nothin's gonna ever keep ya down

every four years people ask
why on earth do we suddenly care about biathlon
for two weeks

it's not that we're fans of the sport
so much as that there is innate pleasure in watching people
who are just plain great at what they do
and appreciating their work

it's an added joy of watching albert pujols mash a baseball
or lionel messi curl a shot so effortlessly it seems accidental
it's part of why the world gets excited when steve jobs talks
or why movies with will smith always make tons of money

they're the best at the thing they do and people enjoy that

and maybe it's time to really appreciate the republican machine
in that same vein
really
have we ever in the course of our country's history
seen so much made from so little substance

billions of dollars
wars
the course of a nation
steered from the marching orders of
whatever cackling moustache-twirling mastermind
perfected the application of the simple axiom

repetition makes it true

the health-care debate is truly their finest hour
america
it can truly be said
hates it

because
it
has been so skillfully ambiguated
[i'm declaring that a word]
into the enemy other
through the repetition of old favorites like
death panels™ and
government takeover™
to the point where we need to
start from scratch™

the meaning is not in the words but in their association
bad with health care reform
good with some ambiguous republican brand of health care reform
[that will never occur because everyone forgot about it and they don't want to anyway]

it's flawlessly executed
taking something that has the potential to prevent someone you or i know
from going bankrupt in a hospital somewhere
and turning it into something evil
[thanks to these same people we now only understand good or evil]
evil enough to get people foaming at the mouth
haranguing public servants and
shouting
shouting
shouting

so why can't i appreciate it for what it is
a tour de force of lying

why
because albert pujols isn't killing baseball
nor is messi killing soccer

republicans are the death panel for meaningful discourse