Monday, February 25, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The End of Talk Radio
Tuesday I effectively swore off talk radio, if not for the rest of my life, at least until early November 2008.
I am not a fan of Rush Limbaugh, or Sean Hannity, or Glenn Beck, or J.D. Hayworth, or Bill O'Reilly. Yet, while driving the automobile-supersaturated freeways of Phoenix, I find myself needing to be entertained - so I flip them on. And I listen. And it is all sort of hypnotic. And I listen way longer than I intended.
Maybe there's a caller making some inane argument about how the U.S. flag is the coolest, or maybe I get sucked in by the ever-so-seductive hook: "When we come back, we'll talk about...." which is repeated for three to four segments before the material is actually addressed. So when I say what I am about to say, I do not mean to extend the situation to all of you faithful dittoheads (ah, the disclaimer). But in the word of O'Reilly, "with all due respect," talk radio makes me a stupid, robotic, brainless, intelligence-starved, moron.
I've thought these things before, but who would have thought a meaningless incident involving some less-than-thoughtful observations by Michelle Obama, wife of presidential hopeful Barack Obama, would push me over the edge.
No, I am not going to go into the details of the matter. That can be accomplished by you turning on 550 KFYI, or the equivalent right-wing trash station you can find on your dial in your hometown. No, I am not a fan of Obama, not even close. In fact, I think electing Obama would be more of a mistake than electing Hillary Clinton.
But the Michelle Obama situation is emblematic of what talk radio really is: entertaining people with news that is not news, with information that is not important. While turning a blind eye to everything that could undermine their purpose, these jockeys pick up bits (ants, if you will) of information and blow them into veritable anthills.
Want to spend your time more wisely? I suggest doing anything else BUT listen to those clowns. Listen to some music on the radio (although that is almost as disgusting most of the time). Listen to an audiobook. Listen to your air conditioner blowing. Don't waste your life enriching the dregs of society.
Oh, yes, I am still talking to myself. And myself says TURN IT OFF!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Mitt Romney: The Sellout I Thought He Was
I was never a Mitt Romney supporter, but for some reason when I learned today that the expected happened: he will endorse John McCain for president, I felt my blood boiling a little more than usual.
While I never "endorsed" Romney, I was at the point of actually believing he might be our best presidential candidate who had a shot at winning. I liked his ideas and his background and leadership skills. Literally, the next day or so, he dropped out of the race. Now, just a week later, he is endorsing McCain.
It upsets me that I even came close to supporting this sellout candidate. The reason why it took me so long to warm up to him - his convenient changing from a liberal Massachusetts politician to a republican presidential candidate - ends up being the reason why he lost the race, and why I couldn't support him whole-heartedly. Put succinctly, you can't trust what Romney says.
He talked all the talk - Washington is broken, McCain is a liberal, we won't solve our problems by sending people who already work in Washington back to Washington, and so on. All of them sounded like reasonably sound and reasoned arguments. So what does the sellout do one week after he betrayed his entire support base? He tosses out all of his "principles" and supports a man who has none.
Just like he did to become a nominee.
I thought he was different, but unfortunately, Mitt Romney is no different, no better, than any of the other hypocritical, self-serving, special-interest-protecting Washington politicians. They have no principles, and neither does he. If he does, he values them as much as the average politician, only as much as it benefits him popularly and politically.
Recall the South Carolina Presidential Debate, if I am not mistaken, when there was a conversation between Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul about fixing what one has broken. Well, Romney has said time and time again that Washington was broken, and yet one week after he bailed on his principles, he turned against them completely and fell in line with the "broken" establishment. Nice job, buddy. Turns out he's just another one of talking heads that really has not the slightest intention of turning things around for our great nation.
I can only sympathize with his supporters. They must feel stabbed in the back. But many of them will still follow Romney blindly, just like they did before. Who cares what he said in the past, he's Mitt Romney, and if McCain is good enough for him, he's good enough for us.
Not that we can be surprised. Another flop for flipping Mitt. Another sellout endorsing the sellout candidate.
Why would he do this so readily? The answer is simple: another victory for the failed "war on terror." We will have to visit this subject later, but it seems any principles you might have should be suspended in order to win against "the bad guys." This is no surprise - the current administration has continually eroded our freedoms to "protect us." So the final lesson is, no sellout is too costly when you can use terrorism and terrorists to help your party's chances of winning the White House in the election. And in the world of Romney, death by terrorists is synonymous with Democrat in the White House.
Thank goodness for the conservatives, the principled ones, the republicans, who sacrifice so much so that we can live a life free of say....the hell that people live through in a place like Iraq.
While I never "endorsed" Romney, I was at the point of actually believing he might be our best presidential candidate who had a shot at winning. I liked his ideas and his background and leadership skills. Literally, the next day or so, he dropped out of the race. Now, just a week later, he is endorsing McCain.
It upsets me that I even came close to supporting this sellout candidate. The reason why it took me so long to warm up to him - his convenient changing from a liberal Massachusetts politician to a republican presidential candidate - ends up being the reason why he lost the race, and why I couldn't support him whole-heartedly. Put succinctly, you can't trust what Romney says.
He talked all the talk - Washington is broken, McCain is a liberal, we won't solve our problems by sending people who already work in Washington back to Washington, and so on. All of them sounded like reasonably sound and reasoned arguments. So what does the sellout do one week after he betrayed his entire support base? He tosses out all of his "principles" and supports a man who has none.
Just like he did to become a nominee.
I thought he was different, but unfortunately, Mitt Romney is no different, no better, than any of the other hypocritical, self-serving, special-interest-protecting Washington politicians. They have no principles, and neither does he. If he does, he values them as much as the average politician, only as much as it benefits him popularly and politically.
Recall the South Carolina Presidential Debate, if I am not mistaken, when there was a conversation between Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul about fixing what one has broken. Well, Romney has said time and time again that Washington was broken, and yet one week after he bailed on his principles, he turned against them completely and fell in line with the "broken" establishment. Nice job, buddy. Turns out he's just another one of talking heads that really has not the slightest intention of turning things around for our great nation.
I can only sympathize with his supporters. They must feel stabbed in the back. But many of them will still follow Romney blindly, just like they did before. Who cares what he said in the past, he's Mitt Romney, and if McCain is good enough for him, he's good enough for us.
Not that we can be surprised. Another flop for flipping Mitt. Another sellout endorsing the sellout candidate.
Why would he do this so readily? The answer is simple: another victory for the failed "war on terror." We will have to visit this subject later, but it seems any principles you might have should be suspended in order to win against "the bad guys." This is no surprise - the current administration has continually eroded our freedoms to "protect us." So the final lesson is, no sellout is too costly when you can use terrorism and terrorists to help your party's chances of winning the White House in the election. And in the world of Romney, death by terrorists is synonymous with Democrat in the White House.
Thank goodness for the conservatives, the principled ones, the republicans, who sacrifice so much so that we can live a life free of say....the hell that people live through in a place like Iraq.
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