Presidential Debate + Pundits = So Much Spin I’m Dizzy

We watched the first presidential debate last night, then turned off the TV. We wanted to let it sink in without hearing someone else tell us what we saw.

We decided no one landed a knockout blow, but McCain came across as very knowledgeable and Obama came across as someone who can memorize very well. They both did well, but the decision definitely has to go to McCain.  He obviously knew what he was talking about and remained calm throughout, while Obama seemed to be in over his head and grew increasingly  peevish as the time wore on.  His eyebrows sank lower and lower, he scowled, he interrupted McCain repeatedly, etc.

Obama avoided direct answers to some questions, and repeatedly said he would adapt his presidency to the current financial crisis by – ta da! – still planning to spend boatloads of our money on his pet new projects.  And that bit about “I have a bracelet too” when John McCain spoke about wearing a bracelet to honor a soldier killed in Iraq, given to him by the soldier’s mother.  McCain spoke poignantly about the mother not wanting her son’s death to have been in vain.  Then Obama read his bracelet.

So today I have seen a few opinions of who won last night. 

Did the “journalists” in the main stream media watch the same debate we did last night?  I know they support Obama, but aren’t they still supposed to report the facts?  I realize that partisanship informs everyone’s determination of how well each candidate did, but…

Some of them are REALLY stretching to declare him the winner.  CNN’s online story carries this headline:

Round 1 in Debates Goes to Obama, Poll Says

Okay, tell me more about your poll, I say.  The next to last paragraph of this long story (you know, so far down almost no one reads it) does just that, and here is their amazing statement: 

The results may be favoring Obama simply because more Democrats than Republicans tuned in to the debate. Of the debate-watchers questioned in this poll, 41 percent of the respondents identified themselves as Democrats, 27 percent as Republicans and 30 percent as independents. 

The text of the story also contains this equally amazing comment:

“It can be reasonably concluded, especially after accounting for the slight Democratic bias in the survey, that we witnessed a tie in Mississippi tonight,” CNN Senior Political Researcher Alan Silverleib said. “But given the direction of the campaign over the last couple of weeks, a tie translates to a win for Obama.”

Wait, wait!  I’m having trouble processing here!!!!

Let me see if I have this straight.  Their senior political researcher says the debate was a tie; then he says a tie translates to a win for Obama; then they admit their poll is weighted toward Democrat voters; then they put a headline over it saying Obama won according to that same biased poll. 

Oh, and I would say 41-27% is not a “slight Democratic bias” as they do, but a significant bias.  And I also wonder who their “undecided” voters were.

In my humble opinion, several times during the debate Obama had that deer in the headlights look – such as when McCain spoke in depth on Ukraine and Georgia.  Obama looked like he was afraid someone would ask him what JM had just talked about, but covered the moment by saying “I agree with what John McCain just said.”

As a matter of fact he agreed with McCain many times.

Yes, McCain clearly was the winner.  Too bad the networks don’t run that debate over and over so those who missed it have the opportunity to see it.  We all need to judge for ourselves. 

If we listen to the “journalists” we will get dizzy from all the spinning.

Some Things I’d Like The Media To Address

With gale force winds and driving rain in the area yesterday we spent most of the day in, going out only to catch a movie.  It was easily the most execrable movie of my entire life, reinforcing my aversion to almost anything Hollywood puts out.  That will teach me to ask what we’re going to see ahead of time.

And no, I’m not going to mention the name of the movie.  I don’t want to give it any publicity, even bad publicity.

Still, even on vacation I can’t disconnect from politics.  With the economy teetering on the brink and election day nearing quickly, it becomes clearer every day how important this election cycle is.  I am appalled at how virulently partisan network news and some entertainment shows (Letterman!) have become, and how few facts they dissseminate.  It is an obscene perversion of journalistic integrity. 

Is it asking too much to see some in depth reporting on the housing crisis, which would show where the blame for this mess lies?  (Hint: not with the Bush administration)  It is our financial future we are talking about, so why aren’t the news shows digging deep and talking about the truth as we go into an election?  (Oh, I forgot – they might have to say bad things about some Democrats.) 

Name names of those who got large campaign donations from Fannie and Freddie (Hint: Obama is near the top), as well as others who received political or financial favors to fight reining in this mess over the years.  This election isn’t just about the next president; we are also deciding whether we want to keep the Congress that brought us to this awful place.  Put the blame where it belongs.

I would also like to see some mention on the news of the Berg lawsuit against Obama, which is trying to make him produce a genuine birth certificate to prove he is eligible for the presidency.  There very well may be nothing amiss there, but if so why is Obama spending money on attorneys fighting it in court instead of just producing it and getting it over with?  Such a simple solution, yet…  Why aren’t the media asking why he doesn’t produce it?

So, I surf the internet in my down time, and find gems like some of these below.

Clinton era rule change led to current financial crisis  No one can explain it like Investor’s Business Daily can, but there is more information worth reading here.  Meanwhile, Clinton goes on television and acts like the wise senior politician who had nothing to do with getting us into this mess and can guide us out of it.

Understanding slavery  What an interesting article about America’s slave history and Islam.  Fascinating information I never knew, and that is not “politically correct” to mention.

Other people’s money  Good insight into where Obama got some of his political money, and who got paid what (in grants, not his own money) in return.

The housing crisis villain  Obama can find one of the guilty parties in the mirror.

Biden shows his ignorance  Hee-hee.  Can you imagine the outcry on the news shows if Sarah Palin had said this?  In an interview with Katie Couric, Joe Biden said: “Part of what a leader does is to instill confidence, to demonstrate that he or she knows what they’re (sic) talking about …. stock market crash, Franklin Roosevelt got on television and didn’t just talk about, you know, the princes of greed, he said, “Look, here’s what happened…” 

Really?  I see two big problems here:

• The stock market crashed in 1929; Roosevelt became president in 1932.
• I’ll bet people in 1929 would have been fascinated with television.  Unfortunately, it hadn’t been invented.  In fact, it still wasn’t in use when Roosevelt died in 1945; Roosevelt  never went on television to talk about anything.  He was famous for his “fireside chats” on the radio.

8 million Clinton supporters reject Obama  This is a PUMA website (you know, those Hillary supporters who are saying “Party Unity My A**).  I read a regular news account of the poll elsewhere, but it is interesting to see the reactions from these women.  Obama is finding out that sometimes there are consequences to your actions.

In real life, there is more rain in the forecast for today.  So, other than some (inside) flea market shopping it may be another indoor day.  It’s good we went to the gardens and the beach early in the week, as those are highlights of a visit.  I got souvenir shopping out of my system in Vietnam in April, so shopping this time is mainly wandering and enjoying being out with good company.

It is so relaxing here; going out when we feel like it, taking time to read, talking and catching up, just taking life easy.  Scherrol is such a tremendous cook and Dave is a great host.  I’m going to hate to see this week end.

Will The Media’s Bias Benefit Sarah Palin?

The following is excerpted from an interview with Mark Penn, a former top strategist to both Bill and Hillary Clinton.  The entire article can be found here.

CBSNews.com: Your former colleague Howard Wolfson argued that you all unintentionally paved the way for Palin by exposing some of the unfair media coverage that Hillary Clinton received. And, therefore, a lot of the media may now be treating Sarah Palin with kid gloves. Do you agree with that?

Mark Penn: Well, no, I think the people themselves saw unfair media coverage of Senator Clinton. I think if you go back, the polls reflected very clearly what “Saturday Night Live” crystallized in one of their mock debates about what was happening with the press.

I think here the media is on very dangerous ground. I think that when you see them going through every single expense report that Governor Palin ever filed, if they don’t do that for all four of the candidates, they’re on very dangerous ground. I think the media so far has been the biggest loser in this race. And they continue to have growing credibility problems.

And I think that that’s a real problem growing out of this election. The media now, all of the media — not just Fox News, that was perceived as highly partisan — but all of the media is now being viewed as partisan in one way or another. And that is an unfortunate development.

CBSNews.com: So you think the media is being uniquely tough on Palin now?

Mark Penn: Well, I think that the media is doing the kinds of stories on Palin that they’re not doing on the other candidates. And that’s going to subject them to people concluding that they’re giving her a tougher time. Now, the media defense would be, “Yeah, we looked at these other candidates who have been in public life at an earlier time.”

What happened here very clearly is that the controversy over Palin led to 37 million Americans tuning into a vice-presidential speech, something that is unprecedented, because they wanted to see for themselves. This is an election in which the voters are going to decide for themselves. The media has lost credibility with them. [emphasis added]

ABC grilled Palin hard, but it may Backfire  Here’s an excerpt from that UPI story:

Charles Gibson of ABC News was out for blood and inherently applied a double-standard compared with the kid gloves George Stephanopoulos used on Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois on Sunday night.

Gibson was out to embarrass Palin and expose her presumed ignorance from the word go. By contrast, when Obama referred to his “Muslim faith” on Sunday and did not correct himself, Stephanopoulos rushed in at once to help him and emphasize that the senator had really meant to say his Christian faith.   (snip)

The double-standard Gibson applied to Palin, compared with the uncritical media platforms repeatedly offered to Obama, who has had zero executive experience running anything, was especially striking. ABC and Gibson focused on Palin as if she were running right now for the presidency rather than the vice presidency.

Obama attack on McCain computer usage revealing  If Obama is so good at the internet, why didn’t anyone in his camp find this information from May 2000 before they ran their ad?  The man can’t type due to prisoner-of-war injuries.

http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com has become one of my favorite sites.  PUMA power. 

I Tried To Stay Awake – Part II

Good citizens get nvolved in the election process, watch the conventions, and pay attention so they can vote fully informed.  Right?

I’m not so sure that is true about the 75,000 “voters” ACORN signed up in Cuyahoga County, Ohio recently.  The board of elections there is looking at all of them with a suspicious eye, because:

1. They found multiple cases of many people living at the same addresses, with those addresses being vacant lots, a restaurant, empty houses, etc.
2. They found multiple cases of people being registered many times using different addresses
3. There are already more registered voters in Cuyahoga County than there are adults over 18, according to census records.  (Same with Philadelphia, and probably other cities.)

So let’s all go out and vote, early and often it appears.  At least if you’re a Democrat.* 

Maybe our voting places need to do what they do in third world countries – dip your finger in ink when you vote so you can’t go somewhere else and vote again.

But I digress.  I did try to watch part of last night’s Republican convention, but after an afternoon of canning salsa (thanks for the recipe,Louis!), I barely made it through the first speaker.  Maybe I will do better tonight.

This morning’s papers are blaring front page news of “more problems” with McCain’s VP pick.  I am waiting for them to blare news of their in-depth coverage of Obama’s close working relationship with unrepentant bomber “he’s just a guy who lives in my neighborhood” Bill Ayres.  Now that the University of Chicago library has finally allowed public access to documentation on it, it seems the Annenberg Challenge was run by those two for something like six years.  Together they distributed over $100 million in grants to Chicago schools, with no visibile results.

Maybe we will read about how Michelle Obama was given a 160% raise after her husband was elected, and the million dollar grant he then directed to her employer, the University of Chicago Medical Center.  And what was her job?  Some kind of outreach coordinator, where she coordinated (created?) policies to send uninsured people to other hospitals to save UCMC money.  Wow – what a heart of gold! 

Maybe tomorrow’s stories will investigate Larry Sinclair, a limo driver in the Washington area who claimed he smoked cocaine and had gay sex with Obama in 1999.  After he went public with his allegations he found himself picked up in D.C. on an arrest warrant out of Delaware.  Sort of vague charges.  Issued by the attorney general who is, um, Joe Biden’s son. 

Maybe tomorrow’s paper will have Obama’s claim that he has more executvie experience than Sarah Palin because he has spent almost two years – get ready for this – running his campaign for president.  Yes, he actually said that.  Running for president qualifies him to be president!  Says he is spending over $10 million a month and has over a thousand employees, so that gives him executive experience.  Of course, that would be the same two years he claims as experience for being in the senate – guess they count twice.

I’m not holding my breath.  We will continue to get a litany about Palin’s husband’s 22 year old DUI ticket, her 17 year old daughter’s pregnancy, and quotes from the daughter’s boyfriend’s Facebook page (He calls himself a redneck!  He doesn’t want to have children!).  At least the daughter’s pregnancy stopped the rumors that the Palin’s youngest son is actually their daughter’s.

The newspapers and TV aren’t doing their job, and our country will suffer the consequences.

I need to stop paying attention to all this stuff, but it’s like watching a train wreck – you can’t stand to look but can’t turn away.

Guess I’ll go help the historical society set up their garage sale.  You know, real life.

*Nothing in this column is meant as an indictment of Democratic voters, as I have many friends who vote a straight D- ticket.  Once per election.