Truth is Truer than Fiction

What is the deal with all the books be dredged up in the ancient histories of some political candidates?

Vice-presidential wife Lynne Cheney’s torrid passages in a book she wrote 25-years ago have resurfaced over the weekend. She says the book is not her best work, and would not allow the publisher to issue the novel a few years back…

Just another example of the mindless mudslinging that, sadly, has characterized political campaigns in recent elections.

I received a piece in the mail over the weekend that was not flattering for Texas gubernatorial candidate Carol Strayhorn. She must be one tough grandma, if Gov. Perry’s campaign has to spend their funds to produce smear pieces to clog mailboxes.

Two complaints about such tactics: they don’t tell me a thing about the candidate that is pushing the piece. Do these political strategists actually believe voters are going to make their choices next Tuesday by winnowing out who’ll they’ll not vote for?

What ever happened to the concept of giving folks too many good choices? (Honestly, I don’t think voters participating in the Texas races are going to be mistaken for kids in a candy store.) It’s no accident that Madison Avenue has discovered a positive selling point results in more sales than a negative piece about a competitor.

Secondly, what about those who’ve been under a rock all this time…see an ad for a competitor…and decide to investigate, and actually chose the one upon whom so much mud was slung? Strayhorn could get sympathy votes because people are tired of her getting beat up that that mean ol’ man in the Governor’s mansion.

We watched “Man of the Year” over the weekend. That’s the movie in which Robin Williams plays a TV comedian who finds himself on the campaign trail for the U.S. Presidency…and really shakes up the race by simply pointing out the truth in all the issues, and that the establishment politicians have been doing nothing more than working only to be re-elected.

Sure, the movie is fiction, and it was a lot of fun to watch.
Just remember when you see it, all humor is rooted in truth…and the roots run deep in “Man of the Year.”