What You Won’t Be Hearing This Year

Does it sometimes seem like we’ve devolved into a culture of distortion and spin? That O’Reilly isn’t the only fault-line factor out there?

That the daily news cycle is an exercise in being carpet bombed by the Kobe Bryants, Scott Petersons, Mark Hackings, Martha Stewarts and Ken Lays. Somebody’s lying.

For variety, we get Sandy Berger’s security quirks and the prospect of steroid testing as a de facto Olympic event. Or reality TV shows that couldn’t possibly be. Life now seems lived in color-coded alerts that induce as much skepticism as vigilance. Who can you trust?

Locally, there have been “living wage” debates, Capital One “commitments,” “certifiably” solid overpass supports and conflicting perspectives on hit-and-run fatalities. Who do you believe?

Then there’s politics. Candidates retain their own “truth squads.”

Here’s a sobering thought about the presidential campaign. As bad as the rhetoric of invective and innuendo has been, and as bad as the untruth-in-advertising attack ads have become, this is as good as it gets. Another three months await, and tomorrow arguably will be worse. Too much power is at stake; too much soft money is at play.

It’s all enough to make you provide your own candor. Call it: “Things You Won’t Hear Outside This Column.”

*All candidates for office:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *