Thursday Morning

My friend Shelly Goldstein posted this on Facebook…

Guy said to me today, re: Kavanaugh, "Sure, a serial rapist is a problem. But if it's just one, what's the big deal?"

Apparently, this person lives in a world where everyone is entitled to one free rape. There are two possible problems here and he may have one or both. One is that some people just don't think that rape — or even attempted, unsuccessful rape — is that big a deal. I hope I don't have to elaborate on why that's appallingly wrong.

The presence of the second problem could be determined by asking the question, "Would you feel the same way if the Senate was being asked to confirm a Supreme Court nominee who'd probably vote the other way?" Not many things depress me more about politics these days than most folks' willingness to rewrite the rules based on what will help their side. You know: Barack Obama was a congenital liar because he once said he'd be campaigning in all 57 states but Donald Trump is not a dishonorable or untrustworthy human being for saying…well, any of about eighteen things a day.

I'm genuinely dismayed by how so many people reshape reality to win — or at least, not concede — a political point. They all seem to turn into the unfaithful husband who — when caught in bed with another woman — tries asking, "What woman?" That may be the most lasting damage that Trump guy does to this country. He has shown politicians that as long as your base gets what it wants (or thinks it's getting that), they don't care what positions you reverse, what fibs you tell or what laws you corrupt…and a lot of them kinda like it if in the process, you're a little nasty to your — and therefore, their opposition.