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Thursday, September 04, 2008

Morons In The News

Yesterday's issue of the Chicago Sun-Times seemed as if most of it was written by propagandists for the Obama campaign.

For instance, there was the fascinating blurb which quoted "P Diddy", whose opposition to Sarah Palin seemed to be based solely on the fact that she was from Alaska. (He repeated the word "Alaska" four times, just to make sure that everyone understood him clearly.) Diddy argued that people from Alaska were unqualified to serve as Vice President because of the scarcity of black folks in that state. Diddy also took issue with Alaska because "there aren't even any crackheads in Alaska". Personally, I would have thought that that would be a strong selling point in favor of Alaska. But Diddy apparently thinks we'd be better off with a VP hailing from some place like Chicago's Englewood neighborhood, known for its problems with drugs, gangs, drive-by shootings and kids who feel fortunate to make it past their tenth birthdays.

P Diddy, by the way, used to be known as Puff Daddy. The next time he decides to change his nickname once again, I'd suggest that he seriously consider going with Piss Doody.

Then there was an article, on the next page of the Sun-Times, by TV news anchor Carol Marin (or, as I like to think of her, Marin the Moron). She essentially argued that the "production values" seen during TV coverage of the Republican convention had been below par in comparison with the stellar production values seen earlier in Denver at the Democratic convention. Well, that's hardly surprising. Obama has about 90% of the people in Hollywood in his pocket.

PT Barnum has been quoted as saying that "there's a sucker born every minute". He was a man known for putting on a great show. Abraham Lincoln, relatively speaking, was not. But I'm glad that it was Lincoln, not Barnum, who was elected to serve as President.

Barnum isn't alive, of course, but there are plenty of Barnum-like characters running around today, like Cher, or like Madonna (who infamously mocked Christ by having herself "crucified" on stage, and who later had the audacity to compare George W. Bush to Adolph Hitler). Perhaps Carol Marin would prefer that we elect Cher or Madonna to the presidency.

Maybe Ms. Marin should worry less about production values and more about moral values. Or is that asking too much?

Incidentally, I realize that some folks consider the use of the word "morons" to be offensive. But actually, I would never use the word to describe anyone who was genuinely retarded, because such people can't help the fact that they lack intelligence.

The problem with people like P Diddy and Carol Marin isn't that they were shortchanged at birth, in terms of intelligence. The problem is that they refuse to use the brains God gave to them. They say the first things that come to their heads, rather than taking the time to think about the implications of what they're about to say or write.

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