Let’s Have The Unfiltered Version
link On first official day on the trail, Rand Paul turns in a prickly performance – The Washington Post.
Ah, election season; let the games begin. In fact the only game in play will be the gong show which will be the vetting of the Republican contender. The Democrats have a roster of one, the same one for the past 6 years, known literally as the lady in waiting. Apparently, that’s enough. The Republicans however have a deep bench as far as eligible and capable candidates, including experienced state governors, eloquent Senators and even accomplished physicians and business people from which to choose…and therein lies the problem.
What they don’t have is the monolithic, cult-like love of their candidates as the Democrats have for their anointed one. The GOP contenders have been labelled nutcases, extremists, isolationists, elitist, even left leaning…and this from their own ranks! Collectively, they represent the wide range of divergent views on things that rational people in society have when they are not obeisant to the philosophical dictates of party propaganda.
Since only the GOP candidates are under scrutiny, they will be the ones in the crosshairs of the media. Of course, the first ones to hit the beach will take the first shots. Ted Cruz has already taken a few rounds for his ‘extremist’ views and just today Rand Paul is taking fire for his testy comments to some reporters. The self described libertarian Paul has been taken to task by the media (conservative as well as liberal) for his temperament in dealing with questions from interviewers. He’s been advised to be more patient and circumspect when addressing the long winded, circuitous and accusatory questions posed to him. While I personally don’t agree with many of his positions, I do figuratively give Paul a standing ovation for his tack with the idiot media. The fact that he’s not a lawyer is also a plus.
The reason that people despise politicians is precisely because they are advised to give evasive and vague answers to the inane questions that are pitched to them. Typically, they are given ‘when did you stop beating your wife’ questions, in order to elicit some sound byte from the candidate that makes the next day’s headlines. Most politicians are no doubt coached to smile benignly and state that “that’s a very good question” before wandering off on some oblique tangent, toothy smile all the while. This is the equivalent of “thank you sir, may I have another” while being paddled at a fraternity hazing.
We’d all be far better off if the candidate rolls his eyes at the stupid question, laughs hysterically and points at the guy while saying in a loud voice, “Seriously dude…that’s your question??” The last guy who wouldn’t take any media guff was Newt Gingrich, but unfortunately it didn’t help him. He was painted as an angry white man. On the other hand, Mitt Romney was criticized for being too gracious and not tough enough during his candidacy so they painted him as a wimp. Look what that got him. So it really doesn’t matter. The left media will pillory you either way. You may as well be honest.
Here’s an example of what the GOP candidate will face:
“Mr Candidate, your policy on the middle east conflict, the result of George Bush’s lies about weapons of mass destruction and the years of war which saw American lives and treasure spent on behalf of American oil companies and Saudi rulers, which by the way suppresses the rights of women and gays and encourages the consumption of non renewable resources leading to the proliferation of global warming which has shown to be linked to disappearing sea ice and therefore dwindling penguins and the need to consume only organic products that are not GMO since that would cause poverty and disease among inner city children and consequent widening of the gulf that exists in American society, seems to have changed since your first speech in 1995. What do you have against children?”
On the other hand, the press will pose this to the Democratic candidate:
“Hillary, who was in your bracket for the final four?”
Obviously, politicians are out to get as many votes as possible, but do they need the idiot vote that badly? They’re going to vote Democrat anyway, so why humor them with even a dumb answer. Call them out, cut them off and move on. People can make judgements from what they observe. If they see that the candidate won’t entertain vapid questions and play the media game, they may very well vote for him because he won’t pander to the crowd.
The nub of the issue is that people should be tired if not outright skeptical of the media directing the narrative of how the candidates are portrayed. For much too long the very small media cabal have made or broken candidates based on whether they fit their biased political views. They have proven time and time again that they are an unnecessary and egregiously biased filter for politicians’ messages. So kudos to guys like Paul who have the guts to call them out and refuse to be bullied. America needs more Churchill; enough with the Chamberlain.