February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Afterward it turned out that some young fellow called Orson Welles was behind it. He said it was just a play. People said, when they saw him on the newsreels later, that he was well mannered and had a cultured voice, and the newspapers said he had a great future ahead of him. Though this “play” was very scary, people had to go on the basis of what he said – that it was a work of imagination — and they certainly believed his assurances. And still do.
So, as far as I know, there was no extraterrestrial invasion — at least not on that particular night or not in New Jersey anyway.
Then there was the time we beat the Russians to the moon. Or did we? There are folks who say it was faked. All filmed on a Hollywood back lot. That Neil Armstrong should have won the Oscar for Best Actor that year and not John Wayne for “True Grit.” I thought: come on, really? The guys at NASA are upstanding civil servants. The best and the brightest. Patriots. Could they? Would they? No — at least, not as far as I know. They said they didn’t fake it and I think we have to go on the basis of what they said. But maybe get back to me after I’ve had a chance to read up on it some more on the Internet. But for now, I have to assume that America did get to the moon, fair and square. Actually I said back in ’69: “Better luck next time, USSR.” Only there wasn’t to be a next time, was there? Ha ha.
Now to the exciting 2008 presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton is having a lot of trouble with that Mr. Obama. Here’s what she said two days before the primaries in Ohio and Texas when the guy from “60 Minutes” asked her if she thought Obama was a Muslim?
“Well of course not, there is no basis for that. I take him on the basis of what he says. And you know, there isn’t any reason to doubt that.” When he asked if she was taking Obama “at his word,” and asked again if she believed he was a follower of Islam, she said: “No, no, why would I? There’s nothing to base that on — as far as I know.”
As far as she knows.
How about this news report: “Mrs. Clinton said on a campaign stop in Allentown, Pa., that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were a fabrication.” Of course the Jews weren’t plotting to take over the world, she said. “There’s nothing to base that on — as far as I know.”
Okay, so I made that one up. How about this? “Senator Clinton said in Pittsburgh today in answer to a citizen’s question that there was no evidence that JFK was the victim of a conspiracy involving LBJ. ‘There is nothing to base that on – as far as I know.'” Yeah — made that one up, too.
Actually that might turn out to be embarrassing if she becomes president. I mean, you trumpet a guy through the campaign, and say he near as darn well brought about civil rights by himself and then as commander-in-chief you get to look at the secret files (if you want to, that is), only to find out that he did put the shooters on the grassy knoll.
(And there’s another guy she’s giving the benefit of the doubt. What if it turns out Obama is a Muslim? But, hey, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I mean this is America. We’re tolerant. Though Barack, if you are, buddy, what’s the big secret?)
But then I was thinking: what if Hillary knows — no buts, ands, maybes, or as far as I knows — that the Martians didn’t land in 1938, that we did go to the Moon in 1969, that there’s no Jewish conspiracy to take over the world, that LBJ did not plot murder and that Obama is a sincere, believing Christian (that last one I guess she would have checked out pretty thoroughly). What would that tell us?
Then I figured it was progress really. I mean Nixon didn’t go on Walter Cronkite and say: “There are people who say that my likely opponent in November, Senator Ed Muskie, cannot stand French Canadians. But let me say categorically that I’m not one of those people. As far as I can determine, and until someone tells me something different, Senator Muskie does not have a problem with French Canadians.”
No. The little guys in the dirty-tricks department did the nasty things — like sow the seeds of doubt in the minds of New England voters of French Canadian heritage.
I guess we thought in 2008 that the “surrogates” were pushing these things, sowing doubts and confusion. So, it’s kind of refreshing to see a candidate lead from the front.
And now it will be that much harder for voters to say after November and in the years ahead: “As far as we knew…”