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Health & Fitness

Potty Politics – Lessons 1 & 2

Not long ago, the favorite way for Republicans to run for office was to smear their opponents relentlessly, providing little opportunity for someone to ask what that candidate was “for”. Questioning their opponent’s patriotism, was the foundation of many a successful campaign. Decent people were called communists, and pinko’s.  Then it was socialists and liberals. In the South, successful insults were frequently racially based.

 

Over time, even Republicans did not get the same energy from these lies that they used to. Mud-slinging has now evolved into “potty politics”. The most recent demonstration was in Texas when the Republicans tried to push anti-abortion legislation through a special session of the legislature. The lady Republican sponsor of the bill said there was no need of abortion in the case of rape, since emergency rooms had rape kits to prevent pregnancy.

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After seeing one or two episodes of Law and Order or NCIS, we all know that rape kits are for collecting semen samples, thus DNA, to identify the rapist and to use as evidence in court. Even the Republican Party has been telling candidates and elected officials to shut-up when it comes to talking about rape, as they always say something dumb and someone with recording equipment is always nearby. Congressman Gingrey knows this as well as anyone.

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Tired of being continually embarrassed and looking stupid, the Texas Lt. Governor thought that he would try to change the direction of the conversation. He said that pro-choice supporters had brought in containers of urine and feces and that the Texas police had been warned and thwarted this vile and disgusting attempt to interrupt the proceedings.  

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/07/17/protesters-question-dps-report-confiscations/

Of course this never happened. It is understandable that politicians who are used to lying would resort to their favorite tactic to get the upper hand. You might even think that the “potty” aspect of the accusation was new and unlikely to have been invented on the spur of the moment.

 However, all you have to do is try to remember the “vandal scandal” when Bill Clinton left office and George W. Bush moved in. The Bush folks started making claims about the vandalism and theft that the departing Democrats had done to the White House and Air Force One.

Of course this never happened, but after winning the presidency thanks to the Supreme Court, it seemed like a good idea to change the conversation and get America’s mind off hanging chads, losing the popular vote, and back to those dirty rotten scoundrels who lost.

Part of the fictional vandalism was the discovery of feces in waste baskets. This got Rep. Bob Barr of Marietta Georgia so incensed that he held an investigation into the outrage. The General Accounting Office (GAO) testified, like the Texas police, that they had seen no evidence of the allegations. Not one shred of evidence was found in either case. http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=robert__bob__barr_1

The only unanswered question is whether the Lt. Governor of Texas was lied to and just passed on that lie. Since most people in Cobb have no knowledge about the Lt. Governor of Texas’ intelligence or integrity, we have no idea as to whether he is gullible, stupid, or just plain vile. Democrats being Democrats, naturally give the Lt. Governor the benefit of the doubt.

As for our former and possibly future Congressman, Bob Barr, did the big boy Republicans just not tell Bob that there was nothing to the ‘”vandal scandal” or was Bob in on the joke. Bob the candidate, will probably be asked a few times if he was in on the lie. Early endorsers of Bob the candidate, like Commissioner Bob Ott and Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon, may also be asked if they knew about Bob’s committee on the imaginary “vandal scandals” back when.

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