Here are ten random thoughts on this depressing campaign that I have not see discussed much in the media.
1. Advice on McCain: stay focused on the economy; on socialism; on the effort to redistribute income by taxing some at rates (aggregate federal, state, payroll, and Medicare taxes) at 65% while half the taxpayers are to be excused from federal income taxes. Reiterate Obama’s own past support for redistribution and spreading the wealth, and why such a worldview is the touchstone that explains all the creepy associations from Chicago, the boards and foundations, and the church. What they all have in common is a belief that the United States is an unjust country and that a powerful state must intervene to take from some to give to others in a way that transcends the progressive income tax. That was the theme of Rev. Wright’s sermons on the evil on black middle-classness that won him a 10,000 sq. ft mansion and the subtext of Dreams From My Father and Audacity of Hope that likewise earned the Obamas a stately mansion. Socialism pays!
2. Throughout this campaign one has wondered why McCain did not rhetorically offer up scenarios in which he asked what would have been the media reaction had he had friends like Ayers, Khalidi, Wright, or Pfleger?
He did that yesterday in connection to Khalidi, not elegantly, but nonetheless in a way that made one think that the media would have gone ballistic—e.g., envision McCain going to a dinner honoring some right-wing anti-Semitic activist, who was an associate of Yasser Arafat, damning the United States and Israel? And imagine as well an associate of McCain, who was a former abortion clinic bomber, emailing and phoning the senator until 2005? And imagine McCain sitting in a church for twenty years, as his white racist pastor deplored the growing multiracial nature of the United States, and McCain fending off charges that he could not remember such sermons—despite being married in the church, having his children baptized there, and using such a pastor’s clichés for the title of his book—and assuring the Chicago Sun-Times that he attended services promptly at 11 AM each Sunday.
3. The real issue of the campaign: The $600 million that Obama amassed and abject rejection of public campaign financing. There are three problems: (1) the breaking of one’s word; (2) the creation of such a vast treasure chest; (3) and the complete destruction of the principle of public financing. Never again, will one on the Left make the credible argument either that there is a poisonous nexus between big money and big politics, or that the government should step in to ensure that special interests do not exercise an inordinate influence. So Obama essentially destroyed the idea of public campaign financing of national elections. It’s dead, kaput—over with for good. And the media simply skipped that latter story. (Again, imagine the media’s reaction should McCain have flipped on the issue, rejected public financing, raised a $600 million war-chest, outspent Obama 4-1, and now was airing 30-minute infomercials unanswered by the poorer, and public financed Obama.)
4. What I was most surprised at watching the clips of Wright and Pfleger these past months was not their extremist rhetoric, but the standing ovation given to both as they voiced truly racist and venomous sentiments. Wasn’t that the more disturbing development—that these firebrands voiced such hatred to obvious sympathetic audiences who stood up and roared their approval of the hateful diatribes? Scary.
5. While listening to the 2001 Chicago Public Radio interview with Barack Obama I was at once struck with the strange feeling, “Who is this?”
By that I mean the accent and cadence were not those of the Obama I have heard the last six months. He sounded just a few years ago like a normal nerdy Harvard Law School lawyer. Has he, as he wrote in his memoirs, so embraced the cadences, accent, and dropping the g’s of Rev. Wright that his past voice is not almost unrecognizable in comparison to how he presently speaks?
I think the metamorphosis transcends the differences between the genres of the interview and the stump speech; at least I noticed no such wide variance with other candidates. The same old question: who really is Barack Obama?
6. Such a strange campaign: former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell had much more positive things to say about the now convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens than he did a week earlier about presidential candidate John McCain.
7. The most outrageous statement that arose during the campaign? This “snippet” from Obama:
“…just to take a, sort of a realist perspective…there’s a lot of change going on outside of the Court, um, that, that judges essentially have to take judicial notice of. I mean you’ve got World War II, you’ve got uh, uh, uh, the doctrines of Nazism, that, that we are fighting against, that start looking uncomfortably similar to what we have going on, back here at home.”
National socialism led to the industrialized murder of 6 million innocents, and began a war that took 50 million lives and destroyed Western Europe. At the time of the war, a democratic United States was fighting to preserve democracy when it had been destroyed in all of Europe, while struggling at home with racial segregation in the South and discrimination elsewhere.
The Civil Rights movement that began in the 1940s and ended in the 1960s and 1970s with equal rights for all citizens in the southern United States is in no way an argument that America was analogous to Nazi Germany. As we survey the world today, we see slavery in the Sudan, religious oppression in much of the Arab world (as well indentured servitude), tribal hatred among Muslim sects, genocide in many countries of Africa—but nothing quite like the death camps of Nazi Germany. Again, this is the same old Obama evocation of “tragic”, an adjective he frequently uses in connection with the history of the United States, and the inability of courts to legislate by fiat a redistribution of resources and an equality of result.
8. Greatest farce of the campaign? The good old McCain, bad new McCain nonsense. We know now that the media in 2000 liked McCain only because he worked with Democrats, opposed the hated and more conservative George Bush, and was going to lose. In 2008 they demonized him, despite his continued bipartisanship, and his frequent opposition to George Bush—solely because he became the last obstacle in the way of the ascension of the anointed Barack Obama.
9. I don’t think after this campaign anyone, of either party, can ever again read the New York Times, watch NBC, or browse Newsweek and not know that these are simply op-ed venues, opinion journalism rather than objective news sources. They ensured that we knew about every Palin pregnancy and change of clothing, and almost nothing why Joe Biden was under wraps, isolated from the press, forbidden to wander from the teleprompter—and still continued to say the most astounding things. We are about to elect Barack Obama and yet have no idea what he really feels about FISA, NAFTA, nuclear power, oil drilling, coal use, Iraq, Iran, Jerusalem, campaign finance reform and a host of other issues. And the media completely failed to explain why exactly there is always a new Ayers, Khalidi, Pfleger, or Wright quote. Why not just one such odious figure in one’s past rather than so many? And why always a “I was only 8 years old”, “Not the (fill in the blanks) I used to know”, “Just a casual neighborhood acquaintance”, etc.
10. Why can’t just once Barack Obama speak out and say something like, “Come on, guys, please cool it. No more photoshopping of Sen. McCain’s portrait with feces on his face; no more allegations that Mrs. Palin did not deliver her own child; no more Sarah Palin effigies in a noose; no more outbursts from comedians about raping Sarah Palin; no more supporters like Congressman Lewis comparing McCain to George Wallace; no more zealots tapping into Palin’s email”?
Given his vaunted “there are no red/blue states”, he really could play Zeus on Olympus. I can’t remember a campaign in which a candidate preached ad nauseam about the sleazy tactics of an opponent while his supporters waged a vicious attack designed to smear opponents and provide a deniability of culpability for the candidate. The Bushes and Clintons waged tough campaigns, but none of them had pretensions that they did not, or were so successful in distancing themselves from footsoldiers who waged a quite different war.
Postscript: McCain’s problem is no longer Obama (the hope and change hypnotic fit is wearing off, as the reality of the radical Chicago activist begins to replace it), but time. McCain’s campaign is starting to hit stride, but there are five full days left, not five weeks. The public is acclimatized now to Wall Street frenzy, pleased with falling gas prices, a stronger dollar, and the quiet in Iraq (four times fewer Americans were lost in Iraq in October than were murdered over the same time in the single city of Chicago), and not sure that Obama’s European solutions are the antidote to the Bush years or the present growing economic uncertainty–and not sure still they have any idea who Obama is or what he intends.
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49 Comments
1. cfbleachers:1. Talking about the worldview and the signs that he shares it, not that he didn’t know about it…is key. Talking about taxes is fine, but in the context of the coming Audrey II Economics. The beast doesn’t just stop at one drop of blood, it will scream “feed me” for 4 years and only the definition of “rich” will change, down to $42,000 before it’s over.
2.Envision such a dinner indeed. The naked double standard by the entrenched media in this country gets a mild rebuke and a “gee, the sure do act differently toward leftist Democrats”…I find it, frankly astonishing. How anyone with a conscience is not outraged at how our information stream has become diseased and corrupted, is more troubling than the pernicious disease itself. It’s as if we can’t feel the depth of the depravity of it.
We have only two major parties in this nation. At best, at any given moment in time, less than 50% of the population is truly behind either of them. And that means, that the vast majority of this country is having their voice strangled by a diseased, corrupt, malevolent force…and we respond by saying “my stars and little garters…just imagine how they would respond if “we” did something like that”. Where is the moral outrage? Where is the demand to take back truth? How can we self-govern on a pack of lies?
If there is a double standard, there is no standard. A half truth, is a whole lie. If we set a precedent for responding to the intentional bastardization of truth with a bemused grin and a shake of the head, as each passing day the brazen and naked lies sink deeper and deeper, beneath contempt…is there a point at which we demand that enough is enough?
3)The most stark and glaring omission in the financing mess…is again the brazen thumbing of the nose against the laws of our land. When you don’t believe in our laws, when the Constitution is merely a suggestion, when the dangers of foreign influence are laughed at, when you intentionally turn off the credit card verification in order to cheat the system…all the lofty speeches and flowery words wilt under the intense light of integrity. Again, what is so disheartening is that nobody cares.
Integrity and honor are for chumps. The truth is a thing to be trifled with and trampled. If foreign operatives are bundling monies to pay for commercials…who cares? If the amounts that can be legally proffered are circumvented with active participation by the campaign…who is going to have the power to punish after the election is stolen? Don’t make them laugh…your laws don’t mean a thing. If a little thing like your Constitution is but a toy in their hands…your campaign finance laws are a joke to be laughed at and trampled. You are a joke, if you think you can stop them. Your laws are a joke. Your flag is a joke. Your Constitution is a joke. Welcome to a moment in William Ayers brain.
4)Scarier still…nobody cares. Imagine that hatred and venom being taught to schoolchildren. Indoctrination into a worldview in which this country is slandered on a daily basis, under the guise and funding of a group intent on bringing on the revolution. Wright, Pfleger, Farrakhan, Khalidi, the late Edward Said, Klonsky, Khalid al Mansour, Ayers, Dohrn, Frank Marshall Davis, radical professors at Columbia, Carl Davidson, the New Party, …what three things do they all have in common?
A venomous hatred of this country and middle America is the first. A bubbling current of hatred of Israel and the Jewish people is the second.
8)The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Problem is, the entrenched media doesn’t comprehend journalistic ethics in an open society. They aren’t supposed to have enemies based solely on political affiliation. Especially in a two party system. By doing so, in a naked, brazen and notorious fashion…they intend to make us a one party system. And if we are a one party system and the near entirety of the entrenched information stream champions that party and only that party…they have devised of themselves and this nation…a de facto state run media.
Please tell me that I’m not the only one that sees the seething peril in this.
How can we self-govern this land of ours…if our information stream acts as an operative instead of a sentry for truth? We have been sold out, no matter what your political persuasion. It would be just as horrifying if the shoe was on the other foot…and yes, we should be protesting just as vigorously.
An objective and impartial press is the only pathway to a free society. When that information stream is corrupted and openly unethical…we are no longer free.
When one party encourages and comes to expect favoritism and a cheating of the truth, and they get it, we are no longer free.
When documents are forged, when evidence is hidden, when half-truths and whole lies are intentionally woven, when fauxtography paints a false picture, when magazine covers are intentionally photoshopped, when tapes are withheld, when wars with our enemies celebrate losses instead of victories, when the truth is shrouded…we are no longer free.
While we are imagining what the reaction would be if a Republican did this or the Democrat had done that…imagine what it would be like, if honor and integrity was restored to our information stream. Imagine that anyone cared. Imagine a media that wasn’t scoffing right now at your puny little concerns about truth, honor and integrity. Imagine an information stream with ethics and a conscience.
Can you imagine it? Me neither. I couldn’t find a paper to read, a movie to watch, a university to attend or a station to turn on.
In the final analysis…nothing in this election matters as much as this. The truth has been raped, and we bore witness with our hands in our pockets and tsk-tsk’ed. Shame on them. Shame on us for not insisting this conspiracy end now.
Oct 30, 2008 - 2:28 am 2. RJ:If we step back from these candidates and look at those who swoon over them we then might ask why of these people? I prefer Palin and McCain over Obama and Biden, and in that order.
I like the way she approaches problems, the attitude, the can do spirit. With Obama, I must first accept how bad a sinner I am…McCain and his “honor” muted this reality and may have cost him a new job.
Does McCain really want this new job? Or is he just playing out the PTSD game of “living for the rush” as noted by how excited he now is, being again “the underdog” in the campaign?
MacDaddy Pimp wanna be Obama sends real thrills up the legs of Ayers and Dorn, Wright, and all those other bros of his.
My my, don’t those people in Chicago and Illinois feel great having the rest of America look at how they politic? Durbin has reached his temple, now for the statue!
I wonder what Alan Keyes learned as he tried to beat Obama, and if anyone ever asked him where he made his errors?
Yet why do Americans run to Obama? Why did Germans run to Hitler, Italians to Mussolini? Romans to Augustus? French to Napoleon? Sounds a lot like church to me.
Remember that white feather that flew out of the book in the last scene with Forrest Gump? What rode on that feather in the minds, the hearts of those who saw this movie?
Run Forrest run…run Obama run!
Snake oil salesman, that’s who Obama really is! As Burt Lancaster said in one of his movies: “He’s a wind talker son!”
Like mom said: “You made your bed, now lie in it!”
It’s time to see the shrink. Time to get a reality check.
Oct 30, 2008 - 4:22 am 3. DougW:Truth has been the primary victim in this election and the America we once had is gone but I have hope to see it again. I’ll never again believe what America’s media publishes without supporting evidence from several different sources outside of the media.
Also, I doubt what the polls are saying because I do not know whether the polls reflect reality or instead reflect a desired result. There is some much fluff in the poll numbers. Whether Obama wins or McCain wins, we’ve lost much this year. However, if Obama wins in fact then hope we can survive 4 years of Obama’s reign. Yet, if Obama’s plans for a Civilian National Security Force are realized, then even those slim hopes are lost.
Oct 30, 2008 - 5:36 am 4. David Thomson:we can be fairly confident that Barack Obama, if he wins, will be very unpopular even before he is innaugurated. The politically correct John McCain was inhibited by fears of being charged with racism. He waited far too long before ceasing to behave so foolishly. Many middle of the road voters are regretfully discounting McCain’s current legitimate criticisms as an example of desperation tactics. They are only now starting to think about the accusations—and will not be able to fully digest them any earlier than the beginning of December. In other words, roughly a month after Election Day!
Oct 30, 2008 - 5:58 am 5. Gabe:I completely agree. Everything points to an Obama win for certain. But I can’t help but wonder if things will be worse if McCain wins.
No, not from a policy perspective. I support conservative policies and small government. But I might wonder at what the media would do to a McCain presidency. If they have done this to his candidacy, how horrifying would they be to him in the Oval Office?
Would we see a ’scandal’ produced at every slip of the tongue? Would there be an expose on his medical records – leaked for the greater public good of course? Would any foreign policy move he make be demonized as war mongering or, worse, unstable according to his P.O.W. experience?
I think the media was better to George W. Bush’s presidency than they have been to John McCain’s candidacy. And I believe that if they were truly in the grip of death throes given the changes in America media consumption, we could see things that make their current actions look pure and holy.
Imagine the outright lies, the obfuscation and the total intelligence disconnection that could occur. Imagine a media that became a true opposition party with a massive public microphone.
My point, long though it might be, is that we would experience a long and rattling death from the media and that they could truly cause damage to this country and its leaders as they went.
Oct 30, 2008 - 6:17 am 6. edward devere:I thought the Nazis murdered more like 12 million, 6 million of whom were Jews.
Oct 30, 2008 - 6:54 am 7. George Best:This campaign is a perfect example of liberal philosophy. Obama wants to spread the wealth and take money from people but when it comes to being a politician, he is a pure capitalist.
Since he clearly raises more money then McCain, why shouldnt he have to give some of that money to McCain so he can have an infomercial?
By the way, I am a business owner who employs about 20 people. When Obama is elected and my taxes go up, I will have to lay off some employees. I love them all, but it was easy to decide as the ones with Obama stickers on their car will be the first to go.
Spread the Wealth.
Oct 30, 2008 - 7:00 am 8. Ron Kean:It’s frustrating.
Oct 30, 2008 - 7:23 am 9. Nick B:I can’t believe that all the polls are wrong. But still, why so many “undecided” voters?
I think there’s a 20% chance of a McCain upset.
Oct 30, 2008 - 7:59 am 10. Skeffington:It would appear that no candidate in future ought to be forthcoming about their health, background and education, given the present double standard. The MSM/press will continue try to hold non-Democrats to full disclosure — or just dig relentlessly — but this is where such candidates must be resolved.
Oct 30, 2008 - 8:45 am 11. RJ:George Best:
Fire those who wore the Obama sign…you are my kind of employer!
Forrest Gump: “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Also, if you are smart enough to do this, then you are smart enough to cover your decision with court argue-proof reasons even OJ’s legal beagles could not penetrate…legal zoom et al.
I might add: If I find one of my customers is a strong supporter of Obama, I intend to add a value added tax in their billing for services rendered. Protection monies, insurance costs, medical attention needs…got a list longer the lies the Obama people ever told!
Prepare for incoming! Wire your sh*t tighter than the enemy for survival! Start your 4 year short timer calender! Keep your legs crossed and smoke’m if ya got’em!
Oct 30, 2008 - 10:10 am 12. ET:The ferocious determination not to see anything negative about Obama is what really slays me about the press’s behavior in this campaign, and by extension, those who have bought into this vision wholeheartedly – gone is the high-minded, sober and judicious dissection of both candidates on equal terms. Now we have the major news outlets abandoning standard journalism practices to openly embrace their preferred pick.
Oct 30, 2008 - 12:53 pm 13. JA Lineberry:It is both appalling and painfully obvious, and yet the news lumbers on, certain in its state of denial that it is somehow doing the right thing.
What horrendous development during an Obama presidency would finally cause the news media to admit that “this isn’t the Barack Obama we knew during the campaign”?
I didn’t notice a change in his voice.
There is no such thing as completely objective media.
And both sides have been rather dirty during this campaign.
Oct 30, 2008 - 1:11 pm 14. JED:Another big bad piece of advice from the McCain camp was to treat Bush like a pariah. By sheepishly distancing himself from the president who he has indorsed, he allows Obama to say amazingly naive “facts” like the current financial tsunami is the result of 8 years of Bush’s economic policies. Defend your president man, or give him credit for lowering the price of oil, closing the Russian stockmarket, undercutting the overseas oil tyrants, and initiating new global banking regulations.
Oct 30, 2008 - 6:14 pm 15. Chine:Obama’s presidency will be a total disaster. His inexperience coupled with incompetence doesn’t paint a bright picture. For sure the MSM will own him lock, stock and barrel. The jerks will really be in a position to determine how his presidency plays out. After all they have the goods on him and he knows it. Probably sitting on a lot more than what has been discovered to date. What’s to prevent them from conducting independent investigation so to speak at any time he strays from their agenda. On the other hand if we can get McCain elected then the MSM is essentially defeated as well. What can they do against a McCain president? To me their influence will be totally neutered. I’ve been wrong before so no cherry there.
Oct 30, 2008 - 8:03 pm 16. TLM:Election 2008 — Lessons learned:
Remember the MSM. They are forever discredited.
Politics in America has become a zero sum game. One party rule is the new goal. Get used to it.
For a Republican candidate, touting your bipartisanship credentials is a losing proposition. No one cares, least of all your own supporters.
The audacity of hype is real. Demagoguery rules.
Words matter — especially when they’re untrue. Telling the Big Lie still works on the masses.
Socialism is a slowly metastasizing cancer. It’s first target organ was our society’s education system.
The media stole this election fair and square. If Obama wins, watch for the bailout of their parent companies.
Oct 30, 2008 - 8:26 pm 17. Abu Nudnik:I think there are activist pollsters to go along with activist “journalists” and, personally, I’ve stopped believing a word I hear. I think Obama has been given enough rope to hang himself and a week is a lifetime in politics. I think he’s oversold his brand and what he’s selling is getting stale. I sense people waking up from the trance and Democrats impatient for it to be over. An Italian paper has one frightened famous Democrat talking about another famous Democrat who should have been tried for treason for aiding and abetting the enemy in the Vietnam War – you all know her – lying in bed with a wrecked back from all the stress and shrieking that if McCain wins it’s round two in the Civil War. This doesn’t sound like hope and change to me. Nor optimism.
Socialism. Not only has Obama not denied he is a socialist but both he and Biden have almost admitted it by accusing the other side of “redistributing income upward,” thus implying that redistributing income downward is more “just.” Also Obama’s “next they’ll call me a communist for sharing a peanut-butter sandwich in kindergarten.” It’s not just the words: it’s the complete lack of energy with which he expressed it and with which it was received by an audience that seems to be increasingly nervous. Five days to tell the taxpayer that it ain’t HIS peanut-butter and jelly sandwich he’s talking about redistributing is plenty of time. Perhaps even the exact right amount of time.
The newly recovered audios of the Blessed One complaining about the limits of the Constitution, the “tragedy” that the Warren Court wasn’t radical enough and failed to massively redistribute wealth so that although the civil rights movement corrected things so there was equality of political and legal rights, it failed to create “economic equality” is seriously problematic for Obama. He has said precious little in his very long campaign to keep the American people asleep long enough to vote before waking up and these little nuggets are likely to rouse people. Americans are good at ferreting out things that crawl into their pockets and his expressed regret that “unfortunately” the Court isn’t a great way to redistribute wealth because of certain limitations (no amendment yet to declare property as theft)… all this gives the lie to his non-denials of being a communist or a socialist.
Some parts of the press are starting to criticize their own and an even better sign is the fact that MSNBC, due to bad ratings, is moving the worst offenders around. It’s the ratings that mean something.
Lastly let’s remember that there are many in the press who decided that “America Elects First Black President” is THE story of their lives. They want to participate in it the way some journalists wanted to be part of the great Bolshevik event no matter what the fate of no matter how many dissidents. Their suppression of news of the gulags is a similar psychological event. There’s a lot of vanity involved in all this and, forgive my optimism but I just don’t see the majority of Americans falling for a screen idol who hasn’t said a word about the greatness and promise of America without it sounding either unconvincing or smothered in so many but…s.
I agree with a poster above – it’s Palin, and only her, that really expresses enthusiasm. Too bad she was under wraps so long. She’s superb. The criticisms of her, so thick with contempt for ordinary people are SO not working with undecideds. I saw a journalist incredulously ask a middle-age woman in a mall why she liked Palin. She just looked up with a beatific smile and said, “Oh… she’s just… us.”
One more thing: a quote by Tolstoy:
Here’s to being startled by the silent majority over the vocal minority!
Oct 30, 2008 - 9:44 pm 18. Jack Marcotte:Essential vdh
Obama is a symptom and represents the result of the failures of the liberal left wing (communist subversion left over from the 50’s) policies within the US over the last 50 years. Obama is a human failure to America.
Obama was subverted and brain washed with ideas that demonstrably failed in the world in many different times over several hundred years.
Obama’s “old as mankind” ideas wrapped in soaring rhetoric promote and underwrite a culture of taking by mob or government—not making or giving on an individual responsibility and freedom basis.
Rev. Wright, Ayers, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Kalidi, Phleger, Michael and Chicago Politics are also symptoms of greed and corruption.
America has for the last 50 years allowed this parasitic process to grow and thrive without recognizing that America will eventually be destroyed.
These home grown,parasites that have invaded America are due entirely to freedoms and “comforts” paid for by Americans who worked and died for it. The communist/socialist parasite has found fertile ground. Plenty of food and legal protection for taking it.
Are these “Obama” old ideas successful? Only to those that use them as clubs to break down society and extort personal gain. All else end up in a generational welfare trap with total dependency on the state. But they can vote to maintain the power of those who control the state. This puts perfume on the smell of tyrants.
Fact: there are more murders in Chicago in one month than currently in an equivalent month in Iraq, an entire country. How does that happen in Obama land? In a democrat run city and state.
The Chicago inner city public Educational system is a trap that stops human development at a time when it should be exploding.
Has anyone checked into the high school graduation rate of Obama’s district. How has that happened in Obama land under complete control of the Democratic party?
Inner city Teachers do not teach they indoctrinate and create a class of victim voters to maintain their little islands of greed and power.
All over the US public education now in many instances creates victims in a society that was founded on individual freedoms, individual responsibility and a strong work ethic.
The products of this public education are now like a foreign species planted into a society that has no defense against this because they are a free society based on individual responsibility.
Public Education in inner cities and Ivy League Universities are becoming breeding grounds for dependency and essential anti Americanism that destroys the society by putting whole classes of human non working non educated “invalids” into a dynamic but fragile democratic Republic.
America is a society whose founders provided no defense against lack of individual responsibility. How did this happen?– they were not naive.
America was formed by men who thought that all humans if given freedoms would be individually responsible to themselves and to their fellow Americans. Were they wrong?
By shear number these indoctrinated “victims” drag down the entire political structure that was the high mark of humanity on earth.
An Obama supporter and acolyte can’t be productive but they vote which is now their only means of economic survival—or so they are taught to believe along with their “victim” hood.
It is evident that these parasites now operate at all levels, including and especially “wall street” and of course the Congress, and the legal profession lifting billions of dollars off the economy with lawsuits that pay them far in excess of the damages.
These symptoms represent a failing political system and a degrading system that will not stop back sliding until the players and pushers of this parasitic and deadly diease of greed and corruption coupled with incompetence are rejected both within the society and politically.
Does the end justify the means in this war of ideas that is destroying America?
The unnamed and unstated communism in its worst and most devious form is eating away the need to instill individual responsibility and freedoms that allow success or failure. It now means we will all fail–that is the common outcome. If those that will cannot succeed those that won’t will not succeed nor be supported.
Those like Obama who will destroy a society from within think and know that for their purposes the end always will justify any means. Even if it means simply feeding on the left over carcuss of what was once America.
This parasitic and siren’s call to the weakness of humans has been the operating mode of tyrants over the centuries.
If the fragile balance of America is tipped in favor of a religion of Government providing everything it means the Government will have to take everything. It means that wealth and capital growth that has provided for America being the country that people die trying to get in will end dieing with a whimper like any patient who has no defense against a parasite that needs to feed on others to survive.
Has this come to pass just because a few mental cases with Ivy League degrees, Affirmative action degrees and jobs selling valueless paper to other fools with their same level of intellect. Has it come about by feeding mush into minds that has tipped the scales that will not right themselves. I would hope not but time will tell.
Oct 30, 2008 - 9:45 pm 19. jdg:Obama has successfully painted McCain as an extension of the “failed Bush policies.” McCain tried to distance himself from Bush by “reaching across the isle.” Instead, McCain should have pointed out the obvious. Bush increased Federal spending from two trillion to nearly three trillion in eight years (not counting the new “stimulus and bailout packages).
Obama chided McCain for wanting to use a “hatchet” when a “scalpel” was needed. A “scalpel”? Someone needs to take a meat axe to the federal budget.
Government spending by Bush increased the price of everything, including imported oil. That’s a tax on the least of us and Obama wants to out Bush Bush in this regard.
Oct 31, 2008 - 2:23 am 20. Broadsword:If 50 million abortions do not look “uncomfortably similar to what we have going on, back here at home,” what are they? And this from the Mouth of Sauron who, himself, favors this choice “solution”. Woe unto you Barry!
Oct 31, 2008 - 5:05 am 21. Brerarnold:Orson Scott Card in a similar vein, and very well said:
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2008-10-26-1.html
BTW, regular reader, never commented before. Thanks for your steady output of non-hysterical, historically-informed pieces.
Oct 31, 2008 - 6:35 am 22. Matt Carolan:Excellent post Mr. Hanson. Keep campaigning with Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder, real working class people who are distrustful of Obama. Why? McCain is running out of time, but Obama is a bad closer, as the primaries have shown. We can only hope.
Oct 31, 2008 - 8:07 am 23. Arthur:no wonder Obama is winning, the republicans seem to just be discussing things through their own personal bias and fantasizes rather than discussing or being responsible to reality, or not to sound so pompous, our overwhelming perception of reality. these attacks on Obama like calling him a socialist are not only way off base, but they simply do not help the republicans at all. Most people make less than 250,000 a year and will be better off under Obama.
Obama has appeared steady and cool and tough and smart on foreign policy, he is not a war monger, but he is responsible and will defend this nation and he also is very supportive of Israel. McCain has come off like a guy who can’t wait to start the next war. McCains strongest image is of a cold warrior, but most of the public are sick of hearing about war, so every time McCain opens his mouth about the one subject he cares about his appeal to 75% of the people drops.
On the economy Obama has been precise and smart laying out what he will do and he seems calm and steady. McCain has no really offered anything up that excite the voters and he has appeared erratic..
My Bias: its true I am an Obama supporter, however, in 2000 I was a McCain supporter. I am not the only person that has made this leap, and it appears to me that Obama is the most ready and is the person we need right now. I think if we had John McCain in 2000 we would have been much better off, I don’t think he would have made Bush mistakes of abandoning Afghanistan and starting a war with Iraq (even though he supported the president so did a lot of others.) I also doubt McCain would have ever asked our people to use torture.
that is another area, torture, McCain did fight Bush on the torture issue, but then he backed down and gave in. These sort of changes on key issues going from “the Maverick” who had a personality and a set of values into the morph of “republican candidate” was very disheartening for me. Now John is running a rather sleazy last few weeks that is really beneath this American Hero.
the republicans need to re-group and stop pointing fingers at each other and the media; I can make arguments just as convincing with examples of why and how the media is quite conservative in this country. But that is beside the point.
the point is that there is a place and a need for Conservative political ideas and ideals in this country, but right now the republican brand is broken and lagging and has some serious disconnects with reality. Even before the recent economic collapse things have been difficult for a lot of americans. the perception is that the republicans only care about the super rich, the southern, and the super extreme and aggressively political religious people in this country, i.e. the creationism intelligent design fringe(another flip on McCains part was his sudden love for the religious extremists whom he had criticized with good reason in 2000). whether these complaints are precisely true or not, i suggest there is a good reason for the perception and that the republican party needs to address the reality behind the perceptions and stop blaming the media and stop thinking americans have not heard the words the republicans keep reiterating; they have heard them and the message is not carrying much weight because as I said a year ago, the things that are steaming up a lot of republicans and things that the epublicans think are big negatives on Obama are simply not tings that the lot of independent voters and swing voters are much concerned about.
McCain is a good man, But Obama is the better choice for right now. Mccain is running against history and it would have been tall task no matter what he said, but his campaign has seemed at like it is being run from 1972. The good note is that Obama is calling for unity and he puts country fist, and he will bring in republicans and conservative ideas. far from the ellection desperation talking points, Obama is quite Conservative and a capitalist and a constitutional lawyer who taught in the house of free trade free market capitalism at U of Chicago! we can bet that he will have a great deal of respect for our constituion unlike the guy presently in the white house, who btw is the one guy who probably could serve to have a few fingers pointed at him for the way he has governed. If conservatives refuse to see that and just blame the media etc then they will face a long road on the fringe. however, if they face reality and change to meet the needs and expectations of the country I think they can be back in a very short time.
Oct 31, 2008 - 9:22 am 24. jp:…I think Obama has been given enough rope to hang himself and a week is a lifetime in politics….
Obama’s narcissism makes him say things at times, that he might later wish had been left unsaid, as when he abandons his teleprompter and ad libs. He appears to me to be much more tense, with a frowning, agitated look to him. New reports say his campaign needs more money(!) Items from his past are slowly starting to leak out:
Each day more tapes and videos from the past are appearing, and more newspapers, journalists and blogs are spreading the information. In spite of all the reported voter fraud of ACORN and other groups, the polls are tightening. At this late date, will it be enough?
We can only hope and pray that it will.
Oct 31, 2008 - 10:17 am 25. Ron Kean:JA Lineberry – ‘And both sides have been rather dirty during this campaign.’ I disagree.
Arthur –
‘but he is responsible and will defend this nation and he also is very supportive of Israel’ I hope you’re right but he’s had or has now very close relationships with people who would destroy Israel if you haven’t heard.
‘a guy who can’t wait to start the next war’ – I disagree. At least we know he won’t roll over like Biden might have implied about Obama.
‘I also doubt McCain would have ever asked our people to use torture.’ McCain has always been a vocal opponent of torture. It’s public record if you haven’t heard. – ‘he backed down and gave in’ Not true.
‘rather sleazy’ McCain’s people aren’t taking phony credit cards, aren’t signing up dead people, and aren’t hiding his history, current thoughts, or videos in LA.
‘media is quite conservative’ You cannot be serious.
‘Obama is calling for unity and he puts country fist, and he will bring in republicans and conservative ideas.’ Are you aware of his voting record in the Senate?
‘a capitalist’ Redistribution contradicts that. Capital should flow naturally.
‘if they face reality’ The reality remains that what we definately know about Obama is Ayres, Wright, Rez… What we definately do not know is his birth records (locked away), college writings (locked away), medical records(locked away), other writing (if it exists)…and much much more. This is undeniable. This is real. We’ve been denied knowledge about him.
Oct 31, 2008 - 10:54 am 26. Ivanhoe:With all the despair in conservative circles about an Obama presidency, a hopefully humorous future press release:
Oct 31, 2008 - 12:34 pm 27. More on Obamanable BS Man « Truth, Lies and In Between:Class Warfare took on new meaning today as President Obama launched the first offensive in the Long March towards economic equality. Dubbing his bold initiative “The Splurge” President Obama promised that he and Congress will pay any price, bear any burden, and check behind any seat cushion to fund their quest to bring the outlaw nation Richistan, rumored to be sheltering the terrorist, Ocashya Bin Hiden, to justice. The President ordered the 101st Airborne to ready all aircraft for an emergency currency drop should new Treasury Secretary Taxenus Maximus judge that citizens are in noncompliance with newly issued Executive Order BS; Borrow n’ Spend. The US Navy’s 7th Fleet is steaming at flank speed to intercept a flotilla of yachts filled with business persons fleeing for the relatively business-friendly shores of Cuba and Venezuela, many blaming the exodus on recently enacted 99% tax rates, retroactive to 1980. Membership has skyrocketed in the new mandatory public service union, SOPM, says national chairman Vinnie “Knuckles” Bronkowsi who was quoted as saying “Youse taxpayers should rest easy knowin’ dat da Brotherhood of the Stegosaurus is on da job!”
Objections by Libertarians, constitutionalists and the three remaining small-government conservatives not already incarcerated in the now infamous Takeloot Prison have been swept aside by the roar of the mob.
Asked to defend the constitutionality of these actions and the increasingly imperial trappings of the presidency, newly appointed Press Secretary Oprah Winfrey responded that the Obama campaign clearly stated from the start “Yes, We Can!”
[...] Reflections of a Campaign Now Past (Almost) [...]
Oct 31, 2008 - 1:22 pm 28. TLM:Arthur:
I won’t dispute your complaints about George Bush and the Republicans.
“The good note is that Obama is calling for unity and he puts country fist…”
Obama is calling for a lot things, many of which — like unity — are hardly believable. He should tell the Dems in Congress to stop calling for one party rule.
Obama calling the Constitution flawed leaves some of us asking for further explanation. Bush may have ignored the Constitution, but he didn’t reject it outright.
The U of Chicago “house of free trade” is an anomaly (and a pariah, I believe) for that institution.
If you think Obama is Conservative, the media must be even more successful in deluding the public than I imagined.
Oct 31, 2008 - 1:33 pm 29. TLM:Ivanhoe:
Please be advised. You have violated Dear Leader’s new anti-sedition law banning:
1. Sarcasm directed at people’s government. Punishment to be public humiliation by agents of MSM.
2. Overt reference to communist phraseology. Punishment to be 100 hours re-education in use of acceptable euphemisms (e.g, Long March/No Great Creep Forward/Yes)
3. Use of specific numbers when referring to tax rates. This also violate State Secrets Act. Punishment to be incarceration in Freedom Camp.
Remember: Taxes Macht Frei
Oct 31, 2008 - 3:35 pm 30. jane m:Arthur has definitely been into the Kool-Aid – I’d guess he has drank several gallons in the last few weeks.
Oct 31, 2008 - 7:18 pm 31. jane m:Sorry – should be “drunk” not drank.
Oct 31, 2008 - 7:19 pm 32. HAG:I, too, will never have the same feeling about the news I hear on Television, the radio, and in newspapers: I now realize that it is all entertainment. And in fact entertainment venues are taking over as the medium through which we gain access to our newsmakers, where an interview or a review or even jokes on The View or Larry King or any of the nightly shows begins to have the same level of “truth” as an in-depth article in the Chicago Tribune! And it is very sad because now all “fact” is, as a result, suspect….
Oct 31, 2008 - 8:09 pm 33. Gaffe Prices:I think McCain will win because his political instincts and strategy have built up an unstoppable momentum. In all demographics, McCain has built a renewed interest in politics because of their respect for his character. McCain is the refutation of the supreme goal of the Obamas strategy: That Style Triumphs over Substance. Voters has double incentive to vote for McCain, 1) the negative, voters from all demographics know that ubamas has spent the last 4 weeks trying to lie his way into an appealing tax policy. ($250.000 anyone? 200,000? $150,000?)
Before, he tried to duck and dive and win with only vague platitudes and no firm commitments to anything he would have to honor: He’s tried to run out the clock; people smell a rat and are motivated to vote against him. That was the cynical plan of Rohm Emmanuel, and counted on the gullibility and stupidity of voters.
2) Style over substance has been slaughtered by a more informed electorate, thanks to the internet; the lazy tv style of Emmanuel is based on the false premise that there is a sucker born every minute, and has gone up in smoke. If you think the Democrat Brand is not in a panic, then you watch too much tv.
3) McCain has treated Ubamas with respect and not taken the bait to get caught in a gaffe, or opportunistic slur of Ubamas, ex. He refused to dwell on the possibility of Ubamas being a muslim, and told supporters to drop it. Media, Democrat campaign, and Ubamas went after Joe Wurtselbacher instead, and voters don’t like having the race card played against them.
4) McCain survived a tougher slog in a Vietnamese prison camp. McCain is real, Ubamas is a bot.
I could go on and on. Identity politics that Democrat Brand is famous for has backfired. The voter is the identity figure now and it is ok to be selfish. To look at ones own situation and ask what is best for me and my family. Charity is for Churches, not the Government. Programs in govt mean more money in government and more money in govt means more corruption in government. Senator Government needs to go back to his government salary in Senate and we will see if he continues his campaign pledge to refrain from seeking earmarks this year, and stop being a bagman from Chicago. Regardless, President McCain will hold Congress to fiscal standards.
P.S. Don’t listen to Gabe, he is a seminar poster, and his winsome musings are the same strain of pessimism that (ironically) permeates Ubamas message: “its over he’s won, don’t bother to vote, sleep, nurse your pie in the sky conservatives principles, lick your wounds, wait til next time, when your conservative utopia finally arrives”, etc. “give up”. Its just tailored to conservative palates.
The paramount conservative issue in this election, (and obscured by the games of distraction, bait and switch of the media), is this: What direction will the courts tilt as a result of this election? we cannot afford to set back and wait at least two generations to recover from the damage caused by new Ginsburgs, Souters, Breyers, and Stevenses. So there is no excuse for not voting for John McCain.
Look at California: Courts there strike down Referendum of peoples will, passed overwhelmingly in 2001. Opening the door to Polygamy as a right, based on precedent they establish, that Same Sex Marriage is a right.
McCain was not my first choice, but that is neither here nor there. My differences with McCain are miniscule compared to what is at stake. I don’t want anyone who agrees with me all the time. There are many seminar posters, posing as other pessimistic just-so conservatives trying to stoke pessimism, nurture complacency, intensify fatalism- “its hopeless”. “its the worst case scenario”. Etcetera.
McCain never included these people in his appeal, because as a prisoner of war, he didn’t lose touch. Those folks are beyond reach. Don’t you be one of them.
Senator government can run for president again and again, when he’s all grown up. Its time for the rest of us to grow up and stop wallowing in miserablism before it has even happened at the election polls. that just what Ubamas is counting on to win.
Nov 1, 2008 - 2:14 am 34. Gaffe Prices:Arthur:
Pure Sophistry.
you are a paid seminar poster. You are not conservative. Lets begin.
“Our overwhelming perception of reality” -Huh?
“Obama has appeared steady and cool and tough and smart on foreign policy, he is not a war monger, but he is responsible and will defend this nation and he also is very supportive of Israel.” -Not steady and cool, lost and grappling, when the teleprompter malfunctions. 1) “he’s not a war monger” -Ubamas has already threatened to nuke Pakistan, and divulged his strategy, and his plans, to the enemy. To make Afghanistan “the place” to be, for the enemies of humanity. Ubamas is petty, reckless, and a fool.
“he is responsible.” –Is he responsible for any “reform”? Or does “reform” just mean “more government” to Senator Government?
“McCain has come off like a guy who can’t wait to start the next war. McCains strongest image is of a cold warrior, but most of the public are sick of hearing about war, so every time McCain opens his mouth about the one subject he cares about his appeal to 75% of the people drops.” — wrong, McCain has fought in war, Ubamas has not. McCain knows the cost, Ubamas does not.
“but most of the public is sick of hearing about war” –No, the media is sick of hearing and talking about success in the war on terror in Iraq. They set the issue, and Ubamas does not want to talk about it, so they oblige him, and go back to “style” distractions.
Ubamas wants to create a Vietnam style fiasco in Pakistan or Afghanistan, as Kennedy did, and enable a revolution, as though it were the sixties.
“On the economy Obama has been precise and smart laying out what he will do and he seems calm and steady. McCain has no really offered anything up that excite the voters and he has appeared erratic..”
–Ubamas will raise taxes. Now he lies about it. Because he is not smart, or precise, and the informed voter is. Especially about the importance of judges in this election. ubamas has been forced under pressure, to fabricate an appealing tax lie, calling it tax credits, when it is, in fact, welfare. Precision is eating his lunch. “McCain has no really offered anything up…” –McCain is conservative, fiscal discipline as to taxing and spending, and no earmarks. ubamas is a bagman for Chicago Political Machine.
“These sort of changes on key issues going from “the Maverick” who had a personality and a set of values into the morph of “republican candidate” was very disheartening for me. Now John is running a rather sleazy last few weeks that is really beneath this American Hero.” –damning with feigned praise? The Key issue is Judges, and you, like the media, distract from that. “The maverick” who had a personality… Whats Ubamas got?, George Soros and free promotion from media. And a teleprompter.
“I can make arguments just as convincing with examples of why and how the media is quite conservative in this country”. –Why don’t you? Engage in more Sophistry? You are, after all, a seminar poster.
I’ll skip the next part, its all talking points and class warfare.
the next long paragraph is Larceny of the first order: “The good note is that Obama is calling for unity and he puts country fist, and he will bring in republicans and conservative ideas. far from the ellection desperation talking points”. — there will be no conservatives or republicans in an ubamas administration. Secretary of Education, William “get over it republicans” Ayers. Secretary for Dept. of Homeland Security, Bernadine Dohrn. Secretary of Defence Kalid Rashidi.
“If conservatives refuse to see that and just blame the media etc then they will face a long road on the fringe. however, if they face reality and change to meet the needs and expectations of the country I think they can be back in a very short time.” –You are making my points for me: “[conservatives] can be back in a very short time”. –Yeah right…Stay home, don’t bother, its inevitable, shame yourself with white republican less-than-perfect-conservativism guilt, live in a bubble. Etcetera
If you are going to engage in a paid Ubamas political ad, it would behoove you to preface it with the following- “I am Barrack 0bama, and I approved this ad”. Or you are breaking the law. McCain’s Law.
Oh yeah, speaking of law. There will be no lawyers taking the executive office in January, because both lawyers, Ubamas and Biden, are going to lose. Just check Ubamas itenerary. States he thought he had locked up now need his urgent attention. But, back to your “post”…
“Obama is quite Conservative and a capitalist and a constitutional lawyer who taught in the house of free trade free market capitalism at U of Chicago!” –There isn’t a U of Chicago. and Lawyer Ubamas did not teach “free trade free market capitalism”. No. But Ubamas did teach Alinsky tactics to Acorn volunteers, his marxist mentor who, himself was mentored by Frank Nitty. Both of whom, along with John Stroger, alCapone, and ‘Bugs’ Moran will all be vota in this election.
Muhammad was also a “community organizer”. albeit without the blessing of Alinsky.
Nov 1, 2008 - 3:53 am 35. Abu Nudnik:I have to reply to the writer who said that calling Obama a socialist is off base. Obama has said:
1) The Warren Court’s failure to provide “economic equality” was a tragedy.
2) The Court “unfortunately” isn’t the best way to massively redistribute income.
3) The Constitution is “fundamentally” flawed in that it only tells State and Federal governments “negative rights:” it only tells them what it can not do to people, not what it must do for them. (The Anti-Kennedy has come!)
4) He said he thinks it better to “spread the wealth around.”
All these things have been caught on tape. That’s the evidence I have that he’s a socialist. What’s your evidence he’s not? That he says he’s going to only raise taxes on those making more than $250,000? OK
5) He’s going to “Soak the rich! Make the rich pay!”
I used to see 5) on all the Communist Party posters.
UPDATE: Zogby’s one day poll (Friday) shows McCain up by 1.
A note on Palin hatred. It’s interesting how many talk of her dropping her Gs as if it’s an affectation. Betrayed in that “observation” is the notion that there is no such thing as a natural person. Nature is what you buy in a product that’s “all natural.” When the snobs who hate her see her hunt, skin, butcher and cook an animal for her family, they call her a barbarian. A barbarian or someone so clever she can “invent” a “folksy” identity? Which is it? Ah! “Gender is a social construction” they say, and so is everything else! No wonder academics hate Hobbes so much. It’s that contrast between the “naturall man” and the “artificiall man” that drives them up the wall! Three cheers for nature tamed by man (or woman!) and given a purpose and direction!
Nov 1, 2008 - 8:31 am 36. notutopia:Obama refers that the US is enacting behaviors of Nazi Germany. Disagree yes. Prove his point wrong,yes. BUT, then HEED his words! He BELIEVES this. He also believes it is his duty to rescue the country from these Nazi’s. And all his supporters believe it too. We the people, the conservative citizens who believe in the courts and the constitution are his referred to NAZI ENEMY and we are damned in his administration! HE BELIEVES THIS. Wake up America and fight this narcissistic chameleon who admits to being a blank slate, that can be whatever you want or need him to be! I want or need no HOLOGRAM to hold the Chief Executive post of my beloved COUNTRY!
Nov 1, 2008 - 8:54 am 37. Willie Stark:PS The MSM is dead. R.I.P.
Freedom will be found in the blogs and in places like VDHanson’s posts!
Willie Brown drops his “g”s. He’s liked and likes Palin.
Nov 1, 2008 - 11:28 am 38. DEK:Abu,
Speaking of dropping the final “g”….I wasn’t aware that such a speech pattern was common in Harvard Yard. Strange how a few weeks of rubbing elbows with people in Ohio and western Penn. can make an Uncommon Man one of the blue-collar, whiteface, sweatshirt crowd…even down to callin’ people “folks” and saying “gotta” and “willin’”. Kinda like Hillary discoverin’ her deep southern black roots one day at the rostrum. (Although I don’t allow she tried sayin’ “Sho ’nuff”.)
Anyway, being such a regular guy, Barack might even try rinsing his own arrugula or, on occasion, perhaps a forkfull of on-sale hamburger (well, okay, ground sirloin).
Nov 1, 2008 - 12:04 pm 39. vick:whine,whine,whine.
Nov 1, 2008 - 1:16 pm 40. TLM:yeah, sure, we saw a lot of fiscal discipline and balanced budgets and wars we actually won in the last eight years.
To be frank, the only thing gwb did was pay a lot of attention to loading the supreme court with abortion-haters. granted, he did a decent job on the 9/11 response – initially and also in setting up the DHS etc. BBut on the whole things were at best mediocre when most of the time brilliance was needed.
This administration will not be missed.
Gaffe Prices:
“Ubamas wants to create a Vietnam style fiasco in Pakistan or Afghanistan, as Kennedy did, and enable a revolution, as though it were the sixties.”
Or Iraq. Or Iran. Or Israel.
Is this what “gird your loins” Biden was referring to?
The thought of an Obama administration micro-managing any military conflict is very worrisome. It would be impossible for me to trust his intentions. Liberals should understand this, as they felt the same way about Bush.
Three months ago your statement would have seemed completely implausible. Now, nothing is inconceivable.
Nov 1, 2008 - 1:27 pm 41. TLM:I met up with friends tonight who own a small business. When talking about the looming tax increases, they have a similar plan to one of the commenters on this site. Layoffs may be necessary, and atop of the to-go list is the employee who took Tuesday off to work for the Obama campaign. Remember those gun and religion clingers who don’t vote for what’s in their economic best interest? Seems the Hope ‘n Change Messiah clingers have the same problem. And a lot of them may be out of work after Nov 4th.
Nov 1, 2008 - 7:12 pm 42. Ron Kean:I can’t talk to people who are going to vote for Obama.
He has no record.
We only know the goofus’s he’s hung around with for the last 20 YEARS.
Convicts, terrorist Muslims, terrorist communists, and one America hating religious leader/mentor. His wife has been ashamed of this country all of her life. She should have left for Kenya a long time ago. Or England.
It’s crazy.
Nov 1, 2008 - 8:42 pm 43. ken schwartz:Great post by VDH and bravo Cfbleachers.
A few comments –
1 – I have found O’s campaign deeply offensive from start to finish. I live in a very blue state. People simply forgive those whom they favor and un-forgive those they oppose. I am an active pro- Israel Jew. Sadly, I know many pro-Israel Jewish libs who not only are not bothered by O’s associations, they even find their mention offensive and examples of dirty campaigning. Ditto simply overlooking many other troubling matters re O and Israel (see recent endorsement by Dershowitz). I know some very sensible centrist pro-Israel Jews who are genuinely tortured in deciding between the candidates. I guess my point – idealogy (very often) trumps facts. There has been speculation about the reaction to similar facts coming out about McC. My speculation is a bit different – what would it take for these people to vote against O? Well, obviously far more than what we’ve seen. My guess – a repeated pattern of undeniable and close associations between O and Al Qaeda or Nazis. The reaction of feminists to Palin again just proves the unfortunate point – for many people, idealogy trumps all – facts are made to accommodate as they arise. Who would have imagined a successful, accomplished, admired woman – wonderfully balancing work and family, getting savaged – by women. My own feminist sister calls her a “disgrace” and an “insult”.
2 – All that said, I fear VDH’s eulogy of the credibility of the MSM is, sadly and uniquely, completely wrong. WE certainly get it – but we got it a long time ago. A few who are in the middle and take politics seriously agree with the assessment to some degree – but still consume it regularly – if occasionally with a touch of detachment. The rest see our critique as extreme, doctrinaire and invalid. Forget the NYT. I know very intelligent people who actually watch and enjoy Olbermann. Arthur Miller: “the fish is in the water but the water is also in the fish”. Many of our fellow citizens either agree in large measure with the MSM, or do not perceive or care about any possible bias. AND, don’t forget what the MSM does – it persuades.
3 – Thanks VDH to refer to O’s use of different voices. I’ve been wondering if I was the only one to notice. It never struck me as Rev Wright. To me, it was always a phoney MLK patois. I was present at O’s AIPAC speech. He spoke like a northern lawyer, not a southern preacher. The word “country” was pronounced “cun – tree”, as opposed to his stump pronunciation “CUN – trih”. Also, absent in his speech to us were other stand-bys:
a – the repulsive Lourdes moment – ” I met a man with no legs …”
b – the rainstorm of cliches.
To me, his candidacy is “the emperor’s new clothes”.
I share the outrage expressed by bleacher and others.
KS
Nov 2, 2008 - 8:31 am 44. David Smith:Don’t ever forget that Martin Luther King compared our involvement in Vietnam to Nazi Germany, and did so with a straight face. Those who buy the whole cloth MLK myth (as in anyone public schooled in the last 40 years) wouldn’t blink at Obama mouthing the same idiocy.
Nov 2, 2008 - 8:06 pm 45. Rob Calvert:Thoughts on “The End of Journalism” from Mr. Hanson’s NRO article, dated 31 October
“There have always been media biases and prejudices.” – VDH
Hanson’s concern for media biases is warranted but not for the reasons he articulates.
His contention is well known: the media (a liberal entity) have failed to critique
their own (Obama/Biden) and thereby have failed as an institution and failed our democratic society at-large. This is an important claim. Our society should be vigilant to the matter, but unless Hanson or others can mount a more persuasive argument, it will not happen in this case, for he cannot escape the gravity of his own rhetoric, his own biases. Ultimately he makes it too easy for his opponents to dismiss him and his concerns. By doing so, we miss a larger lesson: how to maintain well-functioning media in a free society.
The essay’s shortcomings are rooted, I suspect, in an unexamined or under-appreciated role of the media themselves, the fourth branch of government. When the media’s function is impeded, either by the outside censure or denial or by self-censure, then the foundations of that society are weakened and even undermined.
With this article Hanson conveys a low regard for and appreciation of the inherent
dynamic between government (authority/power) and an independent media (agents for
information). Free societies are synonymous with a free press, one ideally having
unfettered movement in and through institutions of authority (think: The Freedom
of Information Act) as well as the right to voice contrary opinions and to challenge
governmental actions, even its legitimacy. Authority is established and maintained
by two distinct ways: non-coercive and coercive force. The former is by moral force
and persuasion (as conveyed to Walter Cronkite but not, ultimately, to Dan Rather)
and by propaganda to modify behavior and belief. The latter, coercive force (police,
police states and armies) uses intimidation, the denial of individual expression,
imprisonment, etc. to eradicate real and symbolic descent.
The (independent) media exist as non-coercive societal force for general communication and exchange of ideas, ones that are fundamentally in tension with government. Autocratic and even democratic governments recognize this fact and often campaign against them. Effort is made to impede them by denying access or to de-legitimize their elements and the institution itself by chiding it, claiming it unfair and biased. Other times the media are removed all together. Governments are generally resentful of the media’s societal position, one that is not elected and some claim is not accountable. But if media ARE biased, this has more to do with their role as an adversary of government rather than their collective political leanings. We know what becomes them when they abrogate the role and become a de facto organ of government, as notably the case in the lead up to the 2nd Iraq War. Whether due to patriotism or intimidation, the media largely gagged themselves and biased the message to that of our government’s. Is that the kind of biased media we would prefer?
Studs Turkel saw little value in the work of a reporter who had no opinions. Journalism would suffer immeasurably, he argued, if we removed perspectives. Besides, few hold to the notion that “the news” is the objective realm of reporting events. However the
better organizations strive towards impartiality, for journalistic integrity and
fairness. These are still largely regarded as essential, the Hippocratic oath of the
industry. But the rules of engagement are looser these days. Groups like The Huffington Post and Fox News largely exist to promote their agendas and may be more inclined to not let the truth stand in the way of a good story. Hanson may be doing much the same.
His opinions express his own set of prejudices. He does not, however, fall victim
to the term “elite media,” preferring “media biases” but it is the same code with
the same message. He is not alone. Each party and their mouthpieces “go there.”
Unless best practices are used, the waters aren’t clarified, and they remain a swamp.
His view of the media suggested in the essay is too simplistic. The modern media do not make for monolithic voice or means. Their forms, numbers, and opinions far exceed the era of the big three networks. Ours is the time of YouTube, blogs and the explosion of information and the means to transmit it. It is more decentralized than ever. It is inaccurate to suggest today’s media pray at the same “gilded throne of CBS.”
Even if the collective political leanings of the media could be effectively measured what would it prove? If I held political beliefs contrary to the “media mean,” would
their beliefs be biased and mine not? If there is a discernable bent to the media,
is it substantively different than the cross section of the population’s? Perhaps,
at a minimum, one can acknowledge Hanson’s thoughts as “discontent” but not as “disease” for the mean opinion of the media, if such a thing exists, doesn’t reflect those from less centrist parts of society by definition.
All voices are probably reflected in today’s diverse media probably in the proportion they are held. Their opinions are the conclusions of those who historically were educated professionals, conscious of role and responsibility. Theirs remain a provocative arena, a competition of ideas, and at times, messy tricks. Hanson is loosing this battle and so is his man.
His arguments leave me unsympathetic, numb to the charges.
• Finance Reform – Modern campaign finance reform has been primarily directed at
the few who were thought to have achieved undue influence with large sums of money.
Prior to Obama (and may be Dean), large fundraising levels have not been achieved
by collecting many small amounts. Is the system broken or do we have a new paradigm?
If we deem large amounts of money achieved by these means to be a challenge to the
safeguards, then that is a separate matter. For once the Democrats clobbered the Republicans in message, strategy and organization, but they did so with financial methods largely regarded as being benign to the integrity of the democratic process. This remains to be seen, however.
• VP – Why have so few recent senators become presidents? Precisely because they have large public records. Biden not examined? Are you kidding? He has run twice for
the presidency, been examined by his opponents and the media for years. If his shortcomings don’t have the traction that Hanson feels is due, this is probably because the public has accepted him for other reasons and not because the media have given him a pass.
• The Past – is Bill Ayers, et al, a fire of raging concern or simply a light on
a man and a process, one that merely conveys the complex nature of being
a national political figure? Obama twice replied to Wright. The first will remain
one of the foremost statements on race in our history. I think the country prefers
to evaluate the wisdom and the man, one capable of such reflection and conclusions, rather than feel fear produced by the tentative associations. Why are we not examining
McCain in light of Charles Keating? Because of how well he handled the scandal’s aftermath; he has been judged and absolved or forgiven.
But Hanson is contending something IS there, and we are not getting it because of
media bias. Why doesn’t he or others uncover it in the best of journalistic traditions? In the meantime, drop the Swift Boat style of journalism, loose the guilt-by-association and innuendo. Because the claim is such a hatchet job, I doubt the sincerity of his thesis. I think the public (and the media), with more than a modicum of good inquiry, have reasonably reviewed and judged the matters, and they have elected to move on.
• Socialism – Time for a civic and economic history lesson for Hanson. That socialist
Adam Smith advocated what we call a progressive income tax. Independent tax advocacy groups favor Obama’s proposals to McCain’s for their fairness and numerical impact for the right reasons. Obama words to “spread the wealth” were wrongheaded because they were easy prey, not because they represent some new, unwise or radical tax policy for the country. Actually Obama is a socialist and a Muslim both. That is
why that communist rag, The Economist, supports his candidacy.
Respectfully,
Nov 3, 2008 - 9:31 am 46. One Fine Jay » The positive case for John McCain:RC
[...] that he will not compromise his integrity in order to win an election (Despite that, he has been accused of having the sleaziest, most false campaign ever.) His is the notion of honor that states that victory should never come at the expense of [...]
Nov 3, 2008 - 10:47 am 47. Arthur:RE: Gaffe Prices:
based on the election results,
Nov 5, 2008 - 4:54 pm 48. Pajamas Media » Sarah Palin: The GOP’s Best Hope in 2012:Looks like I was right you were wrong! But go ahead and just shout nonsense and point fingers; if you don’t want to change things you can just pretend.
[...] presidential campaigns in history. Yet, just as Mac’s staff remained in deep denial of their failing strategies throughout the election, they persist in deep denial, blaming Palin instead of themselves for their [...]
Nov 8, 2008 - 1:27 am 49. Gal:You’re assuming that anyone wants to preserve Western culture. Where do you see that in our leaders? Westernism is kicked down constantly, blamed for all that’s Wrong in our world; who would be interested in your plan?
Dec 3, 2008 - 1:41 am