Why So Many Idiots?

I was bored with the station I had on while tooling down the westbound beltline Wednesday afternoon, so I flipped the station and heard Dennis Miller riffing with Dana Carvey. Funny stuff. Then they started talking politics. Carvey dissed Sarah Palin who was raising eyebrows that day by announcing a speaking date in Iowa (think caucuses). Miller – supposedly the “thinking man’s comedian” – sprung to Palin’s defense when Carvey brought up the notorious Katie Couric interview.

Miller opined that Palin had just been “dragged” down from Alaska; was new to the public scene; was no doubt tired; not used to the media spotlight; and further opined that she’s now become a formidable force in American politics.

Among mouth-breathing morons, I suppose.

I went back and looked at the Couric interview; and the one with Charlie Gibson. It’s very easy to find them on YouTube. Couric: “What newspapers and magazines do you read?” Palin: “All of ‘em; any of ‘em; lots of ‘em…” Go watch it for yourself. Watch the Gibson interview, for which she was carefully prepped by John McCain’s staff, and tell me what you think about her answer to Gibson’s question about the Bush doctrine.

This was NOT “gotcha” journalism in either case. These were run-of-the-mill questions you’d ask to get to know anyone running for the second-highest office in the land, not some parsing of prior public comments by the candidate. And Miller chalks it up to jet lag and inexperience? By the way, Dennis, what magazines and newspapers do YOU read?

Then that evening I saw a local TV guy interview some cretin named Dave Westlake, who apparently wants to represent Wisconsin in the United States Congress. He believes there’s plenty of scientific evidence that the earth was created less than six thousand years ago. (Apparently the media have been covering it up by not reporting it.) Where do they find these whack-jobs who run for public office, and whatever happened to FACTS?

The Reds beat the Brewers 6-1 Wednesday night and Cuban left-hander Aroldis Chapman got his first major league win. His top pitch speed was a blazing 103 MPH. These are what reporters and most people would call FACTS. They are not subject to debate.

David Dwight Eisenhower was born in Denison TX on October 14th, 1890, and he reversed the order of his given names when he enrolled in West Point. He was the 34th President of the United States and the last President to be born in the 19th century. These are FACTS, and they’re not subject to debate.

But where the current President was born, despite the existence of a certified birth certificate, and the religion he has practiced for decades, are now apparently subject to debate. By morons. The kind of people who think radio-carbon dating is some sort of mystic hoo-doo that has nothing to do with settled science. The sort of people who think there’s some vast left-wing conspiracy that produced a fake Obama birth certificate. “He’s an AY-rab”, as that woman in Minnesota said to John McCain on the ’08 campaign trail. (Much to his credit, McCain corrected her immediately.)

Russ Feingold runs ads saying Ron Johnson (who has enough problems with honesty on simple FACTS like when Pacur was founded) wants to drill for oil in the great lakes – even though our Junior Senator knows damn well Johnson advocates nothing of the sort. Pandering to the morons.

My God, this nation is in trouble.