Oooh, this week has been a fun one, hasn’t it?
Hillary stuck her foot in her mouth with a comment that seemed to imply she would stay in the race just in case someone offed Obama the same way they did RFK. Contextually, she spoke about her husband securing the nomination in June, and then mentioned RFK’s assassination in June, presumably as another primary lasting until then. The Clinton Machine acted quickly to diffuse the immediate uproar over the remark. Obama accepted her version of the story.
Personally, I smell a bit of courtroom stank. A lawyer says something out of line to plant a seed in the jury’s mind. The judge tells them to forget it, but how can they really erase that from all conscious thought. The Clintons have played the underhanded race card a few times during this campaign, why stop now? Obama getting sniped by some rifle-toting white extremist isn’t a new idea. His chief rival alluding to the thought publicly does give it a bit more credence, though.
The real question to Hillary: why say it at all? G-Dub didn’t wrap up his nomination in 2000 until the summer. Wrong party but a much less controversial example, mmmm-kay?
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Speaking of controversy and off-handed assassination remarks…
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My mother watches Fox News (hi Mom!), just the same as I listen to NPR or read The New York Times. Setting aside the age-old debate of the actual quality of journalism between the instiutions I just mentioned, everyone likes to have their own views reinforced from time to time. Maybe a lot of the time. It’s what you believe and the same way you surround yourself with friends with the same taste in music, you also like a newscast that will in some way reflect your own core values. I can’t (and won’t) knock you for that. I don’t think it’s wrong as long as you incorporate a variety of sources to counterbalance any bias one particular outlet may have.
But what really irks me about Fox News is the smugness that I see when I watch. Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Brit Hume, they just rub me the wrong way. Same way Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann do, if I’m spreading the love. Seems more rampant at Fox, though.
But the smarminess of the woman in the clip above as she slips and then turns the unfortunate slip into a truly offensive remark baffles me. The way that a personal bias only reserved for a dinner table at a house with a confederate flag flying so effortlessly works its way into political commentary on a national news network is inexcusable. And the entire network employing Kevin Nealon’s Subliminal Man tactics on views to associate Obama with Ossama is…well…I don’t really have the (bullshit) words.
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Yet another hot button issue this past week/weekend was McCain’s age (it’s there).
The LA Times offers its own gory analysis of McCain’s recently released health records. Recent Annenberg graduate Sonata Lee ponders the matter on The Huffington Post. The jolly Brits chime in from across the ocean in an excellent Economist analysis.
Clean bill of health or not, the dude would be 72 when sworn in. The life expectancy for an American male born in the year 2000 is about 75 years according to a few sources I found online. McCain cashed in his 401k almost six years ago. He’s eligible for Social Security.
I think ageism is equally as disheartening as racism and homophobia, but I believe that the criteria for ageism change slightly when we are talking about the President of the United States. My Uncle Tommy had his wits about him into his 90’s, but that doesn’t mean he was fit to run a country, much less this one. Have you seen what the presidency did to G-Dub and Billy Clint, both young guys when they were sworn in? I mean, McCain would look like Skeletor after one term.
Need more perspective? Check out all the Things Younger Than McCain.
Burning question: When does discrimination stop and legitimate concern begin?
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Age conerns aside, however, a much more accurate assessment of whether a man is fit to be president or not (and is allowed to run on the “experience” ticket) is his knowledge of foreign affairs. McCain has hammered Obama all week on his willingness to sit down with foreign leaders who are notriously outspoken against the US.
The natural progression here is assume that Obama somewhere, somehow has said that he would sit down with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Joe Klein, and the “crack Time Magazine research department” did some digging and found that Obama in fact has never said Ahmadinejad, a point that McCain specifically mentions ad nauseum.
He did say that he would negotiate with the Iranian leadership–but, on matters of foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear program, the guy in charge is the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. As of today, John McCain was still accusing Obama of wanting to negotiate with Ahmadinejad. Why doesn’t the McCain campaign and other assorted Republicans ever accuse Obama of wanting to negotiate with Khamenei? Well, because Khamenei isn’t quite the flagrant anti-Semite Ahmadinejad is…and, as we keep hearing, Obama has a Jewish problem.
Klien actually sticks it to him in a press conference about McCain incorrect assessment that Ahmadinejad is even the one with the power.
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Of course, it always depends on the situation, the country, and the leader. Blanket committments or criticisms from either camp are premature. In the case of Iran, it might not matter anyways.
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Last, but certainly not least, two stories that have flown under the radar, relative to their own scope.
First, the LA Times reports that Congress is planning on taking some form of action against the Pentagon for its elaborate PR campaign using retired military personnel as agenda-boosters on news networks. Even if the cable networks aren’t covering it, at least Congress is taking a looksy.
Second, McCain delivered a speech on May 6th- during the Indiana and North Carolina primaries- that contained many hidden (and some overt) messages about his intentions for the judiciary branch should he become president. Jeffrey Toobin at The New Yorker performs the autopsy and finds some dirt.
Tags: foot in mouth, gaffe, hillary clinton, iran, rfk
You should sit down and talk to Frank about this one dude… 15min with him on his views of this election might change your outlook on Obama-rama. Or; maybe not – but as a man McCain’s age, a GOP supporter, and someone who reads more than even you, it might be an interesting conversation.
I do my best to balance out my Fox and CNN watching. My Newsweek, Time and other news mags. I have also started reading P+P on the regular to get a younger fresher look at the more liberal side of the scope. 15min with Frank (which now that I say it out loud might be a good title for a piece), leaves me feeling filled to the brim with knowledge. And; although I know he leans more to the right than the left, I don’t feel tainted by bis. Just the facts Chris, just the facts.
Anyway, regardless of our contrary political feelings, this was a well written piece. Kudos sukka
My parents are hardcore right-wingers, read a ton, keep up on news, and have been trying to bring me over to their side for my entire life, but somehow, someway, I still managed to end up where I’m at in terms of belief system.
As much as one can argue policy talking points of all the candidates, once elected, all of their plans have to pass through both houses of Congress. Many of their day-to-day policy decisions will be made by members of their cabinet. Policy statements during a general election run-up tend to reflect more what the American people want to hear than what is actually possible (gas tax anyone?).
So what are we left with, then? For the first time, someone who has the power to inspire is running for political office. Someone I think many individuals would be thrilled to have representing our country to the rest of the world. Someone who is eloquent and thoughtful when speaking. Someone who will be guided by more than his gut. Someone who has a background of diversity and international experience. It’s impossible to say if any of this will actually make Obama a good president until we actually see him in action, but perception is so much when it comes to credibility, and Bush has squandered all credibility the US had with the world with his unilateralism and stubborn attitude toward any country or leader that doesn’t fall in line with his system of beliefs. Because we are the 800 pound gorilla of the world doesn’t exclude us from compromise if the will of an entire region (or the world) stands against us. That is not how I want America to act. As McCain systematically abandons all of his positions contrary to Republican ideology that earned him the maverick label in the first place in order to gain the support of the conservative base, Obama sticks to his guns. Case in point: he was the only one not afraid to voice the same concern many prominent economists had regarding the gas tax pandering offered by McCain and Clinton just for the sake of garnering support among working class voters struggling with gas prices. It may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of policies and politics, but it’s little things like that which reveal a man’s true character, and that alone is enough for Obama to earn my vote over someone who will say whatever it takes to get elected.
You make very good points, but Obama scares me. I know much of the talk about him being a “socialist” is rightwing propaganda… but he has sad a few things that really rub me the wrong way. I’m afraid that we are going to wind up with a smooth talking man in the oval office who is going to tax the hell out of me… I am a big believer in little government. I don’t like the ideal of socialized medicine. I work my ass off to get a job that has really great health care. I’m “sorry” if others try and fail, or just don’t have what it takes. That may sound cold or caulis on my part, but I believe in survival of the fittest.
I wasn’t always in the position I am now (you know that better than most). I was on the bottom with no health care, no 401k, etc. That was my own fault, but I came back from it through hard work. It just seems to me that Obama wants to take the country a way I don’t want it to go… Sure, I think he will be a good face for our country – make us more popular in the court of world opinion; and that is important. I just don’t want him dipping into my Kool-Aid and I know he will if he gets into office. I just don’t think I will get anything back for it.
I’m not saying I want Mc to be the leader of the free world either. I took a cheesy online test to see which side I am “truly†on. I agree with 33% of McCain’s platform, 30% of Obama’s… so I’m not going to win either way. But, at least with McCain I know what I’m going to get. On the other hand, I do like go gamble and maybe that’s just want we need to do- spin the wheel, let Obama drive for four years and see how it goes. I mean, how much damage could he really do? I’m not as well read as you and I have to rely on “Frank†for a good bit of my party knowledge. I just feel sick about both of these guys and wish we could start over with a new batch of suits to choose from. Unfortunately, wishing doesn’t make it so…