The democratic process to elect our president has taken a
nosedive. We’ll have to leave it to
history to decide if this is the moment in time where we took a wrong
turn.
Fox News sponsored the first 2016 GOP debates. Fox News set the criteria that candidates
must place at least 2.5% in four national polls to be in the debate. The four polls were not specified. Other media outlets followed suite with this
criteria. This week, Fox Business News
will host the GOP debate and have applied criteria using the four polls of
their choice. In lieu of the CBS/New
York Times poll that is highly regarded, they chose the worst performing poll
in the last election cycle, the Investors Business Daily. This new process designed by Fox News and
the GOP has eliminated candidates like, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham and George
Pataki before the first vote has been cast.
We have trivialized our democratic process by breaking it into three
groups decided by the Media: Adult
table. Kid’s table. And the “You don’t even get to eat”
table.
Don’t misunderstand.
As a Democrat, I don’t have a dog in this fight other than concern for
our country. I am concerned that
instead of candidates being culled by the voters; media is culling them. We have long accepted the practice that the
Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary have been used as an introduction of
candidates to the country. It is a “meet and greet.” We never quibbled about these states being first to choose
because we knew the choices made by those two states were seldom indicative of
how the nation would vote. And it still
isn’t! However….
This year, by the time the GOP has their caucus in Iowa and
primary in New Hampshire, there may not be a viable candidate left for the GOP
voters. Lacking money and lacking the
mentality to say outrageous things to attract attention, some really good
presidential candidates may have been cast aside by this new electoral
process. When the GOP gets over their
anger and wants a President for the good of our country, who will be left?
Due to his wealth, Trump may have the capability of
persevering, but Ben Carson appears to be on borrowed time. Whether or not it is determined that Carson
fabricated his offer of scholarship to West Point is inconsequential. I’m more concerned with other more
troubling things I’ve heard him say on national television. He says he was a young kid full of
rage. He admits attempting to stab
someone with a knife but hit a belt buckle.
He says he tried to hit his mother in the head with a hammer. He spoke of other acts of violence. Then he said he over-came it and became a
famous neurosurgeon. Good story. Nothing matters more in politics than a good
story. Remember how far Zell Miller’s
story of helping his poor ole Mama haul rocks to build their cabin took
him?
Carson’s own narrative via his books and many speeches has
created his persona. Since his “story”
is what he’s basing his qualifications for President on, thorough vetting by
the press is expected and necessary.
Every word uttered by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has been
dissected and investigated. Sorry Mr.
Carson. You do not deserve special
treatment by the media.
Despite Dr. Carson’s good story, am I the only one that
wants our President to be smarter than a 5th Grader? Ben Carson justified his lack of governing
experience by saying, “Every signer of the Declaration of Independence held no
elective office.” Huh? Does he think there was no government before
that time? No colonies? No Continental Congress? Does he think that 59 men just decided to
sign this document? He also said in
defense of his inexperience, “The Ark was built by amateurs and the Titanic was
built by professionals.” Luckily The
Ark didn’t hit an iceberg. Then he
states that the Egyptian Pyramids were built by Joseph to store grain. I have no comment about that. He said, “Obama Care is the worst thing
since slavery.” Even fifth graders know
healthcare is not worse than human bondage.
Finally, Ben Carson’s testiness when confronted by members
of the press asking for clarification of some of his previous statements, tells
me that he didn’t go into this endeavor with his “eyes wide open.” Get it?
Sorry you missed my column last week. It was great! It was huge! It was the
best ever! However, the Editor didn’t
have the space on the Obituary page to print it.
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