Observation…
George Bush invaded Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction.
Cost: $4 trillion, thousands of American lives, hundreds of thousands of civilian lives.
Result: weapons of mass destruction are not found.
Barack Obama invaded Pakistan looking for Osama bin Laden who, unlike Saddam Hussein, actually executed an attack that killed thousands of Americans.
Cost: One helicopter lost. No American casualties.
Result: A terrorist leader is killed, and Obama is ridiculed in emails which make him out to be a fool.
This is an example of cognitive dissonance, in which people try to hold conflicting cognitions (ideas, beliefs, opinions) simultaneously. On the one hand, conservatives assert that Obama is incompetent and can do nothing right. On the other hand, Obama gets credit for eliminating America’s most wanted terrorist. This conflict between belief and reality causes discomfort. The discomfort can be lessened in two ways: by belittling Obama’s contribution to the military operation and/or by reducing the importance of eliminating bin Laden. Both techniques have been employed since the raid on bin Laden’s compound, with the result that conservatives are once again comfortable with believing that Obama is incompetent and can do nothing right.
Bullies…
I still remember what a quadratic equation looks like from my high school algebra days. On the other hand, Mitt Romney claims he can’t recall pinning a classmate to the ground and cutting off the boy’s hair with scissors. Mitt says even if he did do it, it was just high jinks. After 50 years, Mitt Romney hasn’t grown enough to own the bad behavior of his youth.
Dog Flipping…
It’s a growing trend. You go to a dog breeder and buy a dog with a promise to give the dog a good home. Then you immediately sell the dog and pocket the profit. It’s like house-flipping but with a scared, trusting animal hoping to get a decent human master.
Citizenship…
A growing number of wealthy Americans are renouncing their citizenship in order to cut their tax bill. Among the latest to do this is Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co-founder of Facebook. He is going to live in Singapore which has no capital gains tax. So much for loyalty to the land that made it possible for him to become a billionaire.
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