My changes to Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to reflect today’s Presidential campaign:

MITT ROMNEY: What’s that smell in this room? Didn’t you notice it, Paul? Didn’t you notice the powerful and obnoxious odor of cynicism?
PAUL RYAN: Yes, sir, I think I did.
MITT ROMNEY: Ain’t nothing more powerful than the odor of cynicism. Didn’t you notice it, Barack?
BARACK OBAMA: What, sir?
MITT ROMNEY: What about you, Sister Woman? Didn’t you notice an unpleasant smell of cynicism in this room?
DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I don’t even know what that is.
MITT ROMNEY: You can smell it. It smells like death.

The word Williams used for the Big Daddy character was mendacity instead of cynicism, which also fits in well with how Obama and the Democrats have been campaigning by accusing Romney of murder and tax evasion. Mendacity also describes Obama’s tenure as President. But mendacity, lying, is an effect of Obama and those trying to get him re-elected; the cause is cynicism.

On the day Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States, I wrote a review of his inauguration address. Here is part of what turned out to be my prophetic conclusion of that speech:

So is this what we can expect from President Hope N. Change for the next four years?…It seems all President Change is going to do is try to deflect all the problems he can’t solve on George W. Bush. Well, it don’t work that way, baby. It’s all his now; the economy, the war, everything. And the people won’t stand for failure by an administration that has built itself up to be more important than sliced bread.

During the 2008 election, Obama didn’t run against Republican candidate John McCain (obviously, Obama technically was running against McCain), but against then-President George W. Bush. And as I prophesied, Obama has spent his time in office still running against then-President Bush, blaming the predecessor for every problem the current regime hasn’t solved, especially with jobs and the economy.

Looking back on Obama’s term, this statement from his inauguration speech has become a punch line, especially since Obama has spent most of his time blaming Bush, Republicans, the wealthy, and anybody and anything for the regime’s incompetence:

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

As has been said many times since Obama has been President, Harry Truman said “the buck stops here”; with Obama, it stops everywhere else. And yet, his whole regime has been based on his cynicism of how he sees the American people as children, along with the newly found power to reward donors to his campaign and to other Democrats. When Obama told Samual “Joe the Plumber” Wuezelbacher to have the government redistribute wealth, this wasn’t a gaffe. When Obama recently said “you didn’t build that” to small (and big) entrepreneurs, this wasn’t a gaffe. These things are what Obama believes, that the federal government has control over the people, like monarchical regimes of days gone by and past and present dictatorial communist/fascist (socialist) regimes, instead of how the Founders envisioned America under the Constitution, that the people have control over the government. From Porkulus to Obamacare to Dodd-Frank, these laws were implemented as both a slush fund and because in Obama’s mind, he had a cynical vision that only his federal government could dig the economy out of the hole it was in, not a free people; but what was worse, even when shown how his policies were failures and way more expensive than what we’ve been told, he’s doubled-down and illegally expanded his power, on top of massively increasing the national debt more than just about all of the previous Presidents combined.

I watched some of the Republican National Convention earlier this week. The speeches by Ann Romney, Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, and Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney were great (those were the ones I saw), especially Ryan’s. And although I was one of those who was worried a little about Clint Eastwood seemingly appear to ramble on, he really did a helluva great job with minimal preparation and no notes (or teleprompter); his bit with the chair was awesome, and his lines were hard hitting and spot on. Ever since Romney selected Ryan as the running mate, I knew the GOP nominee was taking this election very, very seriously. Ryan is one of those rare people who can get into the weeds and be very technical, yet has the ability to state clearly and concisely without being condescending, something Obama has never learned to do (plus, Obama isn’t a bit technical).

So now the GOP convention is over and the Democrats will have their convention next week. I have no intention of watching. It would upset my wife and my blood pressure and I’d probably break the TV. I know exactly what Obama and the Democrats will say because they’ve been saying the same crap for the last four years (and longer, if you think about it). As it is, I can’t stand listening to any Democrat on TV without quietly muttering some curses at them (and if I’m not quiet enough and my wife is in earshot, I’ll usually hear something about it). I’ll listen to the analysis from Limbaugh, Ingraham, Levin, and from the blogs I read, so I doubt I’ll miss anything.

I keep reading and seeing, from Democrats and Republicans, how this is going to be a close election. I don’t see it. I see a blowout on a scale of Obama’s win in 2008. While I would have wanted the GOP to retake the Senate with a super-majority, I do seeing them getting at least to 50 with Ryan as the deciding vote (I don’t think the ridiculous Akin statement will hurt that candidate too much; McCaskill is more vulnerable in Missouri than many are letting on). And the House? Fuhgeddoudit; the GOP will easily retain the House.

Obama and the Democrats know this. So what have they done? What Obama said in his inauguration address he didn’t want to have happen: petty grievances, false promises, recriminations, and worn out dogmas. We conservatives knew it would happen. Romney has already gotten under Obama’s already thin skin with the “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate” line. Instead of ignoring it, Obama put out an ad denouncing Romney for it. During the GOP convention, Eastwood talked to an empty chair representing Obama; Obama got ticked off and sent a pointless and childish tweet in response, which is now getting responded to (check them out at the link; they are funny). Obama has taken pandering to a new level as he “evolved” in his recent support for “marriage equality” (like “social justice”, this is a false concept) and illegally providing amnesty to illegal aliens. Obama continues with the tired “tax the rich” rhetoric that would do nothing to fix the economy, and accusing Republicans of “protecting the wealthy” who should be paying Obama’s government more (or Obama’s campaign, like Jon Corzine), because that would be “fair.” And as I mentioned earlier, Obama and the Democrats continuously claim Romney is guilty of tax evasion and murder, and of being a heartless “rich, white” guy, even though it’s quite obvious Romney is exceedingly generous and kind. Talk about cynical.

This cynicism is expanded out to the Democrat media trying to get Obama re-elected. Just in the past couple of weeks, our “betters” in the world of Democrat media land have “taught” us that it is “RACIST” to mention illegal aliens, welfare, golf, or the fact that Obama was a Chicago politician. Because our “betters” know that all Hispanics are illegal aliens, all Americans who are black are on welfare, that golfer Tiger Woods is an American who is black, and that the only people living in Chicago are Americans who are black. RACISM!!! by gum.

With the story about Romney being there for the dying teenager, the Democrat media decided to stalk the interwebs, managing to find a brother who had some nice things to say about the GOP candidate, but who is also not a Romney supporter and likes to use Obama’s class warfare schtick. Now, it is beyond me why Dylan Byers would even bother with this story at the national level, except that it allows Byers to attack Romney. Period. Byers made it a point not to quote the entirety of the parts of the article he linked to where the brother mentioned his personal recollection of Romney:

“He’s a motivator,” Peter Oparowski said of Romney. “He appeals to your inner sense of duty. He could compel you to do what you should in a non-threatening manner. He never played power games with us at all.”

So the dying boy’s brother doesn’t support Romney. That’s fine, even for it to be mentioned in the local paper. But for Byers and Politico to make this a national story and deliberately leave things out? And this clown Dylan Byers still has a job as a “journalist”? Or is that “Journolist”? At least Yahoo had the good sense to fire “Professor” David Chalian after his stupid and snide remark earlier this week, even as the rest of the Democrat media defended him (that jerk is still a “professor” of “journalism” at Georgetown, although I imagine it’s more of how to be a Democrat propagandist within the Democrat media). Talk about pathetic, mean-spirited, nasty, and cynical. Just like the Obama campaign has been.

But the cynicism is truly in the depths of the septic tank with this piece by Mark Halperin at Time. Reading it, you have to wonder if its a joke. But then again, we are talking about serious Obama supporters who know the dirty tricks Democrats need to play in order to salvage this election. Halperin provides 11 items Obama needs to do to win, and each one is part of the Alinsky, Democrat playbook Obama has used since he got into politics. My take:

1. Halperin believes Obama will win Michigan and Pennsylvania, so he should ignore those states.
2. Be divisive and pander. Make sure to scream RACISM!!! often. Work in a slam against Mormons and Mormonism.
3. Be ready to contest the election in states where voter fraud is not likely to happen because voter ID laws are in place in those states.
4. Keep lying about Bain Capital.
5. Lie about Obama stealing from Medicare to fund Obamacare.
6. Make sure crooks like Jon Corzine can bring in more money.
7. Send Bill Clinton out to say nice things about Obama whenever the former President can break away from trying to score.
8. The Democrat media, like Time, is ready, willing, and able to assist in Obama’s re-election, but throw us a bone once in awhile; plus, work with Democrat groups able to get away with voter fraud.
9. Smear those telling the truth.
10. Keep sending borrowed taxpayer dollars to public sector unions’ money-laundering operations that send the money back to Obama’s campaign.
11. Don’t talk about Obama’s policies that have failed the economy.

In other words, stick to petty grievances, false promises, recriminations, and worn out dogmas. Everything Obama said he didn’t want. Of course, Obama says a lot of things, then ends up doing the opposite. Which, as I mentioned earlier, was entirely expected.

With Clint Eastwood as the “mystery” speaker at the Republican convention, the Democrats are trying to put in place a rumor that they will have one of their own. Now, it won’t be one of the Democrat misanthropes in Hollywood since they can’t shut up about how much they hate their fellow Americans. They already have formerly squishy Republicans like Charlie Crist and Lincoln Chafee on board, and I don’t believe David Brooks is enough of a name to matter. Many say it’s Hillary Clinton, and I’m inclined to believe it since she made it a big point to say she would be out of the country during the Democrat Convention, and I’ve rarely believed anything she’s ever said. I’m not so sure about the rumor where she would replace Biden as the new running mate, although the more I think about, it’s very likely considering Biden’s age and troubling mental capacity; plus, it gives Clinton a leg up on the 2016 nomination if Obama wins this November, as she would be the incumbent VP at the time. Being the current Secretary of State, she would bring more foreign policy cred than either Obama and Biden ever had; however, it does give Romney and Ryan a chance to negate this since she sucks at the job. But, it would give Obama the chance to put a worse person in as Secretary of State if he remains President. To be honest, there are still millions of people who support Clinton, despite the fact that the only reason she has had jobs in politics is because she used her philandering husband’s name to secure those positions, including her current one; I do believe it would be a game changer in that regard, although not necessarily fatal to the Romney-Ryan ticket, since I believe they have the talent and energy to convince people it’s time to get someone new as President. Obama and the Democrats will still need to rely on petty grievances, false promises, recriminations, and worn out dogmas to try to win. We’ll see.

This election could very well sound the death knell of progressivism, which would be profoundly beneficial to the nation, and possibly the end of the Democratic Party, something that is long overdue. Cynicism, pandering, and dirty tricks is all they’ve had for most of the last 30 year. It’s long past time they were held accountable for those actions.

Cross-posted at Scipio the Metalcon.