Tag Archives: Turley

Hypocrisy in the Internet Age

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Before I start let me open with the acknowledgement that I can be hypocritical. As a devout and practicing Christian I know I can and do sin. I just attempt to acknowledge it and work to be better in the future. That said lets get started on the great age of Hypocrisy Signaled by the election of Pres. Obama.

I bet you thought I was going to say Pres. Trump, didn’t you? “Sherman, to the Way Back Machine!” Hypocrisy is one of the oldest human failings in history. The problem is we now live in the age of video recordings and the Internet. This means, quite simply, that all of our leaders need to remember that what we said 21 years ago can, and will, come back to haunt them. This is of particular importance to some of the leading members of the U.S. Senate.

Just over 21 years ago several leading members of the Republicans in the Senate were members of the House of Representatives working to impeach Pres. Clinton. In this effort they took to the airwaves to stand on ‘High Principals’ to that end. Unfortunately they are now taking the exact opposite positions in the Impeachment of Pre. Trump. An not only does the opposition have the videos, they are playing them on all the TV outlets they can get to show them. What is worse this is not the first time this has happened in the Impeachment Hearings.

I maybe one of the few ‘lay’ people to watch the house hearing where the Constitutional Law experts testified. But I did watch and I did hear Prof. Turley testimony. He was well spoken, clear and concise in why Pres. Trump should not be Impeached. He stuck to all of the Pres. Talking Points in his defense. The problem is it can be shown he was functioning as a paid hack.

21 years ago Pros. Turley took the nearly exact opposite position in the Impeachment of Pres. Clinton. Now while it is perfectly acceptable for a scholar to argue in favor of a cause he personally does not support it does bring into question the veracity of his arguments when it is shown that the same person has taken all sides on an issue. It is particularly bad when the person in question is put forward as a principled, and unbiased scholar just putting forward a principled position. From now on Prof. Turley’ s scholarly Veracity will be questioned. He will have to work hard an long to regain it.

I have no doubt that there are plenty of people on the Democratic side of the House and Senate who are all to often hypocritical but that is not the point here. The point here is that bald faced lying of the Trump Administration has already thrown a lot of tar on the Republican Party. The House Impeachment hearings has thrown even more. An if the GOP Senate runs the Trial of Donald J Trump like they are promising it is going to be eye deep in tar and other lest lovely detritus. The party may never recover.

Your Lying Eyes

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Foundation

An so our Sheldon crisis continues on. I do not believe what I am seeing take place. The MAGA in control of the Republican Party are certainly following party line as spoken by Donald Trump. In all of the hearings I have either watched or listened to not once have I heard any one challenge any single fact given. The best I have heard is that it was that the fact was hearsay. An when witnesses of fact testify about what was labeled by the MAGA members of the committee we hear nothing.

For those of you who are not familiar with the “Foundation” trilogy (written by Dr. Issac Asimov), a Sheldon Crisis is a socio-political crisis for seen by Hari Seldon that is totally unavoidable that is meant to drive the Foundation toward creating the 2nd Galactic Empire. In each of the crisis’ the freedom of action of the leaders of the Foundation, and their Opponent is progressively limited till one one course of action is available. When ever anyone attempts to deviate from the path things spring up to thwart them. Just like the people attempting to defined Pres. Trump.

In this Sheldon Crisis the single major thwarting item is Donald Trump himself. It is his steadfast refusal to acknowledge the facts of the case as currently presented and his holding to his beloved ‘sure fire’ tactic of “Who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?” that Is the largest roadblocks. That an his demand that he hear his supporters/defenders use the prescribed tactics and verbiage that seems to be preventing any effective defense.

Yesterday with the first hearings of the House Judiciary Committee we got are first, if weak, effective defense of Donald Trump. Unfortunately for Prof. Turley fact checkers were able to find video of him arguing the exact opposite back in 1998(?) in the Pres. Clinton impeachment. An while it is perfectly acceptable for a lawyer to argue both sides of an issue in a trial it does not stand a witness, who is testifying to his own personal beliefs and opinion, well to do so. It is perfectly acceptable for us to ask, “What does he really believe? An what does he stand for?”

What is even sadder is that not once did Prof. Turley ever say that the actions that Pres. Donald J Trump is accused of doing are or are not worthy of Impeachment. At the most all he said was that the process if flawed and going too fast. An even in this he did not address the issue that makes moving as fast as we are. The simple fact is if we don’t settle this issue before the next election and take action to insure that there is no foreign interference in the 2020 Presidential election there will be good reason to doubt the results, no mater what your political persuasions.

So our crisis progress with are freedom of action becoming narrower and narrower. Where will it end?