Buy My Book Here

Fox News Ticker

Please check out my new books, "Bullied to Death: Chris Mackney's Kafkaesque Divorce and Sandra Grazzini-Rucki and the World's Last Custody Trial"

Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Primary Coverage: Hyperanalysis, Saturation...Enough Already

Here is how much of a political junkie I am. I get emails from the Rudy campaign, the McCain Campaign, the Duncan Hunter Campaign, and even Hillary's campaign, and that doesn't include the plethora of political websites and interest groups like GOP USA and the Minutemen that also send me emails on a regular basis. This political junkie has had it with the primary season and I am quite curious about the new evidence in the Natalie Holloway case and that's only because it has nothing to do with the primaries. At this point, I am searching for a tv station that constantly produces the sound of nails on a chalk board only because that also has nothing to do with the primary election.

Everywhere I turn, I find good honorable candidates get cut up and hyperanalyzed by folks who frankly have no standing or credibility to criticize a garbage man let alone long standing public servants. The last two days everywhere I turn, I find an endless stream of hyperanalysis of whether or not Mitt Romney did or didn't call for a timeline...whether or not John McCain did or didn't lie about it...and whether or not John McCain did or didn't say he wouldn't nominate someone like Sam Alito to the bench. Both professional and amateur pundits hyperanalyze every word, every movement, and every sound until no one is sure what the debate is.

The whole entire thing is trivial and worthless. Let's look at this battle over timelines for instance. Comparing the record and credentials of John McCain to Mitt Romney on issues relating to Iraq, GWOT, and foreign policy in general is sort of like comparing the basketball games of LeBron James to my own. There are many good reasons why Mitt Romney would be a great President however none of them relate in any way to being ready to be Commander in Chief.

Many amateur and professional pundits then try and paint John McCain as a liar for suggesting Romney was for timelines. No living American has sacrificed more and served more honorably for this country than McCain. To question his character and principle, especially if you are one with little sacrifice or accomplishment of your own, is really the height of hubris. Most of these folks that question his integrity have an agenda. They may hate McCain/Feingold or McCain/Kennedy, but that isn't enough for them. Thus, they create imaginary issues of character to further demean McCain. Make no mistake similary tactics have been used against all the candidates on both sides.

All these amateur and professional pundits are preaching to the choir. No one is going to be swayed by their obvious and clearly biased rants. Furthermore, they all say the same thing. I can't turn around without someone proclaiming that they refuse to vote for this or that candidate under any circumstances, or that you must vote for this or that candidate or face the wrath of a third or fourth candidate winning the White House. Every Republican candidate has been portrayed as being the end of the Republican party as we know it as well. Most of these rants are frankly nothing more than an homage and a regurgitation of the rants of the likes of Rush Limbaugh. It is one thing for Rush to do it, but when his rants spawn a million other rants that are frankly no different, well, then, this political junkie has had it.

Blogging evolved from so called citizen journalists who felt the media had ceased to do its job effectively and decided that they would do it for them. It turns out that most bloggers aren't very much different than the very pundits they rail against, only they are a lot less eloquent, they don't get paid, and their political ideology is different. The very same citizen journalists that scream about bias, lack of disclosure, and corruption in the media, then turn around and write a biased, corrupt, piece in which they fail to disclose that they support an opponent of the very politician they rail against.

All of this writing is written for the benefit of no one but sycophants. Here is just one example of what I mean.

I oppose a McCain nomination not only because he has a liberal record and his hallmark legislation was 1) a blow to free speech (McCain-Feingold), 2) an attack on democracy and capitalism that enabled people like Hillary Clinton and Mr. Hsu to raise millions of dollars through apparent fraud, meanwhile preventing people like you, me, and Chuck Norris from donating more than a few thousand dollars to a candidate we support (McCain-Feingold), 3) an attack on national sovereignty and the rule of law (McCain-Kennedy), 4) capitulation to global warming hysteria (McCain-Leiberman), and an attack on free markets (All of the above cited legislation), but most of all because he has been dishonest in his campaign.

At least this blogger disclosed his bias, however the only one being dishonest is th blogger themselves. McCain has a long a distinguished career and he has never had his character questioned, at least not with any credibility, even if he did misconstrue Romney's position, and that is not at all clear, wouldn't forty plus years of distinguished service give McCain some slack to cut. In fact, the blogger doesn't like McCain, I believe, specifically because of McCain/Feingold. There is no problem there, however creating this red herring about so called lying in the campaign is nothing more than a means to blunt a politician that he doesn't support. With all of the accusation traded by every campaign against every other one, it is beyond irresponsible to isolate one attack and hold said politician to a standard that you refuse to do with any other.

The whole entire thing makes me crazy. Today, Michelle ran a piece questioning McCain's allegiance to the free markets. Apparently, something that McCain said last night spawned this latest attack. I am frankly fed up to even bother reading the contents and figure it out. All I know is that he has had thirty plus years of public service. If he really was anti free market, it wouldn't have taken until last night to realize it. The politicians frankly attack each other enough for me. I really have no use for people that are supposed to naturally suport them following suit and attacking them some more. Isn't there anything positive that anyone can say about anyone of the candidates on either side?

I have watched good man after good man...from Rudy, to McCain, to Romney, to Huckabee, and now McCain again, get put through the gauntlet. Because folks are unhappy with one thing, or two things, or even three things, they must be unhappy entirely. McCain is unacceptable because of McCain/Feingold or McCain/Kennedy. A lifetime worth of work is rendered irrelevant because one or two or even three political actions weren't what some people wanted. Back in April, John McCain gave an empassioned and eloquent defense of the surge and the war in Iraq in general. At the time, the conventional wisdom was that such a defense was political suicide. McCain didn't care and he risked his entire political future on the outcome of an unpopuluar war. He was fond of saying this...

I'd rather lose an election than a war

When the chips were down, he was the only one to stand up for a policy that was successful but unpopular. Yet, none of the so called critics that incessently hyperanalzye and hyper criticize McCain ever give him even one iota of credit for this political courage.

Frankly, and ultimately, McCain is demonized by Conservatives because he dared to stray from the Conservative line from time to time and he chose a different path. He did it from time to time mind you. On the whole, he is quite conservative, but that isn't enough. Because he dared to cross the line and work with liberals on some issues, he must be destroyed and demonized.

Of course, McCain isn't the only one to face the firing squad. He is just the one to face it now. Romney's been called a flip flopper. He's had everything from his health care plan, to his tax plan, to his border plan, hyper analyzed for any hint that it too might stray from the conservative party line. If there was a hint, then that was also immediately hyperanalyzed and demonized.

Don't get me wrong. Of course, candidates should be criticized and they should be scrutinized when it is appropriate. I don't have a problem with any questioning anyone else's record. The problem I have is when that is all there is. Going by what I have read each and every candidate in the field is one step above the devil. They will each destroy the party and the country, and they are all ruthless tyrants with no ethics, morals or principles. The whole thing makes me sick. I heard that there is movement in the Natalie Holloway case and also that Brittney is in trouble again. I can't wait to get more details not because I care, but because neither has anything to do with the election.

3 comments:

Editor said...

But Romney IS a flip flopper.

For example:

ABORTION RIGHTS

"I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard."
Boston Herald Debate, 10/29/02

"Roe v. Wade continues to work its destructive logic throughout our society This can't continue."
Speech to the Massachusetts Citizens For Life Mother's Day Pioneer Valley Dinner, 5/10/07

IMMIGRATION REFORM

"With these 11 million people [here illegally], let's have them registered, know who they are....those that are here paying taxes and not taking government benefits should begin a process towards application for citizenship."
Lowell Sun, 3/30/06

"One simple rule: no amnesty. If that [Kennedy-McCain bill] is not a form of amnesty, I don't know what is."
New York Times, 6/4/07

[Romney is apparently the only remaining GOP candidate who has actually employed illegal aliens -- at the Romney Mansion]

GUN LAWS

"We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts; I support them. I won't chip away at them; I believe they protect us and provide for our safety."
Romney in 2002 gov. debate, Boston Globe, 1/14/07
"I have a gun of my own. I go hunting myself. I'm a member of the NRA [for less than one year] and believe firmly in the right to bear arms."
Boston Globe, 1/14/07

AMENDMENT TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE

"Mitt does not support it...As far as Mitt is concerned, it goes farther than current law, and therefore it's unnecessary."
Romney spokesman, Boston Globe, 3/22/02

[As governor, Mitt Romney issued an executive order forcing justices of the peace to perform homosexual weddings, or resign. Then he ordered marriage licenses changed to read "party A" and "party B" – instead of "husband" and "wife."]

"When I was Governor, we took every conceivable step within the law to stop, block or slow down this unprecedented court decision."
Speech to National Right to Life Convention, 6/15/07

"NO NEW TAXES" PLEDGE

"I'm not intending to, at this stage, sign a document which would prevent me from being able to look specifically at the revenue needs of the commonwealth"
Associated Press, 3/27/02

"Signing the pledge now sends a very clear message to those in Washington who have voted against tax relief and for tax hikes that such actions will never grow our regional and national economies."
Romney spokesman, Boston Globe, 1/5/07

MINIMUM WAGE

"I think the minimum wage ought to keep pace with inflation. I think the minimum wage is a good thing to have in our economy and I think it ought to be updated."
Boston Globe, 10/17/94

"[T]he challenge with raising the minimum wage excessively is it is a hurt to those that are entering the work force, the very poor, those that are trying to get early jobs, get those first jobs."
Associated Press, 7/25/06

CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY

"I don't think you go back and rewrite the contract the government has with people who've retired."
Boston Globe, 10/17/94

"Personal accounts would be a big plus."... [Romney]also said changing the retirement age could be considered, as well as basing the Social Security cost of living adjustment on a different inflation gauge.
Union Leader, 6/7/07

ADOPTION NON-DISCRIMINATION

Governor Mitt Romney and a legislative leader yesterday delivered unwelcome news to the Catholic bishops of Massachusetts, who plan to seek permission from the state to exclude gay and lesbian parents from adopting children through its social service agencies. The governor said he was not authorized to give such an exemption...
Boston Globe, 2/17/06

"And then another slide along the slippery slope. The Catholic Church was forced to end its adoption service, which was crucial in helping the state find homes for some of our most difficult to place children... Now, even religious freedom was being trumped by the new-found 'right' of gay marriage."
Speech to National Right to Life Convention, 6/15/07

STEM CELL RESEARCH

[Romney]endorsed embryonic stem cell research, saying the controversial science might one day help treat his wife's multiple sclerosis...."I am in favor of stem cell research. I will work and fight for stem cell research. I'd be happy to talk to [President Bush] about this, though I don't know if I could budge him an inch."
Boston Globe, 6/14/02

"FACT: Governor Romney Opposes Using Taxpayer Money to Fund Embryo-Destructive Research."
MittRomney.com A Record of Protecting Life

BUSH TAX CUTS

Governor Mitt Romney refused yesterday to endorse tax cuts at the heart of President Bush's economic program...In addition to refusing to endorse the president's tax cut, the governor surprised several people at the meeting by saying he is open to a federal increase in gas taxes.
Boston Globe, 4/11/0

[Romney] said it was "absolutely critical" to renew tax cuts proposed by President George W. Bush. Letting them expire would result in a "massive tax increase" that would retard economic growth, Romney said.
Detroit Free Press, 2/8/07

DESIRE TO SERVE IN VIETNAM

"I was not planning on signing up for the military. It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam..."
Boston Herald, 5/2/94
["As the Vietnam War raged in the 1960s, Mitt Romney received a deferment from the draft as a Mormon 'minister of religion' for the duration of his missionary work in France, which lasted two and a half years.
Before and after his missionary deferment, Romney also received nearly three years of deferments for his academic studies. When his deferments ended and he became eligible for military service in 1970, he drew a high number in the annual lottery that determined which young men were drafted. His high number ensured he was not drafted into the military.
The deferments for Mormon missionaries became increasingly controversial in the late 1960s, especially in Utah, leading the Mormon Church and the government to limit the number of church missionaries who could put off their military service. That agreement called for each church ward, or church district, to designate one male every six months to be exempted from potential duty for the duration of his missionary work.
Romney's home state was Michigan, making his 4-D exemption as a missionary all but automatic because of the relatively small number of Mormon missionaries from that state. . .
By serving as a missionary and being given the deferment, Romney ensured that he would not be drafted from July 1966 until February 1969. Romney's draft record from the time describes him as 'minister of religion or divinity student.'" Boston Globe, 6/27/07]

"I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there and in some ways it was frustrating not to feel like I was there as part of the troops that were fighting in Vietnam."
Boston Globe, 6/24/07

REAGAN REPUBLICANISM

"I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush."
Boston Herald, 10/27/94

"Ronald Reagan is ... my hero. ... I believe that our party's ascendancy began with Ronald Reagan's brand of visionary and courageous leadership."
Boston Globe, 1/19/07

mike volpe said...

I said little about Romney and certainly nothing about his flip flopping, and frankly the flip flops are one of the main reason why he is third behind Rudy, now out of course, and McCain, my current pick.

That said, your comment goes to show my point. You just couldn't resist taking a shot at Romney. Yes, Romney has flip flopped and no I don't believe they are genuine. He is a also a successful business man, who turned that success into a successful run as chair of the olympics and then governor of Massachusetts. He is obviously an accomplished manager and that is exactly the sort of person that we need in the WH. Of course, that isn't what you are concerned with. What you want to do is immediately find a way in which to cut him up and demonize him.

You had a long list prepared. It was likely cut and pasted from another source. Maybe you have already written such a piece yourself or you just found this information through google. I don't know. I do know that you showed up and read a piece by someone that said they were sick and tired of everyone cutting up fine and distinguished candidates and apparently this piece inspired you to cut up a fine and distinguished candidate some more.

Exhibit A why I am sick and tired of the primary coverage.

shua d nedy said...

Excellent points in this article. It seems like even the mainstream media in the debates have often set up the candidates with their questions in hopes of personal attacks between them. It's way past time to focus on the cnadidates stance on a wider range of real life issues.