Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Via Atrios:
Media Matters discusses the rank hypocrisy of how Presidential candidates are covered.
Imagine how the media would react if a multimillionaire, East Coast, big-city, thrice-married presidential candidate who was a progressive Democrat said his most recent music purchase was opera, his favorite fitness activity, golf, and added that he doesn't drive -- he navigates.
Or if a progressive Democratic candidate who had launched his political career by marrying into a wealthy and politically connected family, then promptly running for Congress, revealed that he has pet turtles named "Cuff" and "Link."
Or if a progressive Democratic candidate who was the son of a governor, who has a net worth of around $200 million, whose own campaign staff was concerned he is seen as not tough enough and that his hair looks too perfect ... imagine if such a candidate said that if he weren't running for office, he'd probably be chief executive of an auto company and whose staff boasted that the difference between him and the president is "intelligence."
They are speaking about Giuliani, McCain, and Romney of course. If a democrat had that kind of material to work with, the media would go nutty fruit loops on them.
I do want to use this as a springboard for another point that sticks at my gut. Who certified the media as to knowing what is Presidential or not? Kucinich, Gravel, and Paul are not my cup of tea, but I should be allowed to make that decision for myself without the media doing the job for me. The media's track record on this is suspect enough that they should be sitting quietly in the back of the classroom with a dunce cap when the subject of "electability" and what makes a good president comes under discussion.
The classic example is the media and adultery. You can't be president you had an affair!(only applies to democrats. Giuliani, Gingrich, Reagan, Delay, McCain are just rakish guys).
Would somebody in the media please explain how they came up with this crap? I want a listing of the presidents who committed adultery and those who didn't compared to their historical ranking. FDR, JFK, Thomas Jefferson were all worse presidents than Nixon I guess. He may have violated our constitutional liberties, but he didn't violate the Mayflower Madam's girls. Let's dig him out of the grave and give him back the job that is his destiny.
George W. Bush is apparently faithful to Laura, the bottle, and repeating talking points. He must be put on Mount Rushmore!
The media continues to harp on adultery (by democrats) as disqualifying character flaws against being a President, when it appears to this observer that some of our best presidents had the worst personal morals when it comes to sexuality.
How about we let the voters decide what is important, and the media can focus even harder on what Anna Nicole Smith's enema entrails reveals about her frame of mind during her last few days?
Sunday, March 11, 2007
MOSCOW - Russians voted Sunday in scattered regional ballots marred by complaints that opposition forces are being frozen out of the country's politics.
Although two mainstream parties and a smattering of smaller ones are on the ballot for legislatures in 14 of Russia's 86 regions, critics say the appearance of genuine pluralism is only superficial.
Many of the voters who turned out in early morning in St. Petersburg, one of the election regions, expressed dismay that some parties had been barred from the ballot.
The liberal Yabloko party was not allowed on the ballot in Russia's second city because electoral officials ruled that more than 10 percent of the signatures checked by authorities were invalid. The party says its appeals were thwarted even after people whose signatures were ruled invalid testified to their authenticity.
Karl Rove was seen this morning in Moscow, wiping a tear from his eye muttering softly, "They are all grown up now", before a meeting with a Russian "businessman" in an alley behind a bar.
Seriously though, I looked into pootie-poot's eyes, and I saw George W. Bush. They genuinely are soul mates. That is where people are wrong to be dissapointed in Vladimir Putin. He is like Bush, and Bush infatuated himself, was in love. Putin is just more efficient at killing his critics. It's true. We each have something to teach each other. It's part of being in the world family, and the league of nations, and the coalition of those willing to urinate on their citizens. So far it's us and Russia. Let's not forget to invite Poland.
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