Nothing has been more irritating during the 2008 election cycle than listening to fanatics from the right and left working as hard as they can to spread lies about their opposition.
We have seen the ever-present libelous e-mails saying Barack Obama is a Muslim, or the ones saying he is not respecting the American flag, and this past weekend we saw the far-left spreading rumors that Sarah Palin's last pregnancy was faked to cover up her daughter having an out-of-wedlock child.
Over the weekend, Mrs. Palin announced that her daughter was five months pregnant and the sharks began attacking immediately, and this time it was not just the far left blogs and rumor mongers. The story became a cause celebre with the media, as well.
THERE IS NO STORY!
When we have soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, American jobs being shipped overseas, problems with health care, the misguided No Child Left Behind law, and the price of gasoline is nearing four dollars a gallon, Sarah Palin's daughter's pregnancy is a non-story and an unwelcome distraction in the news.
I have heard some of the media pundits claim it is news because Mrs. Palin is in favor of abstinence-based education. That is a stretch and one being offered simply to allow the story to continue. Just because she favors abstinence-based education and her daughter is pregnant does not make Mrs. Palin a hypocrite. These things happen to families all of the time. It only smacks of hypocrisy if she publicly favors the teaching of abstinence, then persuades her daughter to have sex with her boyfriend. I don't care how deep the media digs (and apparently they don't plan to let this one go), they are not going to uncover anything like that.
It appears that our national media, after missing the boat for a year on a real political sex scandal, the one involving John Edwards, is going to jump all over a non-existent one. In this historic election, isn't there any way we can bring the coverage back to the issues?
Right, it should not be news but what is news is the exploitation of the situation. Just as in 04, the Republicans knew they could not win without the Fundementalists who only care about their own idea of morality (mainly fear of their sexuality) This election has shown their disapproval of Mc Cain and without them there is no winning chance. Since Reagan the REpublicans have shown no limits in the tactics to stay in power and catering to the Evangelicals is proof of that again. This is again Hypocrasy in the highest!
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of non-news things circulating on both sides, but this is probably one of the worst. We can argue about Obama's association with Jeremiah Wright or John McCain's association with Joe Bonanno and at least have a semi-legitimate point to make about their lack of judgment. What's the suggestion here? That Palin should throw her daughter out of the house, disown her and not associate with her because she got pregnant? Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteA few commentators seem hung up on Obama's years as a community organizer and it's time folks on my side dropped that, too. Though it did make for a funny and relevant line in Palin's speech tonight, most of the mentions are just mean spirited and pointless. I don't know exactly what he did as a community organizer and by itself it's no qualification to be President. On the other hand I don't see how we can criticize a qualified, intelligent guy for taking a low paying job helping people.
Maite - hypocrisy is when someone preaches on thing and does another. She's pro-life and is supporting her daughter in not aborting her child. That's not hypocritical. She's a Christian. Christ taught things like "suffer the little children to come to me," "judge not," "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and "blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." What's hypocritical about someone who believes those things supporting her daughter in her hour of need?