Politics and Lies

I really try not to get too involved in politics. I find it depressing. However, as a member of the despised media (everyone hates us), I'm getting more involved than I ever wanted to be. And I'm coming to a conclusion here: none of these turkeys is worth spitting on. It doesn't matter what side of the fence they sit on. I don't care. Right, left; conservative, liberal. Doesn't matter. They all say nasty things about each other, and neither side can come up with any solutions worth two cents. Same old answers, just different mouths spouting the "solutions."

We're getting all kinds of garbage-worthy, cringe-inducing e-mails about the elections. The Republicans stole the 2000 election and Barack Obama is a radical Muslim terrorist. Let me bang my head against the wall. Here's the deal, folks: the Republicans didn't steal a doggone thing and Obama is not a terrorist. Both are lies, pure and simple.

You know, Florida screwed up in 2000. If Alabama had the money to install and use optical scanners, Florida sure to heck did. Optical scanners tend to eliminate a lot of problems. It was 2000 and Florida was using a balloting procedure obsolete in 1980. They screwed up. Not the GOP, not Bush, not Jeb Bush-- the state of Florida. O.K.? It was their habit of keeping their collective heads stuck in their pristine sands that created this problem. Only a total idiot wouldn't have foreseen the potential landmine inherent in the "butterfly ballot" system. The state of Florida messed up. That's life and you deal with it. A mistake is one thing: at least all the people who voted in Florida were actually ALIVE at the time. Unlike the mess in Illinois in 1960 during the Kennedy election. Now there was some serious, intentional voter fraud for you.

Barack Obama is neither a Muslim nor a terrorist. Quit reading those STUPID e-mails that have all this "proof." It's crap. If you believe it, you've got rocks in your head. And here's a reminder: it isn't against the law to be a Muslim, and there's nothing in the Constitution that says a Muslim cannot be president of this country. So get that clearly in mind.

If you want to disagree with Obama, do it on the issues. Talk about his voting record in the Senate, his economic plans if elected, his stance on the war in Iraq. These are real issues. Trying to crucify the man on his supposed religious beliefs and his "radical" friends is stupid. I don't remember people criticizing the Clintons when Bill was elected because they were all cozy-wozy with all those Hollywood types. Not until later, that is. And some of those Hollywood crazies are way, way more radical and a lot scarier than anyone Obama has called a friend.

I'm afraid the trouble is largely that so few people go into politics because they are interested in public service. No one can put "statesman" on a resume' any longer. Statesmen, by and large, no longer exist. Most people seem to go into politics because of the potential for personal gain. They don't seem to be too interested in serving -- just in being a great high mucky-muck. There are a few exceptions. There are members of Congress, whose names will not be long remembered, who served because they actually wanted to make a contribution. God bless those men and women.

I'll hold my nose and vote. I usually do. But I maintain most of the ones running still aren't worth spitting on. And I'm sick of watching them spit on each other.