An inglorious follow up to the Canadian Thanksgiving
What a fabulous Thanksgiving Muskoka just celebrated! The colours have never been better, the weather has been fabulous and in a case of serendipity a flock of bold turkeys posed roadside for us as we headed off to a celebration with family and friends.
We PVR’d the U.S. Presidential debate to watch early Monday morning and avoided CBC Radio on the way home late Sunday night so as not to ‘spoil it’. Oh my…it was spoiled long before we got to it.
I recognize that it’s becoming ridiculous that I – and many others – are enraged, and engaged almost to the point of obsession, with the upcoming U.S. election. But, like a terrible accident or a horror movie I can’t bring myself to look away.
Those of us thus possessed are apparently in good company. The man who stands a reasonable chance of becoming the next president of the United States is “a hate preacher”, he is “unfit to hold the office” because of his “stupefying ignorance”, and his pattern of reckless behavior inspires “a retching feeling” are just some of the comments reported in the news a few days ago. These are not remarks by Trump’s rivals but by various European heads of states.
So….when all was said and done the second debate – and I use the word debate loosely – was as ugly and debasing an event as one could ever hope to see outside of an illegal ‘fight to the death cage match’.
I won’t go over all of the he said/she said back and forth…we’ve all heard enough of that. But as the bipartisan Politifact and other fact-checking agencies reported a few days after the debate, Trump made 33 false claims while Clinton scored five, which was a near-identical margin to the first debate two weeks ago, when Trump made 34 false claims and Clinton made four.
Bipartisan or not, you could see the managing editor of Politifact trying to rein in her disdain as she wearily reported that Trump’s lies were mostly the SAME lies over and over and over again. I think she’s getting tired of fact checking the same worn ground.
And that is a point of great concern. Trump’s running mate Mike Pence feels it is his Christian duty to forgive the sinner. Well, okay but what about those who are transgressed against? Is it forgive the sinner and screw the injured parties?
In a misguided attempt to appear impartial I think many pundits (especially conservative ones) try to claim that he’s just “tapped into an anger of Americans who feel their government no longer represents them and are fed up with business as usual in Washington.” Really?
I am quite sure that there are some Trump supporters who fit that category but I’ve come to the conclusion that Trump followers are just not doing the due diligence that they owe themselves before they go to the polls. How else can you explain it when dozens of Trump utterances are debunked over and over and over again but people still stay the Trump course?
I have to assume that those who support Donald Trump are people who want the best for their families and their country. With a little bit of research it should be fairly easy to conclude for themselves that Donald Trump is not the best route to that objective. Trump doesn’t care about his people. How else could he say, “I could shoot someone dead in the middle of the street and they’d still love me!” What can you call that except contempt for the intelligence of his followers?
Donald Trump went wild in the Twittersphere on Tuesday night denouncing the Republicans who are abandoning him in droves. One has to ask why is it that they are offended now particularly when they weren’t (apparently) offended when he has attacked Mexicans, Muslims, the courage of POW John McCain, a Muslim war hero, veterans, mocked the disabled and denigrated women over and over and over again…some by name and others just generically. He’s even made vaguely perverse comments about the physical attributes of very young girls including his own daughter.
For whatever reason, it was his so-called ‘locker room’ talk that pushed many Republicans over the edge. It’s better late than never, I guess. I hope many of the die-hard Trump supporters will soon follow suit.
Following a career in the hospitality sector and the acquisition of a law and justice degree in her 50s, Dale embarked on a writing career armed with the fanciful idea that a living could be made as a freelancer. To her own great surprise she was right. The proof lies in hundreds of published works on almost any topic but favourites include travel, humour & satire, feature writing, environment, politics and entrepreneurship. Having re-invented herself half a dozen times, Dale doesn’t rule anything out. Her time is divided equally between Muskoka and Tampa Bay with Jim, her husband of 7 years and partner of 32 years. Two grown ‘kids’ and their spouses receive double doses of love and attention when she’s at home.
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Dan Shilt says
Yes, they both “lied.” Politifact is know for stretching the facts to maximize their political point of view. Check out the credibility of Politifact, a biased liberal leaning origanization. There are a lot of fact checking origanizations with more credibility, e.g. The Washington Post.
Frances Botham says
It is a sad day in U.S. history when attempts to discredit a presidential candidate are based on an obviously orchestrated smear campaign by his opponent. Why is the media focus not on the pertinent issues at hand, such as preventing a world war, an out of control deficit, health care that needs revamping, handling the refugee crisis, improving the education system? Instead we have somehow slid way down in today’s realm of “fair” journalism.
Do we, women of this era, really care about Donald Trump and the women who suddenly appeared to discredit him? Is it more astonishing than Bill Clinton’s escapades with numerous women? (After all, if Hillary should get elected, he will be the “first gentleman”.) Do we really care, or is it simply the love of “girly” gossip that fans this fire?
Does anyone analyze how Hillary Clinton handled countless volatile issues in questionable ways when she was in office? It just takes minor research and yet, nary a word is unearthed, because it’s buried in slander.
It’s a sad day for women if we can’t lift our heads out of the feminist quagmire and get on with the issues at hand. I thought we surpassed that long ago.
Karen Wehrstein says
@Dale, this — “engaged almost to the point of obsession, with the upcoming U.S. election. But, like a terrible accident or a horror movie I can’t bring myself to look away” — is exactly how it is for me. American politics is always full of strange surprises, but this is all so far beyond anything I’ve ever seen, I feel compelled to hit multiple sources repeatedly every day. At least at this point, Trump no longer has a reasonable chance of becoming president.
@Dan, the Washington Post endorsed Hillary, in part due to Trump’s dishonesty.
@Fran, Bill Clinton’s affairs are known to have been consensual, and besides, he’s not running for President. The women talking about Trump, who *is*, are disclosing sexual assault or harassment: being kissed, grabbed, groped, and fondled on their privates against their wills, or walked in on while changing for beauty pageants even as young as 15 — and most of these things he’s admitted to on tape, which confirms them. They’re not all suddenly appearing; some complained months or years ago, but the media is now picking their stories up; those who are are doing so because his admissions will ensure they are believed. He’s about to go to trial for raping a 12-year-old girl. Hillary Clinton’s faintest whiffs of wrongdoing, meanwhile, have been dissected in the media for decades. Rape accusations being used to distract from issues is a Trump strategy, not a Hillary strategy; recall he brought those three women into the second debate — expenses paid — who claim Bill Clinton raped them, whereas the women accusing Trump have no connections with Hillary or her campaign. What’s making him go down in flames more than anything else is his own taped admissions, not the accusations, anyway.