Today, Pennsylvania voters emerge from their boroughs to decide if the U.S. will have early fascism or four more years of democracy.
I sure am tired of every election being “the most important election of our lifetimes.” I want some boring elections. I want a couple of nerds up there, Republican and Democratic, arguing over whether the capital gains tax rate should be 30 percent or 30.5 percent.
Bring back the halcyon days when the vice president couldn’t spell “potatoe” and when people voted against Jimmy Carter because he wore a sweater, not because they thought he literally was a demon.
Bring back the days when a literal joke candidate, such as Pogo Possum or Snoopy or Gracie Allen or Pat Paulsen could run for office, and we knew it was meant to be a joke; as opposed to having a real candidate who pretends to perform oral sex on a microphone and talks about Arnold Palmer’s genitals, and we all have to ask, “is this a joke?”
No matter what happens with this election, I think we’re still a long, long way from getting back to those days.
Robbie Fulks had a song called “America is a Hard Religion.” He was damned right.
Eight years later, a lot of Republicans are still pissed off that Hillary Clinton referred to some of Trump’s supporters as “a basket of deplorables.”
It was a ham-handed remark that reinforced the idea that Clinton was condescending and out of touch, but to bend over backwards to be fair (and I usually don’t), she did specify that she was referring to people who were “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”
That part of what she said was rarely if ever quoted in the media.
The “deplorables” comment haunted her campaign and continues to haunt Democrats. Not a week goes by that I don’t hear or read some Trump supporter bringing up that comment.
Which begs the question: If you think Hillary Clinton was referring to you, does that mean you think you’re racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, or Islamophobic? Because that’s something you have the power to fix.
I guess if I did deplorable things to other people, I would be offended if someone called me “deplorable,” but I try not to do deplorable things to other people.
Which, to be honest, is actually a lot easier than some people make it out to be.
Earlier this week, I re-posted a message from the Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Right Rev. Ketlen Solak, on my LinkedIn feed. Bishop Solak wrote:
“At a time when the constant use of smoke and mirrors is wielded in an effort to confound many, the boundary between truth and untruth looks quite blurry on the surface. The denigration of immigrants serves as a prime example. When the boundary between truth and untruth becomes blurred, the principles of Scripture, particularly the eternal principles of love and justice, which call people of faith to act with love and fairness, recalibrate our vision and understanding.”
Someone responded: “Tell me you’ve endorsed Kamala without telling me you’ve endorsed Kamala.”
Well, the Lutheran Conference of Bishops issued a similar statement, which says, in part: “We, the members of the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, speak with one voice to condemn the hateful, deceptive, violent speech that has too readily found a place in our national discourse. We lament the ways this language has led to hate-fueled action. We refuse to accept the ongoing normalization of lies and deceit.”
To be fair, the Bible is pretty clear in stating Jesus’ positions on lying (He’s against it) and welcoming strangers and foreigners (He’s for it).
Again, if you dislike being called “deplorable,” then don’t do deplorable things, like lying and demonizing people who look different from you, or who were born in a different country. Again: It’s much simpler than it’s made out to be.
While we’re on the subject, out in my corner of Pennsyltucky, a bunch of new Trump signs and flags went up over the weekend, after the Madison Square Garden rally. Which suggests that a lot of people saw the rally and really liked what they saw; if only we had a word to describe that behavior.
On the other hand, I read somewhere that Leon Mush was spending part of his fortune to provide supporters with free Trump signs. So who knows? If you’re going to get a sign for free, why not?
Which begs another question, why was Trump giving away free signs while the Dems were charging for them? A Kamala Harris sign, from the official Kamala Harris campaign website, was $20, plus $17.06 shipping.
This fits a pattern. Republicans and conservatives give away stuff — including access to their websites. Fox News’ website is free; CNN now has a paywall. The Washington Times (owned by the Rev. Moon’s Unification Church) is free; the Washington Post (owned by Jeff Bezos) has a paywall.
Is it any wonder that right-wing propaganda spreads so quickly?
To paraphrase Mark Twain, a lie travels halfway around the world while the truth is still figuring out the shipping and handling costs.
Finally, I rarely if ever watch “Saturday Night Live” these days, and this season has been no exception.
However, if this Saturday, we have to see Maya Rudolph sing “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen on an empty stage, I’m going to go all Elvis on my TV.