Stupidity

The more that Obama tries to prove to us that he's really just like Bush, only more so, the more the Republicans are forced to dumb down their troops. Not that it's difficult, I think I hear a collective sign of relief when an episode like Clark's stating the obvious:

"Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president," Clark said.

can be met with the most obtuse kind of outrage.

Denying Republicans their policy issues by adopting more of Bush's policies as his own (faith based handouts, capital punishment, the hatred of dirty fucking hippies, etc.), we can be sure that the campaign will revolve more and more around 'character issues'.

With two useless wars soaking up much of the nation's resources, environmental disasters multiplying, infrastructure collapsing, and an economic system that has carried deregulation to the point of no return, Americans are asked to forget all that, by both candidates!

Over at TomDispatch, Rick Shenkman looks at good old American stupidity. Here's his definition:

Five defining characteristics of stupidity, it seems to me, are readily apparent. First, is sheer ignorance: Ignorance of critical facts about important events in the news, and ignorance of how our government functions and who's in charge. Second, is negligence: The disinclination to seek reliable sources of information about important news events. Third, is wooden-headedness, as the historian Barbara Tuchman defined it: The inclination to believe what we want to believe regardless of the facts. Fourth, is shortsightedness: The support of public policies that are mutually contradictory, or contrary to the country's long-term interests. Fifth, and finally, is a broad category I call bone-headedness, for want of a better name: The susceptibility to meaningless phrases, stereotypes, irrational biases, and simplistic diagnoses and solutions that play on our hopes and fears.

Both candidates are depending on stupidity to prevent people from asking hard questions. When people do ask them, they'll be marginalized as extremists. The media will work hand in glove to produce a down to the wire race that will keep politics revolving around the idiotic questions that need no answers, while the real question are ignored. Unless some significant breakdown occurs, American's good old fashioned stupidity will allow them to blind themselves to their upcoming ruin.

UPDATE: To put an accent over the stupidity theme, there's this:
Lawsuit Filed To Carry Weapons In Atlanta Airport
These people are short sighted, if I can't carry my Beretta onto my flight, I can never be free.