From the Real World: Scary Tales for Politicians
Your humble Snarkatron was quite amused to learn, via the learned and ponderously fact-checked media, that it is simply not the done thing to ask candidates for political office *any* questions that do not pertain to their positions on Important Issues (defined, I believe, as those topics for which the networks have already created clever graphics.) So, asking Madame Clinton about her rather unverified account of dodging sniper fire is rude. Asking Senator Obama(jr.) about the terrorists (former, domestic) he has in his Rolodex? Rude. Asking why his clinging to Rev. Wright isn't a sign of economic desperation and feeble-mindedness, unlike the gun-toting bible-thumping rubes of Pennsylvania? VERY rude.
So, why do we keep doing it when Our Betters(tm) tell us not to? Because politicians lie. A lot. Sometimes the best ones merely don't tell the truth. Unless they are running for the position of Evil Overlord for Life, candidates cannot truthfully promise much of anything because execution of said promises in this democracy requires the active collaboration of a lot of other people, some who do not think the same way. Most ordinary folk simple accept political promises as a wish list of what the candidate would like to do--much like listening to a promising five-year-old's pronouncement that they want to be a fireman when they grow up.
Instead, we gaze with laser-like intensity on what the candidates have already done. I've never been shot at myself, but I gather from those who have that the experience makes a decided impression on the memory. People capable of inventing I-was-shot-at stories can invent other stories. Like I-won't-take-your-guns stories. Or tax-increases-what-tax-increases stories. People who don't understand why a few social engagements with a known, unrepentant, blood-on-his-hands terrorist should raise eyebrows are quite capable of signing treaties with heads of state that are real, blood-on-their-hands terrorists.
Those of us who live in the universe where you get in a LOT of trouble if you don't balance your checkbook care about these things. Sorry, politicians. Yes we were listening, yes we remember, yes it will be on the final. Forever. Bwahahahahaa!
Guns: yes
Job: yes
Religion: none
Bitterness Level: 0.00000001 Michele Obamas
So, why do we keep doing it when Our Betters(tm) tell us not to? Because politicians lie. A lot. Sometimes the best ones merely don't tell the truth. Unless they are running for the position of Evil Overlord for Life, candidates cannot truthfully promise much of anything because execution of said promises in this democracy requires the active collaboration of a lot of other people, some who do not think the same way. Most ordinary folk simple accept political promises as a wish list of what the candidate would like to do--much like listening to a promising five-year-old's pronouncement that they want to be a fireman when they grow up.
Instead, we gaze with laser-like intensity on what the candidates have already done. I've never been shot at myself, but I gather from those who have that the experience makes a decided impression on the memory. People capable of inventing I-was-shot-at stories can invent other stories. Like I-won't-take-your-guns stories. Or tax-increases-what-tax-increases stories. People who don't understand why a few social engagements with a known, unrepentant, blood-on-his-hands terrorist should raise eyebrows are quite capable of signing treaties with heads of state that are real, blood-on-their-hands terrorists.
Those of us who live in the universe where you get in a LOT of trouble if you don't balance your checkbook care about these things. Sorry, politicians. Yes we were listening, yes we remember, yes it will be on the final. Forever. Bwahahahahaa!
Guns: yes
Job: yes
Religion: none
Bitterness Level: 0.00000001 Michele Obamas
posted by Snarkatron at 7:52 PM
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