Texas state agriculture commissioner Sid Miller posted a fake photo of President Barack Obama holding up a Che Guevara T-shirt late Tuesday on Facebook, alongside a critique of the President’s decision to continue his Latin America trip after deadly terror attacks in Brussels. The Houston Chronicle flagged Miller’s photo on Wednesday. Miller wrote that “Obama is laughing at us” and “doesn’t care” about the symbolism of a shirt depicting a Marxist revolutionary like Guevara. Except, as the Chronicle pointed out, the photo of Obama that Miller posted is not only fake, but is based on a photo taken during a presidential visit to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009. The T-shirt Obama held up in the original photo was printed with equations.
Sid Miller is an elected Republican in Texas…which should provide a clue as to how little value he places in integrity. That Miller couldn’t be bothered to at least be honest in his attempt to disrespect the President is distressing…but hardly surprisingly. Miller has repeatedly shown that he cares nothing for any truth that he can’t manipulate for his own partisan ends. What truth doesn’t exist he makes up as need to suit the perceived need of the moment.
The above screen grab is one I took off his Facebook page, which is to a mature, rational adults what Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are to children. It’s a display of Miller’s prejudice, ignorance, and total lack of commitment to fact-checking. Part of me feels as if I should give him the benefit of the doubt; that perhaps he didn’t realize the photo of the President holding a t-shirt with an image of Che Guevara was fake. This isn’t the first time Miller’s traveled this path, so I suspect it’s far more likely that he simply didn’t care, that he saw an opportunity to ridicule a President he despises and simply couldn’t pass on it. That he couldn’t be bothered to check the accuracy says a lot about Miller’s lack of integrity and fitness to hold the office he was elected to. The photograph’s background should have provide clue enough for Miller to investigate its provenance.
I don’t think it at all unreasonable to believe that our elected public officials should be held to a high standard…as if honesty and integrity should be considered a high bar. That extends to their social media presence. We should be able to expect honesty and integrity. Sure, the occasional mistake sneaks through. It’s the Internet; it happens. I’ve been sloppy in that regard a time or two myself…but there’s a pronounced difference between sloppy and malevolent dishonesty.
Miller is as unscrupulously deceitful and unctuously disingenuous as they come. No matter how much lipstick you smear on that pig, it’s a truth unlikely to change. It’s too bad that Texans hold their elected representatives to such low standards. When you look at it in that light, it explains not only Sid Miller, but also every Republican holding statewide office, as well as Louie Gohmert, Pete Olsen, Joe Barton, and virtually the entire Texas Congressional Republican delegation.
Honesty and integrity are for losers and Liberals, eh?
