Do you hear the rattle snakes chattering from somewhere under a rock? No, not surprising because the rattle snakes are standing at the podiums and in front of microphones and TV cameras. You can watch them sporting their $200 hair cuts and $2,000 suits, adorned with designer ties and monogrammed shirts. Their mouths move but more and more I just hear the clattering of the rattle at the end of their tails.
The litany of so many half truths, quarter truths, untruths and out right lies is reaching a fever pitch. Maybe it is the new nature of communications. Everywhere - instant - all pervasive and immediately accessible. If you miss a comment on one media outlet you can catch in many of the others. You can hear the same talking points in fifteen different ways by fifteen different people, or just one person over and over.
The Washington Post has actually assigned a certain level of Pinocchio noses to some of the more outrageous statements made. Our President won the award for the biggest lie of 2013. Need I remind you…. “If you like your doctor, you can keep him. If you like your health plan you can keep it”. But don’t come down so hard on him alone. He has quite a bit of company when it comes to such utterances. Nancy Pelosi comes to mind immediately “You have to pass it so you can find out what is in it.”, meaning of course, Obamacare. Now she has doubled down by chiming in on the Grubber subterfuge about the ACA that the people are too “stupid” to understand if they knew the real issues they would never have passed it. Nancy now says about Mr. Grubber “I don’t know him and he didn’t help write the law.” Role the video tape and you find Nancy referencing Mr. Grubbers contributions to Obamacare. Oh and let’s not forget HRC’s “What difference does it make.” in connection with why Ambassador Stevens and three others died in Benghazi.
All were bending, hiding, burying or avoiding the truth which they knew. In the sewer of politics it matters not that the truth is far from being aligned with their comments. What matters is the ability to influence the citizens in such a way as to achieve an end. It matters not what is the best for the country it only matters that the doers are protected, the political base is appeased and the agenda is moved forward.
The funny thing is that because of the way we communicate today everything is recorded and instantly available for replay side by side with whatever statements are being issued today. In my mind it takes a very different kind of human being that can with stand those blatant contradictions and deny the meaning for their previous statements. I would love to say that this only applies to the left, but sadly it is a universal trait with all politicians regardless of their stripe.
Frankly, I am no longer interested in these pronouncements providing me with the information I need to make my own decisions. I now take the view from 10,000 feet.
The broader view allows me to factor in much more than a 15 second sound bite that is presented as a stand alone. These sound bits come with no rebuttals, no follow up questions, no challenges to factual misrepresentations or political speak. Follow the money, the people and the rhetoric and you start to have a more correct picture of what reality is. You can get closer to the truth with each new bit of data added to the mix.
There is no excuse for not being informed. Whatever manner and method it takes to go beyond the rattle snake tales put out for our consumption (by the witting and unwitting media alike) is required. Blind followers are still blind. Don’t drink anyone’s’ Kool-Aid, mix it yourself.
