Fighting Words

I don't usually turn the comments left on this site into their own posts, but I'm going to make one of those rare exceptions this time. Saturday night, I put up a "Quote of the Week" from CNN President Jon Klein -- whom I've come down on pretty harshly in the past but who I'm more more than willing to acknowledge gave the best response possible to the McCain campaign's accusations of a media bias against Sarah Palin. In the comment section of that post, an anonymous reader (because the ones who indignantly rail against the things I say tend never to be willing to attach their names to their opinions) said this:

"It's absolutely amazing that everyone is bent out of shape about the lack of experience the Republican's VP choice has, while ignoring the lack of experience the Dems PREZ choice has.

As far as a "media proof bubble," the damn media is scared/unwilling to report jack shit about Obama. Get back to me when we start hearing about Barry's kids and spouse on the news." -- Anonymous

Exhausted with having to repeat the same arguments over and over, I responded with this:

"Dear God, would somebody please fucking reiterate to Anonymous here what I've been saying for the past week? Please? I'm too tired." -- Chez

Well, leave it to Votar (whom I've known for 20 years and whose real name is Adam) to hit back harder and smarter than I was willing to or maybe even could've:

"Still thinking in bumper-stickers.

It doesn't make a difference what we reiterate, they're still stuck in sloganeering mode.

Anyone catch Biden on Meet the Press Sunday? As usual, it was captivating to watch him speak. An engaging straight shooter. No robotic chanting "USA USA." No silly canned jokes about lipstick on dogs. No beady-eyed condescension. A thoughtful and comprehensive dialog about where we are as a nation, and where we seem to be going.

And Palin's Sunday morning appearances were... what? Oh, yeah. The McCain campaign isn't letting anyone speak to her unless it's a fluff piece about her favorite cookie recipe, or one of her virtually identical stump speeches someone else wrote for her. The McCain campaign canceled her scheduled interviews with media who have the audacity to actually ask questions and try to present information. You know, stuff the rest of us might want to know about the potentially second most powerful person on the planet.

Obama has been vetted for the last two years. What's left to dig into? The press has done its job so far; the laughable non-story about Reverend Wright came and went; the Rezko thing is old news; the Obama is a baby-eating Muslim emails are understood for what they are by anyone with an IQ higher than a toadstool. What else?

There is a wealth of information about Obama, and his political career including his ongoing service as a sitting member of the Senate, thanks to his willingness to address people's curiosities about him. There are a great many questions about Mrs. Palin that really ought to be asked and answered with crystal clarity before anyone should be asked to push a button and put her one metastasized melanoma -- or just a simple heart attack -- away from the controls of the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet.

Everyone is entitled to know everything that can be learned about both the candidates and their running mates. Asking reasonable questions about a person who only a week ago 99% of Americans had never heard of hardly approaches getting bent out of shape; canceling interviews and obscuring critical inquiry with loud, repetitive, cliche protestations, comes much closer to it.

I've seen Obama and Biden discuss, in great detail, the vision of their administration, the challenges it will likely face, and the ideas they want to explore as our elected leaders. In contrast, McCain gives us schoolyard nanny-nanny boo-boo riffs, long irrelevant anecdotes about Vietnam, and brief but controlled glimpses of a complete stranger whose best attempts at public speaking sound like the kind of wisdom you hear if you push the little red button stamped on a magnetic Jesus Fish." -- Votar

Final Score:

Votar: 1

Anonymous Dingbat: 0