A History lesson . . .

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a line in a post about the Republican Presidential field. All Herman Cain had to worry about was defending the sexual harassment allegations. Rick Perry had just had his now second most embarrassing public appearance in a speech in New Hampshire in which he was either drunk or just crazy. I wrote,

It's Mitt.

I deleted the line. Not because I didn't believe it. I deleted it because I wasn't ready for the entertainment of the Republican nomination campaign to come to an end. But I believed it. I was sure that within two or three days all Republicans, conservative and moderate, would join hands and read excerpts from "Atlas Shrugged," and hoist Mitt Romney on the back of the big elephant and go in hunt of Barack Obama.

I was wrong. I can't believe it. Not because I'm never wrong, but because it just seemed so obvious.

Not only is it not Mitt. In several polls he trails Newt Gingrich and is neck and neck with Herman Cain.

I still believe Herman Cain is done. In a Perryesque moment, Cain took about a minute to not respond to a trick question about whether he agreed with President Obama's handling of the U. S. role in Libya. But then again, I thought he was done last week.

And now Newt Gingrich?

I have a nephew who is a history major, and is quite good at it. I hear he is headed to graduate school and I hope he is.

Especially in light of the money historians are making these days. Newt Gingrich said this week he was paid $300,000.00 for his advice as a historian, according to news reports arising from a question asked of Gingrich in last Wednesday's Republican debate.

He was paid that fee by Freddie Mac, the controversial government sponsored enterprise otherwise known as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, who contracted with Gingrich in 1999 and again in 2006. Officials of Freddie Mac say Gingrich was hired to build bridges with Congress at a time when Congress was being pressured to take them over. Some would call that lobbying. Gingrich maintains he simply gave them a history lesson.

A $300,000.00 history lesson. But there was no lobbying involved. Gingrich said he would never do that.

And one would assume that he wouldn't, at least for Freddie Mac, which he excoriated as recently as last month's New Hampshire debate. Perhaps Freddie Mac would have been well advised to get a confidentiality clause in their employment contract with Gingrich similar to the one in Herman Cain's sexual harassment settlement.

He taught them a lesson alright. An expensive one. I hope they learn from history. I hope everyone does.

But on the brighter side, perhaps there is hope for other Arts and Sciences graduates.

When I was young, tobacco companies were allowed to advertise. TV commercials and magazine advertisements featured handsome men and sexy women sitting by cool, babbling streams, smoking a popular brand of cigarette, especially menthols. They were the coolest.

The Marlboro man was iconic. A handsome, quiet, grizzled cowboy riding his horse into the setting sun.

The ads made it look cool. Not the menthol kind. The kind that said of cool that said surely you want to look like this.

It worked. Generations of Americans lit up.

But it was a lie. And a lot of beautiful people died too young.

Sadly, it still works. The truth is the enemy. It can be covered up with something attractive. Or it can be buried.

About three years ago I wrote a post about shooting the messenger. The point of the post was that an old tactic was being used in the public discourse. Folks like Karl Rove had revived the Machiavellian-like tactic that if you kill the messenger, the truth he carries will never be seen nor heard. If the messenger is successfully assaulted, the truth will be trapped, undelivered, under his fallen body.

It's worked throughout history.

And now we are being taught the same history lesson . . . by a very pricey teacher.

.