We have had a really busy week! I have photos to post tomorrow!
This is a cynical political post. Stop reading if it will make you mad!
I encourage all peaceful disagreement and debate.
A) All week I have seen Democrat after Democrat on every news program under the sun explain that the Republicans are so weak policy-wise, that Bush has screwed up the economy and the housing market so badly (apparently now the Executive branch controls banks, housing lenders and the stock market with no influence from the heavily Democratic Congress) that McCain has to divert everyone's attention with meaningless drivel a la "lipstick on a pig." While Obama on the other hand, consistently takes the high road because he is so smart, sophisticated, organized, thoughtful, clean, well dressed, and ultimately better than you.
So check this out:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185304443/bctid1789003018
What is the point of this ad? Old people are stupid? John McCain is afraid of technology? What policy does this highlight and who does it target? To top it off, "John McCain doesn't understand the economy" is a complete misrepresentation of the comment they are quoting.
The longer these campaigns drag on, the more and more Obama is proving himself to be a politician just like all the rest. Standard tactics, standard maneuvers, standard campaign stuff. And regardless of what you think about Sarah Palin, she has energized the Republican ticket and it is actually possible that Obama could lose. This appears to have caught him off guard, and now he is scrambling with the standard negative ads like the one above. Come on Barack! I didn't think you were "like that."
Campaigns are campaigns and they always go negative, nobody likes it but that's the way of it. The real turnoff here is how Obama is able to use his free news media publicity to continue the deception that he is above the frey, which hasn't been true for many months now, and this ad is one small piece of proof.
B) The much ballyhooed Charlie Gibson interview of Sarah Palin has got to have the absolute worst editing I have ever seen on television. Kevin and I caught a preview online last night and it is completely horrible. The AV club at my high school is more professional than the people who assembled this piece. It seriously looks like something off the Daily Show, the edits are so bad it is comical.
I understand that ABC news has the aforementioned vested interest in choosing the questions where Palin stumbles, messes up, isn't clear, etc. And if she gives bad answers, she gives bad answers. But come on people, let her answers stand for themselves. There are parts of the interview where she is giving an answer, takes a breath, and they cut as she breathes. Like, as she is taking a breath to say more, they cut it as if she were finished. I would give anything to see the entire interview.
It definitely comes off more like an interrogation, seeming more like Charlie Gibson is putting her through the vice-presidential oral quals than a TV interview. I think he comes off as so smug, uppity, and clearly disgusted to have to sit down and listen to her speak that it actually makes her look better. Watch him look at her over the top of his glasses. Ick.
14 hours ago
2 comments:
I understand the point about the editing but not the questions. Was Gibson supposed to ask her easier ones? College freshmen can't get out of Intro to American Government without knowing what the Bush Doctrine is - is it not fair to expect someone who wants to be in the White House to know (and she clearly didn't until he explained it, smugness and all)? If you don't find that lack of basic knowledge terrifying, I don't know what to tell you.
This is Sprio Agnew all over again. Yes, one possibility is that the media are being mean to Sarah Palin because they're smug, biased, liberal America-haters. Another possibility is that media coverage exposes her dangerous lack of qualifications for the office. Maybe Obama and CBS and Bill Clinton and the Boogeyman aren't what makes her look bad. Maybe Sarah Palin opening her mouth makes Sarah Palin look bad. Maybe someone who can't answer a high school-level foreign policy question is bound to look bad when asked foreign policy questions.
As for Obama, I suppose his options are to sit there while he's ripped to shreds and lose the election or he can subject Sarah Palin to the same level of scrutiny he, and everyone he ever met, was subjected to during the primaries. Your theory appears to be that he should lose the election to prove a point. After the past 8 years, I suspect that he and his party have had enough of the high road and "moral victories."
PS: Since it makes you upset that the media carry Obama's water on the "above the fray" thing, which isn't true, I look forward to hearing about how angry it makes you that they have carried the "maverick" thing for McCain all year with zero scrutiny. That bothers you just as much, right?
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