Wednesday, May 14, 2014

SCARBOROUGH PERPETUATES LIE

Montana Senator Jon #Tester drove Joe Scarborough nearly crazy this morning on @Morning Joe (+MSNBC). Joe looked shocked when in his usual conspiratorial way he asked Tester if Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric #Shinseki should resign and the Senator emphatically said no, “The General was doing a good job”. Joe tried several times to get him to join him in his lie intended to condemn the Secretary, but the Senator held his position. He explained, using the technical terms for the cuts made (sequestration, etc), that while the small government Republicans were cutting funding for the VA the returning number of veterans was increasing. It was an attempt to slander Shinseki and he would not have any part in it. After the Senator left the program, Joe took advantage of the unopposed time to trash Shinseki; again in typical Scarborough fashion.

After a period another couple of guest came on the program, I think they were TV executives.  They explained that the Republican Party was all for jobs. If they stick to their program of crating jobs and cutting taxes, they would win in November. Joe was glowing when he heard this; they were his kind of people so he encouraged them. When I thought about the Shinseki interview and the interview with these two executives, I realized they had something in common and it has to do with Republican politics. They lie for a purpose.

The Republicans have undercut the budget for the VA and blame the democratically appointed secretary for the problem they caused. The two executives are saying the Republicans are about creating jobs because the economic recovery is slow. After the upcoming election, they will create jobs. How can I be so sure they will, because they are the ones who are preventing job creation just as they are the ones who have cut funding from the VA.?


I worked with a man for years that would shamelessly create problems in college administration only he could solve. It worked for him; he became department head and eventually associate dean. The tragedy is that polls suggest the same thing is working for the Republican Party. How many Republican do you know who will admit that there is a 100% GOP vote against job creation in the Congress but are quick to say that Democrats are blocking jobs; like robots, they believe the lie—perhaps because they want to and not because it is logical thing to do. We have crippling income inequality; we have workers living in poverty; we are amassing poor people on the streets; we are blocking our children from having equal opportunity in education; we are deregulating the environment; we are deregulating banks and other financial institutions; and we are shrinking government and putting our sovereignty in the hands of corporate executives. Did I mention that the cuts in taxes they are talking about are on the corporate income and not for the poor slob breaking his back for a few dollars per hours? 

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