Did you watch or listen to the opening night of the Democratic Convention? No for me. Too late and I am not a huge fan of either party convention. I will read … some … but usually use Factcheck or Snopes to check for truth and untruths…
I remember the first election I was ever aware of … have mentioned it before … President Dwight Eisenhower (R) was elected in the early to mid 1950s. I was with a group of FFA students and advisors in a tobacco warehouse in Whiteville … I was a student at Bladenboro High School, our advisor encouraged some of us to take a cow, a young heifer, care for it for a year, then it was sold and the difference between the cost of the cow and the price it sold for was ours, mine for my calf. Good experience, but we spent the night in the warehouse and someone had a radio … popping and cracking and we listened to President-elect Eisenhower’s speech following his election … 1953 or 54, I think … Republicans were promoting as the greatest ever, Dems were very cautious … My introduction to politics.
Have participated in the process and as I grew older realize neither party has total control of all the facts … and both sometimes stretch the truth … Still feel that way.
In the past few years discovered Factcheck and Snopes, 2 sites that attempt to sort out the facts and report … not promoting either as the ‘know all” but a place to begin sorting ‘fact’ from ‘fiction’ … Too each his or her own…
Political conventions are a good source for both to examine … But, it’s the way our political process operates, and despite some changes due to COVID-19, guess as good as could expect … Dems this week, Republicans next…
“There they are. See no evil, hear no evil and….evil” — Bob Dole (R) watching former presidents Carter (D), Ford (R), and Nixon (R) standing by each other at a White House event.
“I don’t know whether it’s the finest public housing in America or the crown jewel of the federal prison system.” – Bill Clinton (D) on life in the White House.
“If ignorance goes to forty dollars a barrel, I want drilling rights to George Bush’s head” – Jim Hightower (D), former Texas Commissioner of Agriculture, referring to the elder President Bush (R).
robert g hester
rgh4612@gmail.com
910-876-2322
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