responsible for it and is now trying to cover it up (he actually stopped it), and/or Obama was also involved and that is why he is invoking Executive Privilege (this is the first time this particular type of records have ever been an issue, let alone turned over). It is also the first time during his Presidency Obama has claimed Executive Privilege (Bush did it several times, as did Clinton and other Presidents). Of course no self respecting Democrat with even half a brain, who is honest and responsible, could possibly believe such nonsense, or that this is not a partisan witch hunt. If they vote with Republicans for contempt they will be voting to keep their jobs rather than doing what is right and proper. This makes sense for their careers but it definitely is not what they were elected to do. What the NRA is doing (and it is the same thing Grover Norquist has been doing for years) is nothing less than a protection racket you might have expected from an Al Capone (vote our way {buy our beer} or else). These kinds of tactics grew and matured during the Clinton administration when the former legitimate Republican Party began its transformation into a criminal conspiracy designed to take over and hold power permanently (that is, to create another “Thousand Year Reich”). This was Karl Rove’s dream. Unfortunately, he has not given it up and he still has his obscenely wealthy donors who want a “share of the action.”

The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.

Georges Bernanos

LATE NOTE: There is apparently a new and definitive article in Fortune magazine that shows that what Issa and his committee claim happened is not at all what actually happened. This will probably render the whole investigation moot.