Welcome to the Ministry of Information.

Monday, September 15, 2008

the master of deception chastises his bad apprentice


Last week, in a blog comment thread, I noted deep differences in McCain and Palin's style of lying, as opposed to Bush, Cheney, and Rove's, and I predicted that McCain and Palin's lies would ultimately hurt them. Here is part of what I said:
'Bush and Cheney don't lie like McCain and Palin. Bush and Cheney obfuscate, evade, obscure, and so on. Example: they say they don't torture and they get away with it because they redefine the word and Democrats roll over and let them do it. The actions of Bush, Cheney, and Rove can be shown to be lies, but it takes some work. They lied about John Kerry, and he let them.

McCain and Palin are stupid liars. They lie about selling a jet on Ebay or being a friend of special-needs families or opposing the so-called Bridge to Nowhere: all unsophisicated lies and with no veneer of national security as cover.'
(Correction: The above suggestion that Palin is not a friend of special-needs families was based on a misreported story about budget cuts in Alaska to special-needs programs. In fact, she appears to have increased such spending.)

How unsophisticated is McCain's lying? Even Karl Rove, the master of deception, has publicly faulted McCain's lies. Here is the video and the relevant transcript from Rove's appearance on Fox, as provided by Talking Points Memo:
WALLACE: All right, and for fair game, what is McCain doing that goes a step too far?

ROVE: Well, McCain has gone in some of his ads—similarly gone one step too far, and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100-percent-truth test.
Rove does not object to lying per se. What he objects to is bad lying, i.e. lying that makes the liar look bad, which is what McCain has done.

I have been saying it from day one and I will repeat it again: John McCain is too stupid to win this election. He is not pretending to be stupid like George W. Bush, alumnus of Yale and Harvard. McCain is the real thing. His choice of running mate looks to some, in the immediate term, like political genius, but time will soon tell how smart it was to pick someone whose X-ray vision from Alaska to Russia invites ridicule.

I have heard people wonder whether McCain's innumerable contradictory policy statements indicate senility or Alzheimer's. What the question misses is that this man, even in his youth, was never sharp. He contradicts himself because he does not have a head for policy or detail or knowledge in general.

I expect Barack Obama and the liberal 527 groups to come out with a barrage of McCain (and Palin) flip-flop ads showing, with video clips, all the things they were for before they were against—and some that they were later for again. If Obama and company fail to do this, then they will not deserve to win. If they do it, the election will be won in large part on the stupid lies and dull-wittedness of John McCain. Enough is enough.

Labels: , ,

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am glad someone else recognizes that President Bush's dim-witted persona is an act. Many speak of his incompetence when, in fact, they should speak of his malevolent hypercompetence.

11:27 AM, September 15, 2008

 
Blogger Jeff Strabone said...

I said that George W. Bush was pretending to be stupid. I never said he was competent.

4:26 PM, September 15, 2008

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do you not agree, then, that the Bush Administration is very competent but pursuing ends that harm, rather than promote, the greater good?

8:06 PM, September 15, 2008

 
Blogger Jeff Strabone said...

The Bush-Cheney regime has competently enriched its friends at Halliburton and elsewhere in their smash-and-grab operation in Iraq. Even so, more competent brigands could have profitted even more from the situation. Just last week the Iraqi government overturned several no-bid contracts with U.S. companies. George Bush is no Gepetto. As we have discussed before, Bechtel and other companies have left the country for reasons of safety and so on.

Despite the crimes they have gotten away with, Bush and Cheney are not the hypercompetent theives that you suggest. I can imagine a scenario in twelve months' time wherein the Democrats control the presidency and the Congress and U.S. energy companies are shut out of Iraq. They won't look so competent then.

9:55 PM, September 15, 2008

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home