Jay D. Homnick, writing in Spectator, is not really surprised by RatherGate:
Gloves off, let’s tell it like it is. Like it has been for some time. Democrats lie. They lie all the time. Not just campaign promises, which are the political version of the pickup line: conceived in passion, developed in romance, aborted by reality. But vicious scurrilous lies of all stripes, seasoned by all manner of corruption and cheating.
Always Democratic candidates shout that Republicans are racists seeking to deprive minorities of their suffrage. Just yesterday I heard a John Kerry sound bite from a black church in which he said, “We hear that what they did in Florida in 2000 they are planning to do again all over the country.” How much gross falsehood weighs down that sentence? How much slimy mud-slinging? How much brute nastiness? How much patronizing of his audience? How much downright cheating in a contest calling for gentlemanliness?
I agree. Why, when truth is so obvious, do some people in this country continue to believe those lies. The fake Bush memos are okay because the facts are indiputable. Really? These people want someone to prove they are lying, and when it is proved they don’t accept it because the proof came from someone they don’t like. Facts are irrelevant. The story simply fits with their preconceived notion, so it must be true.
It is the same with the 2000 election. Some still cling to the idea that “all the votes weren’t counted.” Well, in this one they are correct–the Democrats made sure to exclude as many absentee ballots as possible for the most minor of technicalities. An apparently-dimpled chad carried more weight than an illegible signature from a military Voting Officer in a faraway land.
“Bush is a ‘Fortunate Son’ who got preferential treament in getting into the Air National Guard.” Prove it. Can’t. It may be true, but I’ve seen no proof. I’ve heard from several people that it has been proved. I’ve just never seen anything other than tenth-hand information and a discredited statement by Ben Barnes–not the most reliable source.
And I am constantly told by Democratic friends that “both sides do the same thing.” No, both sides pander with campaign promises. Only Democrats make up their own version of the truth.
Let the wailing begin.
The interesting thing about the human condition is that we treat one another by our own standards. We expect they are going to be fair at the polls, because we are. They expect that we are playing dirty tricks, because THEY ARE! And since they keep saying how “dim”, “stupid”, etc., Bush is, could it be because they don’t want us to notice how idiotic their candidate is?
Comment by DagneyT — September 15, 2004 @ 3:37 pm
Look from everything I have seen, Dubya was kind of “fired” by the ANG. I got similar treatment as he did only my service was active duty. And yeah I do admit that I probably deserved to be “fired”, since my ‘tude sucked hugely by 1983. After four years of cushy duty @ McClellan AFB in Sacramento California, Travis AFB, was to me the pits. I felt as soon as I cleared the main-gate that “this is not going to go very well”. I tried to get the hell out of Travis as fast as I could and every time my overseas requests were denied my attitude got worse. Eventually they were going to court-martial me for a “continuing pattern of minor disciplinary infractions”. So I know how Dubya could have gotten his “honorable”, yet not have completed his “contractual obligation”.
PS. I too ended up with an “honorable”, just because I decided to go along with the program and leave the service. The ultimate irony is, that as the powers in charge were trying to court-martial me, I got a twelve month assignment to Keflavik with a follow-on to Ramstein, needless to say those orders got cancelled damned fast.
Comment by Bubba Bo Bob Brain — September 15, 2004 @ 7:36 pm