I really don't want to watch the Republican convention. The thought of hearing a bunch of hateful people tell me that Mitt Romney is the best man for the job makes me want to puke. I already know that the outrageous lies compounded upon more paranoid delusions from the Chicken Little crowd will disturb my peace of mind, and my anger at their idiocy will linger in my thoughts far too long.
Most of what will be said by speakers at the convention is garbage that I've heard from that crowd for over a year. So it's not like I'll miss anything of substance, because substance has either been carefully avoided to prevent me from disliking what Republican politicians really want to do. Or substance is just too much work to figure out. Besides, substance requires, you know, FACTS. And facts can be ever so complicated and contrary to ideological purity.
More below the squiggle ...
I am not interested in hearing Ann Romney tell me what a fine fellow her husband is. I've already concluded that he's a terribly unworthy man, who lies really BIG lies. Besides, I already suspect that he is a tax cheat. His arrogance is really insufferable. I would be interested to know what issues a potential first lady might champion, but she won't talk about that.
I would be interested in knowing more about foreign policies that would be pursued by a Romney administration, but I already know that the G.W. Bush crowd of Romney advisors and neocon war-mongers has been drooling for war with Iran for a real loooong time. And I already know that the GOP is threatening big tariffs on Chinese imports. Guess they never heard about the Smoot–Hawley Tariff, and what a wonderful effect it had on the economy during the Herbert Hoover administration.
I would be interested in knowing how Romney/Ryan wants to reform an unfair tax code. Well good luck on that! Both simply refuse to state what tax loop holes, subsidies, and dodges would be eliminated until after the election. Besides I already expect that what gets either axed or reduced will be those tax rules that help the poor and middle class, such as the earned income credit. These folks have refused any details of substance for over a year. So why would I expect them to clue us in during a campaign speech?
Then there's all the social issue stuff:
* Gay marriage is evil and threatens straight people.
* Abortion is evil, and contraception is ungodly. The world does not need more unwanted children; we have more than enough of those already.
* Food stamps and school lunch programs enslave people.
* Obama has a secret plan to confiscate my 5-shot lady's 38-special revolver.
* Illegal immigrants must be deported immediately, although where Romney will find enough buses to take them to the border is a mystery.
* Muslims want to kill us.
* Climate change, what climate change? Doesn't exist.
* Education that rewrites all the history textbooks and privatizes public schools into charter schools for profit.
* Voter ID protects the sanctity of elections by preventing all those ACORN and neo Black Panthers from casting fraudulent votes. Definitely, there some real crimes out there--the horrendous voter ID laws themselves.
* Too many more right-wingnut social issues that are too ridiculous, and make me want to puke. Blah blah blah blah
I certainly don't want to hear the mountain of Obama lies that will spew from the delegates interviewed on the convention floor. Those people sorely tax my sincere desire to practice compassion. I end up hating them, and then I become more like them. Paranoid haters. I really don't want to go there, and watching the Republican convention will most certainly put me in that place.
The only redeeming feature of the Republican convention is that Rachel Maddow and Chris Mathews will anchor the MSNBC coverage, and Ed Shultz and Laurence O'Donnell will cover reportage. They will probably provide plenty of political satire; maybe some good sound-bite snarks. But is that worth having to listen to the rest of the Republican convention? I think not.
So I have decided that for most of the Republican convention, I'll be watching something else. Hope there's some good movies on. If not, there's always Animal Planet. At least animals are honest about who they are and what they want.