Republicans: The Big Lie

 

By David Mixner -


Republicans have taken the road of the "The Big Lie." The theory is that if you lie with no shame and no boundaries people will hear it as fact. Any refutation of such a lie is usually heard by no one. Create deceitful storylines that either play with the truth through omission or distortion and you will have people living in fear. Increasingly, Republicans have been practicing their tainted stories with an expertise that is frightening.
Former Arkansas governor and preacher Mike Huckabee is the frontrunner to obtain the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2012. He is not a man lacking in intellectual capacity. During a media interview this week, he embraced the big lie and appears to have gotten away with it. The preacher candidate, who clearly knows better, talked about how Obama grew up in Kenya and had more British and African values than American. There is just one problem. While Obama's father hailed from Kenya, the President never lived there and certainly didn't grow up there. The next day after the lie had time to fester in people's minds, Huckabee's spokesperson quietly announced he had misspoken. Really? How many people do you believe heard the first story and are chatting about Obama's Kenya values and never heard the retraction? Huckabee knew exactly the consequences of his lie or he is just plain stupid.
In Wisconsin, the businessman Governor Scott was caught in his big lie by a prank call. He has promised his plan to bust unions was not anti-union but essential to balance the budget. Of course in the prank call he bragged about busting unions and looked forward to spending time at the estate of a right wing billionaire Koch brothers. What was the Republican response to this episode? Well, of course, they submitted legislation to ban prank calls! Oh, the outrage!
In New Orleans a bitter ugly anti-LGBT minister whose words of hate have made our struggle for freedom so much more difficult was caught masturbating in his van at a children's playground. Isn't that what pedophiles do? His reaction was not about his double standard but an indignant proclamation that he just happened to be at the playground and the masturbation was in the privacy of his van! Some family values he is practicing on a daily basis.
This new breed of right-wing Republican dramatically takes the party of Lincoln away from traditional conservatism to a party of angry demagogues. They are more interested in bullying the LGBT community, busting unions and kowtowing to corporations than creating jobs and improving our schools. God help us.

for more from David visit Live from Hell's Kitchen.

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