Curmudgeon's Corner
cur-mud-geon: anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner
Political Lie of the Year
Do you remember the political advertisement that showed a Paul Ryan look-alike pushing a wheelchair-bound old woman off the cliff? That has been selected by PolitiFact as the Lie of the Year for 2011.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ran with this commercial for what seemed to be several weeks shortly after Ryan introduced his plan to reform and perpetuate Medicare. Why would the DCCC do this? Because there is an old, old approach to gaining votes and that approach uses senior citizens by scaring the dickens out of them with commercials such as this winner.
Health policy Professor Jonathon Oberlander was quoted as saying, “If you can scare seniors that something is going to happen to those programs, there is potentially a huge payoff in votes.”
It is good to see that this lie has been called what it is by the PolitiFact group, although the damage is largely done. This is the problem with all forms of political advertisements that are either untrue in totality or that are untrue in part; they leave a lasting legacy of those who believe them and who vote accordingly. Are both major parties capable of political chicanery? Yes. Is one major political party more adept at the use of this “tool”? Yes.
Will this ever change? That is highly unlikely simply because it works as does all form of mudslinging in politics.
Take everything political with a very large grain of salt! Do not follow eloquence blindly! Be certain there is sufficient substance to any and all claims, especially those blockbuster claims, before subscribing to them!
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