Politics: November 2011 Archives

So the left is hammering Gingrich over his "hypocrisy." But I can't figure out what they are talking about. Keep in mind that I do not really like Gingrich as a politician, and while I would vote for him over Obama, I would never nominate him for pretty much any federal elective office, and maybe not a state office either. So it's not like I am defending My Guy here.

But what did Gingrich do that was so wrong? After he was no longer in office, he was paid by Freddie Mac for a service, presumably performed it. There's no evidence of any kind that he lobbied, or that he made any decisions. So he criticizes the people who made the decisions, and people who took money from them while in office. So ... where's the hypocrisy? He criticized A and B, but he did neither A nor B.

Carl Bernstein, Boy Reporter, actually brought up the Clinton impeachment today as "another" Gingrich hypocrisy. You see, Gingrich went after Clinton for having an affair, and Gingrich had an affair, too! Small problem, though: Gingrich went after Clinton for perjury, not having an affair.

Now, I generally despise cries of "hypocrisy" substituting for actual criticisms. But in this case, if Gingrich were trying to make a campaign off attacking people for doing thing he himself did, that would certainly be worthy of comment. But so far, there is no evidence of any kind that he has done that. It's like if I criticized Tim Tebow for not having a good arm, and then someone said, "well, you're a hypocrite because YOU don't have a good arm either!" Yes, I don't have a good arm ... but that's completely beside the point, and it doesn't make me a hypocrite. Gingrich didn't criticize people for consulting for, or being employed by, Freddie Mac, and as best we can tell, all he did was offer them advice.

And this "hypocrisy" thing has become such an article of faith, despite evidence of actual hypocrisy, that anything Gingrich says is by definition hypocritical, apparently. On Morning Joe, they noted that Gingrich worked with an organization for health reform, that didn't fully agree with conservative views on health reform. But Gingrich has always worked with people and organizations -- from Nancy Pelosi to Ted Kennedy -- that he doesn't fully agree with, if he thinks they can help push an issue in the right direction. But to the leftists, this is just more "evidence" that he is a hypocrite.

And this is, by the way, at the same time that they complain that the right doesn't work enough with people "across the aisle." Yet when Gingrich does precisely that, he is a "hypocrite," or in the words of one of the panelists, "a terrible human being."

The saddest thing to me is that these people pretend to be rational, stating quite clearly that logic and reason are on their side, but then they abandon it to go after someone they decide to dislike.

If I am missing something here, by all means, let me know. I did leave out the amount of money Gingrich was paid -- somewhere around $1.5 million to his company, much of that going to himself, certainly -- but unless you can explain rationally why the size of money reflects poorly on him, instead of positively, I won't really care. I wish I could get paid that much money to give my opinions, and I see no reason to demonize anyone for it.

Most of the anti-1183 campaign has been based on lies, but the most recent ad about health professionals is just insanely false. It says that "public health experts speak out against 1183, and then it shows those "public health experts" lying through their teeth.

For example, Douglas Myers, MD -- President of the Washington State Medical Association -- lies that 1183 "will increase risk to public health and safety."

Sofia Aragon, JD, RN -- representing the Washington State Nurses Association -- lies that 1183 "will expand the use of hard liquor."

And Jim Cooper -- President of the Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention -- lies that 1183 will "lead to more senseless deaths."

Every single one of these claims is false. They are not backed up by anything more than biased conjecture. They are lies.

Douglas Myers, Sofia Aragon, and Jim Cooper are liars.

In a bombshell just days before the election, the Washington State Patrol says they have opened a criminal investigation of Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon for misappropriation of funds, due to a Snohomish County Prosecutor's office request. This is likely related to a taxpayer-funded Reardon staffer digging up dirt on challenger Mike Hope, although it could also be related to Reardon's taxpayer-funded trips abroad, to Europe and Australia.