Last night was a dance night in Jonesborough. As a fundraiser, some sort of silent auction was
staged. The resultant effect upon us was
that we had to check in at 1800 rather than 1900. To surmount the dinner schedule problem due
to the time change we picked up sandwiches with Cuban rice and beans on the way
in. We split one meal between us before the dance actually began.
Yesterday saw the “suspension” of the Herman Cain candidacy
for POTUS. His inability to refrain from
serial infidelity, a series of harassment complaints, and blatant lies in
denial to the press toppled him as surely, as if he’d been run over by a
locomotive.
There was a certain satisfaction in watching the facial
expressions as he tried yet one more time to sell his line of bull, blaming the
media and everyone but himself for his fall from candidacy. I’ve only seen jaw muscles that tight on
other politicians who skewered their careers on their own genitalia; and on the
rare case of tetanus. It looked as if
one could flick his jaw with a finger and watch flesh shatter like ice in a
blender. His political career is
over. It is as unlikely that he will
ever hold high office as it is that his wife actually has “forgiven” him for
his serial affairs and encounters.
This change puts more support behind Gingrich. There is no more worth or honesty in Gingrich
than in Cain. Both are philanderers and
both have been caught in extramarital relationships that, while not illegal,
demonstrate an immense moral gap from what they, and their party, profess to
believe in. Gingrich was forced from the
Speaker of the House position when his book deal was found to be illegal. To avoid going to trial he resigned and left
Congress while still denying his guilt.
The current campaign finds
him demonstrating all over how unethical and how corrupt he is. To diminish his past he has followed the
Nixon-Reagan-Bush southern strategy.
He’s playing to a base that is racist, xenophobic, and steeped in
Christian fundamentalist evangelism. His targeted base is also ready to cut funding
for education and finds antagonism toward education, toward knowledge in general,
to be of no concern. After all, who in
their right mind would ever need to know more about any subject than what they
could be taught in the splendid public schools of Texas, Mississippi, Georgia,
or Arkansas? Palin’s former supporters
should have no problem swallowing the lies and hatred Gingrich spews at every
opportunity.
It must be noted that both Cain and Gingrich have used the
same ploys to overcome their public transgressions. Both, after initially lying about their
affairs, finally admitted to at least partial guilt. Both blamed everyone else for their
errors. Both dragged their wives –
latest wife for Gingrich- into the glare of television to publically absolve
them of their “sins” Gingrich went so
far as to place patriotism as the reason he violated his marriage vows while
insisting that “marriage” be protected from people like himself. Finally, both played a “Jesus forgives me”
ploy. It seems that what worked for
Gingrich, supported by his teavangelists in their lily-white churches, has not
proved effective for Cain. From this, we
may conjecture as to whether the Jesus of white U.S. southern teavangelists is
possessed of more power and authority than is the Jesus of black America with
its liberation theology and its buy in to the prosperity gospel to justify the
lifestyles of many preachers who practice so as to maximize personal profit
rather than teach from prophets.
Today, Cain and Cain supporters are attacking the media for
“bringing a good man down.” This is more
than just a bit amusing. Anyone running
for public office is inviting the world to look into their life, to dig up all
the illegal things that one did, to use one’s history against one in any manner
that can be legally accomplished. I’m
puzzled at the arrogance of men like Cain who believe that they can hide their
past from a million laptops running searches for those things a candidate would
rather not see exposed. Once you first
access the internet, privacy is forever after, an illusion. The media did not “bring Cain down.” Cain, and his inability to avoid extramarital
affairs, brought Cain down.
I’m equally puzzled by the accusing women who bring forth
their part in the tale. For those
claiming harassment and/or assault, I can understand that they may be
interested in revenge for being subjected to such ill treatment. If settlement money exchanged hands, the
corporations involved were wrong to manage and fund a cover-up. Were I one of them, I’d be all too happy to reveal
the moral shortcomings of a Presidential hopeful. Yet someone
such as Ginger White has little to gain by exposing her part in a long running
arrangement that cast her essentially as Cain’s mistress. In addition, I would expect the major media
companies to begin a verification process immediately upon hearing her initial
admission.
Once again, an American politician is rendered unsuitable
for office. Such unsuitability is not so
much due to sexual adventures beyond the marriage bed that the
GOP/teavangelists presume to sanctify and promise to protect from heathens,
infidels, homosexuals, lesbians, and others supposedly banned by both white and
black Jesus. The culprits all think that
they are smarter than they are that they can lie to the American public and not
become caught in the lie. If the
candidates like Cain and Gingrich can find a way to limit the franchise of
American women, they can get a pass from the good old boys in the red states as
long as they admit their guilt and play the Jesus card.
