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Campaign Crawlers
Whatever Happened to Truth?
Media enablers ignore the facts of Obama’s failure.
Did you know that one-third of children in Ohio are enrolled in Medicaid? Neither did I, until last week when I picked up a copy of the Bucyrus (Ohio) Telegraph-Forum and read down to the seventh paragraph of a story headlined, “Study says more children have health insurance.”
The positive spin in the headline was undercut by the statistical facts of the story: “The increase in children on insurance comes as median incomes across the state were relatively flat, and the percentage of families in poverty — especially those with children — rose slightly.” An increase in poverty, in other words, actually reduced the number of uninsured children by qualifying them for coverage under a government program for the poor. Such was the substance of the explanation by Angela Krile, spokeswoman for the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, who said: “Really, this just shows the importance of Medicaid in our state for children.”
Americans have become accustomed to this sort of “good news” in the Obama era, and there was more of it in that small-town Ohio paper. “Unemployment remains the same,” declared the headline across the top of the front page. The story explained that, although the official unemployment rate in Crawford County, Ohio (population 43,389) declined from 9 percent in July to 8 percent in August, it wasn’t because more people were working. “Since the number of employed stayed the same, 200 people went off of unemployment because their time limit is up and they have not found work yet,” Dave Williamson, director of the Crawford County Economic Development Partnership, told the Bucyrus paper. “We have no more people working than we did last month.”
Extrapolate such statistical hocus-pocus at the local level across the entire state of Ohio, or nationwide, and you understand how some people might be deceived into believing that the Obama administration has actually produced an economic recovery. Yet it doesn’t take much effort to discover how grim the situation really is. Right there on the same front page of the same newspaper was another headline that made this unfortunately clear. “Local children are going hungry,” was the headline on the story about a local charitable effort to help feed the shockingly large number of poor children in Bucyrus. A spokeswoman for the project said “more than 70 percent of our students require assistance with food by receiving free or reduced lunches.” That percentage has risen in recent years, and this evidence of increasing poverty in a small Ohio town (Bucyrus has a population of 12,253) may come as a shock to anyone who has bought into the Obama administration’s claims that the president’s policies have meaningfully improved the economy in Ohio or anywhere else.
Convincing voters that President Obama’s economic policies have been an abject failure — and that another four years would only make this failure worse — is the primary task Mitt Romney must accomplish in tonight’s debate. Conservatives who have opposed the Obama agenda all along are understandably exasperated by recent polls indicating that most Americans either think the economy is improving or else don’t blame the president for the continuing malaise. How could it be, for example, that Obama has led the 14 most recent polls included in the Real Clear Politics average? How could a Roanoke College poll show Obama ahead 47-39 — eight points! — in Virginia? How could a Columbus Dispatch poll show Obama leading 51-42 — nine points! — in Ohio?
Skeptics who detect evidence of bias in these polls have been denounced by Jonathan Chait as “poll denialists,” one of those accusations, like “homophobia,” by which those who disagree with liberals are casually diagnosed as mentally ill. If the polls are not biased, however, conservatives must confront the question: Who’s really crazy here? Us, or the surprisingly large percentage of people who think it’s a good idea to re-elect this miserable failure of a president?
One alternative to what might be called the Mass Insanity Theory of Obama’s mysterious poll advantage is to fault Romney himself for having failed to attack the incumbent with sufficient stridency. The “Blame Mitt” school of thought is fairly sizeable among conservatives with less-than-fond memories of 2008 Republican nominee John McCain’s kid-gloves approach to his Democratic opponent. However, having attended several rallies at which both Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan slammed the president pretty hard in their speeches, I am reluctant to believe that the GOP candidates are guilty of being too nice to Obama. As much as some of our friends may wish to hear the president excoriated as a lying Marxist who is deliberately trying to destroy the American constitutional republic, it’s unrealistic to expect that kind of accusation to be made directly by his Republican challenger.
If these theories — biased polls, mass insanity, or a “too nice” GOP candidate — are all inadequate to explain why Obama appears to be taking a substantial lead into tonight’s debate, what’s left? Ah, yes: The damned liberal media!
This was the topic of a remarkable open letter last week from the Media Research Center’s Brent Bozell III and other conservatives who charged that the media “are rigging this election and taking sides in order to pre-determine the outcome,” and that, in doing so, biased journalists “have breached the public trust by willfully turning a blind eye to the government’s public policy failures, both domestic and foreign.”
What could explain such a dereliction of professional duty except partisan loyalty? A number of studies have shown that Democrats in the press corps outnumber Republicans by margins of at least 4-to-1 and perhaps as much as 12-to-1. One of the best-known of these studies, based on a survey of Washington-based reporters after the 1992 election, found that 89 percent voted for Bill Clinton, more than twice the 43 percent vote Clinton got from the electorate at large. Citing particular proofs of this bias (we all have our favorite examples, including Nina Burleigh’s infamously lascivious praise of Clinton) seems at this point redundant, and efforts to counteract this bias by exposing it seem futile. The reporters and editors whom former CBS newsman Bernard Goldberg accused of a “slobbering love affair” with Obama four years ago have no sense of shame about serving as stenographers for the Democrat’s re-election campaign, and liberal journalists tend to reject all conservative criticism as “whining” from disgruntled wingnuts.
Thus, tonight’s debate offers Romney a rare chance to make his case to a national audience directly, absent the distorting filter of a hostile media. Yet even then, as George Washington University political science professor John Sides points out, research shows that voters may be influenced less by the debates themselves than by how the debates are covered by the media. So it may be that nothing Romney or anyone else says can overcome the partisan prejudices of those pro-Obama journalists whom Rush Limbaugh has compared to a Praetorian guard protecting their imperial president.
Is there yet any room for hope, or are we utterly doomed? Well, there are still honest reporters in America, or else I never would have been able to find those disturbing facts on the front page of the Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum. And if this election were only about the fates of a couple of politicians, the disgrace of the national press — their refusal to hold Obama responsible for the self-evident failures of his policies — might not trouble me as much as it does. However, there are others whose futures are at stake, others who have been cruelly betrayed by the president’s glib promises of Hope and Change. But I don’t expect any network anchors will lose much sleep tonight over those poor children in Ohio.
About the Author
Robert Stacy McCain is co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party (Nelson Current). He blogs at The Other McCain.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (114) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 10.3.12 @ 6:58AM
I have a nice pin of an elephant holding an American Flag that I am wearing until the election, to prevent Canadians from unintentionally feeding me Democrat talking points and stepping into a political argument from the bleachers. I am not, after all, making comments about their annointing Pierre Trudeau's son as the leader of a a collapsed Liberal Party, solely because he's cute, has curly hair, and is named Trudeau. I am sitting in the bleachers here in Canada; theirs is not my fight. But everybody I have spoken to here until I point out their status as bystanders would love to have Obama as Prime Minister of Canada. It's Matthew 24 all over the place.
oldeham| 10.3.12 @ 7:22AM
Abbleby:
What are the legal requirements for Prime Minister?
1. Be elected to Parliament. Should be easy since they love him so much.
2. Does he have to be a citizen? The press here overlooks the fact that by Obama's own words and those of Chicago papers, is not a citizen of this country.
If our Canadian friends want him we are more than please to provide the donation.
Von Mises Jr| 10.3.12 @ 7:08AM
We don't have a Press. But Canada Free Press and Mexico’s Univision are happy to report on America's warts and moles.
Canada Free Press reported the other day the list of the major Obama Executive Orders. Essentially he has declared himself dictator and at a whim can commandeer our Militias, food, resources and soon the internet with his own personal "kill switch."
Univision is hot on the trail of Obama and Holder for "Fast and Furious." After another 16 teens were executed the other day, the Mexican Press is fit to be tied. They know hundreds already have died and perhaps thousands more Mexicans will ultimately die for a statist ploy to take away Americans Second Amendment Rights.
While I understand RSM's and other's concern; it is YOUR FREAKING COUNTRY. If you cower to little sissy liberals, then you deserve to be their slave. I live among them and they are complete cowards. They don’t even have the guts to stand up to the lies they are told every day by their handlers.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 7:45AM
My question for Pedro and Juanita is this - What took you so long?
This is not a new story.
And, where is the Outrage from your Pathetic President?
This Black Gringo is RESPONSIBLE for the MURDERS of Hundreds of Mexican Men, Women, and Children.
DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE.
What he did is an Act of War. Or, at least it used to be. A lot of things USED to be, Acts of War, around here. Just not when there's a D next to the President's name.
These Mexican Media Outlets have known about this for YEARS. As have Ours.
The Truth Died when the Left got hold of Public Education and began turning out journOlists. It started with Kennedy vs Nixon. It got bigger with the Victories of Ronald Reagan. It exploded during The Rapist's 8 Years. And, it disappeared, forever, with the Total Whitewash of the Racist Black Muslim, and his Hawaiian Bank Vault full of Screts, in 2008.
Never to be heard from, again.
Von Mises Jr| 10.3.12 @ 8:50AM
Who the (blank) needs them Tim? It is only the stupid people who still watch the MSM, and they are looking at their crotches and butts with no idea of what the talking head just said.
The irony is that "we are the ones we have been waiting for" to tell the damn truth. The MSM and liberals can go to hell. We don't need or want them.
It is the good people on this site, AT, the late-great Breitbart, Drudge, Levin and so many more that are the new news broadcasters. And let's not forget Rush. He keeps half his brain tied behind his back for our benefit. He doesn't even need more than a few cells to deal with the liberals.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 9:33AM
It may just be - The Stupid People - watching these MSM Programs.
But, even Stupid People can learn something, when given The Facts.
I volunteer for FCC Commissioner in the upcoming Romney Administration.
I'm Smart. I'm Punctual. I'm Personable. And, I just bought a Brand New Rubber Stamp that reads: DENIED, for all of the Broadcast Liscences that will be coming up for Renewal.
Al Adab| 10.3.12 @ 9:36AM
How will the media deal with the latest murder of a Border Patrol agent on the Mexican border? Will they note that Texas, NM, AZ and Calif are under invasion by armed gangs meaning them harm? Will they demand that the government act according as it once did when Pancho Villa invaded New Mexico? We know the answer.
This president can do no wrong due to the racism of the press which sees "this historic presidency" only in those terms. Their sense of collective guilt demands that they not criticize any policy because of the race of the president. Are not they racist who see every issue in solely terms of race?
900 executive orders later this man is well prepared to rule. Sadly our government is not designed to rule us but rather to protect our liberties. Yes, we now know what "fundamentally transform America" really meant.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 10:02AM
They will IGNORE IT.
The same way that IGNORED his 5 Days of Fundraising, before finally gracing New Orleans with his presence.
The same way they IGNORED his Fundraising Trip to Las Vegas, even as our Middle East Embassies were Burning, and our Ambassador's Dead Body was being paraded around the Streets of Benghazi.
The same way they IGNORED his Partying with Jay Z and Beyonce. Yucking it up with Letterman. And sitting on his Ass, at The View, instead of meeting with Netanyahu, and other World Leaders, after his UN Speech.
Another Dead Border Patrol Agent.
As far as this Media is concerned?
It never happened.
He was Mentally Unstable.
He was a Racist, and he shot himself.
More at 11.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 2:10PM
What garbage! The media didn't "ignore" the murder of the border patrol agent. It was all over the news. That's how you guys learned about it.
You continue to blame your failure to convince most people of your brilliance on the "mainstream media" and the "stupidity" of the American people. Look in the mirror instead if you want to learn who's really to blame.
Al Adab| 10.3.12 @ 3:03PM
The question here RCV is what will the federal government do about it. Article IV Section IV obligates the national government to protect the States from Invasion. They might wish to do so instead of suing States seeking to protect themselves.
JD| 10.3.12 @ 3:07PM
It was all over Fox News yesterday, and has only been written about by CNN and others today. However, the CNN article can only be found by googling - I cannot find it by navigating from their home page, their US page, or any other menu page.
CNN frequently covers their bias by publishing, but not linking, articles. This way they can point back to how they "covered" stories without actually letting any of their readers see them.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 4:04PM
Gee, JD, I'm sorry the press doesn't arrange their stories the way you would if you were a newspaper or broadcast editor, but when you get your own paper, you can do as you choose.
The sad fact is that border patrol agents being killed in the line of duty is not a new phenomenon, nor is the violence to them any greater than it has been in the last decade. Here are the statistics (including the latest killing):
2012 - 3
2011 - 2
2010 - 3
2009 - 4
2008 - 2
2007 - 4
2006 - 2
Al Adab| 10.3.12 @ 4:32PM
I reiterate, when is the federal government going to take the matter seriously and stop opposing the States that seek to protect themselves from invasion?
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 5:01PM
Where's your OUTRAGE that ANOTHER BORDER PATROL AGENT was Gunned Down by the Guns that your Piece of Sh*t President gave to the Mexican Drug Cartels?
STFU!
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 5:58PM
No reply.
Why am I not surprised?
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 7:10PM
As long as states act in accordance with the Constitution, Al Adab, they're free to legislate to their hearts' content.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 7:12PM
Start using an adult's vocabulary instead of a seventh grader's and people might want to respond to you, guy-who-believes-God-sent-Hitler-to-punish-the-Jews.
JD| 10.3.12 @ 7:02PM
Funny, I seem to recall the death of one soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan being big news, right up until January 2009 when the media stopped reporting that stuff.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 7:13PM
Gee, you have a weird memory.
Stkman| 10.3.12 @ 8:54AM
The only way Obama can rule by edict is if Congress allows it, and they do! We must have a new Speaker and a new leader in the Senate. Of course having a new Prseident will solve a major problem. Evenif Romney is elected, we need a new Speaker and Senate leader. Bohner and McConnell are both jokes, sad pitiful jokes with now leadership qualitites whatsoever.
TeaPartyNow| 10.3.12 @ 12:39PM
If you can't tell me why Mitt Romney is better than Obama, by talking about Mitt Romney, he's not really better.
The rights medias are just as much devoid of the truth, & filled with propaganda & lies as the lefts are. & there are far more partisan hacks on the right.
Which makes people like you & American Spectator incapable of knowing any truth about the people you support & will vote for.
You can't do it, I say, you can't tell the truth because you don't know the truth.
Skippy| 10.3.12 @ 4:16PM
STFU a$$hole.
We have a nation to save.
Blow your crap out your butt.
You and your faux principles are as useless as mammaries on a steer.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 5:13PM
He hasn't produced 4 Trillion$ Deficits in 4 Years.
He hasn't added $6,000,000,000,000 to the National Debt.
He hasn't presided over Two Credit Rating Downgrades.
He didn't Forge Documents to a Federal Judge.
He didn't put in place an Illegal Drilling Moratorium, in Defiance of that same Federal Judge.
He didn't Run 2,000 High Powered Automatic Weapons to the Mexican Drug Cartels.
He didn't have anything to do with the Price of Food, and Gasoline.
He didn't throw Mubarek under the Bus, and Wage an Illegal War in Libya, handing Both Countries over to The Muslim Brotherhood.
He hasn't presided over The Worst Economy since The Great Depression.
He's not Running a BLACKS ONLY Justice Department.
He hasn't B*tchslapped Israel at every turn.
He hasn't Refused the XL Pipeline.
He has nothing to do with this POS Economy.
That's why he's better, Dumb@ss.
benny havens| 10.3.12 @ 7:38AM
What we have is the Tiger Woods syndrome, meaning, no matter how bad his performance is the media continues to fall all over themselves in maintaining his celebrity status.
TeaPartyNow| 10.3.12 @ 12:49PM
The American People have been living on propaganda too long. There isn't any truth in the right this year. Think about it, has any one ever mentioned Ryans' record? Does he not have one? In 2008, Sarah Palins' record was put up for us to see.
The right is mimicking the left with a puppet & simultaneous actions that are tested to work. But they don't work because Romney is too stupid to pull it off. His plans to fool people with catch words failed.
We have lie syndrome in the whole of America. We are devoid of truth. & it isn't limited to just the left anymore. Todays right follows Romney into the political cess pool of propaganda & lies.
So this "celebrity" thing that you speak of, happens with your side too. Romney is horrible, & you will double down on horror, because your job is to get any loser who is republican elected. Regardless of the truth or whether he's any good or not.
2012 has been a year of hysterical frenzied mass insanity for the right.
Unless you are conservative like myself & wait it all out in disgust.
Skippy| 10.3.12 @ 4:28PM
Keep waiting douchebag.
When your man wins you can celebrate in the streets with all the other liars and cheats.
You are so full of crap.
Mike W| 10.3.12 @ 7:55AM
Our side yaks about the truth of Obama's failure not being reported. We yak about how the opinion polls are inaccurate. How about this - we nominated (again) a Republican who will not excite the less enthusiastic to come out and vote?
Repubs may not like the Paul types but the convention was one big middle finger to that sizable voting bloc. And just yesterday, Mittens said he would accept the Obama Dream Amnesty and accept that it was a legal use of presidential power.
This clown does not have a chance against BO. I am deeply depressed about this country's future.
TeaPartyNow| 10.3.12 @ 12:59PM
Obama will win. But that doesn't make this thing over. Conservatives were disgusted with Romney from day one. & when he got the nomination we dropped out. & when he refused to fight for conservative family values during the chick-fil-a events, conservatisms' voice was silenced wholly in America, & it hasn't spoken since.
The right has a theory that to win it has to mimic marxist indoctrination culture.
Why, I don't know, but it does.
But at any rate we true conservatives are still here, ever disgusted. & we will be back.
The left won & rallied the forces for every liberal issue in 2012, because our guy only panders. Mitt Romney made liberal panderers of you all.
But we, are still here. & we know that liberalism whether by democrats or republicans, is a disaster to the lives of Americans. & we want America back.
After Romney loses, we will try to reform the right somehow. & we will have the pride of knowing that we never pandered. The few, the proud, the anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-nanny state, fascist, marxism, dictatorship, propaganda, true conservatives.
The American People dropped out of self government. Our job is to tell all Americans to refute propaganda & demand truth.
Recovery is not effortless. Nor is freedom, ever.
TeaPartyNow| 10.3.12 @ 1:17PM
Hey Mike, the writers & posters on this site are deeply hateful because all they need is to elect Romney even if he is devoid of conservative values & honesty.
But as a conservative against liberal republicans like Mark Levin used to be, I gotta say, don't be afraid of these hateful people.
People from the outside don't like to see the hate coming from these boards because these people are bias as all h-. & conservatives know Romney will lose, & that is a good thing.
Please don't be afraid of the hatefulness that you get from these people. Because they are wrong. Mitt Romney is wrong. We don't let criminals out of jail just to get votes. Or support amnesty to get votes either.
Mitt Romney gets more liberal every day. Steer clear of partisan propaganda. & value truth always. & live unafraid to speak out as an American.
Both sides are bad now. Deeply despotic. America has no viable future with either party. Today, we the people are all we've got.
Thank you for throwing some truth at a wall of lies.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 2:11PM
At least Mike W is an honest and perceptive guy.
KennesawJack| 10.3.12 @ 2:42PM
He's a f**king troll.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 5:15PM
Just like his buddy - RCV.
Ignore him.
4FACTSonly| 10.3.12 @ 8:03AM
This is an excellent article that everyone who works in any type of media should read. My fear: that the truth and facts simply don't matter anymore. If the president of the United States (and the attorney general) can ignore facts and speak untruths, why should the media be any different? We are quickly reaching a tipping point where almost 50% of the US population neithers knows or cares what the facts are as long as the government keeps on spending. How on Earth, other than voting for conservatives, are we to fight back against this travesty?
rlleigh| 10.3.12 @ 10:48AM
The tipping point is past. The collapse of the US economy is nearby and that's the entire point of the Obama Agenda...create division between the races, the social/economic classes, the generations and then when utter chaos ensues, come in and implement the 'New America" he has repeatedly said he wants to create. The Press will blame it on anyone and anything but their complicity and liberal agendas and The Citizenry will be bewildered at how it could have all gone so wrong. Sad to say but this is exactly what will happen, whether within the next 4 years or, if Romney wins, MAYBE a bit longer. Unfortunately, just like Ancient Rome, we are headed for utter collapse. By populace, They have the larger power as Their numbers increase and Their attention wanes...and why? because We allow it! As long as The People have bread and circuses They will not rebel, this has always been true. There truly is nothing new under the sun.
KennesawJack| 10.3.12 @ 1:47PM
And that, my friend, is when the shooting starts.
Skippy| 10.3.12 @ 4:36PM
I dread the truth of your prediction, but I see no other end to this play.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 5:17PM
It's how this Sh*t always ends.
Everybody Dies.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 7:15PM
No, it ends with some local cop taking idiots like you into custody. Same old story.
oldeham| 10.3.12 @ 8:06AM
Another 'truth' is Obozo's statements on 'redistribution'. We all know where he is going to 'get' the money - the middle class. But Obozo has NEVER stated where that money is going!!!
One thing for sure - it is NOT the people on public assistance - they will only get what is necessary for them to survive - not thrive - survive. The rest will go to his financial backers. Together Obozo's income return says he made over $800K last year. While not as much as Romney - that is still a rather 'generous' income.
Mike G| 10.3.12 @ 8:58AM
The money is going to Lockheed Martin and its lawyers as a reward for breaking the law. Isn't that what politicians are supposed to do with tax dollars?
Joellen| 10.3.12 @ 8:08AM
Everyday I educate at least one individual, rep, indp, or idiot dem. Whenever anyone tries to put the onus on Romney I give the individual facts pertaining to how corrupt the media is in refusing to expose the lefts true agenda (believe me I never run out of information). In fact, when ever anyone brings up the 47% comment, I simply email the Obama phone (lady) website - see how easy it is. I never, ever give the other person the last word - I make them angry, which I think is good because then they to question who are they really angry at, me or knowing that they just might have been duped all these years. I've said this for years - dont buy the newspapers that promote their leftist agenda - put em out of business.
mike 3/505| 10.3.12 @ 9:55AM
"...idiot dem."
Redundant. -2
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 2:12PM
No wonder you're so well-liked.
Bill8472| 10.4.12 @ 9:16AM
So when someone blames Romney for something, you bring up the media?
Enlightening.
C. Vernon Crisler | 10.3.12 @ 8:14AM
Cool will always defeat bland.
Remember, Roosevelt was elected four times, despite the fact that his policies prolonged the Great Depression.
You can't beat something with nothing....
Al Adab| 10.3.12 @ 12:48PM
Very good point. You cannot beat something - even an undesireable something - with nothing, yet the GOP continues to try. Only when the Conservative Movement has preponderated in the GOP has the party found success.
TeaPartyNow| 10.3.12 @ 1:26PM
If there is any good that comes out of Obamas second term, it will be that conservatives learned that throwing conservative values under the bus is a losing proposition in American politics.
Always around election time, tv commercials & propaganda in our medias (which is 100% of what's out there today) will fain conservative values, regardless of party. & yet the right, for a presidential nominee, continues to offer up only pandering liberals. Why right, why?
D.C. republicans are so far in the current corruption that is Americas' governments unwatched, that they prefer to lose. To be able to never be held responsible.
Do you think it will be easy for the winner? This depression will continue because the American People are clueless. We know nothing about the government that effects our lives.
America is a disaster. Recovery isn't in them. It's in us, finding the truth & acting on it.
Rejecting propaganda from the left & the right. This aint over baby. But you gotta hope the right learns something.
Al Adab| 10.3.12 @ 3:05PM
TPN:
All those tax increases are set to occur automatically in Jan, 2013. Unless a new administration acts quickly to fend them off the economic collapse you envision will indeed occur.
JD| 10.3.12 @ 2:25PM
That's Leftist logic.
They define government programs as "something" and the absence of government programs as "nothing", then call us the Party of No and other things.
But proposing to end the causes of problems is not "nothing". It is directly taking on the causes of our problems, far more so than Democrats ever will.
Don't fall into their trap.
C. Vernon Crisler | 10.3.12 @ 3:54PM
Of course, I was talking about a core political philosophy and core values, not government programs.
fmm| 10.3.12 @ 8:40AM
As the author stated, both Romney and Ryan have blasted Obama at every one of their speaking engagements and have put forth positive plans for addressing the country's issues. But you don't hear any of this on the nightly news. Point and match for the author.
Mike G| 10.3.12 @ 9:01AM
You're right, one never hears it on the news. It's the reason Romney isn't up by 25 points.
TeaPartyNow| 10.3.12 @ 1:37PM
Mitt Romney can't run on his record, neither can Paul Ryan. They obviously aren't very good, or else we'd have heard something by now. The RNC was obviously blowing smoke, & although partisans will buy anything, most of the people who actually decide elections, the non partisans do not.
Also, Romney/Ryan never have specifics. In all of the right wing medias, there are never stories of Romney/Ryans' records, or specifics, why? Why can't you tell us what these people have done, & what their plans are?
The right wing in 2012 lives under a rock labeled Obama. They sit under their & hiss. The right wing in 2012 is incoherent, as is Mitt Romney himself.
If there are these records & plans, Why don't you actually mention them now. They don't exist, & you know it.
You are just going to sit under that rock & look ugly until Romney loses & then blame it on the other guys.
Have fun with all that.
fmm| 10.3.12 @ 11:00PM
You obviously don't research.
Louis Jenkins| 10.3.12 @ 9:05AM
A while back there was a statement made that 2,000 black guns were purchased during the Fast and Furious campaign. I stated, on this blog, that there are more, and , yes, they finally came up with another 30-35 guns. There's more out there people. All of a sudden the Mexicans are angry at the USA, Holder, and Obama. Why? Most of us have been angry at Obama and Holder for the last 4 years. Holder, with his cohorts and his fro, took over a couple of offices in the Univ. of Chicago back in '69. A protest, occupy the university. Holder has accused white people of being cowards, and so far he's correct. These people are radicals, and they've made the big time. They'll not let go either, until they'er sent out by Federal Marshalls, if there's an honest one to be found.
Pecos Pete| 10.3.12 @ 9:49AM
Louis: They fired all of the honest Federal Marshalls.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 2:16PM
Let's think about this: We're told repeatedly by the NRA and those of you on TAS that gun control can't work because criminals will find a way to get guns any way. The Feds try a sting operation to trace Mexican gun-running, and do so ineptly. And now suddenly, none of these shootings would have occurred if the Feds hadn't lost track of these guns. Hmmmmm......
JD| 10.3.12 @ 2:28PM
While it may be true that a killer would get a weapon regardless, a person who gives the killer the weapon that he shouldn't have is still held liable.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 4:28PM
So, you're in favor of that new wave of suits against gun shops?
Skippy| 10.3.12 @ 4:38PM
I favor Holder in jail and you in Cuba where you belong.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 7:24PM
I'm staying right here in the country I love, Skippy. It's you and your friends who are so dissatisfied you're threatening all kinds of stuff. Why don't YOU find somewhere more to your liking?
Louis Jenkins| 10.3.12 @ 4:44PM
RCV, you're way behind the story(ies). Several gun dealers called the ATF after the people walked out with the mother load, and they got nothing from the ATF. In fact, the ATF told the gun dealers to allow these people to purchase the mother load of weapons. What's more, honest ATF agents (oddly) contacted their supervisors and were told to let the guns "walk." Hence, the Gun Walker scandal. (And mother Michelle is telling us how many potatoes we can eat.) What the problem is the guns were sold illegally! And yes the dealers are also part of the problem, but then there's Holder and his dept.
Bill8472| 10.3.12 @ 5:08PM
What in the current gun law we have now would have stood in the way of these Mexican criminals lawfully obtaining firearms from an American gun dealer?
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 6:00PM
He doesn't care about FACTS.
Are you surprised?
JD| 10.3.12 @ 7:04PM
I specifically said "weapon that he shouldn't have". A legal sale in which proper process is followed is not the same as the ATF situation.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 7:26PM
You're right. In the ATF situation, the government was trying to help shut down a Mexican cartel operation. It got botched, but sometimes law enforcement authorities make mistakes.
Bill8472| 10.3.12 @ 9:31AM
It's taken decades for me to be convinced, but this election cycle has finally proved it for me: Tolstoy in War and Peace was correct, history is indeed a force that acts at times without regard to individual human will.
There are several incidents in the history of the West where people have been fully aware of the potential consequences of their actions, knew the right thing to do, and did not do it, or did things than insured disaster. In reading about these incidents, I have for many years wondered why the people or their leaders didn't do what was necessary to keep themselves and their societies from catastrophe. I never understood how people could chose collapse over preservation. But now, living through this time and seeing polls that put Obama in the lead for the election, assuming those polls are true, I am not convinced that history is acting without regard to the will of individual people, and consistently with the pull of history, which seems to be toward greater and greater authoritarianism. Avid for governmental systems that provide for us and remove all risk from our lives, we are about to take a giant step toward making ourselves part of government instead of keeping government as our creation, to be changed as liberty and equality require.
It seems as if people have decided it's just too much work to do what is need to remain free and equal, so we're going to vote for enlarging the public tit.
JD| 10.3.12 @ 2:01PM
You're wrong. The will of the people is being followed. The people are just stupid.
The "history" is merely a reflection of inevitable human nature. That is why it repeats.
Entitlements, once enacted, cannot be undone without violent resistance from their beneficiaries. It is easy to undo a move to the right and hard to undo a move to the left. That is why all governments only ever make substantive moves to the left. This has been true throughout history.
They grow in size and scope until the negative consequences of such growth cause collapse. The collapse is never peaceful or orderly. It is usually a revolution, or perhaps conquest by an external foe, brought on by inability to defend self due to paralyzing debt and corruption.
Out of the ashes, a new order arises, but it is formed by a tenuous coalition of people wary of the oppression of the previous government. That is why its power is initially very small. Only over time do people forget the horrors of the previous government and become more concerned with their personal struggles to the extent that they trust government to help them. This usually takes generations (the revolutionaries must die off).
The American Revolution is evidence of this. Remember our first government? We didn't even trust it to have the power to tax!
JD| 10.3.12 @ 2:10PM
The moral of the story is that there is a golden age of every society. This is a point where government is of optimal size. It lies somewhere between the initial post-revolution anarchy and the growth to the point of corrupt collapse. We would do well to hold our society at that point, and stop the march to the left right there.
I think we're past that point in America now. We can settle for the status quo and resist further moves left, to spare ourselves the revolution, or we can have the painful revolution. Maybe the latter is already inevitable. It's not a matter of anyone wishing for revolution, though. It's an inevitability of human nature.
Perhaps we can defy history and make a move to the right without mass violence. I would still call that a revolution, because it would require our government to become almost unrecognizable relative to its current form.
Bill8472| 10.3.12 @ 5:00PM
I don't think history ever repeats.
I think societies based on entitlements can have the people reject those entitlements.
I think that the great majority of major societal changes were not revolutionary, but instead caused mostly by war, either invasion wars or civil wars, not revolution.
I mostly agree with your Paragraph 5.
The American Revolution is evidence of a tax revolt that turned into a war against monarchy. That's why it was tentative after the victory; everyone was working from untried theories of representative democracy.
JD| 10.3.12 @ 7:09PM
Name a historical example of a government peacefully, willingly shedding power, or of people giving up substantial entitlements.
The closest I can come is the Romans pulling back from their borders at their height, but that was a military pullback necessitated by clear inability to defend the old borders.
The Romans collapsed due to corruption, not conquest. They were a shell of themselves by the time the Visigoths sacked Rome. Same for the Byzantines.
The US revolution is a fine example of an oppressive government gone too far and thrown off by the people, and the Articles of Confederation were a fine example of how weak a government people wanted afterward. That representative democracy was "untried" wasn't a big factor, I don't think. I think people just didn't want a powerful government.
When has anyone ever been eager to throw substantial power to a new government?
JD| 10.3.12 @ 7:16PM
As for history repeating itself, ever heard of the Great Depression?
Monetary policy abused to help people (European countries, in this case) pay debts causes a money supply problem, and bank regulations prevent market responses, leading to crashes. The first president, a nominal rightist, responds with bailouts and other spending, but recovery is slow. Then a second president is elected, promising to be the anti-first guy, even though all he's doing is doubling down on the first guy's bailouts and "stimulus", and using the crisis as an excuse to make fundamental changes in people's relationships with government. The recovery is flattened, and we collapse into a double-dip recession just as the second guy is being reelected, leading the recession to be recast as a depression.
Sound familiar?
If the narrative continues, the global economic pain will lead to the rise of increasingly radical leaders, promising "hope and change" but delivering division and blame, and consolidating economic power in central governments. Soon the division and nationalism they foment will lead to war.
That's what happened last time.
And even as it all happened, those on the Left insisted that the second president was the hero, fixing a mess caused by the first guy (who actually inherited it as much as anyone), and that the moral of the story is that we should be more Leftist in the first place.
Who Knows?| 10.3.12 @ 9:31AM
Keep it simple, stupid.
Emphasis on the “stupid”. Most people are woefully ignorant. And they are only of average intelligence.
A water filter removes most unhealthy crap. The MSM filter does the same, from its biased point of view. This proves they are both ignorant AND lacking in intelligence,
Keeping news harmful to your own guy from the public is ultimately deleterious to THEM, since a free country requires the TRUTH! Not very smart.
A simple way to bypass the media filter is to ASK simple questions of the voters. Engage them, make them think.
Reagan gave us THE eternal one---
“Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”
Most people are at least semi conscious, and can handle thinking about their own lives of the prior four years, so making the election PERSONAL might cut through all the competing statistics.
Follow up with logic---if you liked the results of the last four years, expect more of the same, or even WORSE.
Do most voters really want at best (1% probability) MORE of the same, or (90% probability) WORSE, or (9% probability) CATASTROPHE?
Your move, American voter.
The Avenger| 10.3.12 @ 9:49AM
While it is easy to say Romney is bland and is therefore losing, the more accurate statement is that his message is being deliberately under reported while his missteps are being over reported. Pravada is alive and well in the MSM.
Pecos Pete| 10.3.12 @ 9:55AM
I can see into the future if Obama is reelected. Chris Matthews will be the new Press Secretary for all departments/agencies of the fed govt. All news agencies will first listen to NPR and then repeat, repeat, repeat. Rachel Maddow will be the only news speaker on any radio/tv broadcast.
And best of all, Paul Krugman will be the Fed Chairman.
Forward to fairness.
rlleigh| 10.3.12 @ 10:57AM
I think that is an overly optomistic scenario. If only it would be as benign as that. The truth is it's going to be our own version of Nazi Germany here in the USA. Obama is the most dangerous of all political types: he truly believes he knows what is best for us and is utterly deluded by his Marxist background and his sycophantic terrorist friends and is determined to implement a new world order. A meglomanical narcissist with unfettered power...it doesn't really get any scarier than that.
KennesawJack| 10.3.12 @ 1:56PM
You forgot to mention that this Muslim, Marxist, America-hating bastard despises Jews and white folks, in general, and I guarantee you, he would love to finish the Holocaust and see the us white folks with our asses pointing to the sun in HIS cottonfields. This is an angry, narcissistic, racist, Stalin wannabe. If he gets his way, Stalin's gulags are gonna look like f**cking Disneyland. If he gets re-elected I truly believe the defecation is gonna hit the rotary atmospheric displacement mechanism (as we used to say in the military when there were ladies present).
Leathersmith| 10.3.12 @ 10:07AM
Is the devolution of the national press into a de facto Ministry of Propaganda a natural transition, or part of a plan? Consider this from the lovely and talented Jane Fonda over 30 years ago:
"I am part of a movement and we want to win. By win I mean redistribute power in this country. We want to achieve true economic democracy in this country. In order to do that, you have to hire and pay for and train organizers, to publish newspapers, to have control over television. It would be great to own your own TV station, so you would have freedom to get information out that is being stopped otherwise." (to Playboy Magazine, July 1978.)
I'm not saying that all of the talking heads are dedicated communists. To me they seem more like a bunch of overgrown high school kids, to whom "popularity" is more important than life itself. In their circle, popularity is defined by inclusion on the guest lists of all the right parties, and remaining on the A-lists requires adherence to a very rigid orthodoxy directing what is said, and what is not said.
Anthony| 10.3.12 @ 10:19AM
The media were never in the truth business. Only recently however have they jettisoned any pretense of impartiality and have "come out of their leftist closets". They're "all in" for the cause.
The media are one of the four pillars of corruption that are destroying our American culture. Strange that Limbaugh doesn't evoke that phrase more often. It was one of his signature comments.
No matter, the media are our enemy, and a total anathama to what a free press is supposed to be in a Constitutional Republic. Like the other pillars of corruption, they have failed in their duty and responsibility to all Americans, even their fellow brain-dead leftists.
America needs a sea change.
CrackerHound| 10.3.12 @ 10:53AM
When the media is controlled by the government , or in this case the party in power (libs and dems have controlled the institutions of power for decades now), combined with what seems to be a deliberate, yet systematic destruction of the economy and private sector production...you have an unmistakable indication something very sinister is going on.
People, especially Americans, tend to think it can't happen here. Well history always proves that notion wrong. I believe we are on the cusp of losing our basic freedoms to some sort of despotism. The seeds were probably planted in the 60's and they are coming to fruition right in front of our eyes. We as a people are not equipped to fight it, or even recognize it because we were given a slow infusion of anesthetic that has now culminated with our total absorption in a world of gadgets where we literally carry the media with us wherever we go. Hell, we willingly gave away many of our freedoms to this world of constant surveillance and tracking. What is left of the strong family unit that was destroyed by leftist culture will surely be squashed by this fixation on hand held, hypnotic media. We don't meet to face to anymore at all.
CrackerHound| 10.3.12 @ 10:54AM
continued...
What more could a tyrant want than what exists today? The only thing left undone so far is for a charismatic leader to step forth and declare total control of our our society under the guise of some "unprecedented" national emergency. With no unity, no knowledge and no concern, our society and nation are already doomed.
rlleigh| 10.3.12 @ 11:00AM
You are so absolutely correct. Very few of us are willing to coldly stare down the hard facts as they are, accept it and take action.
KennesawJack| 10.3.12 @ 1:59PM
You've got one, and only one, thing wrong, CH, in an otherwise well written essay. We ARE equipped to fight it. It's just that the leftist's believe their own bullshit and have talked themselves into believing we won't.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 7:28PM
Gee, CH, I didn't realize that Reagan, Geo Bush Sr and GW Bush were "libs and Democrats". Thanks for the education!
Ross Kaminsky| 10.3.12 @ 10:47AM
A bigger example than Bucyrus, Ohio (with no disrespect intended to that town), check out this article in the Denver Post.
First, look at the title/headline and then read the actual details:
http://www.denverpost.com/brea.....8-2-august
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 10:54AM
I see you're Slumming it, today.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 11:04AM
How about coming to our (My) Contest on Friday?
Go to last Friday's Matt Purple's Column, and Check it Out.
You'll laugh your Baby Soft Ass off.
You can even win Prizes.
Maybe, even something for The Missus.
I believe the Winner went home with a pair of Appleby's Underpants, which he promptly Donated to The Clinton Presidential Library/Adult Book Store/Gonnoreah Clinic/Dry Cleaners, for their Flagpole.
The Loser received a Free Bus Ticket, for a Free Bus Ride with Purp, to his weekly Aids Blood Testapalooza.
Join us.
KennesawJack| 10.3.12 @ 2:01PM
TLP, If I win the contest, do I get to pick my own prize?
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 5:19PM
I'll have to check the Rules.
Bill8472| 10.3.12 @ 5:01PM
Is that the contest in your mouth? I heard everyone's coming there.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 5:20PM
Actually, iy's in your Mother's Mouth.
In fact, I just finished Coming There, as we speak.
RCV| 10.3.12 @ 7:29PM
What a brilliant contribution to the discussion, but par for TLP.
Bill8472| 10.4.12 @ 9:11AM
It's the level of sophistication of his thinking that always inspires my admiration.
Bill8472| 10.4.12 @ 9:18AM
That, and the sparkling repartee.
LarryK| 10.3.12 @ 12:11PM
That's it. I'm done, I quit! I'm going on the government dole - voting for Obama and he can take care of me. I'm getting on the government wagon with the rest of the bums and leaving you working chowderheads that pay for it all behind!
Well, that was my daily rant. My upbringing and that annoying Jiminy Cricket voice in my head telling me it is better to pull the load than ride the wagon.
Wait, True Value Hardware has bug spray on sale. Look out Jiminy!
Tempting, but no.
Bill8472| 10.3.12 @ 5:09PM
Wait until it's time for you to start collecting Social Security and enrolling in Medicare.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 5:21PM
I think your Mom is Choking.
You might wanna call her.
Bill8472| 10.4.12 @ 9:12AM
My mother has been dead for over 30 years. I don't think she'll be answering any of my calls.
JD| 10.3.12 @ 12:12PM
What this other and all other members of the Right must understand is that what we recognize as problems are seen as good things by the Left.
We see more people on Medicaid or food stamps and recognize it as a sign of a bad economy, less productive people, more dependence, and more deficits. But Leftists see only the following:
1. Proof that these social programs are "working"
2. Proof that we need more of these social programs
3. Evidence that Republicans are still hurting America too much
Until they evolve the ability to comprehend the possibility that their programs might not be all that is good in the world (and might even be doing harm), they can't believe anything else.
TeaPartyNow| 10.3.12 @ 12:32PM
That is absolutely untrue. Nothing that the left does for welfare is "working". What democrats have created is a federal money pit that expands & explodes poverty, by giving it out to everyone, & in the case of S.S. disabilities, making criminals out of people just to get a monthly check.
I am wholly & completely against Mitt Romney, so I won't go into anything conservative as it will be thrown under the bus. Todays right is insane.
But when I come back as myself after Romney loses, I will ask for welfare to be ended, to those who do not need it, which is most people who get it. & money & services not leaving their local communities.
When we get someone on the right who isn't afraid to stand up for conservative family values like ending welfare, abortion & fascist schooling, we conservatives will be back.
Until then, enjoy Obamas' second term. & the right made the biggest mistake of its life nominating liberal Mitt Romney.
JD| 10.3.12 @ 1:55PM
Remember, the Left defines "success" as any one of the following:
1. Their legislation got passed
2. Their program got set up
3. Money was spent
4. People used their program
#4 is the most insidious. If government were a private business, then having customers would be indicative of true success. But as government redistributionists, the fact that people are taking the handouts does anything but prove that the program is worth having. What kind of insanity suggests that peoples' willingness to take handouts is proof that the handouts are a good idea? Do they honestly expect people who don't need handouts to not take them?
Cost/benefit analysis is nowhere in the Leftist criteria for "success".
KennesawJack| 10.3.12 @ 2:06PM
If you're saying you're gonna sit this one out and not vote for Romney 'cause he isn't "pure enough" for you, then you're a f**king idiot. Is that what you're saying?
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 5:22PM
Ignore him.
Skippy| 10.3.12 @ 5:31PM
He's either a troll or an idiot.
He can enjoy his Big Govt cheese for 4 more years.
TeaPartyNow| 10.3.12 @ 12:24PM
The rights' medias are worse than the lefts in this 2012 presidential race. Never during the primaries was any candidates record discussed. Never have Mitt Romneys or Paul Ryans records been talked about by the right in 2012. & never does the right even talk about it's plans or Romney/Ryans plans.
You can talk about bias all you want right wing media, but if you are worse than the left this year & you clearly are, that only makes you a hypocrite.
Like Spectator, never a story on Romney or Ryans records all year. Ever.
& Mark Levin, couldn't support a conservative candidate, but says "because of the court" we must elect liberal republican Mitt Romney.
The right has sunk to it's lowest following Romney. & I hold that someday soon it will see that Americans just don't respect clueless, liberal republicans. The error of the rights' ways.
OregonBuzz| 10.3.12 @ 12:58PM
The TRUTH, ah that elusive touchstone. Consider George Orwell's take on the issue.
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." George Orwell
JD| 10.3.12 @ 2:42PM
It surely is. Witness the response of a Leftist to those who speak truth. They accuse us of insanity!
Frank Natoli| 10.3.12 @ 3:36PM
Whatever happened to truth? Amusingly, "truth" only appears in the title of this article, nowhere in the body. I began to write that respect is no longer conditioned on truth, but then realized that respect, like truth, has become a vestigial term in "modern" culture. A few centuries from now, the dictionary webpages for "truth" and "respect" and God knows how many other formerly time honored terms will say they disappeared from the language sometime during the 1960s. And I just realized that "honor" is another one of those for all intents and purposes lost words. Without "truth" or "respect" or "honor", the criteria for "he's my guy" becomes quite flexible, eh?
obadiah| 10.3.12 @ 3:59PM
Romney's plan to feed hungry children of Ohio:
stop taxing plutocrats.
stop regulating plutocrats.
enact laws written by plutocrats.
stop wasting money on poor, old and sick people.
have a war or two, very profitable for plutocrats.
that's how to help the hungry children of Ohio.
JD| 10.3.12 @ 4:12PM
The Left's plan to win elections:
1. Lie
Frank Natoli| 10.3.12 @ 5:57PM
Cardinal sin of envy: Like greed and lust, Envy (Latin, invidia) is characterized by an insatiable desire. Envy is similar to jealousy in that they both feel discontent towards someones traits, status, abilities, or rewards. The difference is the envious also desire that entity and covet it.
Envy can be directly related to the Ten Commandments, specifically "Neither shall you desire... anything that belongs to your neighbour". Dante defined this as "a desire to deprive other men of theirs." In Dante's Purgatory, the punishment for the envious is to have their eyes sewn shut with wire because they have gained sinful pleasure from seeing others brought low. Aquinas described envy as "sorrow for another's good".
Stan Redmond| 10.3.12 @ 5:53PM
1/3 od Ohio children are on Medicaid? That's only a failure of the left because 100% of all children aren't on medicaid. Obamaphones, Obamabucks, welfare, foodstamps, are goals for the left. Hell, they're even promoting all these welfare programs to citizens of of Mexico. This isn't reported as failure by the MSM because it is success to them.
JD| 10.3.12 @ 7:20PM
I already said that at 12:12PM
Warrior| 10.3.12 @ 9:42PM
Remember this famous quote: "It's just a boatload of federal money for you to take and spend"