Politicians preening, and more bad news for Wal Mart.

There is one thing that we know about politicians, and it is that the only thing that they love more than themselves is a television camera.






You might have seen the parade of one of them after another scrambling to get in front of a camera to give their two cents about the Bowe Bergdhal prisoner release.








The sad part about the latest episode of poli-tricksters preening is that they failed to do due diligence as elected members of congress and get the necessary information needed to do their jobs.





Fortunately, this did not go unnoticed by some in the media.








"On Friday evening, Rachel Maddow tore into several Republican lawmakers who skipped private briefings on the Bowe Bergdahl swap to hold press conferences or make TV appearances lamenting the lack of information on the administration’s actions.

Maddow noted that on Wednesday, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) left a private Senate briefing on Bergdahl early to hold a press conference demanding more information. “I learned nothing in this briefing,” he told reporters.

“The one he left in the middle of,” Maddow mocked on Friday. She noted that this isn’t the first time the former GOP presidential nominee skipped a briefing to make public appearances. In November 2012, he ditched a Benghazi briefing to hold a presser demanding more information on the Benghazi attacks. When challenged by CNN, the senator aggressively defended his right to hold conference.


“It is so much more fun to demand information than to actually receive it,” Maddow said on her show. “Receiving it is boring and it takes forever and it’s totally not like just going on Fox News and complaining.”


She also noted that Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) skipped out on the Bergdahl briefing this week to go on Fox’s On the Record with Greta Van Susteren to complain that the White House hasn’t provided sufficient information to Congress about the Bergdahl swap.


“While he was doing that interview, the administration was conducting a classified briefing for all United States senators to explain those exact things,” Maddow added.


Not attending or leaving early from briefings and then complaining to the press, she said, “is a new and increasingly common form of political lying [...] Getting away with this lie depends upon us being ignorant and easily led about what’s actually going on in that big, boring, catty high school that is Congress.”
She concluded: “If you’re skipping the briefing to complain that there’s no briefing, we’re not laughing with you, congressmen, we’re laughing at you.” [Source]




Ms. Maddow and like minded people might be laughing at them, but unfortunately that represents the minority view in this country.






Finally, this hasn't been a good year for Wal-Mart. The Arkansas company has been having somewhat of an image problem of late. Even though they have been down this road before, (on pun intended) it seems that this time it might be a little different.







Again the problem is primarily because of how they pay their workers, and the way they drive down the wages in this country while supplying their shoppers with cheap foreign produced goods that have been causing us to lose jobs here at home.








Then, just over the weekend, a Wal-Mart tractor trailer slammed into a limo van on the New Jersey Turnpike killing one person and critically wounding others.


This story would barely make the news and wouldn't be such a big deal to Wal-Mart, except that one of the people who were critically injured is a very famous  comedian. Now the news of the accident and the circumstances surrounding it is everywhere, and unfortunately for them, Wal-Mart is in full damage control mode.









"Wal-Mart CEO Bill Simon issued a statement Saturday, saying that he was praying for the family and friends of everyone involved in the crash.

“We are working quickly to understand what happened and are cooperating fully with law enforcement to aid their investigation,” Simon said. “The facts are continuing to unfold. If it's determined that our truck caused the accident, Walmart will take full responsibility.”








Cha ching.










Still, to Wal-Mart, it's only money. There is a lot more where that came from.






*Pics from Capitol Report New Mexico and Slavery in the 21st Century.