Cesca on cynicism

What is the difference between gloomy and cynical? It is never fun to be accused of cynicism, we are supposed to be the "Shiny, Happy People" REM sang about all those years ago. A few definitions to help explain.
Cynicism: An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others. Also: the holding or expressing of opinions that reveal disbelief and sometimes disdain for commonly held human values and virtues.
Pessimism - the feeling that things will turn out badly 1. A tendency to stress the negative or unfavorable or to take the gloomiest possible view.
2. The doctrine or belief that this is the worst of all possible worlds and that all things ultimately tend toward evil.
3. The doctrine or belief that the evil in the world outweighs the good.
A healthy dose of skepticism or even cynicism is a very important tool when venturing into the public venue of politics. After all, people do lie. People also cheat and manipulate others. But not all and it takes a special kind of sociopath to lie, cheat, and manipulate you one-on-one or in a small group.

For the purposes of this blog, cynicism is the active understanding of the negative in human nature and using it for selfish purposes. Gloominess is the passive understanding of these features and the almost complete lack of power to do anything about it. However, being gloomy also means expecting the worst to prevent disappointment.

Nobody jujitsu's this sort of lowered expectations better than Bob Cesca. He recently nailed Mitt Romney's ultimate cynicism championship title in a way that makes my eyes water. If I live a thousand years I could never equal this zinging indictment.

Americans shrug off the political process under the assumption that politicians are liars and scam artists with little regard for their personal struggles and pet issues. So that’s what voters expect when election days grow larger in the window. Consequently, they either ignore the process or make thoughtless, dart-board choices based on an insufferable “lesser of two evils” brand of pessimism.
But it takes a particularly cynical politician to literally build a campaign around this negative expectation.
Mitt Romney is doing exactly that.

That is the cynicism I am trying to get at. Just as the hedge fund monkeys flinging their worthless mortgage-backed feces at mouth-breathing investors, or the whole trail of hot-potato passing vermin who built the damn housing bubble in the first place. "We know it's crap, but everyone is in on the game."

Romney is easily the most jaded, cynical presidential politician since Richard Nixon. He operates with the hubristic attitude that voters expect him to be shifty, and therefore he’s allowed to be shifty. The expectation gives him permission to be that caricature. For example, he accused President Obama of being an elitist because he attended Harvard even though anyone with a cursory knowledge of Romney’s history knows he also attended Harvard. But none of that matters. He’s smart and calculating enough to know for certain that a chunk of Republican voters will accept the claim at face value and not investigate the contradictions and hypocrisy, and the rest of the Republican voters expect him to say whatever it takes to win, so who cares if it’s bullshit?

And here we have it. The money shot.

BTW, I knew it would only be a matter of time before someone in the reality-based community found some redeeming quality in george w. bush's presidency. Yes, he had core values... They all sucked rotten eggs, but he did have some. But he had to lie constantly to disguise how rotten they were.

After absorbing the awesome in that post, check out what Cesca has to say about Social Security and the rottenness of pilfering morons wishing to steal it from you.