Jasper Journal

News broke yesterday of two recent examples of lack of integrity by very senior democrat politicians. One was by Elizabeth Warren, running against Scott Brown for senator from Massachusetts, and the other was from our own president of the United States, Barack Obama. While hardly surprising, the fact that they both broke on the same day is interesting. Is the press doing its job? Or are these incidents just too frequent to overlook?

First Elizabeth Warren, Harvard professor and Native American. Wait a minute… the Native Americans have no record of this? Shazaam , another Ward Churchill! When confronted she claimed she really is Native American ancestry , and used it only to make friends with others in her position, and not to advance her Ivy League academic career. Really? She was listed as a minority for over ten years. This did not help her in admissions,  promotions and tenure? As we learned in the Air Force years ago, if you cant be trusted to be honest about little things, you can never be trusted on bigger issues. Hopefully the good people of Massachusetts will send this charlatan  packing.

The second bombshell yesterday was an interview with our president where he admitted that some people in his pompous book, “Dreams of my Father,” were not actually real. He was referring to a story of his white girlfriend in New York,  who he took to a black play in Manhattan. Afterwards she reportedly asked him why blacks were so angry? This gave him a chance in the book to explain to simple, ignorant,  white people ( my choice of words)  the facts of racial discrimination and disharmony. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen like that . The president stated that this girlfriend was a compression of many girlfriends he had over the years in New York, Chicago and elsewhere.  Also, the incident he described didn’t happen in New York as he indicated  but did happen somewhere… he just won’t say where or when.

Compression; Lying; Fabrication; I think they are the same things don’t you ? Obviously cutting corners with the truth is not a problem for many in political office, but it is interesting that we have two top democrats hoisted on their own petards on the same day. Will their supporters care? Probably not; but for the rest of us, we get another example of the expedient way they use the truth in their daily lives. A good lesson for all.

Forty- seven dollars. Apparently that was the amount of money that was owed to a Colombian woman of the evening in Cartagena that led to the scandal rocking the secret service. If they only paid the $47  this behavior might never have been discovered.  It is now reported that the US Military might have been involved. What? US  Military personnel knowing about prostitutes in Colombia? The home of Shakira and Sofia Vergara?  Say it aint so!

In all  seriousness, this incident raises many questions about leadership and accountability. There  is the potential for blackmail;  the potential danger to the official party; the casting  of  disrepute on the president and the country; and  not to mention the idiocy of doing this with a country full of international journalists looking for a story.

Something  else that struck me was that if our secret service personnel were doing this in Cartagena, how many other locales has this behavior been going on in? I do not believe for a minute that this was an isolated case. It  also saddens me that there seems to be a lack of integrity and accountability in government organizations these days. Witness the wanton excesses of the GSA conferences in Las Vegas and Hawaii; the falsification of documents. I am astounded that this culture has developed. What gives these days?

Perhaps the excesses of the president are seeping down. He was actually questioned about his and his families extravagant vacations last week by a TV reporter from St Louis. Surprisingly , the reporter still has his job.  Of course the president saw nothing wrong in his actions.  Today he  said in Colombia that when he went on these trips,   that he was looking for nice vacation spots to take Michelle. So there we have it. A shameless president in charge of an administration covering itself with shame. How truly sad.

This is your humble correspondent writing tonight from Sumter South Carolina, a day after the stunning Republican primary. Wow!  I am absolutely amazed by the margin of Gingrich’s victory. Some commentators are opining that Gingrich would be an easier candidate for Obama to beat. What I take away from this is the visceral disdain so many people have with the current president, that they don’t want a  “nice guy- moderate” to run against him.  They want to eviscerate him. People are so angry and fed up that they are  boiling  like South Carolina peanuts.

Who is really taking it to the president and the media? Who seems the most outraged? Who seems the most concerned for the future of the country?  It appears to be Gingrich.  South Carolinians were even willing to overlook marital infidelities, character flaws, and incredible hubris just to get back at the president who many, including me, feel is taking the country in the wrong direction on multiple fronts. Say what you might about Gingrich, but if South Carolina is a yardstick, which it regularly is, then the passion against this president has to be taken seriously. Don’t write Newt off yet. Lets see what happens in the coming states.

 In that regard, I beg Rick Santorum to get out of the race. He is acting as Governor Huckabee did in 2008. He has no chance and is as marginalized as can be. Why is he continuing to do this? Is he a stalking horse for someone? Please leave with your dignity. The same goes for Ron Paul, although his constituency is unique  and they will always follow him.

So on to Florida for the republicans. It’s up to you guys to help winnow this field.  So go Sunshine Staters!    Can’t wait to see what happens next.