September 2, 2008

I'm not so sure


I'm all down the Obama Train, but I'm thinking that this new ad with it's ever so cutting edge James Taylorishness just seems below the visionary, inspiring Obama that we saw early.

Sell yourself, man. Don't break down the other guy.

7 comments:

achilles3 said...

I feel ya...BUT those are facts.

calencoriel said...

I have to agree with you on this one, Chemguy. I thought it was a little early for this kind of muckraking and disappointed that the Obama camp felt the need to go this route already...I understood their ad separating Obama from Ayers and laugh each time they point out that the bombing happened when Obama was just 8 years old - serious mastermind, there...but I thought this ad was a little premature.

That being said, the photo in this ad where McCain is hugging Bush is HILARIOUS! It looks like McCain is hanging on for dear life and on the verge of tears. And holy crap, Dems...we get the link between McCain and Bush...tell me what Obama is going to do and quit telling me I'll get more of the same if I vote the other way!


...and Jesus Christ, Lakes, both ads use facts and skew them however they want to...you're as blind as my republican mother, just on the other end of the continuum.

achilles3 said...

If you can't see the difference between the swift boating republican roveian "mud" (Muslim, hates America, etc) and what the Obama campaign is doing with getting the message out so people actually UNDERSTAND what the mainstream media refuses to report about johnny "mav", then you're as bad as MY GRANDmother.

The HUGE difference here is that the media, trying to keep a horse race so we watch the news thus affording advertising, (WHICH IS WHY THEY HAVEN'T CALLED THE PALIN PICK FOR WHAT IT IS-TOTALLY RETARDED) is not reporting McSame honestly, so Obama, using his small donaors, has to illuminate the FACTS for them.
Numbers. Stats. Quotes. Which are not dirty pool...
Your republican mother and I have NOTHING in common. I repeat NOTHING. I assure you.
Her block voted for 8 years of the saddest, sickest most deadliest leader (he should be tried for "war" crimes and murder) in the history of our country.
I didn't.

achilles3 said...

sorry...didn't mean to "sound" so harsh...gotta lil carried away.
not that anyone was surprised
LOVE YA HECK;-)

calencoriel said...

It's all good, Lakes. I didn't realize comparing you to my mom would evoke such rage! : )

PHSChemGuy said...

Calen...the image of McCain and Bush together are awful...McCain look like he's going to cry or fall down...it's pitiful...I don't know of the Obama-Ayers ad, haven't seen it...

Lakes...I'll give you that the ads aren't lying, but these ads - like the ads from nearly every politician - cherry pick facts that most support their positions, paint their opponents in the least-flatering light, and edge upon being untruths...for example, the one that drives me nuts also from the Obama campaign says that McCain called anyone making under $5 million a year middle class and cites the source of the quote as being from the Saddleback Forums - which I watched...McCain actually was asked how much money somebody would have to make to be called rich, and he hemmed and hawed talking about taxes and cost of living, but when pinned down, he suggested $5 million dollars...does that mean everyone below $5mil is middle class?...not quite...the "fact" is quoted slightly differently to make McCain look worse...and it bugs me every time...

The part of this campaign - and most campaigns - that frustrates me more than anything else is that I find the Republican party using tactics of fear and negativity to convince voters: the Democrats will let people attack us, if you vote for Obama, he'll sell us out to the Muslims...and I hate to see the candidates that I support (Obama in this case) lowering the level of discourse to that same level. You don't have to fight Swift Boat ads (which I agree were much lower and scummier) by stooping to their level.

And I don't think that the media - most of them, anyway - are trying to keep the race close. I honestly believe that Obama's perception of inexperience (admittedly, a genius choice by the Republicans), the Republican's constant harping on the safety of our nation, and the ever-strong push by the religious right to vote for any pro-life candidate have kept this a very close race.

I would be very disappointed in any news agency if they openly came out and told us that any choice by any candidate was a stupid one (much less using the offensive word retarded). Their job is not to interpret for us. Their job is to report.

McCain picked Palin. Here is her background because we think you won't know it.

End of story.

Don't tell me why he picked Palin. That's speculation. That's conjecture. That's picking sides.

I'll get that from the Sunday morning political shows which I do so enjoy watching: Meet the Press (RIP Tim Russert) and the ABC one, whatever its name is.

And Calen, have you met your mom? It's a comparision guaranteed to evoke strong feelings.

achilles3 said...

I have to disagree with the 5 million "thing"...it doesn't drive me crazy because it drives home the point (just like the "ask my staff how many houses I have") that McCain REALLY is out of touch. He doesn't have a clue about normal lives.

I honestly believe that and even if that was the only difference between him and Obama then that should be enough.

We can no more make negativity disappear in politics than we can in human discourse. BUT we can attempt to lower it and add much more truth. You'd have to agree that Obama has done both to a major extent. There is scum and then there is much much scummier. He has risen above the fray time and time again.

In terms of the media I think they have a responsibility beyond the unattainable objectivity. They have an obligation to tell the truth and call out liars. When almost all of the mainstream media allows candidates to lie:
1. Palin being against the Bridge to Nowhere. She wasn't.
2. McCain's cross in the sand story. He stole that. Made it his own.
3. Obama raising taxes for most Americans. He won't unless you make more than 250,000 a year which is not most Americans.
4. McCain's statements on his 100% voting record for veterans. This is also a lie that the mainstream networks NEVER call out.

When the media allows the McCain camp and the GOP to perpetuate these talking points over and over they are not doing their job. They should call them liars. They should call the Bush admin liars and war criminals. But they won't. Why won't they:
1. Shareholders that know a prevailing noble narrative of the American way is much more profitable than the alternative.
2. Admitting that you (the mainstream media) were/are complicit in Bush and McCain lies does not exactly inspire confidence. Again the alternative of spin and move on to the next distraction has worked for the mainstream media so far so their incentive to follow the lead of The Real News, AlterNet, Democracy Now, Link TV, Aljazeera, NOW, etc...to actually admit culpibility through REAL reporting, is minimal and dangerous- to shareholders and narrative protectors.

You say you WOULD be disappointed if a news agency interpreted the news...ask Dan Rather if that's exactly what is already happening. When the mainstream media follows the white house orders on what pictures they can and can't show (dead soldiers, funerals, etc) you have to wonder how those orders (and others) begin to shape (thus interpret) what we think about this illegal occupation.

When brave people like Scott Mcclellan, Bob Woodward, Ron Suskind, Alex Gibney, Andy Worthington, Vincent Bulgosi, et al reveal the truths about this administration while the mainstream media treats them as radical blips with out genuine news time and front page focus to make change, they show their true colors...complicit failures. Shameful tools. Fearful pawns.

And they are treating this race the same way. They are harming the republic by allowing the lies.
The mainstream media is not doing it's job because they have little incentive to do so.