Core Competencies

It's hard not to laugh at the fact that four of the six GOP presidential candidates, including Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, failed to submit the necessary paperwork to get on the ballot for Virginia's upcoming primary election. Over the last year or so, the GOP presidential candidates have been very persistent (some would say strident) in their questioning of President Obama's competency. It seems to me that if this is going to be the fulcrum of your leap to paint yourself as the best replacement for the current President, actually getting your name onto the ballot in every state is the bare minimum level of competency that you should be able to demonstrate to voters. Admittedly, I'm already unlikely to vote for any of them, even the seemingly sane Jon Huntsman, but things like this make me wonder why any sensible person would.

Biggest Losers (Past/Present/Future Edition)

Is deception any more palatable if the perpetrator is trying to deceive themselves at the same time they're working to deceive the masses? This is the question I'd like to ask Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich as he proclaims to a gathering of journalists and, by extension, anyone else that will listen that he's "not a Washington figure." That the only reason that claim has any truth in real-world terms is because he was ousted from office (in the wake of what turned out to be a monumental display of hypocrisy) is seemingly beside the point.

The problem for Gingrich is the problem that afflicts any Republican politician worth a damn. If they have any sincere desire to accomplish anything beyond futile displays of ideological purity, they've had to find common ground with those "across the aisle". While rational voters may appreciate this, rational voters don't drive the primary/caucus cycle, meaning anyone with ideas worth serious discussion doesn't stand a serious chance of becoming the GOP nominee without disavowing the ideas that made them worth talking about in the first place. In short, the only way that the theoretically more thoughtful, mature Newt Gingrich stands a chance of facing off against President Obama in the 2012 general election is by acting like a hyper-partisan jackass. Anyone who doubts this need only look at the uproar that followed Gingrich's critique of fellow Republican Paul Ryan's plans to "reform" Medicare a week or so back on NBC's Meet the Press.

Sticking with the topic of NBC and deception, I was struck by the network's commercials advertising the season finale of The Biggest Loser. As the announcer celebrates the amazing physical strides made by the contestants, a ubiquitous pop song declares "you're amazing just the way you are." At the risk of seeming insensitive, isn't the whole point of the show that the contestants weren't amazing just the way they were? Yes, they've done amazing things, but they've done it by making changes. Clearly, deception can come in all shapes, sizes and media campaigns.