Published – Idaho State Journal, 09/09/12
“I'm convinced that Americans on the right and left differ
not so much in what they believe, as in what they believe the others believe,”
was the comment by a friend of mine this past week. I responded that there’s
much truth to that, and that was even before I watched as much of the Democrat
National Convention as I could physically handle.
After watching the DNC, I knew my friend was more
perspicacious than perhaps even he was aware of. The mischaracterization of
conservatives, or specifically, Republicans, by the whole bevy of speakers and
entertainers at the Convention prove they either don’t know what Republicans
believe, or they just assume all of us watching were idiots and would believe
their inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and outright lies.
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro claimed that Romney would raise taxes on the middle class.
This is a false statement, for there is nothing in any of Romney’s fiscal
policy proposals that even hints at a tax increase, for anyone. If he had been
honest, he should’ve said that his own candidate has raised taxes on the middle
class since most of the 21 new taxes imposed through Obamacare hits the middle
class directly.
Castro and others,
including Joe Biden, also claimed, “The president has created 4.5 million new
jobs.” Not only does the president not “create” jobs, but according to
Factcheck.org, the economy has recovered only 4 million of the 4.3 million jobs
lost during the Obama administration. More significantly, the participation
rate, or the percentage of the population either employed or looking for work,
has dropped to a 38 year low at 63.5%, according to the Dept. of Labor, which
also reports that over 3.5 million Americans have simply quit looking for work
the past four years.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick claimed that Mitt Romney, “left his state 47th out of 50 in job growth.”
According to Factcheck.org, under Romney, Massachusetts moved from 50th in job
creation during the governor‘s first year at the helm to 28th when it came to
Romney’s final year. Another outright prevarication.
Connecticut Gov.
Daniel Malloy made the claim that the Republican platform would “take away a
woman’s right to choose even if she is a rape victim.” There is no such wording
in the Republican platform. Another outright lie.
Planned Parenthood
President Cecile Richards advanced the ludicrous notion that Romney and V.P.
Candidate Paul Ryan are committed “to ending insurance coverage for birth
control.” To the contrary, both maintain that employers should not be
mandated to cover contraceptives at no cost to employees, especially for
religious groups like the Catholic Church, thereby supporting the First
Amendment “freedom to exercise” clause.
Several speakers claimed that a Romney administration would
be slashing all domestic spending across the board by 20%. There is no such
quantified proposed reduction. Another oft-repeated lie.
Bill Clinton, Rep. Chris Van Hollen from Maryland, and Obama
himself made the falsified claim that Obama’s
“plan” would cut the deficit by $4 trillion. The Washington Post fact checkers
have totally debunked that “plan” as phony number juggling. The President’s
Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission made its recommendations in
November, of 2010. If Obama was serious about deficit reduction, why didn’t he
start two years ago?
Obama, in his acceptance speech, said that the money not
spent on war will be spent on domestic programs. All that money is being
borrowed! What he essentially admitted was that he would not be reducing the
deficit, but continuing to spend borrowed money, for currently we’re borrowing
$41 out of every $100 being spent.
There were some other doozies as well. Kerry Washington, claimed
Republicans would “take away our right to vote, getting educated, and health
care.” Kathleen Sibelius asserted that with the Republican plan, “everyone’s on
their own. Nancy Pelosi claimed Republicans, “want to suppress our right to
vote.” Another speaker claimed, “when it comes to middle class jobs, Mitt
Romney says no, and when it comes to respecting women’s rights, Mitt Romney
says no.” DNC Chairman Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, claimed Romney would deprive
breast cancer survivors of insurance coverage. All these are fallacious, factually
incorrect, and were clearly attempts at demonization.
And we can’t forget California Democrat Chairman John Burton
comparing Republicans to Nazi ?Joseph Goebbels,
and South Carolina Party Chairman Mr. Harpootlian comparing his governor,
Nikki Haley to Hitler’s mistress. These examples barely scratch the surface,
for the full three days of the DNC was replete with character assassination,
fraudulent opposition-party misrepresentation, and outright falsehoods.
No wonder that
former Clinton advisor, James Carville, said what he did a couple years ago. “The
Democratic constituency is just like a herd of cows. All you have to do is lay
out enough silage and they come running. That's why I became an operative
working with Democrats. With Democrats all you have to do is make a lot of
noise, lay out the hay, and be ready to use the ole cattle prod in case a few
want to bolt the herd. Eighty percent of the people who call themselves
Democrats don't have a clue as to political reality,” he said.
If there is a
post-election “bounce” for Obama in the polls, it will prove nothing more than
that there are still too many Americans who are just as uninformed, gullible,
and ignorant as they were four years ago when they fell for “Hope and Change.”
AP award winning
columnist Richard Larsen is President of Larsen Financial, a brokerage and
financial planning firm in Pocatello, and is a graduate of Idaho State
University with a BA in Political Science and History and former member of the
Idaho State Journal Editorial Board. He
can be reached at rlarsenen@cableone.net.