Comments on: Obama Meets the Governors

By: Pofarmer

Pofarmer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:27:23 +0000

It was very interesting that at the Republican convention, Fred Thompson, and to a lesser degree Mitt Romney, indicted the MSM. The McCain decided to play footsy with them, and wouldn’t call them out on obvious bias. That, in itself, was very frustrating. I really do hope that the stories of Fred Thompson schooling Sarah are true. If she can articulate a clear conservative message, coupled with the way she connects with voters, she could be a real winner, if there’s enough left to win in 4 years.

By: Eric Blair

Eric Blair — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:31:03 +0000

Narciso, I didn’t know we were disagreeing. You remain correct: the MSM was despicable. The whole concept of Katie Couric or Charlie Gibson trying to claim that they are boffins ought to be funny. Except that they got away with it. And many people in the public bought it—but mostly due to partisanship (remember how bloody smart Al Gore and John Kerry were supposed to be in school, compared to GW Bush?).

If you get a chance, narciso, go look up the “Gell-Man Amnesia Effect” that the late Michael Crichton has discussed at length. You’ll be glad you did.

Trying to state that a particular candidate should be more “intellectual” is a very slippery slope. It very easily elides into elitism, and not on any factual basis. And it is SO frustrating to me. When I would get students who would sneer at Governor Palin’s “intelligence” (not knowing anything about her other than what the MSM was telling them), I would ask them how their toaster worked at home. They would look all confused. I would remind them that anyone can make someone else look unintelligent.

The fact is, NY Times crossword puzzle solver or reader of The American Prospect or not, Sarah Palin had more real experience running anything in government than the other three candidates. And, I would add, the vast majority of the posters here. Including me.

But this is nothing new. I had to listen constantly in the 1980s about how “stupid” and “Ignorant” a person was Ronald Reagan. Strange, when I read his letters, I found that not to be the case.

Isn’t it sad that people cannot simply say that they disagree with the politics of a candidate and will not vote for them? Instead, it has to turn into the rejected candidate being labeled as craven or stupid. Or even into Andrew Sullivan crazy territory.

I also think, narciso, that McCain’s campaign treated Sarah Palin very poorly indeed. But she is very tough. And now she knows what she is up against.

Our folks have to be better than they have been, because of the press. In a way, that is a good thing—especially how some of the Republicans have been running things in the near past.

Also, Dana, a tip of the hat. A classy person, as always.

By: narciso

narciso — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:10:02 +0000

I don’t know if McCain actually knew, since he considered the press,”his base”. Sarah probably suspected, since according to the Kaylee Johnson bio (why wasn’t this book, bought and delivered in large quantities by the McCain campaign) her races against Stein, Stevens, Murkowski had always featured tough tactics. But she probably didn’t expect her capital’s paper to be such a shill for Obama. She didn’t think that obviously
disprovable lies would be circulated with greater
and greater vehemence, in the papers, on left wing websites, on YouTube (some of it so vile, that one questions the human dignity of who would
provide it) She thought the McCain staff, was obviously more experienced at this, and they knew what they were doing. I’ve made the comparison elsewhere that the trial by fire she endured is not unlike that of Jimmy Stewart’s Mr. Smith goes to Washington. He prevails in the end, but not before the corrupt power brokers, attempt to discredit him and his message. For Sarah, it must have been a rude awakening, for more often she didn’t recognize the reality or even the portrait
of her in the media.

By: Dana

Dana — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:29:50 +0000

Comment by narciso — 12/3/2008 @ 6:32 pm

Knowing Eric Blair as an upstanding guy and speaking for myself, no apology is necessary but thank you. I think most people here would agree with your assessment and the bitter taste we’re left with in regard to the media’s dishonesty is undeniable but there is work to do.

At least now its out in the open. I think the right resisted acknowledging for a long time the determination and intent of the media to sink McCain/Palin and boost Obama. At times it even appeared that McCain/Palin, due to denial or naivete, allowed themselves to be made chump change of by the media. They realized too late just how willing the media was to give up their integrity to make sure Obama won. Hard lesson to learn, know your enemy.

By: narciso

narciso — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:32:25 +0000

I’m sorry if I overreacted against both Eric Blair’s (very apropo with the Orwellian themes) and Dana’s comments, but the media malpractice in this campaign was so blatant and vicious, that I had to correct the record. I didn’t know how much either of you, knew about the actual record, the same goes for Jindal, who I also hold in high admiration; as you can tell; interesting another blog excerpted the least salient part of my comment. I don’t put it past her, to build up a more comprehensive knowledge base, but Katie Couric’s arrogant attitude, rubbed me the wrong way; as my faux Palin response indicated. I think a genuine ability to connect with people, has as much a priority as specialized knowledge; you can usually find advisors who will provide the answers(not always, as the other party proves itself) The greater question seems to lie in what happens when the source of knowledge is contaminated;
sadly the latest example is the new NBER report that ‘cooked’ the books, in order to misrepresent when the recession started.

The whole truth about William Ayers, that Sarah was that Sarah was essentially right, about
Obama’s associations; yet the media treated her
legitimate compliants as incendiary. Yet as soon
as the election, he popped out of his groundhog
day exile; giving his biased interpretation on GMA and Salon

By: imdw

imdw — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:50:17 +0000

“Whether she can’t think quickly on her feet or she thinks too quickly to articulate her thoughts, its part of what worked against her in those bad interviews. ”

Yes. Palin’s problem could be that she thinks too quickly.

“She didn’t whine about her treatment.”

Didn’t she complain about her first amendment rights?

By: imdw

imdw — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:45:28 +0000

“Dead right that they will try to hang a “creationist” sign on Jindal. I just hope that, when some talking head in the MSM does that, with cameras rolling, Jindal asks them some basic questions about biology.”

It would be great to have Jindal tell us all about evolution and biology.

By: Ed

Ed — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:43:29 +0000

As usual, Dems come to a knife fight with an Uzi, Reps come with a slingshot. Bush tried to play nice for 8 years and got him nowehere. McCain was for all intents and purposes a Democrat for the past 8 years, got him nowhere. So what do Jindal and Palin do? Follow in Bush and McCain’s failing footsteps of playing nice with the liberals.

Only question for 2012 will be: Does Obama win 47 or 48 states?

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Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:57:16 +0000

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