Every Word a Candidate Says

I am truly shocked. Suddenly, the very same people who have consistently refused to believe anything said by any politician from a major party – now believe every word that Mrs. Palin says, even ones she never spoke. Some critics even pass off their own interpretations of what she might have meant, as … verbatim statements. What a reversal of strategies. What a change of heart. Frankly I have not known whether to laugh or cry.

I barely get my jaw back into position before another person, who I had previously thought to be quite rational, writes or says something to reinforce this new-found, total-belief in Republican campaign rhetoric; their trust in the veracity of political candidates and campaign promises. In these people’s prior lives, such reactions and conclusions would have been judged to be completely out-of-character. Now, these same people religiously proclaim their new affirmations of faith, as they push their beliefs on others, by any means necessary, available, and possible.

I am stunned that these same people now … not only allow campaign rhetoric to become such an issue … but aggressively defend their views, even as they insult and hurt friends, family, co-workers, and ultimately…I believe…themselves. Once the ADD effects of the feeding frenzy clear from their brains, I think they will look back and question their own sanity at this point in time.

George the Elder said "Read my lips! No new taxes." We thought, "Sure, George. Right. Whatever." He gave us new taxes.

Bill Clinton said, "I never had sex with that woman!" and we shook our heads in disbelief. We were right – the President of the United States had violated the White House and the integrity of our country.

Barack Obama promises to raise taxes so much that the people of America will be better off. We pause to wonder if this misguided man would read Economics in One Lesson if we mailed him a copy.

Woodrow Wilson campaigned on the promise to keep America out of WW-I…

FDR assured people that America would stay neutral; would stay out of Europe’s war. "Uh-huh."

But now…Sarah Palin answers a conditional, If-Then question about the expectations behind NATO agreements with "Perhaps so" and writers and reporters rush to report that "Palin states that war against Russia is being planned!" Someone sent me four (4) links as support of the war-with-Russia claims. All four authors displayed the same inability to hear, let alone interpret, a conditional response to a conditional question. I taught that lesson in Logic 001 when my son was in elementary schools!

Those who believe that my "passion" is to get votes for Sarah Palin are so very wrong. As I clearly stated, I think that if she is not destroyed by cruelty and lies, she stands a chance to bring some positive changes to America, "whether she wins or not." My passion, as well as my frustration, is focused on those-who-should-know-better but fail to provide honest, solid support for their gossip, accusations, poison arrows, and conclusions. Honesty and supportable claims have been my passion in every classroom in which I have ever taught. If mud-slinging writers were to put such unsupported claims into a paper for my composition classes – I would assign them failing grades but write on their papers, "In the unlikely event that you should stumble across some actual support for your position, you may rewrite the paper and resubmit it for partial credit."

Come on! How often does a politician, once in-office, move to fulfill every campaign promise? Still, there are those who now accept every statement, accurately repeated, or not, as gospel, screaming to the crowds "Palin said it and I believe her!" Unbelievable!

To make matters even worse, these people have now lowered their standards; have joined liberals in their agenda of personal destruction. In this unfair strategy, they have put Mrs. Palin’s entire family into the crosshairs. I cannot help but see such behaviors; consider such rants; as shameful and unworthy, especially when they come from people we once thought that we knew.

I wrote to one writer, a friend of mine, pointing out that his rants were making no distinction between Palin the Candidate and Palin the Person, a woman of character. He wrote back to say, "You are 100% correct. You are smart to recognize and understand the difference." Frankly, I recognized the game as soon as the first sword was drawn. What I fail to understand is why others are unable to recognize the difference; why others feel that the only way to disagree with political rhetoric is to stone the speaker.