[CNN host Campbell] Brown says she operates on a case-by-case basis. “You’re never going to hear me say, ‘Well, I’ve been critical of Obama five times so now I need to be critical of McCain five times.’ That is a false equivalence, and that’s what I think is wrong with journalism.”
Amen.
The German Cabinet on Monday approved terms that banks will have to accept in order to benefit from its 500 billion euro ($675 billion) bailout plan — including a strict salary cap of 500,000 euros ($675,000) for top bank managers.
Those managers would also be obliged to forgo bonuses and dividend payments as long as their banks are indebted to the government.
Too bad the U.S. didn’t demand these terms.
My favorite conservative columnist thinks a dull Obama could be a good president, even great.
Not only he doesn’t have a plumber’s license and he owes back taxes, but he’d get a tax cut under Obama’s tax plan.
Speaking of taxes, when accused by McCain of trying to “spread the wealth around” to deride Obama’s tax plan, why doesn’t Obama say,
Sen. McCain, it was you and the rest of the Republican elite who have redistributed wealth from the middle class to your rich friends for the past eight years. Now, I understand you may have felt sorry for them because they only own four or five houses when the Bush tax redistribution plan was enacted. I’m only trying to level the playing field, to say where it was when your hero Ronald Reagan was president. So don’t tell me about redistributing wealth. That’s what you Republicans have been doing for eight years. Redistributing it from the middle class to the rich.
June Manuel, the mother of Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie, died this morning. The Phil’s skipper is managing his team in the second game of the National League Champion Series this evening.
What struck me about this brief story was a paragraph that speaks to the humanity of the games’ players. It would have happened around water coolers or work sites anywhere in this country. But with all the hate that has infused our political season and the fear of financial loss that threatens many, it’s welcome on a Friday afternoon to recognize our commonalities. If only politics were like baseball.
Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez, whom Manuel managed in Cleveland, was among the players and coaches who stopped to offer condolences. Dodgers manager Joe Torre put a hand on Manuel’s shoulder as the two chatted, and former Phillies closer Mitch Williams also dropped by behind the cage.
And if only there wasn’t mention of Mitch “Wild Man” Williams. He was the pitcher who gave up the winning home run to Joe Carter that cost the Phillies the 1993 World Series.
The hatred spewing at the McCain/Palin rallies is sinking to a frightening level.
“Terrorist!” one man screamed Monday at a New Mexico rally after McCain voiced the campaign’s new rhetorical staple aimed at raising doubts about the Illinois senator: “Who is the real Barack Obama?”
“He’s a damn liar!” yelled a woman Wednesday in Pennsylvania. “Get him. He’s bad for our country.”
At both stops, there were cries of, “Nobama,” picking up on a phrase that has appeared on yard signs, T-shirts and bumper stickers.
McCain, in his town hall meetings, is giving a platform to the rants. He could stop them, but he lets the hate come forth.
And Thursday, at a campaign town hall in Wisconsin, one Republican brought the crowd to its feet when he used his turn at the microphone to offer a soliloquy so impassioned it made the network news and earned extended play on Rush Limbaugh’s program.
“I’m mad; I’m really mad!” the voter bellowed. “And what’s going to surprise ya, is it’s not the economy — it’s the socialists taking over our country.”
After the crowd settled down he was back at it. “When you have an Obama, Pelosi and the rest of the hooligans up there gonna run this country, we gotta have our head examined!”
This is different from past elections — materially different.
Such contempt for Democrats is, of course, nothing new from conservative activists. But in 2000 and 2004, the Republican rank and file was more apt to ridicule Gore as a stiff fabulist or Kerry as an effete weather vane of a politician.
…Now, though, the emotion on display is unadulterated anger rather than mocking.
Activists outside rallies openly talk about Obama as a terrorist, citing his name and purported ties to Islam in the fashion of the viral e-mails that have rocketed around the Internet for over a year now.Some of this activity is finding its way into the events, too.
On Thursday, as one man in the audience asked a question about Obama’s associations, the crowd erupted in name-calling.
“Obama Osama!” one woman called out.
And twice this week, local officials have warmed up the crowd by railing against “Barack Hussein Obama.”
Some Republicans worry about this.
…The raw emotions worry some in the party who believe the broader swath of swing voters are far more focused on their dwindling retirement accounts than on Obama’s background and associations and will be turned off by footage of the McCain events.
John Weaver, McCain’s former top strategist, said top Republicans have a responsibility to temper this behavior.
“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Sen. Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Sen. McCain,” Weaver said. “And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.”
…“It’s time that you two are representing us, and we are mad,” reiterated the boisterous Republican at McCain’s town hall in Wisconsin Thursday. “So go get ’em!”
“I am begging you, sir, I am begging you — take it to him,” pleaded James T. Harris, a local talk radio host at the same event, earning an extended standing ovation.
“Yosemite Sam is having the law laid down to him today in Waukesha, Wis.,” quipped Limbaugh on his show Thursday, referring to the GOP nominee. “This guy, this audience member, is exactly right,” the conservative talk show host said of the first individual.
“You are running for president. You have a right to defend this country. You have a responsibility to defend this country and not just fulfill some dream you had eight years ago running for president against Bush. It’s time to start naming names and explain what’s actually going on, because, Sen. McCain, the people of this country are dead scared about what we face if you lose.”
No one I’ve read yet says the unthinkable, but they’re coming close. The author uses the word “lynching,” but what McCain is stoking is an assassination attempt against Obama.
You often hear from conservatives that the mainstream media are in the tank for Obama. I wonder how many conservatives are going to object to a startling admission by the New York Times.
[Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times] told Politico that the paper was motivated to report out the [former 60s radical William] Ayers link because the McCain campaign has been pushing it — not the other way around.
“We’ve reported the Ayers relationship before, and we had it on our ‘to do’ list for a while to take a more comprehensive look,” Keller said, in an e-mail. “When the McCain campaign began to make it a major focal point of ads and stump speeches, we decided the time was right.”
“It didn’t take any prodding,” Keller continued. “When the conversation on something controversial reaches a certain level, curious readers look to The Times to help them sort the facts from the fictions and figure out what to make of it. That’s what we did.”
In other words, because John McCain wanted to spread the story — one that has been reported many times since the connection between Obama and Ayers first surfaced — the Times obliged.
I’ll say this ’til I’m blue in the face: Demand the media cover a a story you want and they will oblige. They have relinquished any pretense of being a filter. They are simply a conduit for whatever campaigns want, if the story is salacious or likely to be controversial.
Let’s prepare for the in-depth story of whether evolution or creationism is the true science.
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John McCain’s go to girl on energy.
Some Democrats have criticize the Associated Press for being bias in favor of Sen John McCain. The focus of that criticism has been Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier after emails surfaced that he exchanged with Karl Rove.
But looking at their recent coverage, I must give the AP credit for a technique they are using that I first saw Politico executive editor Jim VandeHei use when he was with The Washington Post. That is, reporting a misleading statement but then immediately correcting the record. A perfect example is to contrast the way the two news organizations handled Cindy McCain’s charge that Obama voted against funding the troops.
The Post’s Mike Shear reports:
Cindy McCain led the way, accusing the Democrat of voting against funding U.S. troops in Iraq, which at one time included the McCains’ son.
“The day that Senator Obama decided to cast a vote to not fund my son when he was serving sent a cold chill through my body,” Cindy McCain told a crowd of several thousand supporters in Bethlehem, Pa. “I would suggest Senator Obama change shoes with me for just one day and see what it means to have a loved one serving in the armed services.”
The Obama campaign said McCain has distorted his vote, which was an attempt to force Bush to come up with a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq by setting a cutoff date.
The AP reports:
Also on Wednesday, Cindy McCain criticized Obama for voting against a bill to pay for the troops in Iraq.
“The day that Sen. Obama cast a vote not to fund my son when he was serving sent a cold chill through my body, let me tell you,” she told a Pennsylvania crowd before introducing the Arizona senator and his running mate Sarah Palin.
In fact, Obama consistently voted for Iraq troop financing [emphasis added] except on one occasion. In May 2007, he voted against a troop-funding bill because it did not also specify steps for a withdrawal.
And McCain has not always voted for money for the troops. On one troop-funding bill supported by Obama, McCain missed the vote and encouraged President Bush to veto it, because it did call for withdrawal.
I think it important that reporters point out clearly when there is a misleading characterization. In The Post’s case, it reported Obama’s response, a good thing, but it is more effective — and I think more objective and fair journalism — when the reporter states the facts and how one party or the other is misleading the public, especially when it is a case of hypocrisy.