Ron opines on debates.

Posing, pontificating, posturing, prattling, pussyfooting, prevaricating, pretending, performing, pandering . . . . .

Hey, unless one candidate loses it and punches the other one in the face, I’m not the slightest bit interested in anything politicians say on camera. In this case my mind is already set, and short of a miracle, such as the Angel Gabriel appearing on stage or Chris Wallace becoming unbiased and objective, no scenario exists in which I’d watch even short excerpts from the “debate.”

In my adult lifetime, or since about 1959, I’ve been a lotta places and seen a lotta things . . . arguments, confrontations, donnybrooks, riots, brawls, discussions, decisions, agreements, solutions, mayhem, wars, and even a coupla murders.

Had a lotta authority as a Navy person . . . director of Electronics “A” School at Great Lakes and later as Command Discipline Officer . . . Fleet OOD on a cruiser and later a large repair ship . . . managed budgets of millions of dollars and electronics repair groups of up to 150 highly trained technicians.

Been on both sides of harsh ass-chewings and made decisions involving serious matters for CinCPacFlt, Com7thFlt, ComSubPac, and other major commands, and influenced thousands of young people’s lives as their Navy division officer or as their English professor at the local university.

Now that I’m doubly retired, I really don’t miss the hassle . . . the verbal harangues, the memo warfare, the economic smoke and mirrors, the silly-ass projects, the “big” decision making.

See . . . I have this dog – an Aussie Shepherd. About 75 pounds, quite intelligent, and well-centered. He hates loud voices, aggression, contention, conflict of any kind. Gets right in the middle of it all and yells at whoever he believes is the source of the problem, or everybody if it’s not clear.

I’ve become like him in that I strongly dislike watching people having noisy disagreements. Refuse to watch interviews where the host or moderator constantly interrupts a guest answering a question or stating a position. And I simply cannot abide liars, hypocrites, flim-flammers, and bullshit artists.

Any time a TV news show airs political speeches, I change the channel or kill the sound. Can’t tolerate it. I think what bothers me most is that I know that THEY know they’re lying, saying what they believe a particular audience wants to hear at a particular time, and their stance will change to pander to the next audience. I take that as an insult to my intellect.

Trump was hired to drain the swamp, mostly because he was NOT a typical politician. But in the 4 years since he was picked for the job, he’s BECOME one. He’s still more honest than 99% of the rest of ‘em, and he HAS made good on many of his campaign promises, but he gets more obsequious and mealy mouthed every day.

This morning I’ll find clips and quotes and excerpts from last nite’s goat rope in Cleveland, and I’ll ignore just about all of ‘em as rehearsed and practiced sound bytes for one base or the other. Nobody’s mind was changed by what was said or done . . . or wasn’t said or done . . . in that hot air session.

Chances are I won’t be around long enough to see the downrange results of this genelec in terms of the economy, race, immigration, national security, and so on. Of course by mid-century, neither will the country as it was initially created, so it ain’t no big whoop to me.