Torn Between Two Liars and Feeling Like a Tool

By Kanrei There are all kinds of games that are played in all kinds of ways. Most games are fun and enjoyable for at least some people and some games even make the world a better place. There are other games that are more about making sure another person loses regardless of what it takes to win. This is the type of game politics is and we must play whether we want to or not. It is not that we are active players in the game of politics. No, we are the pieces of the game that are used by those who actually play it and the way for them to keep score. We are the beads moved around the board, the chips gambled on a hand, and the battleship that just got sunk. The more of us they collect and the more they win. We are valued to them as points and nothing more. The gaming season has just begun and the players are all out in force. We had Bill Clinton on Sunday yelling at Chris Wallace. We had ABC show a partisan movie blaming Clinton for 9/11. We now have Rice saying they have done at least as much as Clinton did to stop terrorism. "What we did in the eight months was at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did in the preceding years" My first reaction to this statement by Rice was “I thought Clinton did nothing so are you now saying Bush did nothing” until I thought about the statement more. It was a brilliant statement designed to bring that reaction out of people. Condi Rice is better at “doublespeak” than I first thought. The value of words are very important and no word is just thrown into a sentence. This is even more true of political speak than it is of daily speak. Politicians know that every word will be analyzed and dissected by the opposition so they pick their words very carefully. Think about what exactly Rice said and you will see she is not saying Clinton did anything, nor is she admitting Bush did nothing. The most important words in what she said are “at least”. She never said that Bush was as aggressive as Clinton. She never claimed Clinton did anything to be honest. She said Bush was “at least” as aggressive. Think about it like this: if you do nothing at all and I do something, anything, I have been at least as active as you, if not more. We must be on guard for these little verbal tricks that are being played on us right now. Chris Wallace asked a simple question surrounded by accusatory rhetoric and wonders why Clinton got mad. Rice has, in kind, just planted the latest seed for the left to be distracted on and I can see from the blogs today that it is working. They are thinking Condi just claimed Clinton did something and she did nothing of the sort. Clinton claims that the 9/11 Report clears him and Bush claims the same thing, yet 9/11 happened. We have a duty as Americans to read this report and I doubt we will fulfill this duty. The right and the left are both hiding behind it and claiming that it proves their side right and the other anti-American. They know most people have not read it and will rely on their summaries. What I propose is that every American planning to vote in November must take the next 40-something days to read this important report and learn for themselves. The security of this country is too important to be left up to partisan squabbles. Time for us to stop being game pieces and points in the game and to become the players we were intended to be. They work for us, not the other way around. They are liars and power hungry and will lie, cheat, and steal for the power they crave and “they” have no political party. “They” exist on both sides and get the most press. Learn the game instead of trusting “they” to tell you how it is played and who is winning. Remember that we are the only ones who can truly lose.