First of all, welcome to POLITIFIRE. Hopefully you'll enjoy the perspective and will help you come to practical, free-thinking perspectives on the world we live in. We'll delve into some tough issues about the future of our country and how we can affect it at a grass roots level.
Alright, on to the first post. The past half week has been dominated by the newest 'celebrity' (yes, pun intended) in this campaign, Sarah Palin. Governor Palin, who built a reputation as a reformer in her year and a half as the Governor in America's final frontier. Among the headlines the McCain camp attempted to push were that she was a whistleblower in her own party when she saw ethics violations as well pushed through a natural gas pipeline that has been holed up for many years Gov. Palin was introduced last Friday as a surprise pick to everyone, including many Republican insiders. Republican pundints are mixed, from Rush Limbaugh calling her a "home f***ing run" to Wall Street Journal commentator Peggy Noonan who called the pick "BullS**t." Certainly her pick has sent shockwaves down both sides of the isle: making James Dobson and his Neo-Conservative followers happy an anti-choice candidate was chosen, ACTUALLY making Glen Beck excited about this race, and causing silent giggles from Democrats who are giddy that John McCain has just tossed the experience card out of the 'Straight Talk Express.'
After the initial shock of pick and folks realized "Oh my gosh, he wasn't kidding," Americans were left this Labor Day weekend to find out who this kinda hot old gal was who wanted to be one 72 year old heartbeat away from being the leader of the free world. As we found out more about her, it became painfully obvious that John McCain's vetting process is about as stringent as public intoxication laws on Bourbon Street. Among other things, which we'll discuss in later posts, the media (whoever "they" are) had to do the job the McCain campaign didn't allow us to do earlier by not floating her name. So one of the first things we find out is that Gov. Palin is a mother of five and that the baby of the family has Down's Syndrome. Immediately John Roberts from CNN was lambasted by his own colleague Dana Bash, the McCain correspondent, with the charge that by inquiring about the amount of time it would take to take care of this young child and its affect of the vice-presidency, he was a sexist because he might not have asked the same question to a man. Later in the long weekend we find out that Gov. Palin's second oldest child, 17 year old Bristol, is pregnant.
Ok now for the meat of all of this. Is this relevant? Should Gov. Palin be dropped? Should UGA still be ranked #1? Sorry, I get carried away, but yes the dawgs still rule. Of course this stuff is relevant. Look, the extent of our knowledge of this lady was that she's a woman and that she's hot. We deserve to get to know her family. Didn't America think it was relevant to find out about Barack Obama's pastor? Or what about whether he was a Muslim? Or what about whether his wife loves America? Or what about if he went to a Muslim school or not? The media was not being racist were they? No, they were doing their job. This is not to say that political points should be scored by campaigns over a 17 year old. (Although I do find the irony that it is ok to question the honorable military service of John Kerry but when the tables are turned...) The Obama campaign has been careful to distance itself from this rhetoric. What is relevant about Bristol Palin is that her mom OPPOSES the same sex education in public schools that could have saved her and her boyfriend an unwanted pregnancy.(His words: I'm a F***ing redneck, I don't want no kids) Let's not forget, it was SARAH PALIN who thrust her daughter into the media spotlight, not the liberals at the Huffington Post. It was SARAH PALIN who made this young girl, like it or not, co-poster child for teen pregnancy with Britney Spears little sister. What should the media have done, ignored the story? Or better yet, take the National Right to Life's talking points and praise her for her "choice" (ironic they use the word choice when Gov. Palin wants to take that choice away) to keep the baby. No, the media is simply an easy target because 'media' is a general term and because they're an easy target since they won't defend themselves at the risk of sounding partisan. I'll talk more about Gov. Palin's capabilities in other posts, this is just to get us started. Disclaimer: PLEASE DISAGREE WITH ME!! THIS DESERVES DISCUSSION!
Alright, on to the first post. The past half week has been dominated by the newest 'celebrity' (yes, pun intended) in this campaign, Sarah Palin. Governor Palin, who built a reputation as a reformer in her year and a half as the Governor in America's final frontier. Among the headlines the McCain camp attempted to push were that she was a whistleblower in her own party when she saw ethics violations as well pushed through a natural gas pipeline that has been holed up for many years Gov. Palin was introduced last Friday as a surprise pick to everyone, including many Republican insiders. Republican pundints are mixed, from Rush Limbaugh calling her a "home f***ing run" to Wall Street Journal commentator Peggy Noonan who called the pick "BullS**t." Certainly her pick has sent shockwaves down both sides of the isle: making James Dobson and his Neo-Conservative followers happy an anti-choice candidate was chosen, ACTUALLY making Glen Beck excited about this race, and causing silent giggles from Democrats who are giddy that John McCain has just tossed the experience card out of the 'Straight Talk Express.'
After the initial shock of pick and folks realized "Oh my gosh, he wasn't kidding," Americans were left this Labor Day weekend to find out who this kinda hot old gal was who wanted to be one 72 year old heartbeat away from being the leader of the free world. As we found out more about her, it became painfully obvious that John McCain's vetting process is about as stringent as public intoxication laws on Bourbon Street. Among other things, which we'll discuss in later posts, the media (whoever "they" are) had to do the job the McCain campaign didn't allow us to do earlier by not floating her name. So one of the first things we find out is that Gov. Palin is a mother of five and that the baby of the family has Down's Syndrome. Immediately John Roberts from CNN was lambasted by his own colleague Dana Bash, the McCain correspondent, with the charge that by inquiring about the amount of time it would take to take care of this young child and its affect of the vice-presidency, he was a sexist because he might not have asked the same question to a man. Later in the long weekend we find out that Gov. Palin's second oldest child, 17 year old Bristol, is pregnant.
Ok now for the meat of all of this. Is this relevant? Should Gov. Palin be dropped? Should UGA still be ranked #1? Sorry, I get carried away, but yes the dawgs still rule. Of course this stuff is relevant. Look, the extent of our knowledge of this lady was that she's a woman and that she's hot. We deserve to get to know her family. Didn't America think it was relevant to find out about Barack Obama's pastor? Or what about whether he was a Muslim? Or what about whether his wife loves America? Or what about if he went to a Muslim school or not? The media was not being racist were they? No, they were doing their job. This is not to say that political points should be scored by campaigns over a 17 year old. (Although I do find the irony that it is ok to question the honorable military service of John Kerry but when the tables are turned...) The Obama campaign has been careful to distance itself from this rhetoric. What is relevant about Bristol Palin is that her mom OPPOSES the same sex education in public schools that could have saved her and her boyfriend an unwanted pregnancy.(His words: I'm a F***ing redneck, I don't want no kids) Let's not forget, it was SARAH PALIN who thrust her daughter into the media spotlight, not the liberals at the Huffington Post. It was SARAH PALIN who made this young girl, like it or not, co-poster child for teen pregnancy with Britney Spears little sister. What should the media have done, ignored the story? Or better yet, take the National Right to Life's talking points and praise her for her "choice" (ironic they use the word choice when Gov. Palin wants to take that choice away) to keep the baby. No, the media is simply an easy target because 'media' is a general term and because they're an easy target since they won't defend themselves at the risk of sounding partisan. I'll talk more about Gov. Palin's capabilities in other posts, this is just to get us started. Disclaimer: PLEASE DISAGREE WITH ME!! THIS DESERVES DISCUSSION!
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