tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31964974.post8304566566847580873..comments2023-09-10T03:33:19.319-04:00Comments on RANDOM THOUGHTS: The OneMycue23http://www.blogger.com/profile/07474424588090159340noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31964974.post-925582572316506102008-08-01T12:25:00.000-04:002008-08-01T12:25:00.000-04:00I’ve stopped laughing barely long enough to respon...I’ve stopped laughing barely long enough to respond. … <BR/>This is all bullshit. But what’s the difference anyway? I remember when GW Bush ran against two veterans who actually served in the military, generally a big positive in a candidate's favor; Americans were manipulated into seeing everything backwards.<BR/>Our current president, George W. Bush, (who got to play dress-up on an air-base in Texas and act like the rich spoiled drunken brat everybody knew at Yale University), somehow passed himself off as a Vietnam veteran during the last two elections. I hate to think that at any point America’s National Guard depended on the likes of George W. Bush. I have two friends in the National Guard… They’re currently in Iraq.<BR/>Al Gore refused the option of signing up for the National Guard, choosing instead to volunteer for the United States Army, enlisting for two years. <BR/>John Kerry is a decorated veteran, who saw actual combat, but he tossed his medals in protest, -so I guess that makes his service void.<BR/>Too many of my fellow Americans still buy into the lie that George W. Bush is an average American. He is the son of a President. He is a Yaley. He was a goldbrickin’ C+ student. He was born rich. His folksiness and “average joe” act is as much of a sham as his reputation as a veteran of war.<BR/>Ironically, John McCain’s military record has never been in question, so when George W. Bush ran against him for the Republican nomination, Karl Rove opted for spreading rumors and conducting push polls implying that McCain had a child out of wedlock (possibly of another race!!! How scandalous!!!). That was pretty fuckin’ low, and it made me very, very angry that they would do that to another Republican, especially someone who had conducted himself with the evenhandedness and dignity that John McCain historically had.<BR/>But John McCain's circle of advisers seem to have learned some valuable, albeit sinister lessons from that campaign against George W. Bush and that infernal character assassination machine: perceptions trump reality in American politics, even if said reality is already known. <BR/>So I guess it’s a good thing Obama was too young to serve in Vietnam because it would be used against him. In America, actual military service can be “swift-boated” out of the historical record and out of the minds of the American people at the pleasure and whim of somebody like Karl Rove… with something as flimsy as a paid commercial.<BR/>At least I won’t have my intelligence insulted in quite the same way again this time. There are entirely new and astoundingly ridiculous claims coming from the GOP propaganda machine: <I>Barack Obama can’t relate to the average American and his problems… but John McCain, an admiral’s son married to a rich heiress who flies around on a private jet can…</I> Hot damn, I think I’m ready to laugh again.<BR/>-SJSJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17181694732531476160noreply@blogger.com