Political positions color perception of politicians

Following the Harris/Bash interview, I looked at the Facebook home page of two women writers, each well-educated and bitchy. (I mean that in a good way.)

The reaction of Lady A: “I’m bored.”

Lady B: “She did great.”

Now — neither of them was lying. They said what they felt. This is a perfect example of two people viewing the same event through their personal filters, or prejudices, if you like. 

It is not intentional. 

As I know them in real life, I am sure they were not influenced by Kamala’s race or gender. 

What was the filter?

Lady A is a straight edge conservative.

Laby B is a medium squishy liberal.

I am neither. I am in the middle.

Following the interview, the perceptions were predictable. The Red team found the questions soft, and Bash too friendly.

The Blue team believed every Harris answer was a home run. Brilliant!

The Ladies’ political position slips goggles over their eyes that filter out what they don’t want to hear.

This is quite apart from the insane comments or observations from others, such as “Why is she looking down?” (Answer — she had a cheat sheet. Really, someone said that.)

“She was afraid. That’s why she brought an older white man.” (The older white man is 60. She is 59, and she is the vice president of the United States, and a former U.S. senator.)

“CNN edited out all the stupid things Kamala said.” No, it did not. It could not do something like that and keep it secret.

Back to perceptions.

Lady A believes Democrats are a threat to democracy, and believes every campaign promise is a lie.

Lady B believes precisely the same about Trump.

When each accuses the other side of destroying democracy, it sounds like projection. 

If you believe all Democrats are Marxists (when only some of them are) you are likely to see every fiscal or social idea as some form of socialism. Funny, I rarely hear Republicans calling for an end to Social Security, which some uninformed souls call socialism. It is not. With a few exceptions, you get back benefits because you have paid into it during your work life. (Some cops, firefighters, and teachers are not in Social Security, and some disabled people receive benefits even if they have not paid in.)

If you believe all Republicans are Nazis, then you will see most of their proposals as fascist.

It’s just amazing that Harris has gone from approval ratings below Joe Biden’s, to equal, or surpassing Trump in just four weeks.

She has raised half a billion dollars and enrolled 200,000 volunteers.

This has made her a transformational phenom on a plateau with Barack Obama. Her supporters — especially women — are swooning at her feet. They are in love, and I don’t mean in a gay way (not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

It has the earmarks of a cult, and that brings us back to Trump. 

Like it or not, about half the electorate loves him. I tried to explain why a little while ago to a friend who had asked. Here’s what I said.

Some of his supporters actually use Godly images for him, and take everything he says to be Gospel.

The Kamala brigade isn’t there yet, but they are working on it. She’s like the second coming of Eleanor Roosevelt.

It would be nice if both sides knocked the star dust out of their eyes and embraced the reality that their beloved candidates are human, fallible, sometimes smart, sometimes stupid, sometimes kind, sometimes cruel.

I’d like it, too, if we concentrated on their policies and promises, and even better if they kept both.