Short-term memory has become epidemic in every facet (and at every stage) of life in America. This is why political pundits can blithely say something today that completely contradicts what they said just months ago without fear of humiliation.
A case in point is the way pundits were falling all over themselves recently trying to convince gullible Americans, at various times, that Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, or Rick Santorum stood a reasonable chance of winning the Republican nomination.
More interesting, though, here is what Dick Morris, the Judas Iscariot of Republican pundits (because he was once Bill Clinton’s chief advisor), said about Mitt Romney’s chances on the March 2, 2011 edition of the O’Reilly Factor on FOX News:
First I do not like Romney. There is no way this guy is going to get nominated with him having passed the equivalent of Obamacare. The Party is never going to nominate somebody who’s soft on this issue.
Yet, after Mitt Romney swept Republican primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland, and Washington DC on Tuesday – making it mathematically impossible for anyone but him to win – all of these pundits, including Morris, began sounding off as if they always said Romney would be the one.
By contrast, here is what I wrote over six months ago:
He may not send a thrill up and down the spine of the Tea Partiers and religious (anti-Mormon) nuts who comprise the base, but there are enough sensible people still in that party who recognize that only one candidate has a prayer against Obama next year, and it’s Mitt.
(“And the Republican Nominee Is…,” The iPINIONS Journal, September 9, 2011)
In a similar vein, daily reports about rising gas prices and persistent high unemployment now have pundits falling all over themselves trying to convince gullible Americans that President Obama’s chances of being re-elected are slim to none.
By contrast, here is what I wrote last summer about the outcome of this November’s presidential election:
My support for him is as strong as ever and, despite all of the kvetching by progressives and demonizing by conservatives, I predict he’ll be reelected in a Reagan-style landslide.
(“In support of Obama: my abiding … HOPE,” The iPINIONS Journal, August 12, 2011)
Who ya gonna believe…?
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And the Republican nominee is…
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