I had decided weeks ago I was going to refrain from going political in the posts anymore. It wasn't that I had any less contempt for the Republicans and the Wingnut thugs on the Right. Far from it. It was just that over the past several months the Democrats have proven to be nothing but useless. Pathetic. As Will Rogers famously said “Democrats never agree on anything, that's why they're Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans...”
or "I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat."
Enough. A pox on both their houses.
And then...
I happened to be at one of my local clients the other day, a realty office. As I was off in a corner, downloading some files, a commotion arose in the hallway. Older woman, late 50's I think. She'd come in to list her house as a short sale.
She was railing on to the poor unfortunate realtor about how "Obama had financially RUINED her and her husband..."
This was going to be good, so I accidentally on purpose listened in.
The gist of her story was this:
Back in 2004 (when Bush was President), the housing market started heating up and she and her husband hit upon the idea of refinancing their house, taking out as much money as they could, and investing it wisely for retirement.
Which they did.
And did again.
And again.
Over the next three years they refinanced their Bako home three times, took out hundreds of thousands of dollars, and prudently, thoughtfully stashed it in the safest of investments...
Las Vegas condos.
Bought four of 'em.
Then, in the Summer of 2007 (when Bush was President), the housing bubble burst.
Two of the places worst hit by the bubble burst were Las Vegas and.... wait for it... Bakersfield.
By the summer of 2008 (when Bush was President), they were underwater on five properties.
The story got a little muddy at that point, but it seems that by the day Bush left office, they'd already lost two of the Vegas properties to foreclosure, and the other two were on the way there.
And it's Obama's fault.
It's not just his fault... he personally set out to ruin them.
And now, here we were - they were going to have to sell their Bako love nest in a short sale because they owed four times what it was worth.
Because of O B A M A.
There was no dissuading her. No rationally questioning her. Not that the agent tried - he's not stupid, a commission is a commission. And besides, he probably believed it too.
Such is life in Bizarro World.
Abandoning reason and logic, I've attempted to reverse engineer her story to conform to the Wingnut master plan.
And it goes something like this...
Obama used the voodoo, Jedi mind tricks he learned in Kenya (where he was born) to bamboozle the God Fearing American People to vote for him, with help from his terrorist allies (from the Muslim Madrasah he grew up in in Indonesia). Once in office, he used his Socialist Time Machine to go back in time to trick the innocent, trusting Republicans of Bakersfield to make stupid investments so as to financially ruin them, all out of personal vengeance.
Or something.
Once upon a time, this sort of thing could be easily dismissed as the ramblings of the lunatic fringe.
Not anymore.
It's gone mainstream and is spreading like a virus. Like the H1N1 flu (which Obama cooked up at his super secret terrorist labs in Mexico).
Even members of my own family mutter darkly under their breath about "all the Socialism", and count the days until Sarah Palin is elected Palm Reader In Chief.
I fear there are some very dark days ahead.
