Lies and Liars Lost

My cynicism about the stupidity of the American public would have increased exponentially if Mitt Romney would have been elected president.  In over 50 years of voting and 25 years of working professionally in the world of politics and public policy I had never seen such outrageous and persistent lies, distortions and intellectual insults from a presidential candidate.  Please note that I was not an Obama supporter; I proudly voted for the Libertarian candidate.

Repeatedly, Romney sold his soul to first get the Republican nomination and then attempt to win the presidency.  For such a supposedly religious person he had no difficulty in saying anything to win support, despite contradictions with his previous positions and statements as well as with objective facts.  The only thing you could trust about him was his love for his family and religion, and, oh yes, his quite negative view of 47 percent of the American public muttered when he thought he was only talking to a bunch of his rich supporters.  But for such callous behavior he deserves to go to Mormon hell for lying to so many, including himself apparently, because he could justify just about anything because the end of becoming president justified all means.

Up until the last moment so many of his supporters and the mental midget blowhards on right wing talk radio let their own delusional thinking prevent them from seeing reality.  On FOX News the usual idiots kept predicting landslide state victories for Romney even after all major networks had declared reelection of President Obama, including the FOX network.

Not so surprising when one appreciates the anti-science views of so many conservatives.  Remarkably, the supposed data driven and smart Romney bought into the delusional, self-serving predictions from his supporters in the final days and hours.

“Impossible to beat Santa Claus,” said the poisonous pundit Rush Limbaugh as his explanation of why Romney lost, very much in line with the 47 percent belief of Romney.  Rush only sees lies on the left and none of the multitude of lies that came from the Romney campaign.  And he easily ignores the over 65 demographic taking Medicare and Social Security benefits who mostly voted for Romney.  True conservatives should stop listening to the herd of right wing radio nuts.

Here is my recommendation to President Obama: Offer Mitt Romney the new cabinet position of Secretary of Business.  What a show of innovative bipartisan thinking.  And Romney should gladly accept the offer if he has any core belief whatsoever of serving his country.

The two-party plutocracy remains alive and very well.  Third party presidential candidates once again did miserably.  Most congressional incumbents were reelected, as usual.  The American delusional democracy marches on.

Billions of dollars wasted propagating lies from both sides designed to piss off or frighten people.  Happy to see all those millionaires and billionaires wasting their money on the Romney campaign.  Now, every one of them should donate equal amounts to the recovery efforts related to the Sandy Hurricane disaster.

Joel S. Hirschhorn was a full professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a senior official at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Governors Association; he has authored five nonfiction books, including Delusional Democracy: Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government. Read other articles by Joel.