My aunt is loud, large, brassy, and Conservative. She's a fan of Coulter and Rush, Newt and Pres. Bush. A few days after 911, she and I were talking on the phone. She lived in LA and I was in Chicago. She told me that she heard about some Arabs giving out candy at LAX in celebration of the attacks of 911. My aunt was using a very veiled and sinister tone of voice. I had my doubts and expressed those doubts. At that point, she got rather hot and changed her story.
So she now said that SHE received candy from Arabs at the airport. The story became personal in an effort to convince me how sinister THEY were. Well, this was not the first time that my aunt has twisted the story to fit her world view. I haven't talked to her much since and she's lost a lot of friends over the years. You see, it's the little lies that bug me.
Tonight on television, I watched as our former President, Bill Clinton, said that he had just overheard someone behind him in the hall threaten a worker and say that if they don't vote for Obama then they will be fired. Imagine that? Imagine threatening someone with the former President in front of you in the hall? Clinton is surrounded by camera crews, reporters, and supporters, and this union boss doesn't care and threatens a worker, and Clinton just happens to hear this behind him. What was this union boss thinking? Didn't he know that there were camera crews around? Or perhaps somehow Clinton was alone at the time this incident happened, and the union boss did not recognize the former President? Which scenario rings more true for you?
Also, on this same national broadcast, ABC, the ONLY coverage Obama got was an interview with a black chauffeur who couldn't vote because he was an ex-felon, and thus was lamenting the fact that he could not help elect "the first black man to the White House." No slant on that story.
And finally, the newscast ends with interviews at a brothel where hookers are "pimping for Paul." Ron Paul, that is, and never was a narrative more written to marginalize a candidate -- the candidate who wants to get out a message to his own republican party.
Yes, I am still hoping for change. And hope can be a powerful thing.