Counting down with the crazies

Have I tipped over the line into fogeydom?

Am I the real life equivalent of that brown station wagon with the white trim doing 35 miles ahead of you in a 45-miles-an-hour zone?

I thought I might be -- until I spoke to a professor at a well-known university in another part of the country, and shared my opinion of the behavior of the two men aspiring to be President of the United States.

He told me that some of the rhetoric reminded him of that of the rise of fascism. 

That got my attention.

Appalled. Disgusted. Amazed.

I can't quite find the words to describe my emotions.

Mainly, incredibly frustrated -- because, mostly, you aren't talking about the things that matter to me. 

When Obama's surrogate describes his opponent, Romney, as a potential "felon" that seems a bridge too far.

And this is still July.

Out of the playground, guys.

In fact, the whole controversy over outsourcing seems to have been ginned up as a distraction from the main issues dogging us as a country.

That said, there's no reason why Romney's record at Bain shouldn't be subject to scrutiny.

But it didn't take long before one of Romney's surrogates suggested that, in fact, Obama was a cocaine-sniffing foreigner.

Notice how Romney savors the word "foreign"?

I have multiple reasons to be disappointed with Obama -- the potential abuse of Presidential power being just one of them. In my opinion,  he hasn't made the case for the kind of change that is needed to help us step back from the environmental cliff, if that's possible.  

I also have no clue as to what his immigration policy is -- or isn't. Mostly, it seems impurely pragmatic.

But there is something about Mitt Romney that I find disturbing.

And if I had to put my finger on it, I would say that it's his secrecy -- coupled with a hint of arrogance.

Just today, Ann Romney, the candidate's wife, was quoted in Politico saying:  “We’ve given all you people need to know and understand about our financial situation and how we live our life."

(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78711.html#ixzz2159gRoER)

Are you serious, Mrs. Romney?  If you get upset with this level of scrutiny, try living in the White House.

As for Marie Antoinette, "let them eat cake" pose, it doesn't suit you.  It doesn't even seem as though it is who you really are.

And who are "you people?"   Yes, she might be talking about the press (the usual rabble), but it sure seems as though she might also be speaking of the rest of us.

So we have (according to the partisans) a potential felon running against a drug-sniffing foreigner with Muslim tendencies (and don't tell me there's no racial subtext here).

I'm frankly more distressed about Obama -- because, after the Republican primaries, I had come to expect bad behavior from the Romney camp.

No wonder both candidates have such high unfavorability ratings.

The fact is that neither man is that awful a man (though I am not sure about their pals and colleagues).

Take Michele Bachmann and her allegations about Clinton aide Huma Abedin. 

What McCarthyite time/space continuum did Ms. Bachmann crawl out of?

Historians contend that there have been moments during past presidential races when it's become this ugly.

I say -- so what?

Why don't we hold our candidates to the most basic rules of polite behavior?

We are being poisoned, slowly but surely, by the immature behavior,. and the "gotta win, whatever it takes,"

please the base behavior of our elected officials -- and those who want to put their boots on their necks.

After all, there's a reason that group voters is called "the base."

We are all debased.

If these are the people who are supposed to call us to a higher standard, then I truly am afraid -- for what that says about us.

Right here.

Right now.