From: bill@cognet.ucla.edu (William M. Eldridge)
Subject: Whores & Pols (Was Not Even Inaugurated, Breaking Promises Already
Organization: UCLA Cognitive Science Research Program
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 22:08:33 GMT

paul@hsh.com writes:

>In article <bill.722222324@castor>, bill@cognet.ucla.edu (William M. Eldridge) writes:

>> So Billy lied? Tough shit.  

>Uh-HUH.  I trust that you you weren't one of the apologists *before* the
>election, denying that Clinton lied -- in the face of direct evidence to the
>contrary.  NO NO NO, they insisted before the election. "Tough shit," they
>mumble now. 

 Implying, "Hey, we got in -- too bad now, ain't it?"  Is this
>the spirit of things yet to come? 

If you read any of my postings before the election, you would have
read the same thing - all the candidates are lying, the question is
to what extent, and how serious the issue.  I even posted a recommendation
for William S. Burroughs, "When you're this fucked up, lying is useless,"
figuring he has so many stigmas it's beyond hope.  You must think 
American voters want truth and beauty.

And I'm not mumbling "Tough shit."  I'm saying it quite loudly.

>So, in your book, it's OK that he lied... uh-huh.  This is a nice example of 
>the pot calling the kettle 'a cauldron of color.'  [Witty phrase copyright
>1992; ask about cheap licensing rights :-)] 

Every employed salesman in the world at least slightly exagerrates
the claims of his product.  Read this: HOW MUCH? IN WHAT CONTEXT?
These are practical criteria.  This is not a utopia.

Some of the recent political lies are over matters of billions
of dollars stolen or lost.  Clinton's lies are in the same scope
as Reagan's cheerleading (though hopefully closer to the truth)
that his policies will bring success - this is prognosticating,
and part of what a leader provides is IMAGE.  IMAGE, like FASHION,
is based in fantasy, but is very important for how people feel
and ultimately behave.  People buy Madonna, they don't buy Mary
Matalin.  Why?  Madonna lies more beautifully, and people fall
for it every time.  Why was JFK elected?  He looked like a nice
man.  He was as crooked as Nixon, but the public wants lies.
I wrote this months ago on the net.  No problem with consistency
here.  (And I don't care if he lied about the military or smoking
dope or sleeping with someone other than his wife.  A man does
what he has to do, and sometimes what he wants to.  Everyone's
got warts up close ("Everyone's dirty, from the stench of the
dighty to the corruption of the grave", says Willie in "All the
King's Men").

>> Indicators to look for:  fewer people on the streets, better
>> educated kids, retraining in defense and other industries,
>> renewed strength in various technical and industrial fields,
>> a stable foreign policy promoting stability in the world,
>> economic growth, tolerable taxation, improvement in the arts
>> (yep, a culture's art is a reflection of its health), an
>> improved infrastructure, more attractive cities, preservation
>> and cooperation with nature, more jobs, more diversity and
>> tolerance of ideas, etc.

>He has four years.  We'll just have to sit back and see if he's as good as his 
>PR department made you think he was.  In the meantime, is it OK with you if we 
>criticize him?  We (well, I, at least) promise not to call him all of the names
>that the left called Bush and Reagan. 

Call him whatever you want, and complain as much as you want.
Just don't fool yourself in thinking you're "right", and they
were "wrong", with all this "I told you so" I feel coming on.
It's gambling - you're gambling on horses that you want to perform,
but in a decathlon, not a single event.

>> If you were just voting your pocket-book, you deserved to be
>> fooled.  

>This is getting to be toooo much.... gee, thanks.  They don't call him Slick 
>for nothing.  

I'm sorry it's too much.  I was about to sell you some property,
since you seem to believe so much in your candidate.  How about
a position in Jack Kemp's '96 "We are Family" campaign?  I got
connections, you see...
(p.s. they  mainly call him Slick for political reasons - most
of 'em are greased up so bad, spit'll roll right off of'm -
look at dat Reagan feller...teflon, they called 'im.  Well, in
my book, dat's jest new-fangled sow's lard, I ain't no
teknishun.)

There's a really nice passage from Ken Kesey's "Sometimes a Great
Notion", where a weary striking logger in a bar finally lets out:
  
   "Cain't ya see?  Cain't ya see?  Fer twenty years I been sittin'
here, they been sayin' the same thin', Rebublicans and Democrats,
cain't ya see it's still the same ole horseshit?"

(sorry I don't remember the passage as nicely as it was written).

Yep, it's business as usual, and it only changes by a couple of
degrees.  I voted for the degrees, not for the dream.  And I probably
got what I paid for (I ain't counting yet).
>------

Politicians are liars and con-artists.  Get it through your head.
Politicians are liars and con-artists.  You can take a whore to 
church, and you still got a whore.  But when you need a whore, you
don't go to church.  Don't confuse integrity and politics.  

Asking a politician to keep his promise is like expecting the kid
who knocked up your daughter to then ask her to marry him.  Hell, no,
it ain't gonna happen.  That's why there've always been so many 
shotgun marriages down south.  Make that Clinton boy take the
vow, little slick bastud, but don't go cryin' cause he didn't up
and do it hisself!  He jes saw an openin' and slipped it on in,
ain't nuttin' unnachural 'bout that, but now he gotta do the
right thin', jes do the right thin'.

-- 
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