Lessons Learned Hotlist
by Hunter
Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:10:13 AM PDT
Things I have learned during this campaign season:
In a race that includes a former First Lady of the United States and a multimillionaire Republican senator rumored to share up to eight residences with his wife, the black guy from Chicago is unforgivably elitist.
Racism in America is caused primarily by black Chicago preachers.
The guy who keeps getting confused over the relationship between Iraq, Iran, and al Qaeda is the foreign policy expert.
The guy who goes to campaign stops on his wife's private jet aircraft is the most down-to-earth.
The guy who changed his stance on tax cuts, Roe v. Wade, immigration, gun control, the confederate flag, torture, public financing, and his own anti-earmark rhetoric is the "straight talker".
People in the heartland don't like it when you call them bitter, but they do like it when you explain to them that they're too dumb to understand issues more important than whether or not they like to be called bitter.
Arugula is the measure of a man.
Bowling is the measure of a man.
Orange juice is the measure of a man.
Flag pins are the measure of a man.
Success in Iraq consists of any reduction in violence, except when violence increases that's good too.
A recession is only a recession if you call it one.
Bill Kristol, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Karl Rove, Maureen Dowd, David Brooks, David Broder, Charles Krauthammer and Bob Novak are all intensely interested in giving advice to the Democratic candidates because they just want to be helpful.
There are people in this world dumb enough to believe every one of these things.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Couldn't say it better myself
Again from Daily Kos:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
I'm still downhearted from that time George W. Bush stole the election.
There was a time when politics excited and inspired me.
That being said, Barack says everything I want to hear and I'm willing to hope. He has my vote.
What on earth can be done about the bizarre, Kafkaesque world that we call media? That is the question.
Loving all your Obama posts, Julie. I'm right there with ya!
It is reving up to be an interesting Obama-McCain battle. I wonder if they will ever get past the rhetoric?
Julie,
I love it when Barack says "silly season". Unfortunately, it probably makes him look like an "elitist". But, this campaign is once again showing me the American people are not as smart as we'd like to think they are. Barack was spot-on when he talked about bitterness in the heartland and people clinging to pet issues. The woman who recently asked him about the flag pin was married to a guy who lost his blue-collar job. Why does she care about a stupid flag pin? But, you can't say that to her or your an elitist.
The older I get, the more I realize why we keep getting these ridiculous leaders. We fall for the same old stuff over and over again. The fact that people are so distracted by Jeremiah Wright is a classic example of the American people being fooled by the old "look over here" trick.
Anyway... I continue to hope that this time things will be different.
p.s.- Bob, I think if we have any hope of getting past the rhetoric, it'll be McCain and Obama who do it. If it's Hillary and McCain, look out!
Following on Brian's comment...
Is it really the American people who are focusing on Jeremiah Wright or is it the media who is serving him up to us because he's "controversial?"
Where is the balance and professionalism of the media. Even NPR spent much of yesterday and the day before talking about Wright. I guess the Presidential candidates had a few days off?
I'd love to be directed to some serious news sources :)
One of my friends online said that the media has known from the get-go that Barack is ratings gold (when he was fabulous and awe-inspiring and now when he's on a razor's edge). The truth is, Hillary and McCain are just not compelling figures.
So anything that comes up around Barack will draw a media frenzy. That made some sense to me and also gave me some hope that perhaps Barack will survive it - they need him to!
I hate cable news. NPR... meh. Just not helpful right now.
Some day we'll look back at this era as the time of "opinion only" and wonder how we survived without real news.
Julie,
Many Barack supporters think the unfair dust-ups are a media conspiracy to take him down. With the possible exception of Fox News, I don' think this is true.
You're right. Barack is media gold. And, this Democratic Primary has drawn interest like no primary in history. The media doesn't want to let this die. If Hillary were running away with it (the way Barack probably would without the distractions), they do everything in their power to bring her back to him or him up to her.
I do think the media is intentionally bringing up silly subjects and keeping things like Reverend Wright in the picture to make it "interesting". But, I don't think they are trying to sabotage Barack's campaign.
Kimmy, we really can't blame the media. They dish out what the American people eat up. While we'd all like to think their job is to report the news, the reality is they see their jobs as making money. There are few true "journalists" left. I thought Bill Moyers' interview with Reverend Wright was excellent. But, a friend called it a "softball interview".
Saw Hillary tonight on O'Reilly (don't usually tune in but heard she was on and did) and thought that she held her ground pretty well.. she was pretty impressive.. seemed to be able to articulate and defend her views very well.
McCain is on next week. I wonder if Obama will take the invitation and talk to O'Reilly What do you all think he should do?.
There are two problems which are causing this.
1.) Most people don't bother to actually research or investigate the issues.
2.) The media will give more attention to whatever story stirs up controversy. But I must point out (to be fair) that Obama got a lot of positive media attention during his streak of 11 wins after Super Tuesday. In fact, it was to the point that there was criticism of the media for building him up too much. But as someone already said, Obama is more compelling.
It is ridiculous that no one is calling Clinton out on her pandering. She is not more in touch with the working class person. The gas tax holiday is a horrible idea.
And going on O'Reilly shouldn't be a big deal. He's not a journalist; he's a commentator. He might as hard questions, but usually he badgers the interviewee if they don't agree with him. Personally, I feel that O'Reilly is one of the biggest problems with news today. Especially if so many people are watching him.
Tough question, Bob. Fox News is a joke, IMO. So, there are some who say Barack should "boycott" Fox and not give them any appearance of credibility. OTOH, there may be two or three independents who watch Fox News that could be swayed.
There is so much "icky stuff" circulating about the candidates. I got this one in my email today and at first, I thought "What does this mean?" Then it hit me and I felt sick. This "funny" email was sent by a Christian and that makes me even sicker!
Susan
"There are less than eight months until the election , and election that will decide the next President of the United States .
The person elected will be the president of all Americans ,
not just the Democrats or the Republicans.
To show our solidarity as Americans , let's all get together and show each other our support for the candidate of our choice.
It's time that we all came together , Democrats and Republicans alike.
Here is the deal.
If you support the policies and character of John McCain,
please drive with your headlights on during the day.
If you support Obama or Hillary ,
please drive with your headlights off at night.
Wow that is so twisted! I'm appalled, Susan. What a ridiculous season this is.
Post a Comment