If you follow politics, is seems that whenever you turn around, you are confronted by an instance of Republican hypocrisy.
In the midst of the scandals and issues concerning Sarah Palin and her family and pregnant daughter, John McCain is quoted by the Wall street Journal as saying:
–“This is a very personal matter for the family. We should all respect the love they have for the child and the desire all parents would have for their children’s privacy.”
–“The media should respect Bristol’s privacy. That’s always been the tradition and practice when it comes to the children of candidates.” . . .
–“The children of candidates do not choose to run for office and be thrust into the spotlight.”
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That is a noble sentiment, one with which Barack Obama agrees. If only McCain had been consistent when the family in question belonged to an incumbent from the party opposite.
I rediscovered this snippet from a John McCain speech during a Republican Dinner in June 1998 published in the June 25, 1998 version of Salon:
"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."
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You can make an argument that discussing a teen's pregnancy in the context of whether abstinence only policies work is a legitimate question and issue. What legitimate issue is being discussed in McCain's above attack on Chelsea?
This is one of the things that makes being a Democrat so difficult. Do you dive into the muck and allow yourself to use the same disgusting methods the Republicans use to make political points and win elections, or do you let them get away with their tactics and lose? Perhaps, some will say, this question is a false dilemma. Perhaps by not employing those tactics, you can win. I'm not convinced and I would cite the Swiftboat veterans for lies in 2004 as my proof.
McCain's stated beliefs and positions are rife with reversals, flip flops, and doing and saying anything just to get elected. McCain really wanted to have Lieberman as his Vice President, but settled for a lightweight to appease his base. McCain really is pro amnesty for illegal aliens, but his party made it clear he would not win the nomination if he stuck with his principles so he gave up on them. He was involved in the Keating Five scandal, so to try to salvage his reputation, he called up Democratic Senator Russ Feingold to create campaign finance reform legislation. He attacked a teenaged Chelsea Clinton but cries foul about Sarah Palin's children being the subject of a debate.
This is the way of John McCain and the Republican Party. I wonder how many people remember the "Compassionate Conservative" slogan of the Bush 2000 campaign? None of these Republican slogans mean anything. McCain is now talking about change and putting people & the country first. Again, it means as little as his current statement that he doesnt believe in involving the children of candidates or politicians. McCain's only value is saying what he needs to win. We don't need another guy like that in the White House.
Steven Leser specializes in Politics, Science & Health, and Entertainment topics. He has held positions within the Democratic Party including District Chair and Public Relations Chair within county organizations.
Steven Leser writes for www.opednews.com, an internet only media site that has grown to become one of the highest traffic news sites in America, reaching more traffic, according to alexa.com, than all but the thirty largest daily newspapers in the US. Mr. Leser is one of the 500+ liberal pundits who, each month, are published in what has become one of the top five Liberal/progressive media sites in the US.
What can we do to expose all of this hypocrisy?!!! I'm sick of it! Now, the Muslim community would like Barack to approach them, and talk to them. Clearly a political move he made due to the the accusation that he is a musilm. Now, if McCain takes advantage of this opportunity towards the Muslim community, what do you think he will say about Barack? Barack didn't reach out to the Muslim Community, but I will........blah blah,,,,more diabolical hypocrisy. Sorry for the ran!
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Linda Bailey (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 52 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 7:54:18 AM
Comment from Ratings: Everything He, Mr. McCain says$, or The "American" Governor, Gov. Sarah PALIN says, almost every single sentence, seems to be a S$hameless$ lie!
(* This "American" "Patriot"{?!} Governor, PALIN, who was a vocal supporter of the SECESSIONIST, "Alaska Independent Party," for years, alongside her husband, TODD Palin, who was a member of the Alaska Indy Party right up into 2002, and "American" Governor Sarah, even gave the WARM, opening Welcome speech for 2008 for the Alaska Independent party's 2008 CONVENTION! Audio of this is available on the mike Malloy show and randi Rhodes showS, from last week[check Malloy show's podcasts from say, thursday and Friday night of this just past week, Sept. 4th and 5th, and randi's show from last week, at NOVA M Radio, at: www.NOVAMRADIO.com ], during the repubS$ "Convention," of HATE and REPRESS$ION.
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Brian O'Moore (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 43 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 9:38:53 AM
Now that you brought this up I completely remember this whole controversy! There is a wealth of information on video and on record of McCain's flip-flops. These should be playing on the air non-stop by all parties interested in defeating the McBush/Palin ticket.
It's time to play hardball here. Though - Obama certainly has his own flip-flop controversy - look at his O'Reilly interview lauding the "surge".
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Cheryl Abraham (13 articles, 2 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 206 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 10:44:33 AM
Don't forget McCain also flipflopped on the torture legislation (for the election).
I'd also point out that Giuliani's daughter's views should be fair game because she herself posted online that she was an Obama supporter (reported by CBS News). The page soon disappeared without explanation, but I think I know what happened. Cheers to the young Miss Giuliani for siding with the young people of America who will be repaying the federal debt. She could have stayed quiet and inherited Giuliani's defense/security consulting money.
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Gustav Wynn (67 articles, 44 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 309 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 11:36:08 AM
“…Another mcain joke, reported in the Tucson Citizen, an Arizona paper, :
"Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, 'Where is that marvelous ape?'"
..such a lying hypocrite, says he's a devout christian, blah blah blah!
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Jacquie Bockius (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 11:55:18 AM
while McCain-Palin campaign complains about the "mean liberal media".
BooHoo! The morning talk shows had so many GOP liars on today. And the so-called reporters who interview them, never call them on any of the lies. Kay Bailey Hutchison was a disgrace on Wolf Blitzer.
Meanwhile Sarah Palin is hiding from the media, just giving carefully crafted speeches, taking no questions, in rural towns.
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withliberty (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 12:08:15 PM
WHY is the media, somewhere, not covering this sick "joke"? For the love of god, doesn't this tell us what McCain is reallly about?? It's sick and disgusting, where is the media on this??????
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Linda Bailey (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 52 comments)
on Monday, September 8, 2008 at 5:02:34 AM
Pretty tasteless joke by McCain that I'm sure he regrets, but it's hardly comparable to the current situation.
1) It was a JOKE, and not meant for worldwide consumption. Anyone who says they don't make despicable jokes about someone's looks within closed circles is simply lying. Meanwhile, liberal bloggers and even some regular media guys have made serious, offensive allegations, on the Internet and TV for the entire world to see, questioning Palin's motherhood/parental skills and even whether she was really the mother.
2) Meanwhile, Bill Clinton's "joke", on national television about Rush Limbaugh: "Did you like the way he took up for Janet Reno the other night on his program? He only did it because she was attacked by a black guy." He called him a racist, which he's not, with the clear intention of really tarring him as one. (as proof, he subsequently tried to blame him for the Oklahoma City bombing) I'm sure it hurts to be called ugly by a Senator, and BTW she'd never have known about it if not for liberal media gossipers, but it hardly compares to being called a racist by the President of the United States in full view of the nation.
The huge difference is that one party is deliberately and publicly setting out to plant offensive, negative and in many cases false messages about someone or someone's family, and the other made a tasteless but PRIVATE joke about someone's looks.
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Alan Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 723 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 1:20:18 PM
The claims of "the liberal media" is really really really getting old.
Who owns the majority of the media outlets in this country?
Right wing interests do. They've practically monopolozed it...
All but those damned "liberal bloggers"!
Those "liberal bloggers" may be your only hope of saving this country by getting out the news that the so-called "liberal media" buries and just doesn't think anyone should know.
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C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 732 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 4:46:16 PM
Throughout the primary, I kept waiting for the MSM to start really asking the tough questions of Obama. They didn't then, nor are they doing it now. McCain is being handled very gently, also. Perhaps, the MSM is going to make sure they are on everyone's side. Regardless, the fact remains that BOTH McCain and Obama are flip-flopping on their positions to try to win over one group or another, to try to sway the voters for their vote. I have never voted for the G(reedy)O(bstructionist)P(ricks) at the national level, and I am not defending them now. I see that Obama is taking a page from the repugs play book, and I don't approve. I don't approve of Obama anyway, but I think even less of him acting so righteous toward McCain when he is applying the same tactics. This year, for the first time in 10 presidential elections, my vote won't be democratic.
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Kellis R. Solomon (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 85 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 2:16:55 PM
I am looking for a reference to the Clinton-Reno joke by McCain in any place other than a leftwing 'news' outlet. With the entire text. ABC, CBS, PBS, etc would do. The joke is really old. I have heard it repeated 1000 times. Chelsea did not deserve it. Reno didn't either.
Please note that Sentor Obama has said that Palin's family is off limits. Apparently a lot of people did not get the memo. They are continuing non stop attacks that are mostly untrue or just pure spectulation. Common decency should rule as Senator Obama said but he has no control over his attack dogs. Sad
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Mad Jayhawk (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 418 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 6:48:42 PM
I'm not trying to make excuses for McCain, or say that other private comments haven't been exploited, I'm simply pointing out that citing a tasteless joke made in private is hardly on par with making deadly serious world-wide false smears. And in the case of Clinton, making a deadly serious smear disguised as a joke. I have nothing against liberal bloggers doing research, in fact, it was conservative bloggers that exposed Dan Rather's fake documents about GWB's NG service.
But if either chooses to blow their credibility by taking silly stuff seriously, they'll be judged accordingly. That's what has happened to a significant degree regarding Palin, just as some on the other side lost credibility trying to make Obama out to be a Muslim.
We all know that in our society ugly jokes are relatively benign compared to those involving race. That would be a completely different thing, but making private racial slurs still wouldn't be applicable in terms of looking for justifications for haphazardly making false public smears against someone and/or their family. The proper comparison would be those brought by the Swiftvets and their fans. Both serious, public accusations.
We all make jokes about looks and race in our private circles. Most are not done out of hatred or bigotry, but just to be silly and get laughs. That's a completely different realm than the kind of non-humorous attempts at personal destruction going on regarding Palin.
And no, it doesn't matter who owns the media, any more than your landlord being a right-wing extremist means you have to be. The editors and reporters have control over the content, and survey after survey, study after study, poll after poll confirms that they're almost all Democrats, and that their work reflects that, at least so far as they can get away with.
It's just that you're expecting a "liberal media" to be aligned with Dennis Kuscinich, or some such. A more accurate description would actually be the "partisan media".
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Alan Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 723 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 8:16:37 PM
"exposed Dan Rather's fake documents about GWB's NG service."
Sorry, I can't let this falsehood stand unchallenged. Dan Rather stated the provenance of the documents. Karl Rove paid an "expert" to say they were faked because typewriters at that time couldn't type that kind of script. The IBM Selectric that was introduced in 1961 was in fact quite capable of typing that kind of script. He also dug up a Republican operative who was the only person on that base in Alabama who would swear that Bush reported to duty and another guy who knew the author of the document who said "Gee, I don't think he would have written something like that". No one ever has proven the source of the documents came from any place other than where they were said to have originated. You make an accusation of fraud, the burden of prove is on you.
The one document that could have settled the controversy once and for all was Bush's pay records that he could have easily produced. He chose not to and since this IS George Bush we are talking about, I think it is best to assume that he did not report to duty like he was supposed to and the pay records reflected that. I think there is a more compelling case to made that he didn't perform his military service than that he did. You may be the only person in the US who believes that Bush completed his military service.
The press turned on Dan Rather instead of pressuring Bush to resolve the controversy once and for all. Gov. Palin is quite capable of doing the same right now. All I am hearing is how unfair it is that anyone should even ask the question. If you like doing things like that, perhaps you would prefer a monarchy.
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vidiot (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 247 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 9:00:21 PM
Save your time, vidiot, you're talking to a throwaway troll
whatever tripe comes under that name, let it slime and rot. Everyone's got it spotted, so skip over whatever it says, it's simply nonsense to waste your time reading or reacting.
'He' is a d.f.
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meremark (1 articles, 3 quicklinks, 26 diaries, 507 comments)
on Monday, September 8, 2008 at 12:23:14 AM
“We all make jokes about looks and race in our private circles.”
IDON’T.
I do, however, hold elected officials to a higher standard and expect them to represent their constituents accordingly in ALL of their words –especially when comments are very likely to be scrutinized in public at some point or another.It is my experience that you can tell a lot about a person when they think you are “in on their joke”, “will keep this between us”, or the remark in question will be “off the record”… wink, wink.
I find it repulsive and without worth-while defense.
Right-wingers seem to have a serious problem with making off-color, prejudiced, tasteless, cruel, and offensive comments during their “mic time” at so called “private dinners/fund-raisers”.Perhaps they consider everyone there “in on the joke” to the extent that they are comfortable to keep making such stupid statements –otherwise, I really don’t know why they’d do it.Maybe they are so used to hearing similar disregard by most of the well known right-wing pundits on talk radio and television…At any rate, I could make the conclusion that the applause they receive after these kinds of remarks are representative of their constituents’ views for the most part, but I’ll just say two and two –as you are perfectly able to work out your own thoughts about it, considering you think we ALL make those kinds of jokes.
Now, as regards to your comments about the ownership of media outlets not having an effect on the news, information, topics, and viewpoint they use… that’s absolute BULLSHIT.I know plenty of writers and editors who could easily prove you wrong there.Come to think of it, ask Don Williams here at OEN about his years of employment at the Knoxville News Sentinel.I’m sure he’ll give you considerably more insight about the inner workings than you’d care to admit you were wrong about.Hell, even Katie Couric has admitted you report what the corporate big wigs tell you to report and you report it the way they want you to report it.
Ownership of the media matters a great deal.When you control information –you can manipulate public opinion easily…or are you the only person in America unaware that the neocons carefully put into plan their bid to buy up the media outlets a long time ago?
They’ve been more than moderately successful.
There is no “liberal media”.
The media we do have pushes the conservative agenda nearly exclusively and has done so for many years despite your belief in objective representation at the least. If you wanna call it “partisan” –yeah, it’s right-wing partisan.
If there were any truth to the “liberal media” or “left-wing partisan” claims about the media, there would have been absolutely no second term for Bush Jr.!!!
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C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 732 comments)
on Monday, September 8, 2008 at 10:46:50 AM
I posted this McSame's comment on the comment section last week and posted (C&P) Michael Moore's letter that stated this.
Two words about republicans: Double standards. Two more words about republicans: Forgetful memory
This just in but no proof of it yet. Palin was over heard in an Alaskan restaurant saying: "So Sambo beat the Bitch".(PBA Politics) This was after Obama won the primary with Hillary. Recall McSame laughed when a constituent of his called Hillary "that bitch"(and yet Hill supporters are voting for Mac?????) . I kind of think that those Hill supporters are really repub operation chaos ppl. How could they completely flipflop to Prolifers from Prochoicers? Sounds iffy to me...big IF.
Palin is a real authoritarian type theocrat. With her at the wheel, women will lose the right to vote. Gawd, her skeeeechy voice drives me nuts...finger nails on a chalk board if there ever was one. WHAHAHA.
I say being mousey and polite never got us anywhere since 2000, so it's time to fight fire with fire.
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shirley reese (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 398 comments)
on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 8:38:03 PM
