Keller @ Large: Treat Us Like Grown Ups, Not Fools

BOSTON (CBS) - I have covered a lot of politics over the years, and while I'm rarely surprised anymore by anything I see, there is one thing that never ceases to amaze me – the contempt the political establishment so often displays for the intelligence of the public.

Tuesday night's Trump-fest was a good example, from both sides of the aisle.

During a riff on health care reform, the president said: "The way to make health insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance, and that is what we are going to do."

All this while he and his handlers knew full well that just a couple of days before the speech, a draft copy of the latest House GOP plan for an Obamacare replacement was leaked that by any reasonable reading would neither "make health insurance available to everyone" nor "lower the cost of health insurance."

In fact, the plan would send costs soaring for many of us. But they think we're too stupid to figure all this out, so, why not feed us the same diet they feed mushrooms?

But Trump's shell game was positively inspiring compared with the tired platitudes of the Democratic response delivered by former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear in front of stone-faced onlookers in a diner from which all food and signs of life had been removed.

Poor Beshear's speech bombed immediately, as he called himself both a "proud Democrat" and a "proud Republican" in the same sentence.

Gentlemen, ladies, please! Some of us may be a bit slow, but not most of us. Treat us like grown ups, and we might learn to respect you. Treat us like fools, and we never will.

Listen to Jon's commentary: