Monday, October 24, 2016

Short Memories

One of the more amusing reactions to the last debate between Trump and Clinton was the faux outrage expressed in the media over Trump's insistence that the election is rigged and that he wasn't going to commit himself to accepting the results prematurely. His opponents in the Democratic party have reacted as if such rhetoric is the most shocking thing they've ever heard, cutting to the very heart of our democracy and threatening us all with anarchy in the streets.

The overwrought reaction seems a bit insincere, given that, as MSNBC's Morning Joe (of all places) reports, such allegations have been common among our Democrat brethren for the last decade and a half, and no one has heretofore suffered a fainting spell over it:
After you watch the above video you might also enjoy the next segment of the show in which the host, Joe Scarborough, lampoons those who have succumbed to a case of the vapors over Trump's allegations and his refusal to be put in a box:
In fact, Hillary Clinton herself in a video of a campaign rally in Florida where Al Gore is speaking on her behalf, tacitly agrees that George Bush was not the real winner of the 2000 election. She evidently doesn't accept the results of that election. Watch her nod her head in agreement as the crowd chants, "You won!" to Al Gore:
Trump has certainly said some outrageous things in this campaign season, but his refusal to commit himself to accepting the outcome on November 8th isn't one of them, and those who think such demurrals are unprecedented and a threat to our democracy are simply showing that they have terribly short memories. Either that or they have an underdeveloped aversion to personal hypocrisy.