Paying Attention

I’ve got major complaints about Obama and the Democrats (Got Spine anyone?), but at least they try to deal with reality.  The GOP has wedded itself to an alternate reality which can only be sustained by lying about things over and over again.

Remember GW Bush?  1) “Saddam has WMDs.”  2) “I never said Saddam had WMDs.”  Did the Democrats find a spine to empower the truth?  Not until Lie Number 1 had done its damage and  Lie Number 2 could be challenged without risking re-election.   This is war we’re talking about!  GGRRR!

Now look at Romney, the unhappy GOP’s presumptive nominee.  He touts his job-creating record in the private sector.  Problem is: he actually worked as an equity fund manager making profits by buying companies, forcing layoffs and then selling the more “valuable” stock” of the downsized companies.  He’s the poster child of how Wall Street screwed us!  Maybe someday the mainstream (corporate) news media will get around to challenging him on the FACTS of his private sector record.   Maybe they won’t.

The other half of Romney’s Big Lie is that Obama is the Great Job Killer.  Paul Krugman of the NY Times has helpfully provided these two charts of actual economic data.  Given the free falling Republican economy Obama inherited in January, 2009, the charts speak for themselves.

The crisis of our democracy is that one of our two major parties has succumbed to an ethic which says winning matters more than truth.  Their patriotism begins and ends with whatever it takes to gain and retain power.  They bank on a wealthy base and a cynical faith that in this age of Media Information Overload, even the most self-evident lie does its dirty work long before it gets tracked down.  By the time those who believe in fact-checking debunk it, the next Big Lie is already in play.

All that is left is the quaint belief that good information eventually chases out bad information, and that reality-based information matters.  The 2012 election may well depend on this.