The amazing thing is that they still won't admit it.
On Sunday, Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell noticed in passing an obvious example of front-page Obama favoritism in the Post. On Thursday, the huge McCain-Palin rally in suburban Fairfax, Virginia, with an estimated crowd of 23,000 reported in the story, was bizarrely placed on the front page of the Metro section. On June 6, the Post put an Obama rally in Virginia at the Nissan Pavilian concert venue with an estimated attendance of 10,000 people on the front page. (Actually, they offered two front-page stories.) How does the Post defend itself?
Then McCain and Palin's large Fairfax County rally was on the Metro section front page Thursday; a June 6 rally for Obama at Nissan Pavilion was on Page A1. [Assistant managing editor Ed] Thiede said, "We had a busier day with more competing for A1 play Wednesday, including a main art package commemorating the opening of the Sept. 11 memorial." These are logical answers in a newsroom, but they don't cut it with Republican-leaning readers, especially when, as I've reported, Obama has had a preponderance of Page 1 stories and photos throughout the paper.
The New York Times is clearly in full meltdown mode concerning the popularity of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, and is having a hard time covering up its obvious state of panic.
In its popular Sunday edition, the Gray Lady published four hit pieces about the Alaska Governor: a 3,100-word article prominently placed on the front page; two scathing columns by Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd, and; an article questioning Palin's husband's role in their state's government.
That's over 6,000 words about the vice presidential nominee, most of them quite hostile as evidenced by the following from Dowd's piece (emphasis added):
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Here is a great aticle on Obamas ideas on the economy.
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Political Hay
Barack’s Failed Euronomics
By Ralph R. Reiland
Published 9/12/2008 12:07:50 AM
The top concern of voters this year is the economy, with 40 percent of respondents in a recent New York Times/CBS News poll rating the "economy and jobs" as their primary issue in the election and another 15 percent ranking the economic issues of "gas prices and energy policy" as their chief concern.
That combined total of 55 percent is more than double the 21 percent of respondents who ranked "terrorism and national security" as their chief concern.
The bad news for Republicans is that these surveyed voters said Barack Obama would be better than John McCain at handling the economy.
"Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said they were confident that Mr. Obama would make the right decisions on the economy, compared with 54 percent who expressed confidence that Mr. McCain would," reported the Times.
"Voters are more negative about the condition of the nation's economy in this election year than they have been at any time since 1992, when Bill Clinton unseated an incumbent president by running an 'it's the economy, stupid' campaign," reported the Times.
Moreover, nearly half of the poll's respondents said they expected Sen. McCain to continue the policies of President George Bush (while only 9 percent agreed that he should).
Obama, adding to the negativity about the economy in order to sell "change," regularly portrays the U.S. economy as in a state of near-collapse. "Economic disaster is already here," he declared at a recent campaign stop in Virginia.
In fact, the economy is not in a state of "disaster," and "change" in the wrong direction would only make things worse.
With high gas prices, for instance, the most likely consequence of Obama's calls for restrictions on drilling and higher taxes on oil companies would be less supply and even higher prices at the pump.
KEITH MARSDEN PROVIDES a more accurate and less-politicized description of the current condition of the American economy than the picture Obama paints at his rallies.
On the global level, Marsden, a senior economist at the International Labor Organization, a former economic adviser at the World Bank and a fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies, reports that "U.S. output has expanded faster than in most advanced economies over the eight years of George Bush's presidency."
More precisely, the latest Eurostat report from the European Commission regarding the change in economic growth in the second quarter of 2008 compared to the first quarter shows that the U.S. economy was up by 0.5 percent while the Euro zone taken as a whole declined by 0.2 percent. "It marked the first time since the early 1990s that GDP has fallen overall in the 15 countries that use the euro," reported the Wall Street Journal.
Moving in the opposite direction of the increase in growth in the U.S. economy, the percentage change in the growth rates in the second quarter of this year in Italy, France, Germany and Japan were universally negative at, respectively, -0.3, -0.3, -0.5, and -0.6 percent.
On income, the World Development Indications 2008 report from the World Bank shows national income per capita in the U.S. to now be approximately a third higher than in England, Germany or Japan.
Obama, arguing that the distribution of U.S. incomes is increasingly "unfair," is calling for redistribution by way of higher taxes at the top and more government subsidies at the bottom. In fact, the latest World Bank figures "show that the richest 20 percent of U.S. households had a 45.8 percent share of total income, similar to the levels in the U.K. (44.0 percent) and Israel (44.9 percent)," reports Marsden, while in "65 other countries the richest quintile had a larger share than in the United States."
With jobs, the U.S. unemployment rate averaged 4.7 percent from 2001 to 2007. "This compares with a 5.2 percent average rate during President Clinton's terms in office," reports Marsden, "and is well below the euro zone average of 8.3 percent since 2000."
Obama, pursuing "social justice," is calling for a euro-style economic strategy of more taxes, more protectionism, more unionism, and more regulations -- the exact formula of community organizing that's produced slow economic growth and high unemployment throughout Europe.
Ralph R. Reiland is an associate professor of economics at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh.
Letter to the Editor
Print This Article
Email This Article
About RSS Feeds
Political Hay
Barack’s Failed Euronomics
By Ralph R. Reiland
Published 9/12/2008 12:07:50 AM
The top concern of voters this year is the economy, with 40 percent of respondents in a recent New York Times/CBS News poll rating the "economy and jobs" as their primary issue in the election and another 15 percent ranking the economic issues of "gas prices and energy policy" as their chief concern.
That combined total of 55 percent is more than double the 21 percent of respondents who ranked "terrorism and national security" as their chief concern.
The bad news for Republicans is that these surveyed voters said Barack Obama would be better than John McCain at handling the economy.
"Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said they were confident that Mr. Obama would make the right decisions on the economy, compared with 54 percent who expressed confidence that Mr. McCain would," reported the Times.
"Voters are more negative about the condition of the nation's economy in this election year than they have been at any time since 1992, when Bill Clinton unseated an incumbent president by running an 'it's the economy, stupid' campaign," reported the Times.
Moreover, nearly half of the poll's respondents said they expected Sen. McCain to continue the policies of President George Bush (while only 9 percent agreed that he should).
Obama, adding to the negativity about the economy in order to sell "change," regularly portrays the U.S. economy as in a state of near-collapse. "Economic disaster is already here," he declared at a recent campaign stop in Virginia.
In fact, the economy is not in a state of "disaster," and "change" in the wrong direction would only make things worse.
With high gas prices, for instance, the most likely consequence of Obama's calls for restrictions on drilling and higher taxes on oil companies would be less supply and even higher prices at the pump.
KEITH MARSDEN PROVIDES a more accurate and less-politicized description of the current condition of the American economy than the picture Obama paints at his rallies.
On the global level, Marsden, a senior economist at the International Labor Organization, a former economic adviser at the World Bank and a fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies, reports that "U.S. output has expanded faster than in most advanced economies over the eight years of George Bush's presidency."
More precisely, the latest Eurostat report from the European Commission regarding the change in economic growth in the second quarter of 2008 compared to the first quarter shows that the U.S. economy was up by 0.5 percent while the Euro zone taken as a whole declined by 0.2 percent. "It marked the first time since the early 1990s that GDP has fallen overall in the 15 countries that use the euro," reported the Wall Street Journal.
Moving in the opposite direction of the increase in growth in the U.S. economy, the percentage change in the growth rates in the second quarter of this year in Italy, France, Germany and Japan were universally negative at, respectively, -0.3, -0.3, -0.5, and -0.6 percent.
On income, the World Development Indications 2008 report from the World Bank shows national income per capita in the U.S. to now be approximately a third higher than in England, Germany or Japan.
Obama, arguing that the distribution of U.S. incomes is increasingly "unfair," is calling for redistribution by way of higher taxes at the top and more government subsidies at the bottom. In fact, the latest World Bank figures "show that the richest 20 percent of U.S. households had a 45.8 percent share of total income, similar to the levels in the U.K. (44.0 percent) and Israel (44.9 percent)," reports Marsden, while in "65 other countries the richest quintile had a larger share than in the United States."
With jobs, the U.S. unemployment rate averaged 4.7 percent from 2001 to 2007. "This compares with a 5.2 percent average rate during President Clinton's terms in office," reports Marsden, "and is well below the euro zone average of 8.3 percent since 2000."
Obama, pursuing "social justice," is calling for a euro-style economic strategy of more taxes, more protectionism, more unionism, and more regulations -- the exact formula of community organizing that's produced slow economic growth and high unemployment throughout Europe.
Ralph R. Reiland is an associate professor of economics at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh.
Another example of the peacfulness of Islam.
Our Friends the Saudis: 'It Is Permissible to Kill Them'
Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 9:07:54 am PDT
The chief of Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Judiciary Council has issued a fatwa letting Muslims know that if a TV channel airs “immoral” content during Ramadan, it’s OK to murder the owners.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s top judiciary official has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content.
The 79-year-old Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan said Thursday that satellite channels cause the “deviance of thousands of people.” ...
Al-Lihedan was answering listeners’ questions during the daily “Light in the Path” radio program in which he and others make rulings on what is permissible under Islamic law. One caller asked about Islam’s view of the owners of satellite TV channels that show “bad programs” during Ramadan.
“I want to advise the owners of these channels, who broadcast calls for such indecency and impudence ... and I warn them of the consequences,” he said.
“What does the owner of these networks think, when he provides seduction, obscenity and vulgarity?” he said.
“Those calling for corrupt beliefs, certainly it’s permissible to kill them,” he said. “Those calling for sedition, those who are able to prevent it but don’t, it is permissible to kill them.”
Religion of peace!
Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 9:07:54 am PDT
The chief of Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Judiciary Council has issued a fatwa letting Muslims know that if a TV channel airs “immoral” content during Ramadan, it’s OK to murder the owners.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s top judiciary official has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content.
The 79-year-old Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan said Thursday that satellite channels cause the “deviance of thousands of people.” ...
Al-Lihedan was answering listeners’ questions during the daily “Light in the Path” radio program in which he and others make rulings on what is permissible under Islamic law. One caller asked about Islam’s view of the owners of satellite TV channels that show “bad programs” during Ramadan.
“I want to advise the owners of these channels, who broadcast calls for such indecency and impudence ... and I warn them of the consequences,” he said.
“What does the owner of these networks think, when he provides seduction, obscenity and vulgarity?” he said.
“Those calling for corrupt beliefs, certainly it’s permissible to kill them,” he said. “Those calling for sedition, those who are able to prevent it but don’t, it is permissible to kill them.”
Religion of peace!
Perfect example of why the top femenists are so full of crap. Palin is exactly what they have been saying for decades that they want.
Feminist Army Aims at Palin
By Jonah Goldberg
Whether or not Sarah Palin helps John McCain win the election, her greatest work may already be behind her. She's exposed the feminist con job.
Don't take my word for it. Feminists have been screaming like stuck pigs 24/7 since Palin was announced as McCain's running mate. (Are pig metaphors completely verboten now?)
Feminist author Cintra Wilson writes in Salon (a house organ of the angry left) that the notion of Palin as vice president is "akin to ideological brain rape." Presumably just before the nurse upped the dosage on her medication, Wilson continued, "Sarah Palin and her virtual burqa have me and my friends retching into our handbags. She's such a power-mad, backwater beauty-pageant casualty, it's easy to write her off and make fun of her. But in reality I feel as horrified as a ghetto Jew watching the rise of National Socialism."
And that's one of the nicer things she had to say. Really.
On Tuesday, Salon ran one article calling Palin a dominatrix ("a whip-wielding mistress") and another labeling her a sexually repressed fundamentalist no different from the Muslim fanatics and terrorists of Hamas. Make up your minds, folks. Is she a seductress or a sex-a-phobe?
But this any-weapon-near-to-hand approach is an obvious sign of how scared the Palin-o-phobes are.
Gloria Steinem, the grand mufti of feminism, issued a fatwa anathematizing Palin. A National Organization for Women spokeswoman proclaimed Palin more of a man than a woman. Wendy Doniger, a feminist academic at the University of Chicago, writes of Palin in Newsweek: "Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman."
It's funny. The left has been whining about having their patriotism questioned for so long it feels like they started griping in the Mesozoic era. Feminists have argued for decades that womanhood is an existential and metaphysical state of enlightenment. But they have no problem questioning whether women they hate are really women at all.
Since we know from basic science that Palin is a woman -- she's had five kids, for starters -- it's clear that these ideological thugs aren't talking about actual, you know, facts. They're doing what people of totalitarian mind-sets always do: bully heretics, demonize enemies, whip the troops into line.
The academic feminist left has scared the dickens out of mainstream men and women for so long, the liberal establishment is terrified to contradict feminists' nigh-upon-theological conviction that female authenticity is measured by one's blind loyalty to left-wing talking points. This is a version of the Marxist doctrine of "false consciousness," which holds that you aren't an authentic member of the proletariat unless you agree with Marxism.
It works like this: If you don't agree with feminist scolds, you're not a real woman, even if you're a very feminine working mom. But even if you're an actual man -- never mind a childless feminist who looks like a Bulgarian weightlifter in drag -- you're a "real woman" solely because you nod your head like a windup clapping monkey every time you read the latest editorial in Ms. Recall how they christened Bill Clinton the "first female president," too.
But here's the fun part. Feminists are hooked on their own Kool-Aid; they actually believe the stuff they say. The shrill, angry women you see on MSNBC claiming to speak for all women actually think they do. But they don't. They speak for a few left-leaning women in faculty lounges, editorial boardrooms and that's about it.
Mainstream liberals have been in captivity for so long, eagerly accepting their ritual beatings, that they've gotten Stockholm Syndrome and convinced themselves that Gloria Steinem and Co. are the authentic voices of women everywhere.
Stop laughing.
The reality is that there is an actual reality out there, and it doesn't look anything like what feminists see beyond the rims of their ideological blinders.
For instance, immediately after the Palin announcement, the priestesses not only ruled it "sexist" for McCain to pick a woman but also said it was strategically dumb -- "insulting to women!" -- to think any real women would switch support from the beatified Obama to that old devil McCain.
Well, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, there's been a 20-point swing among white women from Obama-Biden to McCain-Palin. Did this "ideological brain rape" suddenly induce an epidemic of false consciousness?
Of course not. Nor are women mindlessly switching loyalties because there's a woman on the ticket. What the Palin pick has demonstrated, however, is that the Feminist-Industrial Complex is a fraud. Disagreeing with self-described feminists doesn't mean you're anti-woman. Usually it just means you're sensible.
And for that lesson alone, we should all be grateful.
By Jonah Goldberg
Whether or not Sarah Palin helps John McCain win the election, her greatest work may already be behind her. She's exposed the feminist con job.
Don't take my word for it. Feminists have been screaming like stuck pigs 24/7 since Palin was announced as McCain's running mate. (Are pig metaphors completely verboten now?)
Feminist author Cintra Wilson writes in Salon (a house organ of the angry left) that the notion of Palin as vice president is "akin to ideological brain rape." Presumably just before the nurse upped the dosage on her medication, Wilson continued, "Sarah Palin and her virtual burqa have me and my friends retching into our handbags. She's such a power-mad, backwater beauty-pageant casualty, it's easy to write her off and make fun of her. But in reality I feel as horrified as a ghetto Jew watching the rise of National Socialism."
And that's one of the nicer things she had to say. Really.
On Tuesday, Salon ran one article calling Palin a dominatrix ("a whip-wielding mistress") and another labeling her a sexually repressed fundamentalist no different from the Muslim fanatics and terrorists of Hamas. Make up your minds, folks. Is she a seductress or a sex-a-phobe?
But this any-weapon-near-to-hand approach is an obvious sign of how scared the Palin-o-phobes are.
Gloria Steinem, the grand mufti of feminism, issued a fatwa anathematizing Palin. A National Organization for Women spokeswoman proclaimed Palin more of a man than a woman. Wendy Doniger, a feminist academic at the University of Chicago, writes of Palin in Newsweek: "Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman."
It's funny. The left has been whining about having their patriotism questioned for so long it feels like they started griping in the Mesozoic era. Feminists have argued for decades that womanhood is an existential and metaphysical state of enlightenment. But they have no problem questioning whether women they hate are really women at all.
Since we know from basic science that Palin is a woman -- she's had five kids, for starters -- it's clear that these ideological thugs aren't talking about actual, you know, facts. They're doing what people of totalitarian mind-sets always do: bully heretics, demonize enemies, whip the troops into line.
The academic feminist left has scared the dickens out of mainstream men and women for so long, the liberal establishment is terrified to contradict feminists' nigh-upon-theological conviction that female authenticity is measured by one's blind loyalty to left-wing talking points. This is a version of the Marxist doctrine of "false consciousness," which holds that you aren't an authentic member of the proletariat unless you agree with Marxism.
It works like this: If you don't agree with feminist scolds, you're not a real woman, even if you're a very feminine working mom. But even if you're an actual man -- never mind a childless feminist who looks like a Bulgarian weightlifter in drag -- you're a "real woman" solely because you nod your head like a windup clapping monkey every time you read the latest editorial in Ms. Recall how they christened Bill Clinton the "first female president," too.
But here's the fun part. Feminists are hooked on their own Kool-Aid; they actually believe the stuff they say. The shrill, angry women you see on MSNBC claiming to speak for all women actually think they do. But they don't. They speak for a few left-leaning women in faculty lounges, editorial boardrooms and that's about it.
Mainstream liberals have been in captivity for so long, eagerly accepting their ritual beatings, that they've gotten Stockholm Syndrome and convinced themselves that Gloria Steinem and Co. are the authentic voices of women everywhere.
Stop laughing.
The reality is that there is an actual reality out there, and it doesn't look anything like what feminists see beyond the rims of their ideological blinders.
For instance, immediately after the Palin announcement, the priestesses not only ruled it "sexist" for McCain to pick a woman but also said it was strategically dumb -- "insulting to women!" -- to think any real women would switch support from the beatified Obama to that old devil McCain.
Well, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, there's been a 20-point swing among white women from Obama-Biden to McCain-Palin. Did this "ideological brain rape" suddenly induce an epidemic of false consciousness?
Of course not. Nor are women mindlessly switching loyalties because there's a woman on the ticket. What the Palin pick has demonstrated, however, is that the Feminist-Industrial Complex is a fraud. Disagreeing with self-described feminists doesn't mean you're anti-woman. Usually it just means you're sensible.
And for that lesson alone, we should all be grateful.
Obama now hitting Mccain because of POW injuries
The reason he doesn't send email is that he can't use a keyboard because of the relentless beatings he received from the Viet Cong in service to our country. From the Boston Globe (March 4, 2000):
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Read this from Rush on 9/11
RUSH: This is the seventh anniversary of the terror attacks on September 11th of 2001. Everybody says you shouldn't politicize this day. Sorry, can't help it. My remembrances of the September 11th attacks do not just stop on the day of 9/11. There have been a lot of things that have happened since those attacks, and I think we need to remind ourselves of them, because it was seven years ago, ladies and gentlemen, that we were blindsided. Nineteen terrorists possessed by evil, hijacked our airplanes using box cutters. They stopped an election that was taking place in New York City. They brought down the twin towers. They blew a hole in the Pentagon. They crashed a plane in Pennsylvania that they were trying to get back to Washington to crash into either the Capitol or the White House. At the end of it all, nearly 3,000 Americans were dead. But up 'til that point, Al-Qaeda's war on America had already claimed hundreds of American lives, through embassy bombings, the USS Cole bombing in Yemen, and countless other attacks.
The Clinton administration treated them as criminal cases, deliberately handicapping and handcuffing our intelligence agencies, and eschewed any kind of a strong military response. And, of course, Jamie Gorelick, the then vice attorney general, whatever, deputy attorney general, erected the now famous wall that prevented the CIA and the FBI from sharing information because they were gathering it in grand jury testimony, which must remain private and secret, limiting our ability to figure out what was up, what was next. In the immediate hours after the 9/11 attacks, Drive-By journalists sneered that President Bush was running scared aboard Air Force One. The late Peter Jennings lamented on ABC, after the president spoke, (paraphrasing) "It's just obvious some presidents are better at this than others," referring to, of course, Bill Clinton. Within days, ladies and gentlemen, Clinton associates were quoted as saying they wished these attacks had occurred on Clinton's watch so he could have had a chance at greatness, so that something momentous would have happened on his watch. The Democrat leader, Tom Daschle, attacked George Bush in the days after the attacks, within weeks, two weeks, for doing nothing.
On the day that Daschle launched his attack into Bush for not doing anything, Bush was planning that very attack. Daschle's attack on Bush for doing nothing came on the eve of our military operations in Afghanistan. Democrat political memos suggested that the president's popularity could be diminished by branding him a liar on weapons of mass destruction and any number of other things. The Democrat Party began to politicize this event within days. They were doing everything they could to come up with a strategy, to end up blaming this on Bush, head into the 2002 elections so that they could retake the House and the Senate. Democratic political memos, in addition to suggesting that Bush could be branded a liar, Democrat political memos surfaced from Jay Rockefeller, strategizing how to use the war for political gain, and I, to this day, have that memo from Jay Rockefeller on my desktop of this computer in my studio here at the EIB Southern Command. I have not filed it away so that it will be tough to find, and even with my Spotlight search feature, I have put it on my desktop, and it's never left.
Hillary Clinton echoed the conspiracy-based claim that Bush knew about the attacks beforehand. We had a Democrat-voting poet laureate from New Jersey claiming the Jews did it because all of the Jews got out of the World Trade Center. The Drive-By Media amplified this guy's theory. All over the place, theories were expounded and amplified that suggested George W. Bush not only knew about it, but if he knew about it, he had to be in on it, let it happen. The Democrat Party seized after just a couple days, couple weeks the opportunity of these attacks on 9/11 to politicize everything so as to reacquire their power, and they did not stop, and they have not stopped for seven years. Left-wing Hollywood's revisionist history movie, Michael Moore, Fahrenheit 9/11 was released. It won the big award at the Cannes Film Festival. I am convinced to this day that to whatever extent the American president, our population, our country is hated and despised around the world, it's because of who around the world has seen that lying propaganda piece of garbage movie that Michael Moore made. And then Jay Rockefeller's memo surfaced.
Seven years later, where are we? The president's property is diminished, video of the 9/11 attacks rarely seen, although MSNBC today replayed it all in real time. Our victories in this war on terror are downplayed. Let us not forget that the Democrat Party sought defeat in Iraq. They were waving the white flag of surrender. They were condemning our troops. They were suggesting our troops were rapists, murderers, and thugs. They were compared to Nazi thugs. Meanwhile, the same Democrat Party doing that embraced the rights, the congressional rights, the US constitutional rights, I should say, of the people who wanted to do to us again what they had done to us on 9/11. They became the sympathetic figures. We became the brutes. We were violating their rights. They were planning numerous 9/11s, but they haven't happened, have they? There have been no more attacks on this country. Not one train's been attacked, not one bus, not one bomb has made it through a port, not one airplane's been hijacked. We don't know how many terrorist attempts have been blocked because we cannot brag about our successes. We can only brag or publicize our failures, which the Democrat Party is willing to do.
Even to this day, the Democrat Party, as a political item in its new platform is claiming we are no safer. In fact, we are at greater risk than we've ever about, despite the fact they have done nothing to help protect this country. They've ended up voting for things, but they opposed them. When the rubber hit the road, the Democrats did the right thing, but not until they had ginned up so much anti-American hatred within this country, so much anti-administration hatred, so much anti-war fervor with their buddies in the Drive-By Media. Our victories have been profound. They have been downplayed. But the truth is that tens of thousands of Al-Qaeda terrorists are dead. There have been no more attacks on American soil. That, among the remembrances of the dead and the recollections of where you were and what you were feeling and what you saw that day, in addition that those, remember one thing: despite anything you've heard from the Democrats and their associates in the Drive-By Media for the last seven years, not one more attack on American soil has occurred. Remember that.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: By the way, folks, let's not forget one thing on this, the seventh anniversary of 9/11: The Reverend Jeremiah Wright from the pulpit of his church in Chicago, saying we deserved it. "America's chickensssss have come home to roost." We are digging that audio sound bite of the archives even as we speak. From CBS News: "As the nation marks the seventh anniversary of 9/11, most Americans believe the U.S. is adequately prepared to deal with another terrorist attack against the country, according to a new CBS News poll. In the poll, 52 percent said they thought the U.S. was adequately prepared," meaning, ladies and gentlemen, that the efforts on the part of the Democrats to convince people here that we are less safe than ever before have not succeeded. The Washington Post today, Michael Abrahamowitz: "Terrorism Fades as Issue in 2008 Campaign, Reflects the Changing Attention of the Electorate."
No, that's not what's going on. He said "the shift reflects a nod to the changing attention of the electorate." No. The reason why so few people named terrorism as the number one issue is because of the success of the Bush administration -- despite being fought by Americans in the Senate, Americans in the legal community, George W. Bush -- has had to overcome two enemies here in securing the safety of this country, and he's done so to the extent that most people now think we're adequately prepared and they have freedom of mind, peace of mind to go ahead and pursue other interests such as the economy. The San Francisco Chronicle, Matthew Stainard writing: "Terrorism Takes Back Seat to Economy." It's a Gallup poll. Only 2% say that terrorism is a problem. Thirty-eight percent say that they are "at least somewhat worried."
An ABC poll is not good for Democrats overall: "56% of the American people say that significant strides toward bringing order in Iraq have taken place," and even 38% of Democrats agree with that. So here we are: the Democrat Party, as led by Obama and Biden, is imploding. They're unhinged. They are falling apart, and every effort they have made over the past seven years to steer public opinion against this country, against the war on terror, against the war in Iraq, has been a failure, if we go by this polls.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here is the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the official pastor to Barack and Michelle Obama and their two little girls discussing 9/11.
WRIGHT: Not God bless America, God (bleep) America. It's in the Bible. They're killing innocent people. God (bleep) America. And now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.
RUSH: Obama's official pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and his thoughts on what happened on 9/11, on this, the seventh anniversary of 9/11.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to again, for those of you who were not here at the beginning of the program, I want to revisit thoughts earlier expressed on this, the seventh anniversary of 9/11. Because we're told that we're not supposed to politicize this, we can't bring any politics into this. I steadfastly reject that notion because 9/11 was not just something that happened on one day. There has been a seven-year aftermath that I think we should all remember. True, on 9/11, seven years ago, we were blindsided. Nineteen terrorists possessed by evil hijacked our airplanes with box cutters and brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center. They blew a hole in the Pentagon, and they crashed a plane outside Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, which they were attempting to turn around and either hit the Capitol building or the White House. At the end of that day, 3,000 Americans were dead. But that wasn't the first day of such attacks on Americans.
Al-Qaeda's war on America had already claimed hundreds of lives by then. We just hadn't accepted the reality of it. They had claimed these lives via embassy bombings, the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, and countless other attacks. But the Clinton administration treated all of these cases as criminal cases, deliberately handicapping our intelligence agencies and forgoing a strong military response, and even Jamie Gorelick who was the deputy attorney general at the time famously constructed the wall between the intelligence agencies such as the CIA and the FBI and the DIA because they were conducting all these investigations as part of grand juries and that meant secrecy, so whatever was learned in grand jury testimony could not be shared. So our intelligence agencies were behind.
Now, in the immediate hours after the 9/11 attacks, Drive-By Media journalists sneered. I mean, this was the same day, Drive-By Media journalists were sneering that President Bush was running scared aboard Air Force One. The late Peter Jennings of ABC said on the air after the president's speech, "Well, it's just the case that some presidents are better at this than others," meaning, Bill Clinton, of course. Within days, various associates of Bill Clinton were quoted wishing the attacks had occurred on his watch so that Bill Clinton could have had a chance at greatness. The Democrat leader Tom Daschle attacked Bush for doing nothing on what turned out to be the eve of our military operations in Afghanistan. Once again, looking like a fool, 'cause that was back in the day, by the way, where the Democrats wanted to look tough. They wanted to look like they could be counted on to defend the country. And, by the way, there's polling data out, and I have it in the stack here, they have lost ground in the area of the American people trusting them on national security and their willingness to defend the country. I'll find it in a second.
Daschle and the boys, they wanted to look really tough, all over Bush's case for not doing anything about it, and it happened they opened a door right into their nose again, bloodied their nose themselves, stepped right in the bag of manure because the very day Daschle's out there whining and moaning, the next day our operations at Tora Bora began. Democrat political memos suggested, strategic political memos suggested that the president's popularity could be diminished by branding him a liar in all of this. Hillary Clinton echoed the conspiracy-based claim that Bush knew about the attacks beforehand. In a poll that was just referenced here some two years ago, 35% of Democrats, 35% of the American electorate believe that Bush knew about 9/11 before it happened. And if they think that, then they have to also admit that they think Bush let it happen. Left-wing Hollywood's revisionist history movie Fahrenheit 9/11 by the bloated bigot Michael Moore, that movie was released, it got the big award over at the Cannes Film Festival, played all over the world, and I am convinced to this day that to what degree this country is hated and despised and that Bush is hated and despised could be laid at the feet of the lying, stinking propaganda put out by Michael Moore in that movie, Fahrenheit 9/11. Let us not forget that Michael Moore only recently said -- and was one of many Democrats who was gleeful over the fact that Hurricane Gustav would roll into New Orleans -- and was God's gift to Democrats. He forgot that Hurricane Gustav had rolled through Cuba, his favorite country, and had wreaked havoc there, even as it missed New Orleans.
The degree of hate for this country expressed the last seven years by the Democrat Party and its associates, the desire for defeat of the United States and its military by the Democrat Party and its associates has been constant. It has been a loud, swelling drumbeat that we have not been able to escape. "This war is lost," on the eve of the surge, said Harry Reid. They accused General Petraeus of lying before he has opened his mouth in testimony before House and Senate committees. I could go on and on. Jay Rockefeller and his memo to Democrats strategizing how to use the war for Democrat Party political gain. I have that memo right on the top of my desktop. I have not filed it away in case I need immediate access to it. So here we are seven years later, after having our troops compared to Nazi thugs by Dick Durbin, having our troops compared by Dick Durbin to people who ran the Soviet gulags and Pol Pot's killing fields. We have the same Democrat Party feeling sorry for terrorists, wanting them to have constitutional rights, wanting them to have Miranda rights read to them on the battlefield.
The American judicial system, the legal community, many of which populated by Democrats, have sought to co-opt commander-in-chief duties in prosecuting the war on terror for themselves. The ACLU and other interested civil rights groups have gone to court to prevent any intelligence-gathering information that would help to secure this country further. The Democrat Party and its associates have very publicly, very loudly, very blatantly, very openly, campaigned against victory. They have sought to foment hatred for this country around the world. Their talking points the last seven years are no different than those that come out of the mouth from the latest tape from Bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or even Hugo Chavez, just to name four. And they aren't the slightest bit embarrassed that people who hate us and our enemies echo their own Democrat talking points. So after all of this, seven years later, the president's popularity is diminished, video of the 9/11 attacks is rarely seen, we're told it's too soon, it's too emotionally upsetting, we can't see this.
The Democrat Party is for the last seven years trying to convince everybody we can go back to a pre-9/11 frame of mind and mind-set. I can't think of too many security measures that they have openly supported. I can only think of security measures they have been forced into accepting. Wiretaps, phone calls, international phone calls, trying to find out what terrorists are saying to each other, Democrats opposed anybody doing that and then lied, saying that the president wanted to spy on Americans. They wanted to sue the telephone companies for facilitating the effort to track down people who were conducting phone conversations overseas aimed at conspiring against the United States, planning future attacks. They wanted to stop the ability to find that out. So, the president's popularity has been diminished. We rarely see video of the 9/11 attacks. The victories that we have had in the war on terror are downplayed and were opposed by today's Democrat Party. Despite all this, 58% of the American people now say we're doing well in Iraq, 52% of the American people now think we are safer than we have been, safer than we were.
Despite the best efforts of the Democrat Party to convince the people of this country that we are at greater risk, that we are no safer whatsoever, that Bush lied, people died, our troops are thugs, they are rapists, they are murderers, hello, Jack Murtha, the list of Democrats is endless. Those who have impugned the honor and the integrity of the armed forces and tell us politics is off-limits today? Sorry. 'Cause 9/11 didn't just happen on one day. It has an aftermath. We're still living through it and every day we turn on any television station, we have to put up with drivel and bilge from Democrats and media people who are sour on the fact that we have succeeded. They can't wait to report bad news. They hide the good news. Look, Hurricane Ike, about to plow into Texas. The Drive-Bys aren't there 'cause it's not New Orleans. They'll eventually send the B team down there, but they're not there now wreaking havoc, praying for the worst.
But I want you to remember something. Despite all of this, we had an administration which did not cave on this, the whole concept of US national security. Democrats issue this stupid report this week saying the ports are no safer; the bus lines are no safer; the train lines are no safer. We haven't had a bomb. We haven't had one terrorist act succeed in this country for seven years. No ports blown up; no buses blown up; no train has blown up; no airport, no airplane has been hijacked or blown up. But tens of thousands of Al-Qaeda terrorists are dead and running for the sand dunes in Iraq while there have been no more attacks against Americans on American soil. While you remember everything else about 9/11 today, also remember that. Not one successful attack since 9/11, 2001.
The Clinton administration treated them as criminal cases, deliberately handicapping and handcuffing our intelligence agencies, and eschewed any kind of a strong military response. And, of course, Jamie Gorelick, the then vice attorney general, whatever, deputy attorney general, erected the now famous wall that prevented the CIA and the FBI from sharing information because they were gathering it in grand jury testimony, which must remain private and secret, limiting our ability to figure out what was up, what was next. In the immediate hours after the 9/11 attacks, Drive-By journalists sneered that President Bush was running scared aboard Air Force One. The late Peter Jennings lamented on ABC, after the president spoke, (paraphrasing) "It's just obvious some presidents are better at this than others," referring to, of course, Bill Clinton. Within days, ladies and gentlemen, Clinton associates were quoted as saying they wished these attacks had occurred on Clinton's watch so he could have had a chance at greatness, so that something momentous would have happened on his watch. The Democrat leader, Tom Daschle, attacked George Bush in the days after the attacks, within weeks, two weeks, for doing nothing.
On the day that Daschle launched his attack into Bush for not doing anything, Bush was planning that very attack. Daschle's attack on Bush for doing nothing came on the eve of our military operations in Afghanistan. Democrat political memos suggested that the president's popularity could be diminished by branding him a liar on weapons of mass destruction and any number of other things. The Democrat Party began to politicize this event within days. They were doing everything they could to come up with a strategy, to end up blaming this on Bush, head into the 2002 elections so that they could retake the House and the Senate. Democratic political memos, in addition to suggesting that Bush could be branded a liar, Democrat political memos surfaced from Jay Rockefeller, strategizing how to use the war for political gain, and I, to this day, have that memo from Jay Rockefeller on my desktop of this computer in my studio here at the EIB Southern Command. I have not filed it away so that it will be tough to find, and even with my Spotlight search feature, I have put it on my desktop, and it's never left.
Hillary Clinton echoed the conspiracy-based claim that Bush knew about the attacks beforehand. We had a Democrat-voting poet laureate from New Jersey claiming the Jews did it because all of the Jews got out of the World Trade Center. The Drive-By Media amplified this guy's theory. All over the place, theories were expounded and amplified that suggested George W. Bush not only knew about it, but if he knew about it, he had to be in on it, let it happen. The Democrat Party seized after just a couple days, couple weeks the opportunity of these attacks on 9/11 to politicize everything so as to reacquire their power, and they did not stop, and they have not stopped for seven years. Left-wing Hollywood's revisionist history movie, Michael Moore, Fahrenheit 9/11 was released. It won the big award at the Cannes Film Festival. I am convinced to this day that to whatever extent the American president, our population, our country is hated and despised around the world, it's because of who around the world has seen that lying propaganda piece of garbage movie that Michael Moore made. And then Jay Rockefeller's memo surfaced.
Seven years later, where are we? The president's property is diminished, video of the 9/11 attacks rarely seen, although MSNBC today replayed it all in real time. Our victories in this war on terror are downplayed. Let us not forget that the Democrat Party sought defeat in Iraq. They were waving the white flag of surrender. They were condemning our troops. They were suggesting our troops were rapists, murderers, and thugs. They were compared to Nazi thugs. Meanwhile, the same Democrat Party doing that embraced the rights, the congressional rights, the US constitutional rights, I should say, of the people who wanted to do to us again what they had done to us on 9/11. They became the sympathetic figures. We became the brutes. We were violating their rights. They were planning numerous 9/11s, but they haven't happened, have they? There have been no more attacks on this country. Not one train's been attacked, not one bus, not one bomb has made it through a port, not one airplane's been hijacked. We don't know how many terrorist attempts have been blocked because we cannot brag about our successes. We can only brag or publicize our failures, which the Democrat Party is willing to do.
Even to this day, the Democrat Party, as a political item in its new platform is claiming we are no safer. In fact, we are at greater risk than we've ever about, despite the fact they have done nothing to help protect this country. They've ended up voting for things, but they opposed them. When the rubber hit the road, the Democrats did the right thing, but not until they had ginned up so much anti-American hatred within this country, so much anti-administration hatred, so much anti-war fervor with their buddies in the Drive-By Media. Our victories have been profound. They have been downplayed. But the truth is that tens of thousands of Al-Qaeda terrorists are dead. There have been no more attacks on American soil. That, among the remembrances of the dead and the recollections of where you were and what you were feeling and what you saw that day, in addition that those, remember one thing: despite anything you've heard from the Democrats and their associates in the Drive-By Media for the last seven years, not one more attack on American soil has occurred. Remember that.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: By the way, folks, let's not forget one thing on this, the seventh anniversary of 9/11: The Reverend Jeremiah Wright from the pulpit of his church in Chicago, saying we deserved it. "America's chickensssss have come home to roost." We are digging that audio sound bite of the archives even as we speak. From CBS News: "As the nation marks the seventh anniversary of 9/11, most Americans believe the U.S. is adequately prepared to deal with another terrorist attack against the country, according to a new CBS News poll. In the poll, 52 percent said they thought the U.S. was adequately prepared," meaning, ladies and gentlemen, that the efforts on the part of the Democrats to convince people here that we are less safe than ever before have not succeeded. The Washington Post today, Michael Abrahamowitz: "Terrorism Fades as Issue in 2008 Campaign, Reflects the Changing Attention of the Electorate."
No, that's not what's going on. He said "the shift reflects a nod to the changing attention of the electorate." No. The reason why so few people named terrorism as the number one issue is because of the success of the Bush administration -- despite being fought by Americans in the Senate, Americans in the legal community, George W. Bush -- has had to overcome two enemies here in securing the safety of this country, and he's done so to the extent that most people now think we're adequately prepared and they have freedom of mind, peace of mind to go ahead and pursue other interests such as the economy. The San Francisco Chronicle, Matthew Stainard writing: "Terrorism Takes Back Seat to Economy." It's a Gallup poll. Only 2% say that terrorism is a problem. Thirty-eight percent say that they are "at least somewhat worried."
An ABC poll is not good for Democrats overall: "56% of the American people say that significant strides toward bringing order in Iraq have taken place," and even 38% of Democrats agree with that. So here we are: the Democrat Party, as led by Obama and Biden, is imploding. They're unhinged. They are falling apart, and every effort they have made over the past seven years to steer public opinion against this country, against the war on terror, against the war in Iraq, has been a failure, if we go by this polls.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here is the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the official pastor to Barack and Michelle Obama and their two little girls discussing 9/11.
WRIGHT: Not God bless America, God (bleep) America. It's in the Bible. They're killing innocent people. God (bleep) America. And now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.
RUSH: Obama's official pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and his thoughts on what happened on 9/11, on this, the seventh anniversary of 9/11.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to again, for those of you who were not here at the beginning of the program, I want to revisit thoughts earlier expressed on this, the seventh anniversary of 9/11. Because we're told that we're not supposed to politicize this, we can't bring any politics into this. I steadfastly reject that notion because 9/11 was not just something that happened on one day. There has been a seven-year aftermath that I think we should all remember. True, on 9/11, seven years ago, we were blindsided. Nineteen terrorists possessed by evil hijacked our airplanes with box cutters and brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center. They blew a hole in the Pentagon, and they crashed a plane outside Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, which they were attempting to turn around and either hit the Capitol building or the White House. At the end of that day, 3,000 Americans were dead. But that wasn't the first day of such attacks on Americans.
Al-Qaeda's war on America had already claimed hundreds of lives by then. We just hadn't accepted the reality of it. They had claimed these lives via embassy bombings, the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, and countless other attacks. But the Clinton administration treated all of these cases as criminal cases, deliberately handicapping our intelligence agencies and forgoing a strong military response, and even Jamie Gorelick who was the deputy attorney general at the time famously constructed the wall between the intelligence agencies such as the CIA and the FBI and the DIA because they were conducting all these investigations as part of grand juries and that meant secrecy, so whatever was learned in grand jury testimony could not be shared. So our intelligence agencies were behind.
Now, in the immediate hours after the 9/11 attacks, Drive-By Media journalists sneered. I mean, this was the same day, Drive-By Media journalists were sneering that President Bush was running scared aboard Air Force One. The late Peter Jennings of ABC said on the air after the president's speech, "Well, it's just the case that some presidents are better at this than others," meaning, Bill Clinton, of course. Within days, various associates of Bill Clinton were quoted wishing the attacks had occurred on his watch so that Bill Clinton could have had a chance at greatness. The Democrat leader Tom Daschle attacked Bush for doing nothing on what turned out to be the eve of our military operations in Afghanistan. Once again, looking like a fool, 'cause that was back in the day, by the way, where the Democrats wanted to look tough. They wanted to look like they could be counted on to defend the country. And, by the way, there's polling data out, and I have it in the stack here, they have lost ground in the area of the American people trusting them on national security and their willingness to defend the country. I'll find it in a second.
Daschle and the boys, they wanted to look really tough, all over Bush's case for not doing anything about it, and it happened they opened a door right into their nose again, bloodied their nose themselves, stepped right in the bag of manure because the very day Daschle's out there whining and moaning, the next day our operations at Tora Bora began. Democrat political memos suggested, strategic political memos suggested that the president's popularity could be diminished by branding him a liar in all of this. Hillary Clinton echoed the conspiracy-based claim that Bush knew about the attacks beforehand. In a poll that was just referenced here some two years ago, 35% of Democrats, 35% of the American electorate believe that Bush knew about 9/11 before it happened. And if they think that, then they have to also admit that they think Bush let it happen. Left-wing Hollywood's revisionist history movie Fahrenheit 9/11 by the bloated bigot Michael Moore, that movie was released, it got the big award over at the Cannes Film Festival, played all over the world, and I am convinced to this day that to what degree this country is hated and despised and that Bush is hated and despised could be laid at the feet of the lying, stinking propaganda put out by Michael Moore in that movie, Fahrenheit 9/11. Let us not forget that Michael Moore only recently said -- and was one of many Democrats who was gleeful over the fact that Hurricane Gustav would roll into New Orleans -- and was God's gift to Democrats. He forgot that Hurricane Gustav had rolled through Cuba, his favorite country, and had wreaked havoc there, even as it missed New Orleans.
The degree of hate for this country expressed the last seven years by the Democrat Party and its associates, the desire for defeat of the United States and its military by the Democrat Party and its associates has been constant. It has been a loud, swelling drumbeat that we have not been able to escape. "This war is lost," on the eve of the surge, said Harry Reid. They accused General Petraeus of lying before he has opened his mouth in testimony before House and Senate committees. I could go on and on. Jay Rockefeller and his memo to Democrats strategizing how to use the war for Democrat Party political gain. I have that memo right on the top of my desktop. I have not filed it away in case I need immediate access to it. So here we are seven years later, after having our troops compared to Nazi thugs by Dick Durbin, having our troops compared by Dick Durbin to people who ran the Soviet gulags and Pol Pot's killing fields. We have the same Democrat Party feeling sorry for terrorists, wanting them to have constitutional rights, wanting them to have Miranda rights read to them on the battlefield.
The American judicial system, the legal community, many of which populated by Democrats, have sought to co-opt commander-in-chief duties in prosecuting the war on terror for themselves. The ACLU and other interested civil rights groups have gone to court to prevent any intelligence-gathering information that would help to secure this country further. The Democrat Party and its associates have very publicly, very loudly, very blatantly, very openly, campaigned against victory. They have sought to foment hatred for this country around the world. Their talking points the last seven years are no different than those that come out of the mouth from the latest tape from Bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or even Hugo Chavez, just to name four. And they aren't the slightest bit embarrassed that people who hate us and our enemies echo their own Democrat talking points. So after all of this, seven years later, the president's popularity is diminished, video of the 9/11 attacks is rarely seen, we're told it's too soon, it's too emotionally upsetting, we can't see this.
The Democrat Party is for the last seven years trying to convince everybody we can go back to a pre-9/11 frame of mind and mind-set. I can't think of too many security measures that they have openly supported. I can only think of security measures they have been forced into accepting. Wiretaps, phone calls, international phone calls, trying to find out what terrorists are saying to each other, Democrats opposed anybody doing that and then lied, saying that the president wanted to spy on Americans. They wanted to sue the telephone companies for facilitating the effort to track down people who were conducting phone conversations overseas aimed at conspiring against the United States, planning future attacks. They wanted to stop the ability to find that out. So, the president's popularity has been diminished. We rarely see video of the 9/11 attacks. The victories that we have had in the war on terror are downplayed and were opposed by today's Democrat Party. Despite all this, 58% of the American people now say we're doing well in Iraq, 52% of the American people now think we are safer than we have been, safer than we were.
Despite the best efforts of the Democrat Party to convince the people of this country that we are at greater risk, that we are no safer whatsoever, that Bush lied, people died, our troops are thugs, they are rapists, they are murderers, hello, Jack Murtha, the list of Democrats is endless. Those who have impugned the honor and the integrity of the armed forces and tell us politics is off-limits today? Sorry. 'Cause 9/11 didn't just happen on one day. It has an aftermath. We're still living through it and every day we turn on any television station, we have to put up with drivel and bilge from Democrats and media people who are sour on the fact that we have succeeded. They can't wait to report bad news. They hide the good news. Look, Hurricane Ike, about to plow into Texas. The Drive-Bys aren't there 'cause it's not New Orleans. They'll eventually send the B team down there, but they're not there now wreaking havoc, praying for the worst.
But I want you to remember something. Despite all of this, we had an administration which did not cave on this, the whole concept of US national security. Democrats issue this stupid report this week saying the ports are no safer; the bus lines are no safer; the train lines are no safer. We haven't had a bomb. We haven't had one terrorist act succeed in this country for seven years. No ports blown up; no buses blown up; no train has blown up; no airport, no airplane has been hijacked or blown up. But tens of thousands of Al-Qaeda terrorists are dead and running for the sand dunes in Iraq while there have been no more attacks against Americans on American soil. While you remember everything else about 9/11 today, also remember that. Not one successful attack since 9/11, 2001.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Savaging Sarah Palin
by L. Brent Bozell III
September 2, 2008 Tell a friend about this site
When MSNBC’s Chris Matthews suggested in Denver that Barack Obama earned his present elevation in American politics, unlike “showcase appointments” like Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, he reminded the world of the peculiarity of liberalism. John McCain’s selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate underlined it. Liberals find no joy when Republicans select women or minorities for top positions. They are all fraudulent traitors to their own apparent group interests. Conservative blacks aren’t really black. Conservative Latinos aren’t really Latino. Now, conservative women are somehow not really women.
Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift spoke for her colleagues on the Palin selection: “If the media reaction is anything, it's been literally laughter in many places...In very, very many newsrooms.”
This principle – that Hell hath no fury like a liberal who’s been insulted by a conservative not sticking to white male appointments – explains why President Bush successfully placed two white men on the Supreme Court. Only picking Harriet Miers was outrageous (although her capacity for the job was clearly an issue). Bush saw how upset the Left became when Clarence Thomas was nominated. John McCain could have played safe. He chose to mix things up and pick a woman who matched his tendency to mix things up.
That decision led inexorably to a big, fat Exhibit A of media bias. The media’s treatment of Palin was nothing like their approval for Joe Biden, Obama’s running mate, the week before. The Washington Post called the Biden selection an “infusion of experience and aggressiveness,” and he was “a sharp-witted and energetic foreign policy expert.” There was no mention that Biden was a liberal, or that while National Journal found Obama to be the most liberal Senator in 2007, Biden came in close behind in third place.
When Palin was picked, the Post couldn’t stop pounding away on her conservatism. The lead story underlined: “The self-described 'hockey mom' brings a blue-collar conservatism and strong antiabortion views to the ticket.” Another story on the front-page called her “the pro-gun, antiabortion governor of Alaska.” The caption under her picture noted Palin was “a conservative with strong antiabortion views.”
Next came Exhibit B. The media didn’t simply slam Gov. Palin as a conservative, they went intensely ugly and personal. CNN’s John Roberts quickly suggested she might be a crummy mother: “There's also this issue that on April 18th, she gave birth to a baby with Down's syndrome....Children with Down's syndrome require an awful lot of attention. The role of Vice President, it seems to me, would take up an awful lot of her time, and it raises the issue of how much time will she have to dedicate to her newborn child?”
On the next day, ABC's Good Morning America weekend co-anchor Bill Weir piled on with the disabled-child-neglect attack in an interview with McCain spokesman Mike DuHaime. “Adding to the brutality of a national campaign, the Palin family also has an infant with special needs. What leads you, the Senator, and the Governor to believe that one won't affect the other in the next couple of months?" When DuHaime tried to answer, Weir repeated himself: “She has an infant with special needs. Will that affect her campaigning?” Weir was accurately describing himself when he mentioned “adding to the brutality of a national campaign.”
Then came the media’s heavy rush to cover the news that Palin’s 17-year-old daughter Bristol was pregnant, and would keep the baby and marry the father. Once again, ABC led the media insult machine. They called the baby a “skeleton in the closet,” a strange term for an unborn child, a “bombshell” cynically timed to explode on the day Hurricane Gustav swept ashore. The story emerged in reaction to the left-wing blogsite Daily Kos circulating the incredibly disgusting and wholly inaccurate smear that Gov. Palin somehow faked her latest pregnancy to cover for her daughter’s supposed motherhood of her disabled son.
ABC and CNN also used the Bristol news to lecture the Republicans about their hypocrisy on sex education in high schools, wildly presuming Gov. Palin’s daughter didn’t know how babies were made. The agenda seemed clear: keep Palin constantly under attack, and suggest perhaps McCain should just dump her and go find someone else….for the media to brutalize.
John McCain made a bold choice in not merely picking a woman, but picking a pro-life woman courageous enough to put her motherhood where her mouth is. Now the media want him to pay dearly for it. The idea that they would lecture anyone else about rumor-mongering or “Swift-boating” ought to be laughed off the public stage.
September 2, 2008 Tell a friend about this site
When MSNBC’s Chris Matthews suggested in Denver that Barack Obama earned his present elevation in American politics, unlike “showcase appointments” like Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, he reminded the world of the peculiarity of liberalism. John McCain’s selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate underlined it. Liberals find no joy when Republicans select women or minorities for top positions. They are all fraudulent traitors to their own apparent group interests. Conservative blacks aren’t really black. Conservative Latinos aren’t really Latino. Now, conservative women are somehow not really women.
Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift spoke for her colleagues on the Palin selection: “If the media reaction is anything, it's been literally laughter in many places...In very, very many newsrooms.”
This principle – that Hell hath no fury like a liberal who’s been insulted by a conservative not sticking to white male appointments – explains why President Bush successfully placed two white men on the Supreme Court. Only picking Harriet Miers was outrageous (although her capacity for the job was clearly an issue). Bush saw how upset the Left became when Clarence Thomas was nominated. John McCain could have played safe. He chose to mix things up and pick a woman who matched his tendency to mix things up.
That decision led inexorably to a big, fat Exhibit A of media bias. The media’s treatment of Palin was nothing like their approval for Joe Biden, Obama’s running mate, the week before. The Washington Post called the Biden selection an “infusion of experience and aggressiveness,” and he was “a sharp-witted and energetic foreign policy expert.” There was no mention that Biden was a liberal, or that while National Journal found Obama to be the most liberal Senator in 2007, Biden came in close behind in third place.
When Palin was picked, the Post couldn’t stop pounding away on her conservatism. The lead story underlined: “The self-described 'hockey mom' brings a blue-collar conservatism and strong antiabortion views to the ticket.” Another story on the front-page called her “the pro-gun, antiabortion governor of Alaska.” The caption under her picture noted Palin was “a conservative with strong antiabortion views.”
Next came Exhibit B. The media didn’t simply slam Gov. Palin as a conservative, they went intensely ugly and personal. CNN’s John Roberts quickly suggested she might be a crummy mother: “There's also this issue that on April 18th, she gave birth to a baby with Down's syndrome....Children with Down's syndrome require an awful lot of attention. The role of Vice President, it seems to me, would take up an awful lot of her time, and it raises the issue of how much time will she have to dedicate to her newborn child?”
On the next day, ABC's Good Morning America weekend co-anchor Bill Weir piled on with the disabled-child-neglect attack in an interview with McCain spokesman Mike DuHaime. “Adding to the brutality of a national campaign, the Palin family also has an infant with special needs. What leads you, the Senator, and the Governor to believe that one won't affect the other in the next couple of months?" When DuHaime tried to answer, Weir repeated himself: “She has an infant with special needs. Will that affect her campaigning?” Weir was accurately describing himself when he mentioned “adding to the brutality of a national campaign.”
Then came the media’s heavy rush to cover the news that Palin’s 17-year-old daughter Bristol was pregnant, and would keep the baby and marry the father. Once again, ABC led the media insult machine. They called the baby a “skeleton in the closet,” a strange term for an unborn child, a “bombshell” cynically timed to explode on the day Hurricane Gustav swept ashore. The story emerged in reaction to the left-wing blogsite Daily Kos circulating the incredibly disgusting and wholly inaccurate smear that Gov. Palin somehow faked her latest pregnancy to cover for her daughter’s supposed motherhood of her disabled son.
ABC and CNN also used the Bristol news to lecture the Republicans about their hypocrisy on sex education in high schools, wildly presuming Gov. Palin’s daughter didn’t know how babies were made. The agenda seemed clear: keep Palin constantly under attack, and suggest perhaps McCain should just dump her and go find someone else….for the media to brutalize.
John McCain made a bold choice in not merely picking a woman, but picking a pro-life woman courageous enough to put her motherhood where her mouth is. Now the media want him to pay dearly for it. The idea that they would lecture anyone else about rumor-mongering or “Swift-boating” ought to be laughed off the public stage.
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