Elections, Quotes and Presidents...

It’s election season, what a trip! Between the endless commercials (only to get worse) and the constant media attention, I love today’s media… really I do. During that 10:00 news or on one of the 24-hour stops on the air, we catch a sound bite from a politician, a quote from an actor or actress, or hear a quick quip on our favorite prime-time show. But really, are things that bad? Are people really that (fill your own word in here)? Somehow, I don’t think so.

I think of media reports like Marion Barry thinks of Washington DC: “If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very low crime rate.” I say: If you take the spin and misrepresentations out of the media, the reporters really do get it right.

Ok, follow my logic here for a minute. If you follow the media, we haven’t had a good president since maybe Johnson:

• President Nixon: “I was under medication when I made the decision to burn the tapes.”
• President Ford: “I watch a lot of baseball on the radio.”
• President Carter: “I've looked on many women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times…”
• President Reagan: “Facts are stupid thing.”
• President Bush: “For seven and a half years I've worked alongside President Reagan. We've had triumphs. Made some mistakes. We've had some sex...uh...setbacks.”
• President Clinton: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Ok, maybe they got that one right, so I’ll include another one instead: “When I was a younger man and had a life, I owned an El Camino pickup in the '70s. It was a real sort of Southern deal. I had Astroturf in the back. You don't want to know why, but I did.”
• President Bush: “Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country.”

Maybe things aren’t so bad… maybe that’s all we know.

The funny thing is… I really don’t know if any of these quotes are true. Think about it! I didn’t hear (most of) them or look each of them up on http://www.snopes.com/! I think Ivana Trump has it right: “Fiction writing is great, you can make up almost anything.”

But in the end, I believe that the anonymous writers are the ones that get it: “When all is said and done, there are more things said than done!”

More worthless words later…