Bill O'Reilly Explains It All for You - The End of America

Hyperbole is the stock and trade of most of the right-wing talking heads.  Whatever they dislike is always catastrophic and disastrous.  For example, "same-sex marriage will end traditional marriage as an institution".  Let's look at that closer.  Right now 9 states have same-sex marriage.  Add to that the District of Columbia and you have 10 and yet in all those states opposite sex people continue to marry and divorce.  Their families are unaffected by the gay and lesbian couples who have chosen to marry and life goes on.

So given the penchant for exaggeration it's no surprise that Bill O'Reilly has pronounced "traditional America" dead, or at least on life support.  His reasoning is that the "secular progressives" are bent on destroying the American way of life.

First off, he doesn't clearly define what this mythical traditional America is.  He does go on to indict "secular progressives' as libertines who will gleefully abort fetuses and pass out drugs, but as to the traditions, he is silent.

My suspicion is the term "secular progressive" is a trial balloon.  He and the other pundits are coordinating their efforts to find another boogieman to scare their viewers with.  Apparently "the gays" are no longer effective enough.  The fact that he calls Obama a "poster boy for secular progressives" gives me a clue to the new talking points for the right-wing.

What he fails to say by not giving examples of "traditional America" is that he really means 'white America".  He blames the loss of the election on voters who want "free stuff" (that is code terms for welfare queens) and not on the GOP's inability to connect with the majority of the country.

Again, he is deferring the blame when it lies directly with him and his ilk.  The far-right has alienated everyone but the most staunchly conservative, especially on social issues.  It is a party of white men and the wives who slavishly follow their husbands political beliefs.  It is a party of rich businessmen who manipulate politicians to their will.  It is a party of people who watch too much Fox News and there is the root of the problem.  It is a part out of touch with reality.

O'Reilly's vision of "traditional" America is a country that existed only for a few years in the 1950's.  The "nuclear family" living in the suburbs.  A time when white America prospered and everyone else was a second class citizen.  Guess what?  Not that way any more.  It's time to adjust and embrace the diversity of our wonderful country or be left in the dust bin of history.  I suspect O'Reilly will be quite at home there, amid the wreckage of the GOP he helped to destroy.

Why Mitt Romney Lost the Election?

Today the Wall Street Journal, now a News Corp/Fox News clone bemoaned Romney's loss and explained it this way:

"...lack of money earlier this year stalled his campaign."

This is one of the most self-serving excuses I have ever heard.  Romney was awash in money from day one.  His personal wealth could assure that he never ran low on funds, and for a media outlet to come up with this excuse sounds like a plea for more ad dollars.  "Yes, just spend more, and much of it on advertising in our paper, and you will win next time."

What a bunch of malarkey!

Romney lost because he was not in touch with the changing American demographic.  He lost despite millions and millions of dollars spent on unrelenting TV and newspaper ads.  He lost because he is so unlike most American's the common man just couldn't connect with him.

The country is no longer a bunch of middle-aged white guys, it is a rainbow of races and sexes, and the GOP message doesn't work any more.

Mitt tried to get empathetic but ended up looking just plain pathetic.  When he was at the Daytona 500, he tried to appeal to NASCAR fans by proclaiming that he had friends who owned NASCAR teams.  Here's the truth Mitt, that resonates with the 0.1% and not the rest of us poor suckers out here.

I could go on with gaff after gaff, but why bother.  Mitt Romney will soon be back working with his dressage horses and his political career will be forgotten.  Good riddance.