Okay. A real post tonight. But, not the one that The Blog has been promising. We'll get to the subject of the GOP's presidential pattern soon. But tonight, something else is on The PC's mind.
Today, my colleagues and I met a young woman who, it seems, has built an entirely fictional world in her mind. She has lied to her family and others about so many things for so long that she appears to believe the lies herself. She has become so deeply delusional that, even in the face of solid proof, she refuses (or has become incapable) of acknowledging the truth.
Simultaneously fascinating and deeply tragic.
Today is officially (if not actually) the first day of the Republican National Convention.
So, what does one have to do with the other?
Well, like this young lady, the Republican party, it's candidates, pundits and loyalists have been lying and hearing the lies for so long that they are no longer capable of recognizing the truth, even when it is shown to them.
The Republican National Convention's chosen theme, "We Built This," is the perfect example of GOP delusion.
On July 13th during a campaign appearance in Virginia, President Obama gave a speech which contained the following paragraph...
"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet."
You can see the video and and read a transcript of the complete speech, as well as some examples of the right-wing's distortions, here.
Not surprisingly, the right-wing noise machine jumped on the phrase, "If you've got a business, you didn't build that."
Never mind that the phrase was taken completely out of context. Never mind that Willard Romney himself, during a speech on July 17th, acknowledged the true context of Obama's statement. And even agreed with it.
The Republican Party has become so committed to their lie that they chose it as the central theme for their convention.
And nobody in the party, including Romney, seems to have a problem with that.
Of course, the irony deficient GOP also seem oblivious to the fact that their convention is taking place in a venue that was built, primarily, with tax dollars. Perfectly illustrating the President's point.
Delusion.
There are other examples...
Mittens has accused Obama of removing the work provisions from Welfare when, in fact, Obama did the very opposite. And, oh yeah, the waiver offered to state's discretion are exactly the same waiver Romney, himself, asked for, when he was governor of Massachusetts.
And, in spite of the thorough debunking of Romney's claim, he continues to run ads based on the lie.
Republicans don't question it.
Delusion.
For years, VP pick Paul Ryan waxed ecstatic over the philosophies of Ayn Rand, even bragging that he requires his staffers to read her works.
Today, forgetting (like so many righties do) that YouTube exists, Ryan now claims that he finds Rand's ideas repugnant.
Republicans don't question it.
Delusion.
The Tea Party claims that they are "taxed enough already" while federal income taxes are at a 60 year low.
Delusion.
Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly claim to be just plain folks like you and me, while raking in tens of millions of dollars a year.
The "Ditto Heads" do not dispute it.
Delusion.
The gun manufacturing lobby and their apologists claim that your 2nd Amendment rights are in peril. And, any minute now, Hillary Clinton is going to sign a U.N. agreement to take away your guns.
Delusion.
Delusion. Delusion. Delusion.
The list goes on and on, but frankly, I'm on the verge of boring myself.
Look. Politicians and pundits traditionally stretch the truth and take opponent's statements out of context. It's nothing new.
The Blog regularly concedes to his Republican friends that he will acknowledge that Sarah Palin never said that she "could see Russia from my house," (although the comment that Tina Fey was satirizing was almost as ludicrous.) if they will admit that Al Gore never claimed to have invented the internet.
But, today's GOP has taken it far beyond truth stretching.
Flat out lying is the modus operandi of today's Republican party.
And Republicans are okay with that.
One, the phrase is insensitive to the families and friends of the victims of the Jonestown massacre.
Two, the statement suggests that the person using it has no actual argument of substance.
But, really.
If the giant, smiling pitcher fits....
The only explanation that The Blog can come up with to explain Republican supporters is...
Like the young lady that I met today, they are tragically delusional.
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