Will both sides PLEASE stop the bullshit?

“I’m tired of the bullshit.”

That was the favorite expression of a guy I worked for (as a side gig) in the ‘60s, whose name was Emory Washington.

He was a rare bird, a Black Republican, a former Marine, a family man and capitalist, who intensely believed in the promise of America.

He also believed you had to work for it.

Which is why he was not a Democrat, a party more inclined to handouts than hands up, he believed.

He published a national magazine, called Black Careers,  out of an office at 52nd & Chestnut. He was the editor and publisher, I was the managing editor, executing his vision, while he handled the business side. It was just the two of us, assisted by his wife and kids, who called me Uncle Stu. That’s because ours was much closer than a business relationship. 

When I listen to what passes for political discourse, I think of Emory, because I am tired of the bullshit.

The bullshit from the right about how “Kamala Harris did not receive a single vote” to gain the nomination.

Why the f—- do you care? I ask myself.

Because of your deep love of democracy and the Constitution, while calling “patriots” the Jan. 6 rioters who hoped to overturn an election.

Maybe Democrats have a right to complain about how Harris was selected, following the rules of the Democratic Party, but do you MAGA heads think anyone gives a crap about how you feel about Kamala Harris? 

Just Friday morning I was listening to WPHT/1210-AM and hearing the same bullshit from a fill-in host who said his shift would be complete at the end of the 10 o’clock hour. No, dummy, you leave the air at the start of the 10 o’clock hour.

Normally I wouldn’t mention a minor slip, except they — both sides — pounce on any misstatement.

Anyway this dude, Sean something — I only listened for a few minutes — beat the familiar drum that “they” told Democrats to hate Kamala Harris until a few weeks ago, and now “they” have issued “marching orders” to treat her as a god.

This comes from the political right that acts like a cult, and would like to enshrine the Christian God in public schools.

The facts are these: Kamala Harris was less popular than Joe Biden until he dropped out, and now she is more popular than he, as reflected in her rise in the polls.

Which must be one of the great turnarounds in American politics, eclipsing even Richard Nixon — if  she is elected, and that is a big “if.” Her dramatic and stunning turnaround ought to have the GOP plenty worried. I think her explosion of popularity is just relief Biden has been sent to the home.

The Wingnut Right throws around words like socialist, communist, and Marxist without even knowing what they mean. They also make a thing of squawking she gives the same speech at every campaign stop. She does. It is called a stump speech. Almost all candidates, even Donald J. Trump do that, but — to be fair — Trump departs from the stump speech on the TelePrompTer to deliver his truly unhinged ad libs.

For its part, the Loony Left is infatuated with words (channeling Hillary Clinton here) like “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic.” (She left out anti-Semitic, an unforced error that did not matter to the majority of American Jews who vote Democrat like their patellar being struck. As Milton Himmelfarb once said, “Jews earn like Episcopalians, but vote like Puerto Ricans.”)

Democrats slap that deplorable tag — which helped energize the Trump base — on the opinions of anyone who dares disagree.

Over on the MAGA side, take issue with any utterance by Donald J. Trump, and you suffer from TDS — Trump Derangement Syndrome.

No, my observation is that it is Trump who is deranged with his repeated references to “wonderful man” Hannibal Lechter, and speculating about whether it is preferable to be electrocuted by an electric boat or be eaten by a shark.

But — listen up Democrats — he never suggested that anyone drink or inject bleach. When you say that, it is a lie, and you know it is a lie.

Nor was he referring to neo-Nazis when he said there were “very fine people, on both sides.” He was talking about the debate over taking down statues of Confederate generals, not the Charlottesville tiki torch guys.

And when he said “bloodbath” if he was not elected, he was talking about the effects on the domestic auto industry.

So stop the bullshit.

Just the other day someone on Facebook challenged me to deny that the Democratic Party is under the control of Marxists and radical billionaire George Soros.

I said that was easy to deny, that in the past few months two members of the notorious Squad were beaten in primaries by more moderate Democrats. 

Does the Far Left — including anti-Israel and anti-Semitic elements — have too much sway in the Democratic Party?

For me, yes, but nowhere near a majority.

In the last week Democrats have fixated on the word “weird” to describe Republicans.

This from a party of breast-feeding men and jurists who can’t define “woman”?

A party that appoints luggage-stealing men in dresses to high positions?

Look, so maybe men in dresses are OK to many Democrats, but it remains weird to many Americans. 

Right-wing talk-show hosts talk about “dementia Joe” as if he had been medically diagnosed, and hard Leftists shout “Genocide Kamala” at the Democratic candidate.

And what is this puppy love obsession if they haven’t seen Biden for two days? They want to see more of him? I never hear Democrats complain they don’t see enough of Trump.

And don’t get me started on “the media.” Those who squawk loudest about it don’t seem to understand that Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and talk radio are all part of “the media,”which some conservatives (hello, Rich Zeoli) insist on referring to the “corporate media.”

Fox News is owned by a corporation.

So is Audacy, Zeoli’s home base.

Are they part of the “corporate media,” or do they get a pass because they goose step to their own beat? (Sorry.)

I remember when conservatives thought corporations were a good thing. It was the Left that hated them.

A woman posts on Facebook that the media covered up an attack on U.S. forces in Syria.

I ask where she got the idea there was a coverup, since I had seen reports on many platforms.

She was told that, she replied, by her mother, because she herself does not have cable.

So I provided her with links to reports on NBC and CBS broadcast networks, as well as The New York Times.

The fact she lives — by her own admission — in a news-free environment did not stop her from posting falsehoods.

And yet, some people out there will repeat, and believe, her fact-free statement because they are too dense or lazy or partisan to question it.

And this is before we get overwhelmed by Artificial Intelligence fakes.

And each party calls the other a danger to democracy.

Are they both right?

Or are you tired of the bullshit?