Separating More Myths From Reality

Wow. What a year it is going to be, politically.

In November, there is a presidential election, and in my lifetime I cannot recall such, well, surrealism.

The Republicans started out with sixteen candidates. This keeps getting whittled down. And I continue to gasp at what comes out of the mouths of some of these candidates.

The Democrats started out with five candidates. This has whittled down to two. Bernie has (so far) been largely ignored by the Republicans, who have concentrated their fury against Hillary.

Speaking ill of your opponent is as old as politics. Goodness, you should read what Thomas Jefferson’s opponent said about him! You would blush!

I am OK when candidate X is critical of the policies of candidate Y. But, I cringe when X simply bashes Y. And I loath it when outright lies are used to diminish an opponent. Sadly, this, too, is as old as politics.

A particularly ugly and reprehensible example of this was when John Kerry was running against George Bush. Kerry was a certified war hero. Bush had avoided military service, but had proclaimed himself the War President. Well, this would not do, so a scheme was cooked up called Swift Boat, a supposedly grass-roots campaign to discredit Kerry by claiming that he had lied about his war record, and did not deserve his awards for heroism and bravery.

The media gave a lot of attention to the Swift Boat claims, and never contradicted their veracity. And, not surprisingly, a lot of voters decided that Kerry had lied about his war record.

The problem is that Swift Boat was not a grass-roots campaign, but a nefarious creation of the Republican party. And nothing they said was true.

Too late, men who had served with Kerry came out of the woodwork and verified that Kerry WAS a hero and had acted with great bravery to save men in a horrific battle.

But the damage had been done.

Today, there is on ongoing campaign to discredit Hillary. Indeed, this campaign has been ongoing for twenty-five years. It is relentless. And a great many people have been persuaded by this campaign.

An article was just published listing all the terrible things Hillary has done. It should be noted that everything on the list comes from Republicans:

1. When she was first lady, she murdered White House lawyer Vince Foster and then dumped his body in a park.

2. She drove Vince Foster to commit suicide through her temper tantrums.

3. She was having an affair with Vince Foster.

4. She’s a lesbian.

5. Chelsea isn’t Bill Clinton’s child.

6. She murdered Vince Foster to cover up that she once bought a tract of undeveloped land in Arkansas and lost money.

7. She murdered Vince Foster to cover up her role in firing the White House travel department.

8. After she murdered Vince Foster, she ransacked his office in the middle of the night and stole all the documents proving her guilt.

9. When Bill was governor of Arkansas, she was a partner in the state’s top law firm, and it sometimes did work involving the state government.

10. She once invested in commodities futures on the advice of a friend and made $100,000, proving she’s a crook.

11. She once invested in real estate on the advice of another friend and lost $100,000, also proving she’s a crook.

12. Unnamed and unverifiable sources have told Peggy Noonan things about the Clintons that are simply too terrible to repeat.

13. The personnel murdered at Benghazi make her the first secretary of state to lose overseas personnel to terrorism — apart from Condi Rice, Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, George Schultz, Dean Rusk and some others.

14. Four State Department staff were murdered at Benghazi, compared with only 119 others murdered overseas under every secretary of state combined since World War II.

15. She illegally sent classified emails from her personal server, except that apparently they weren’t classified at the time.

16. She may have cynically wriggled around the email law by “technically” complying with it.

17. She once signed a lucrative book contract when she was a private citizen.

18. Donald Trump says she “should be in jail,” and he’s a serial bankrupt casino developer in Atlantic City, so he should know.

19. Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay says his “law-enforcement sources” tell him she is “about to be indicted” — and if a man once convicted of money laundering and conspiracy doesn’t have good law-enforcement sources, who does?

20. She’s a hard-left radical who wants to break up the nuclear family.

21. She’s a conservative “mousewife” who refused to break up her own family.

22. She’s in favor of single moms.

23. She refused to be a single mom.

24. When she was first lady of Arkansas, she pandered to conservative voters by dyeing her hair.

25. Before that, she totally insulted them by refusing to.

26. She’s a frump.

27. She spends too much money on designer dresses.

28. She has “cankles.”

29. She has a grating voice.

30. She yells into the microphone.

31. She spent 18 years in Arkansas and some of the people she knew turned out to be crazy rednecks and crooks.

32. She’s in the pay of the mafia.

33. She’s in the pay of the Chinese government.

34. She’s in the pay of the Wall Street banks.

35. In order to suppress the billing records from her time at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, she cleverly packed them up and took them to the White House rather than shredding them.

36. When she handed over the documents to public officials, they couldn’t find any evidence she’d committed any crimes, so she must have doctored them.

37. Congress spent tens of millions of dollars and six years investigating her investment in the “Whitewater” real estate project, and while they didn’t actually find anything, they wouldn’t have spent all that money if there weren’t something there.

38. By cleverly hiding all evidence of her crimes in the “Whitewater” affair, she caused Congress to waste all that taxpayers’ money.

39. When she ran for senator of New York, she was still a fan of the Chicago Cubs.

40. She once said the Clintons were thinking of adopting a child, and they didn’t follow through.

41. She was photographed holding her hand near her mouth during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

42. She’s got brain damage.

43. She’s old.

44. She’s really ambitious and calculating, unlike all the other people running for president.

45. She secretly supported Palestinian terrorists, Puerto Rican terrorists and Guatemalan terrorists.

46. She secretly supported a group that wants to give Maine back to the Indians.

47. She’s a secret follower of “radical prophet” Saul Alinsky.

48. She did her law degree at Yale, and it’s a well-known “socialist finishing school.”

49. When she was young, she did things to build up her resume rather than just for their own good.

50. When Bill was president, she “allowed” him to keep people waiting.

51. She’s married to a sex addict.

52. She’s an enemy of traditional marriage.

53. She didn’t divorce her husband.

54. His philandering is her fault because she is too strong, and too weak, and too frumpy, and too fat, and too cold.

55. She’s hostile to women who fool around with her husband.

56. A divorced taxi driver in Florida told me that if Hillary is elected president, “women will take over everything.”

57. She insulted Tammy Wynette.

58. When they left the White House, she and Bill bought a big house in New York that they couldn’t afford.

59. She sometimes calls her staff during dinner, even when they’re out at a restaurant.

60. She claimed there was a “vast right-wing conspiracy” against her husband, and turned out there was nothing but a bunch of tycoons financing private investigators, and some fake think-tanks and books and news sites and stuff.

61. When she got married, she didn’t “stay at home and bake cookies.”

62. She supported the Iraq War because she’s a secret foreign-policy conservative.

63. She’s a secret foreign-policy radical with a plan to impose worldwide “radical social experimentation” through the World Bank.

64. She is secretly plotting to let children sue their parents for making them take out the garbage.

65. She looked bored during the Benghazi hearings.

66. Oh, yeah — and she totally has a vagina.

 

It leaves one rather breathless.

You will note how none of these “evil” things are about policy. They are all personal attacks. And not a single one of the accusations has ever proved true.

Tragically, a great many people nonetheless believe most, if not all, of these accusations.

What fascinates me, and has long fascinated me, is the total disconnect of opinion between two groups:

  1. People that know Hillary and/or have worked with her. Almost without exception, this group RAVES about Hillary. They love how well-informed she is, friendly, funny, and even a bit bawdy.
  2. People who have never met Hillary, or know her only in passing. This is the group where the “evil” branding comes from.

I don’t know about you, but I am MUCH more impressed with the opinion of people who know Hillary personally, and/or have worked with her, than the opinion of people who do not know her.

In November, this country has a choice. It will be an important choice. But will you make a decision based on a candidate’s experience and proposed policies, or will you make a decision based on how successfully X candidate demonizes Y?

12 Comments

  1. Cindi M on February 5, 2016 at 6:19 pm

    Yea, I’ve heard this crap too. But I’m opposed to politcal dynasties, for the John and John Quincy Adams, The Bush family follies and the Clintons too. So I’m supporting Bernie. Unless backed to the wall.

    • Ross on February 5, 2016 at 8:03 pm

      Cindi,

      You will note that I did not advocate that anybody vote for a candidate.

      And I am glad that you have decided on a candidate. Congrats!

      The point of my post is encapsulated in the last paragraph: “In November, this country has a choice. It will be an important choice. But will you make a decision based on a candidate’s experience and proposed policies, or will you make a decision based on how successfully X candidate demonizes Y?”

      I hope for two things:
      1) That people VOTE!
      2) That voters separate myth from reality.

  2. Sue C. on February 5, 2016 at 6:54 pm

    Excellent post, Ross!

    • Ross on February 5, 2016 at 8:21 pm

      Thanks, Sue!

      Actually, I am afraid of writing such posts.

      First, people who read my blog come for the Old House Stuff, and I do not want to irritate them with the occasional bits of politics.

      Second, we live in incredibly polarized times. So, if somebody supports X, and I write something nice about Y or B or Q or K, they might get upset. Sigh.

      In the end though, I think separating political myths from reality is important. I guess this is my small part to help keep our country healthy and strong.

  3. Sue C. on February 8, 2016 at 11:33 am

    I know what you mean.

  4. Sue C. on February 8, 2016 at 11:34 am

    …and thanks for doing it!

  5. Micki R. on August 26, 2016 at 10:32 am

    I was so enjoying reading your blog until you started letting us all know that you are a big Hillary fan and that Donald Trump is indeed the crook not Hillary. It is indeed your blog and you have the right to say anything you want in it, but I hear enough of that everyday on TV. As a result, I wish you well in your future work on the Cross House, but I will not be reading anymore of your blog. So sad, I really enjoyed it up until this point. You are a gifted writer. My husband and I were even planning a trip to Emporia just to see all the homes you wrote about.

    • Ross on August 26, 2016 at 10:47 am

      Dear Micki,

      I am very glad that you were enjoying my blog. And thank you for the kind words about my writing!

      However, I am otherwise confused by your comment.

      In this post I never once mentioned Mr. Trump.

      In addition at no point did I state I was a Hillary fan.

      Rather, the point of this post is summed up in my last words:

      “Will you make a decision based on a candidate’s experience and proposed policies, or will you make a decision based on how successfully X candidate demonizes Y?”

      If you do decide to visit Emporia, let know! I will be pleased to offer you a tour of the Cross House!

  6. audrey B on December 15, 2016 at 6:20 pm

    Ross, I am an avid reader of your blog. I appreciate that you (basically) stick to the RESTORATION of the grand old Cross House. I went to school in Kansas and visited Emporia a couple of times for lectures and workshops at the university. My hope is one day to visit the Cross House, perhaps meet you and would be thrilled to take the tour.

    I wanted to comment here, my first visit to this section of the blog, to let you know how important your posts have been to me. In the days following the election I was reeling. (I am a Hillary supporter, have always liked the Clintons, and convinced she is the most highly qualified candidate I have ever had the privilege to vote for in any political race.)

    In the days following the election I visited your blog several times a day. I think I was doing what so many of us do in times of stress, seeking out the refuge one can only find at home.

    I know you are under the weather recently, so I am sending positive thoughts and energy, love, and if you will allow, prayers of strength and comfort in your direction.

    Please, take heart that there are many of us who are encouraged by your efforts to restore one small corner of the world. Please know there are like minded people who support and love you for your efforts.

    And for those who would dismiss you for your political views, well… dare I say, shame on them! Last time I checked, I am blessed to live in a country where it is allowed to disagree with popular thought, where I am allowed the freedom to state (and write) my opinion.

    • Ross on December 15, 2016 at 8:26 pm

      Thank you, Audrey! Your heartfelt thoughts are much appreciated. And I would be DELIGHTED to give you a tour of the Cross House!

  7. BonB on July 16, 2022 at 6:22 am

    I have just read this blog post and found it interestingly level-headed and a wonderful read, now with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight vision in 2022. Scholars for years to come will study the America that emerged post-Obama during a time of unfettered social media influences. For the last few years I have witnessed the creeping growth of what I fondly call ‘The Moronification of America’, so alive and well. More recently, there is a surge among supporters of the Republican Party of a system of extreme beliefs that I have termed ‘The American Taliban’ – guns, extreme policing, extreme religious beliefs, curtailing women’s rights, racism, a disdain of a well-rounded education and a distorted definition of Freedom. Many of us once admired Americans as being the best and the smartest people on the planet. Those days are sadly over. I worry about what’s to come.

  8. Ross on July 16, 2022 at 10:25 pm

    I worry, too, BonB.

    BIG hug!

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