The Talented Mister Romney

For those of you scoring at home you'll remember the 2004 presidential election as one that set new standards for odious campaign practices and sheer, shameless skullduggery to the point where a new term was introduced into the American Political lexicon of Dirty Trix: Swiftboating. What do you do if you're the incumbent with a documented record of draft-dodging during the Vietnam War and you're running against an opponent who's a documented war hero? History supplies us with the answer in the immortal words of Adolf Hitler:

►

"All this was inspired by the principle - which is quite true in itself - that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes” 

The Modus Operandi in this case was to tell The Big Lie about Kerry's war record, cast is as beyond fictitious: to create a feeling in the American public that he was, in fact, a craven liar who's war record was actually dark and hideous and without honor. Real investigation, of course, showed this to be a grotesque attempt at smear tactics and absolutely false, but the damage was done. As Hitler's dark genius of misinformation could have told you: 

 

►“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it . . .► The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over."

Part two of the Swiftboating of John Kerry has relevance for today. It was important for the Bush Team to make him appear unsteady and confused and unreliable in a world of hijacked planes flying into high-rises and so he was painted as a "Flip-flopper". He was misquoted frequently and relentlessly as saying, "I was for the war before I was against it." The enduring image most Americans had of Kerry was successfully painted by his detractors: John Kerry the Flip-Flopper . . .

So what are we to make of the Talented Mister Romney? "As Governor of Massachusetts he supported gun-control, abortion, tackling climate change and and a requirement that everyone should buy health insurance, backed up with generous subsidies for those who could not afford it. Now, as he prepares to fly to Tampa to accept the Republican Party’s nomination for president on August 30th, he opposes all those things. A year ago he favoured keeping income taxes at their current levels; now he wants to slash them for everybody, with the rate falling from 35% to 28% for the richest Americans" (http://www.economist.com/node/21560864).

What are we to make of this man other than what the Republicans once said of Obama: here's a guy who will say anything to get elected?!

Which Romney is the Real Romney? The moderate bi-partisan of the past or the Far Right extremist of today? Or is there a real Romney at all? Personally, I think there is a real man instead all that slick packaging but stronger men than Romney have been hijacked by the Big Money of the Republican juggernaut. How many of us remember affable, straight-talking honest-John McCain and how quickly he became a joy-less pod-person once he won the nomination, hustled off and kept in increasing isolation by his Handlers and dictated to by the Higher Ups who foisted The Palin upon him as a running mate. It's instructive to note that McCain was back to himself in his concession speech the night of the election: humble, courageous, articulate and making a plea for conciliation and good grace. Many of us were relieved to see Honest John back and were glad to fall in love with him again. 

The writing on the wall was clear to me: if you accept The Party's nomination you become its puppet.

We watch with alarm as yet another One-Time sensible moderate morphs into a dangerously Fringe Social Conservative, shamelessly pandering to the Evangelical Taliban that has a white-knuckled Death Grip on the moral conscience of the Party, despite the fact that the vast amount of Independents out there view such things with loathing. 

But there's method to the Party's movements. The Goddamn General Public - the GDGP - gets whipped up into a frenzy over these kinds of things. That vast amount of unread, uneducated depressingly gullible Heartland People who sit smugly in their Bias Blind Spot, fulfilling Chuck Palahniuk's new vision of Big Brother's tactics:

 

“Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed.

 He’s making sure your imagination withers. Until it’s as useful as your appendix. He’s making sure your attention is always filled.

 And this being fed, it’s worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what’s in your mind. With everyone’s imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world.”

The Mad Dog Moderates paid attention when Judge Head of Lubbock, Texas predicted that if Obama were re-elected, "We are talking civil unrest, civil disobedience, possibly, possibly civil war. ... I'm not talking just talking riots here and there. I'm talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms, get rid of the dictator." We recognize the truthfulness of what he's predicting. The vast, unruly and ignorant mass of GDGP with their guns and their Taliban-esque moral law will be whipped into a fury and they will become dangerous and violent. Many of our friends overseas predicted with a certain smug certainty that America wasn't ready for a Black President, that the Rednecks would rebel and do so violently. That hasn't happened, yet, but the Mad Dog Moderates recognize that such a thing can happen.

And meanwhile, under cover of smoke and violence and revolt, who's keeping an eye on the biggest danger to the Middle-Class, the Corporate Elite?

Mister Romney is a perfect example of what we know and fear but can't convince the GDGP of: the rich get richer in America. Did Romney rise from the middle class (or lower) and build a multi-million dollar company? No, he was born rich and privileged and did what any half-smart scion of wealth would do: take millions and make them grow. Even Paris Hilton did that. The rich get richer because the system is made that way. The middle-class slips below levels seen in any industrialized western society but there's no real plan to stop the hemorrhaging.