At a town hall in Atlantic, Iowa, Saturday afternoon, Gingrich gave an unusual reason for his present denial of man-made global warming. “I’m an amateur paleontologist,” Gingrich said. “I spend a lot of time looking at the Earth’s temperature for a very long time. I’m a lot harder to convince than just looking at a computer model.” Professional paleontologists, who have spent a lot more time than Gingrich looking at the Earth’s temperature, are convinced. “Few credible scientists now doubt that humans have influenced the documented rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution,” the American Quaternary Society wrote in 2006.
One of the truly jaw-dropping aspects of this GOP Presidential nominating process is the degree to which anti-intellectualism has become the lingua franca of the candidates. The contenders learned early on that playing to the lowest common denominator is the only sure path to the nomination. Accordingly, every candidate (with the occasional exception of Jon Huntsman) has ignored scientific reality, soft-pedaled what’s demonstrably and provably true, and trampled through an intellectual and moral minefield without a hint of shame or embarrassment. Ridiculous claims, absurd accusations, blatant dishonesty, and a complete lack of integrity and disregard for the truth have become the hallmark of Republicans seeking the Presidency. This says just about everything one really needs to know about today’s GOP. The truly sad aspect of the GOP’s nominating circus is that this collection of liars and reprobates actually believes they’re more qualified to be President than Barack Obama.
Being a successful Republican requires a candidate to be willing to do or say whatever it takes, no matter how dishonest or disingenuous. The willingness to hew to the incoherent bleatings of the Tea Party means today’s GOP is beholden to an ideology that has no basis in truth and an even more tenuous grip on reality. Honesty cannot survive when the coin of the realm is dishonesty, disingenuousness, and lack of integrity.
How bad have things become? How about trying to wrap your head around the idea that the “winner” of the GOP’s beauty pageant will be the one wearing the biggest metaphorical dunce cap? Merely being Conservative isn’t near enough to win the nomination this year. No, in order to distinguish oneself and become the GOP standard-bearer, one must demonstrate oneself to be an intellectual and moral black hole…and there’s no shortage of those willing to engage in the party’s race to the bottom. You’d think that Republicans would be embarrassed…especially when Germany’s Spiegel Online has called the GOP field “A Club of Liars, Demagogues and Ignoramuses.” Your mistake, of course, would be in assuming that Republicans are actually capable of experiencing shame.
I understand that politicians lie. I get that Republicans lie more than most. I don’t even necessarily mind the lies; it’s what I’ve come to expect. But would it be too much to at least expect that Republicans put some effort into their lying?
My political memory reaches back to Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.
In other words, I’ve been lied to by the best.
I remember Sen. Bob Kerrey saying, with some degree of awe, that Bill Clinton was “an unusually good liar.” I admired Sarah Palin answering, when she was asked what newspapers and magazines she read, “All of them.”
So in dealing with politicians, I don’t expect complete honesty. But I do think I’m entitled to expect plausibility.
In other words, if you’re going to lie, put some effort into it.
I don’t expect all political comments to pass the truth test. But I would like to think they can pass the giggle test.
These days, it’s as if Republicans have simply stopped trying. Perhaps it’s just that given what Republican primary voters expect of their candidates, lying has become the language of choice. Candidates have fallen into lying and dishonesty so easily and so effortlessly that not only are they no longer trying, they’re no longer conscious of the reality that they’re lying. It seems that Republican candidates have become so inured and immune to the truth that they no longer have any qualms about dissembling, prevaricating, and speaking out of both sides of their mouth.
This country is experiencing significant challenges. Addressing and resolving these problems will take honesty and imagination, qualities that this year will take a GOP candidate nowhere fast. Republicans have created an environment in which primary voters expect- nay, demand- to be lied to. The Republican base expects and demands dishonesty, lack of integrity, and that all manner of ridiculous accusations be tossed at President Obama. How long before Mitt Romney is promising a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage? He’s already promised college students that they will have jobs if he’s elected President.
Perhaps it’s that Republicans recognize (and have tacitly admitted) that they can’t compete on the issues. Perhaps they understand that the only way to win is to lie and sling mud. Perhaps they really are all and only about political power and will do an/or say anything, no matter how dishonest or disingenuous, to seize it.
I’m not here to tell you that Democrats sit head and shoulders about Republicans when it comes to being devoted to reality, honesty, and integrity. What does seem obvious is that Republicans have given up on even maintaining the charade that they care about the truth. I wouldn’t trust any of the Republican candidates to manage a Dairy Queen, much less sit behind the big desk in the Oval Office.
We need honesty, vision, and inspired leadership. What the GOP is offering is a collection of moral and intellectual midgets who wouldn’t recognize the truth if it showed up smiling, naked, and carrying a bottle of champagne and a box of Trojans.
Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, does it?
