I'm going to be honest in admitting that I've paid little attention to the bloviations of "The Donald" as he trundles along on his grand "Look at Me!" dalliance in Presidential politics. While the National media tries to make something out of his temporary bump in the polls I still feel that cooler heads will prevail and Republicans will eventually settle on a real candidate, not a cardboard cut-out with a dead rat on its head.
I have the same feeling about Bernie Sanders, a pseudo-socialist who really wants crony capitalism and who's only in the campaign to make his friend Hillary Clinton, look moderate in comparison. If Hillary needs cover on the left, Sanders is there to provide aid and comfort.
The difference between the media treatment of the two faux-candidates is pretty shocking however. Trump is treated as entertainment while Sanders is treated as a principled crusader who's scaring the Clinton campaign because.....rally attendance? This is the silly season in politics where the media, desperate to find a framing narrative for the entire campaign, is grasping at straws.
Are there too many Republicans in the race for the nomination? No. In fact, it's only an issue because that's the narrative the media wants to push. It's a joke that's told in DC pubs and restaurants while the correspondents and their contacts are dining on roast peacock and washing it down with Krug served by indentured servants in waistcoats.
Which brings me to my point.
There's been a lot of attention paid of late to so-called "gaffes" uttered by The Donald.
First he angered the immigrants, and gave liberal writers and politicians the vapors. Then, he had the temerity by doubling down and insulting the holy grail of personal politics. Do I agree with The Donald on either of these issues? No. Do I think he should be vilified for it or owe McCain an apology? No again.
But the fact is we now live in a blame culture. It's a touchy feely world with participation medals, and bullying, and micro-aggressions and fuzzy definitions of widely accepted terms. And we're all going to fall into the trap eventually.
It's impossible not to, as Donald Trump has found.
Now, don't get me wrong (although some will). I wouldn't vote in The Donald to the position of local dog catcher. I think he's unfit to be President and is a man so bereft of ideas I've all but ignored him. But, and this is important, the man is a communicator. And that's important when you're trying to get people to vote for you. Do you think it's any mistake that Obama used a TelePrompTer almost exclusively prior to being elected? Have you heard the man try to speak without a prepared speech? It's a litany of "uhs" and "umms" and it's all but unlistenable.
Trump doesn't do that, but he needs the attention so he says outlandish things. Does he really believe any of them? Probably, to a point. I think that he honestly feels McCain is not a hero but I doubt he believes what he says about illegal immigrants. After all, he needs them to prop up his real estate empire.
To be honest, I'm not a fan of John McCain. From what I've seen about him he's a 100% political animal, and not a very pleasant one at that. He can be abusive when people disagree with him and he seems to carry a grudge. While I don't discount his time spent as a POW that doesn't mean that he's worthy of praise in every other area of his life, or even that his military career prior to that was distinguished.
We make that mistake all the time in society, we assume that one act of valor defines one's entire existence. That in order to pay homage to McCain's greatness as a POW you have to also accept, without question, his greatness in every other aspect of life as well. We also do it with criticism of things we like. Far be it that someone offers criticism of our chosen candidate for some bone-headed decision they made. Someone! Must be blamed. And blame is really all that America excels at these days.
So eventually, in a society such as this, we're all going to offend. On a personal note, this harmless, humorous take on the debate surrounding the City of Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance was once called "the most homophobic thing I've ever read." A fact that only indicates the offended really needs to get out more. But these people are not going to get out more, and they're not going to try and see reason. In fact, reason as a concept has not only died in America, its body is being actively beaten whenever it has a sympathetic twitch.
If you issue an opinion, it's going to run counter to someone's deeply held belief somewhere and they're going to demand not only an apology, but that you be tied to a rail and carried out of polite society. You will be banished to the far corners of the country reserved now for racists, bigots and Caucasian males who still think it's OK to be well....male. (Soon to welcome evangelical Christians).
Our media and our politicians don't care about reason or truth or any concept that might interfere with page views and power, all they care about is making more money. Add increasing their power to the politicians' tool-kit and you have America today. Is there any fixing this?
My guess is no, because we LIKE our blame culture and our breathless news stories about how everyone is offended about everything everywhere. If we agree with the issue we get high on the outrage. If we disagree we get high on getting outraged at the outrage. In fact, I think it's an integral part of our societal DNA.
Which might suggest that the DNA of America is somehow dysfunctional.
