The Ignominious End to Politics and Truth

Right From the Start

By Larry Huss,

No wonder the political class is universally despised. It is virtually impossible for them to tell the truth about anything. In most instances the truth is found in what the politicians choose to ignore. Here are three examples. (For those of you who believe in moral relativity, you just as well stop here because you will miss the point while trying to imagine all the things that someone else did wrong – as if that excuses the behavior discussed below.) And there are three more and three more and three more from all angles of the political theatre. It has less to do with the liars’ political persuasions and more to do with the distraction of the American voters who are busy trying to make a life while the political class is busy soiling the foundations which allow the voters to make a life. And it has much to do with the decline of journalism into the role of political cheerleader and character assassin rather than government watchdog. Here are but three examples:

The Outsider

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is probably the most hated man in the United States Senate. He is not hated for his political views because they are pretty mainstream Republican. He is hated because he routinely stabs his fellow Republicans in the back through the use of innuendo, guilt by association and half truths. It is his stock in trade and he rivals Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-WI) in its use. But Mr. Cruz is a shrewd operator. Given his universal dislike, he played upon it as if he stood alone in the battle against the “political class,” that he alone had the courage to “buck the system,” and that he, as an “outsider” could return power to the people and end the cozy and incestuous relationship between politician and power brokers.

So good was Mr. Cruz at portraying himself thusly, that journalists from all ends of the spectrum afforded him the status of “outsider” along with the real outsiders, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, and Ben Carson. And thus he ran. But many of us knew it was a lie because that is what Mr. Cruz does – lies.

In recent weeks, Mr. Cruz has been working diligently with the “political power brokers” – the very people that he has publicly eschewed – to try to deny Mr. Trump the Republican nomination. Mr. Outsider has become Mr. Insider in spades. The very people who Mr. Cruz disdained in public, provided him with millions of dollars in contributions, and are now set to provide even millions more as they reluctantly agree to back Mr. Cruz – a person who they now have demonstrable proof that they can buy. What a sleazeball.

The Insider

Democrat front-runner, Hillary Clinton, appeared before the American-Israel Alliance (AIA), this past week to seek support for her candidacy. The AIA is a powerful lobbying group with significant financial resources which it routinely spends (mostly in presidential and senate campaigns). While it is not exclusively tied to the Democrats, it leans decidedly Democrat. While it provides support to incumbents in key political positions without regard to party affiliation, in contested cases involving empty offices, it leans decidedly Democrat.

So Ms. Clinton was in a decidedly friendly crowd when she spoke. There were moments of standing ovations when she delivered patterned bromides. But all those bromides, all those declarations of critical support for Israel, and all of those promises of a better tomorrow for Israel and the Jewish people belie the fact that she was the foreign policy instrument for the most anti-Israel president since the creation of the Jewish state. At every turn of the screw, President Barack Obama, in league with his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, criticized, denied, and blamed Israel for the problems in the Middle East. But the most critical element is the new nuclear deal with Iran for which Ms. Clinton has claimed credit. That deal leaves Israel more vulnerable than ever to Iran, a country so vehemently anti-Semitic that it has engraved rockets that it tests in violation of the Obama/Clinton deal with the inscription, “Israel should be wiped from the pages of history.”

And while Ms. Clinton claims disdain for the acts of Iran, she is the architect of its path to belligerence. And while she demands new sanction against Iran, she knows that the lifting of international sanctions under the Obama/Clinton deal will mean that any future unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States (and there will be none under Mr. Obama) will be impotent – and so does the Ayatollah Khamenei. Ms. Clinton’s soaring rhetoric belies her complicity in the dangers that confront Israel. And yet Ms. Clinton received thunderous applause from the AIA attendees for such statements. But then the vast majority of the attendees are a part of the “political insiders” for which maintenance of their insiders position is more important than holding miscreants like Ms. Clinton accountable.

The Bulls**tter in Chief.

President Barack Obama (D), in a historic moment, visited Cuba where he met with Raul Castro, leaders of the ruthless and totalitarian regime that has kept the people of Cuba isolated and impoverished for over a half century. In doing so, Mr. Obama followed a too often pattern of giving everything and receiving nothing in return (i.e. the Obama/Clinton nuclear deal with Iran, the empty threat for the use of chemical weapons by Syria, the response to Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, the dismissal of genocide of Christians in the Middle East, and on and on). In this instance, in preparation for Mr. Obama’s visit, Mr. Castro rounded up and arrested the leaders of political dissent in Cuba.

This was an instance in which Mr. Obama could have made a significant statement by canceling the visit, or speaking out strongly against these human rights violations, or meeting with the dissidents or suspending support for lifting the embargo, or a hundred other meaningful actions. But not Mr. Obama. Even the respected Wall Street Journal succumbed to Mr. Obama’s bulls**t. It headlined Tuesday’s edition with “In Cuba, A Meeting of Leaders Turns Tense.” Says who? Not a single word of the actual conversation between Mr. Castro and Mr. Obama has been published nor will it. Instead we are left to their public utterances and the agreed joint press conference following their private meeting. As reported by WSJ:

“Mr. Obama declared a ‘new day’ in relations between Washington and Havana and said he welcomed Mr. Castro pointing out what he described as America’s shortcomings.

“Yet he also bluntly said that the U.S. and Cuba can’t fully normalize relations if the Castro regime doesn’t improve its record on democracy and human rights. ‘In the absence of that, I think it will continue to be a very powerful irritant.’ Mr. Obama said.”

Wow. That was tense. That Mr. Obama really told them. And then Mr. Obama backed up his “tough” talk by demanding that Congress lift the economic sanctions against Cuba and promised Cuba that there would be increasing trade and investment by American companies in Cuba – regardless. That will prove that we are serious. I’ll bet the Castro brothers are shaking in their boots – not from fear but from laughter as they once again witnessed the most feckless leader that America has ever produced and walked away knowing that they had gotten everything they wanted and gave nothing in return.

In the end, Mr. Castro, for his part, demanded that America give back Guantanamo Bay, including the United States Naval base. A proposition to which Mr. Obama would readily agree if it were in his power – which it is not.