The following is a rather extended comment I made on a post at Blog Critics Magazine regarding McCain's VP pick yesterday. It probably qualifies as a rant, but what the hell. The only difference is, I cleaned up some of the language and syntax that I had messed up but didn't catch in editing over there.
You know? When it comes down to it everyone commenting here (at Blog Critics,) myself included, is full of shit.
There's not a damn one of us who knows diddly squat about any of this. All of our charges, all of our predictions amount to meaningless crap.
Writers here at BC repeatedly lambast the MSM and the various pundits who blather on about this and that, yet, that is exactly what we do here. Most of those who appear on the various television networks, radio broadcasts, and most of those who write for the major news magazines and newspapers are people who have spent most of the their adult lives involved either actively in politics, and/or reporting on and/or analyzing it. Many of them know the pols personally. Some have held public office at some level or other. Yet, for the most part, their various analyses and prognostications wind up going wide of the mark, much the same as economists who make their supposed educated guesses about the direction the economy is likely to take. Weather forecasters have a far better track record than most political pundits. Generally, for the few who do get it right, it's just the luck of the draw. Someone's going to win; someone will lose.
Pretty much all of us here (at BC) are hacks at best. We all have our opinions, and we are certainly free to share them. What I find so disturbing and maddening is how often most of us, again, myself included, are either totally uninformed, or it's discovered that many of our so called "facts" are gleaned from other WEB sites and publications having a heavy bias, and therefore, no better than questionable credibility. Yet we brazenly come here and repeat the drivel that these places publish as truth. Who knows the truth? What the hell IS the truth?
Everybody here claims to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Obama, or McCain, or the Clintons, or Bush, or Cheney are lying, cheating, stupid, ass kissing, overbearing, groveling, elitist bastards. But, not one of us knows any such thing.
I have often stated how I despise George Bush, but when it comes down to it, I really don't know anything substantive about the man. I think his performance in office has been abysmal, but as a man, he may be, hell, I don't know, charming, funny, a pleasure to be around. The same may be true of McCain or Rumsfeld.
I have often been told that Bill Clinton, in a one on one situation, is absolutely captivating. Apparently, he is able to charm the pants off of some people. My brother in-law talked with a couple who had Obama come to their home here in central Indiana to discuss their lives, and their economic situation. (The guy, Mark Fisher, even spoke at the Dem Convention last Monday night.) They told him that Obama was very friendly and seemed honestly sincere. During that visit, my brother in-law's wife met and spoke with Michelle Obama. She was also said to be funny, very personable and unassuming.
There are people here on all wave lengths of the political spectrum who spout their hatred - real hatred - for any or all of the candidates, their wives, probably their kids, and many other politicians as well. Many claim to have personal or "inside" information about this or that person, but again, most of that so called "real poop" is no more credible than 95% of all the crap that gets bandied about here at BC.
Many such people either are, or are verging on being, nutball conspiracy theorists, who imagine that the candidates and politicians they have chosen to oppose, and, therefore, hate, are the embodiment of evil in league with equally evil forces that supposedly run the political machine. Fortunately, I have so far avoided that trap.
I have spent most of the previous hour just reading a few articles and several of the comments here (in the 'Politics' section of Blog Critics,) including my own. Upon some reflection, for the most part, it's all childish, inane bullshit, having generally less, and certainly no more, veracity than the same kind of bantering we see and hear ad nauseam on the boob tube.
We need to grow up, and perhaps get ourselves a life.
TLS
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