“Just remember it’s not a lie if you believe it.” This was the advice given by the now iconic character George Costanza to Jerry Seinfeld as the latter attempted to beat a lie detecting machine in an episode of the now classic 90s sitcom “Seinfeld”. I bring this quotable quote to you because I’ve found myself thinking of this phrase time and again over the course of the last year every time I see the Democrats and their apologists on TV. Quite frankly in light of the current political atmosphere among Democrats it occurs to me that George Costanza’s words may be their new mantra. To take the comedic spin off of it, what we’ve observed over the last year is truly Orwellian as truths are manipulated or ignored outright. If you need any proof of this just look two weeks back to the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts and the reaction of President Obama and his Minister of Propaganda Robert Gibbs.
In what is sure to go down in history as one of the most infamous examples of sheer delusion or bald faced lying, President Obama sat down with George Stephanopoulos shortly after Scott Brown’s victory to offer an interesting explanation as to why the bluest of blue states would choose a Republican to succeed Ted Kennedy: “Here’s my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts but the mood around the country: the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office. People are angry and they’re frustrated. Not just because of that’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.” Doubling down on his boss’ unique political analysis White House Press Secretary and stand up comedian in training Robert Gibbs told Chris Wallace in an interview that in electing Scott Brown “More people voted to express their support for Barack Obama than to oppose him.” (I personally think that Mr. Gibbs will make an excellent stand up comedian because time and again he’s able to say such outrageous things with a straight face.)
Friends, if you’ve recovered from your raucous laughter let us consider seriously what the President and his comic sidekick are telling us and his nervous Congressional majority: the political tsunami that was Scott Brown’s victory was not a repudiation of the Obama agenda, even though Mr. Brown campaigned explicitly on that, but rather it was continued anger over George Bush and evidence of continued support for “change we can believe in”. This is not surprising, however, when one sees the way in which the White House and the Congressional Democrats derided and dismissed the Tea Party protests throughout the Spring and Summer. This self deception is a continuation of a pattern by Congressional Democrats who sat through packed town hall meetings where their constituents begged them not to vote for Obamacare only to return to Washington and do exactly that. These are the people attempting to re-write history by saying it was the failure to pass Healthcare reform that swept them out of power in 1994 and so now more than ever they must stay the course no matter what the polls, pundits and people say! Among people for whom re-election is the Holy Grail one must wonder what kind of ideologue extremists we have in Washington such that they are willing to risk their careers to pass the President’s agenda.
I appreciate that in the wake of such an unexpected and devastating defeat as is Scott Brown’s win the President has to reassure his Congressional allies in order to move his agenda forward, but the suspension of disbelief is better suited for science fiction novels than Party platforms.
In what is sure to go down in history as one of the most infamous examples of sheer delusion or bald faced lying, President Obama sat down with George Stephanopoulos shortly after Scott Brown’s victory to offer an interesting explanation as to why the bluest of blue states would choose a Republican to succeed Ted Kennedy: “Here’s my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts but the mood around the country: the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office. People are angry and they’re frustrated. Not just because of that’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.” Doubling down on his boss’ unique political analysis White House Press Secretary and stand up comedian in training Robert Gibbs told Chris Wallace in an interview that in electing Scott Brown “More people voted to express their support for Barack Obama than to oppose him.” (I personally think that Mr. Gibbs will make an excellent stand up comedian because time and again he’s able to say such outrageous things with a straight face.)
Friends, if you’ve recovered from your raucous laughter let us consider seriously what the President and his comic sidekick are telling us and his nervous Congressional majority: the political tsunami that was Scott Brown’s victory was not a repudiation of the Obama agenda, even though Mr. Brown campaigned explicitly on that, but rather it was continued anger over George Bush and evidence of continued support for “change we can believe in”. This is not surprising, however, when one sees the way in which the White House and the Congressional Democrats derided and dismissed the Tea Party protests throughout the Spring and Summer. This self deception is a continuation of a pattern by Congressional Democrats who sat through packed town hall meetings where their constituents begged them not to vote for Obamacare only to return to Washington and do exactly that. These are the people attempting to re-write history by saying it was the failure to pass Healthcare reform that swept them out of power in 1994 and so now more than ever they must stay the course no matter what the polls, pundits and people say! Among people for whom re-election is the Holy Grail one must wonder what kind of ideologue extremists we have in Washington such that they are willing to risk their careers to pass the President’s agenda.
I appreciate that in the wake of such an unexpected and devastating defeat as is Scott Brown’s win the President has to reassure his Congressional allies in order to move his agenda forward, but the suspension of disbelief is better suited for science fiction novels than Party platforms.
