Bye bye, Miss American Pie
Not that there’s any of that going on in Tampa right now. We’re not going to see much of it next week in Charlotte either. I don’t know if either party has ever conducted a convention that was about anything other than cheap bombast and bumper-sticker patriotism. I don’t know if there’s ever been a convention delegate who wasn’t a dues-paying fat-cat motivated by narrow self-interest. I should be watching some of this stuff on TV, but you can’t blame me if I don’t. I figure it’s enough that Hulu Plus is serving up the same lying Romney ad every three minutes or so, and will be until November.
Maybe you’ve seen it. Or maybe not, if you don’t happen to live in Florida. It’s all about how Obama “quietly” gutted the requirement that people work for their welfare checks. What Obama really did was allow states to find better ways to help poor people find work — something you’d think the GOP might like.
Whatever. In any case, nobody even gets “welfare” checks any more, with work or without. Most assistance for the needy comes through grants to states or nonprofits, who have varying requirements for assessing need. There is no monolithic “welfare office” dutifully mailing out checks to the undeserving. There hasn’t been for a long time. But the ad is intended to reinforce the ’70s-era canard of black welfare queens driving around in luxury cars.
No doubt Obama’s campaign will soon return the favor with something equally specious. And so it goes. The single biggest issue of this campaign — outright corporate ownership of America — won’t be discussed by either campaign. Republicans won’t discuss it because it’s what they stand for; Democrats won’t discuss it because they are powerless to do anything about it. Forget about distractions like gay marriage and gun rights and abortion and immigration and who wants to gut Medicare. Both parties are totally beholden to the folks who pay the campaign bills. It’s that simple.
These days I lean Democratic just because the party acknowledges that maybe there should be a middle class of some sort. But I don’t expect a Great New America from whomever wins in November. That’s why these stupid conventions seem worse than useless from where I sit. At least from a hurricane you see some tangible result.
My place in the cloud
Unmasked annoyance
Mind if I vape?
Whole lotta lyin’ goin’ on
Moving day in Springfield
I have been to several business conventions for work over the years and I must say they are almost always fruitless. I hear the strip clubs in Tampa are having a big uptick in business so this convention must not be much different than most business conventions.
“Outright corporate ownership of America” Spot, on Dave.
It’s been many years since I could stomach watching a Republican convention. Checking the news later to see what was said is all I can take. Even that is hard on the blood pressure.