Quote of the week

17 October 2008 @ 3:47 pm | 3 comments

Quote of the week:

Look on the bright side. The media’s finally starting to vet acquaintances of Barack Obama.

(Possibly) Related posts:

  1. They told me if I voted Republican the new President would constantly be invoking Jesus, and they were right!

Tags: ,





  1. David B’s avatar

    David B on 19 October 2008 at 9:11 pm

    Yeah–it’s about time. I mean, the media’s gotta make up for completely *not* covering Rev. Jeremiah Wright this past summer, right?

    Just saying’.

    p.s. If the Republicans get to make a big deal about Bill Ayers and expect the media to pick up on it, do the Democrats get to make exactly as much of a big deal about Charles Keating and expect the media to pick up on it, too? Just sayin’ some more.

  2. David H. Sundwall’s avatar

    David H. Sundwall on 19 October 2008 at 9:55 pm

    @David B:

    I know you’re being snarky but I think it’s right in right in suggesting they blew off the Rev. Wright and I will actually have the gall to post more on it hopefully this week.

    The gist of my complaint is that the media dropped Rev. Wright as soon as Obama did. And Obama made the whole issue out to be about race which was wrong. The issue was the crazy poltics coming from his Church but he was never held to answer for any of that. It just became about race and racism and everyone (including McCain) didn’t want to get into that can of worms.

    It’s too late now to really press on Wright or Ayers. I think they are legitimate subjects that the media showed zero curiosity in covering but for McCain to try to now just reeks of desperation.

    But I hope to have more on that soon.

    P.S. The Keating thing was a deal but has at least been covered and McCain was cleared of any ethical charges. I suppose it’s fair game to bring it up again but at least that whole affair was publicly aired. Not so for Ayers and Wright and Obama has been allowed to not come clean on either one.

  3. David B’s avatar

    David B on 20 October 2008 at 12:33 pm

    Actually, being completely serious for once, i think the media dropped the Rev. Wright thing once it was clear the bulk of the American public had stopped caring, just as the Keating scandal got dropped once the bulk of the American public stopped caring. This is why neither gets brought up now in any big way.

    As for whether the media has kept up the pressure about any particular candidate’s associations intensely enough–well, part of the nature of politics is that you’re gonna hang out with a lot of people, many of whom you don’t know very well and can’t have a chance to vet. (It may be a function of a large-population country more than the nature of politics itself, really.) You may think that Obama’s acquaintances haven’t been vetted enough, but others think that McCain’s acquaintances haven’t been vetted enough.

    I think both sides are wrong–i think too much emphasis gets placed on who hangs out with whom. As for the difference in perceptions, though, i’ll simply point out that Martin Luther was right–even if the Law didn’t make a distinction about whose ox was gored, it still makes a difference at that point in time, but only at that point in time.