Sunday Morning Comin’ Down - Part 1 of 2

The
Prove It, Motherfucker

Edition

Sunday, I dialed in to the Mouse Circus long enough to hear this exchange on “Meet the Press” between the Establishmentarian Marionette

David Gregory

and President Barack Obama:

DAVID GREGORY: Like the public option. You effectively said to the left, "It's not gonna happen."

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well what I — no, no, that's not true.

After which I got very tired and took a nap.

Because the simple truth of the matter is, other than his well-publicized snuggle-sack-cozy relationship with members of the Cheney Administration (most infamously documented here in this iconic Annie Leibovitz photograph of a moment of quiet intimacy between

Gregory and Karl Rove.)

David Gregory really has no business whatsoever being on teevee.

As has been noted in agonizing detail by observers far and wide, he has no special skills. No particular competencies. He often gets all giggly and obsequious around Conservative power and, as demonstrated by his question above, clearly can no longer distinguish between the simple reality of what someone actually said --

(President Obama, from his Health Care Address to the joint session of Congress

But an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange.
...

and

But by avoiding some of the overhead that gets eaten up at private companies by profits, excessive administrative costs and executive salaries, it could provide a good deal for consumers. It would also keep pressure on private insurers to keep their policies affordable and treat their customers better, the same way public colleges and universities provide additional choice and competition to students without in any way inhibiting a vibrant system of private colleges and universities.
...

and

It’s worth noting that a strong majority of Americans still favor a public insurance option of the sort I’ve proposed tonight.
...

and

I will not back down on the basic principle that if Americans can’t find affordable coverage, we will provide you with a choice.
...

and Gregory's Beltway Insiders Kremlinological Gossip Girl Speculation over what they -- wink!wink! -- really meant:

Gregory: You effectively said to the left, "It's not gonna happen."

Because Gregory is a Big Dollar Media hack, and our fucked-up, sold-out culture currently offers no effective mechanism for wee little rabble like me and thee to expel such toxic hacks from our public airwaves.


But how much of a difference might it make if, every time anyone from David Gregory to David Fucking Brooks to Conservative David from Accounting lets fly with yet another casual lie, we on the Left -- from wee little rabble like me during workday water coolers wars all the way up to the rare Real Liberal who pops up on radio and teevee -- take it upon ourselves to say the following:

Prove It.

Simple.

I'm not asking for anyone to march anywhere you're not already marching, or to contribute to any cause you're not already giving to.

I am asking that every time some consequence-averse, Limbaugh-listening goof who spent the Bush years calling you a traitor wants to blow off their last 8 or 10 or 15 or 30 years of catastrophically-bad, hate-inflected and ignorance-driven political decisions with a shrug and a "Well, ya know, both sides do it", get right up in their grill and demand that they prove it.

Anyone, anywhere who makes this bullshit "Both side are are equally wrong" declaration is making an affirmative assertion of fact without a single shred of evidence on their side. They are doing it out of brainwashed habit, and they are doing it in the service of the biggest and most pernicious lie in America today, so demand that they produce one god damned shred of fucking evidence -- one decent study, one sociological analysis or one serious non-FoxNews poll -- to prove it.

(Bonus sainthood points for everyone who refrains from hitting intellectually comatose smirkers in the head with a snow shovel every time their answer begins with, "Well, everyone knows that..." )

Be persistent. Be a little rude if you have to.

Because, as Abbie Hoffman once said:

"When decorum is repression, the only dignity free men have is to speak out."