The blinders are starting to come off.....maybe

It appears that the love affair between President Obama and many of his loyal supporters is going through a shaky period. For the last 5 years in the eyes of many on the Left their savoir Mr Obama could do no wrong, broken campaign promises, stepping outside the Constitution, throwing gas on the fires of bipartisanship, political scandals, or stumbling on foreign policy, none of this seemed to matter to those that drank the Progressive "kool-aid". He was "the man" who would take them to the promised land.

The poor economic performance under his stewardship was defended by his supporters as something he inherited from the previous president, failure to fulfill campaign promises was blamed on an obstructionist Congress, and occasionally when things got really dire for the President the "race card" was pulled out (Thank You, Oprah). To a large degree what allowed this charade to continue was the outright refusal of Liberal media to out this guy and hold his feet to the fire. Obama was given a free pass by traditional print, television, and radio like no President since Kennedy who the press lauded as a "family man" while every reporter who could draw a breath knew he had a revolving door of models and actresses at his beck and call. Now to be fair, Kennedy's era was a gentler, politer time that held a higher respect for the office and man when it came to reporting on the President.  However that time has come and gone, the media has for most segments of society taken the kids gloves off and in today's world little is sacred when it comes to getting a story and boosting ratings. Add to that the explosion of on-line news, blogs, twitter, etc., where nothing political is taboo and one can only wonder in amazement how Obama with his lackluster performance has avoided being tarred and feathered by the press.

Another Term, Same Song and Dance Routine

How often have you heard a politician speaking to a crowd and shook your head in disbelief, knowing full well that the individual addressing the group was pandering to the gathered with every word. As you listened you realized that the speech being given was absolutely no reflection of reality, it was simply intended to appease the individuals in the room who stared through glazed eyes, listened intently, and virtually hung on every syllable as they were spoon fed their daily dose of propaganda. Typically this type of performance is presented by politicians who have a captive audience, one that will not ask too many questions, and generally in their ignorance of facts will bring the house down with applause.

Such a speech was given Monday, December 10 by a politician that most have us have come to think of as a master of deception, the King of pandering, and a man so out of touch with reality that nothing he says surprises those of us who keep ourselves informed. This man stumbles around from speech to speech manipulating the facts depending on the audience. So, what was said and who said it?

Stoking the fires of resentment

With the first snow on the ground I suspect I will be a bit more housebound and spending more time "putting my thoughts to paper", as they say. So here I go, for those of you who have any interest read on.

With the race for the Oval Office in its last days we can expect to see the candidates talking themselves up and talking their opponents down. Now to be very honest I have no problem with a political candidate preying on the weaknesses and and character flaws of their opponents. After all, as Harry S Truman would say, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen".

However where I have a problem is when candidates intentionally stretch the truth, creatively edit the facts, or simply assume that a false message delivered in the right tone will fool us simpletons into believing what they want us to believe. Yes, I know that it is common practice, but the reality is that at times it is taken to the point that it creates undeserved animosity amongst the electorate toward a particular candidate. Animosity to the point where a candidate's character or personal integrity are called into question based on nothing more than "political spin".

You tell them Harry

One case in point is the efforts that have been made by Democrat Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid to besmirch Mitt Romney's character, above and beyond the point of common decency.

Really Harry is this the best you can do? " I heard Mitt Romney has not paid tax in the last ten years". The follow up from Harry was even better "It falls upon Governor Romney to prove otherwise by releasing his tax returns"

Frankly if I was a resident of Nevada I would be ashamed to admit that Mr Reid represented my state. This is the same guy that a quick search on the Internet will find hundreds of articles detailing how Harry has somehow managed to increase his net worth from a "paltry" $1.2 Million to the tune of about $11 million during the time he has been a public servant (public servants must be paid very well in Nevada). Interesting as well is the fact that while  Harry was claiming that Mr Romney could  disprove the allegations of tax evasion simply by making his tax returns public, good old Harry has refused all requests to make his own tax records open to the public. I guess Harry doesn't buy into the old adage, "what's good for the goose, is what's good for the gander".

What's really troubling about this is that it is the lowest form of mud slinging and was allowed under the watchful eyes of the President. All Mr Obama had to do to put an end to it was make one phone call. It speaks volumes about the man that he allowed this (and many would say "encouraged "it ) under his watch. I imagine what we have witnessed here is some of the tricks that Mr Obama learned during his tenure in Chicago style politics, not very Presidential to say the least. But on the other hand , pretty much what one would expect from a man who refers to his opponent as a "bulls^^^ter" in a televised interview. Just the kind of guy a nation wants on the world stage.

War on Women? I do believe we have found the culprits...

If you follow politics south of our border (the good Old USA) you have almost certainly heard the phrase "War on Women" used by candidates, elected officials, political pundits, and the news media. Trust me, it is not exclusive to one side, Liberal or Conservative, Democrat or Republican, both sides to some degree accuse the other of participating in some form of gender bias. Having said that, the accusations appear to come from the Left far more often than the Right. In fact the the term is used frequently by the more Left leaning, who carry it like a shield against the Right.

The heat on this issue has recently been turned up a few notches because several major events are taking place concurrently, how so?

They certainly make a fine pair......

As the American Presidential election gets closer we can expect hear a lot more about the candidates, both the incumbent President Obama and his opponent Republican Mitt Romney. I have a suspicion that this race is going to get down and dirty and will be very "in your face" as both parties have access to large amounts of cash for media buys.

Obama will undoubtedly take credit for real and perceived success during his first term in office and will play every card available to him to avoid too much attention being focused on his real legacy and less than desirable achievements that will linger for decades.

Already we are seeing this with the best example being the recent one year anniversary of Bin Laden's death. In retelling this story the only thing that Obummer and his spin doctors haven't claimed is that the President led the charge himself on Bin Ladens compound all the while fighting side by side with Chuck Norris! Undoubtedly that will come to light next week,  or maybe Mr Norris has more common sense than to be associated with a sinking ship. Hey, even Chucks worst movie made more sense than what is taking place in the White House.

In the meantime this election is shaping up to be one of mud slinging and accusations that will certainly lower the bar even further for American politics. Is that even possible?

One thing for sure is it will be interesting in a comical kind of way, just last week VP Biden while speaking on "Meet The Press" referred to President Romney on a number of occasions ( does this guy know something the rest of us don't?) and addressed his own boss , President Obemmer as President Clinton (maybe something is taking place in the privacy of the oval office that causes him to confuse the two? Interns take cover!). Mind you it is not surprising that Biden has a problem remembering who he reports to, after all his boss Sir Obummer forgot that he reports to the American taxpayer one day after he stepped into the Oval Office. Whatever the case, its too bad that Biden isn't the one spending all of his time on the golf course, at least that might keep him out of the public eye. On the other hand for those of us who would like this to be Obummers one and only term, the VP is "the gift that just keeps on giving", even the Republicans couldn't make up some of the stuff that comes out of Joe's mouth, yes it really is a "BFD". But the reality is the two (Biden and Obummer) seem perfectly suited for one another, you know like Stan and Ollie, or Abbot and Costello.

What amazes me is that America is past the point of heading for the cliff financially, they are standing on the precipice and yet no one in power seems to be able to realize this or take a position to resolve the situation. At every level of government they all seem far too busy and focused on bashing the other guy to actually get to work and fix the problem.

On the other hand maybe the problem is so big that what America really needs is a little slapstick humor from it's leaders, in that case they are certainly being well served.

The race hustlers have been busy lately

Unless you have been living in a cave for the last month you will have heard the name Trayvon Martin. Trayvon is the youth who was shot and killed in Florida by a neighbor hood watch individual, George Zimmerman.When Zimmerman was not arrested or even charged with a crime, the story took on a life of its own and went national.

An example of fair and honest reporting
by media outlets. Until recently the
  majority of them used the top 2 photos.

Now I am not about to make any judgements about the motivation or guilt of the shooter, that's the job of the judicial system. As well the last thing the case needs is one more voice weighing in an opinion based on nothing more than innuendo and bias. In fact the noise level on this one has gotten to the point that it's hard to discern fact from fiction. Case in point, attempting to research the incident I found literally thousands of articles and at least 3 spellings of the name Trayvon (sometimes all within the same article!). So apparently everyone has an opinion, many of which I suspect are based on second or third hand information derived  from God knows what source (ahhh, the wonders of the internet). So, I will wait to form my opinion on this one until it has played through the actual judicial system, and I would hope that readers of this blog would do the same. After all, lets keep in mind the underlying premise that a man is innocent until proven guilty.

However, that does not mean I have nothing to say about the events surrounding this case. The events I refer to have nothing whatsoever to do with the actual case itself, but everything to do with how the case is being exploited by many for their own benefit.