Commentary 07 Oct 2008 08:04 am
Nasty Politics
I found this article on a site, As Yet Still Untitled:
“Palin cited an article in Saturday’s New York Times about Obama’s relationship with Ayers, now 63. But that article concluded that “the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called ‘somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.’ “
Several other publications, including the Washington Post, Time magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, The New Yorker and The National Review, have debunked the idea that Obama and Ayers had a close relationship.â€
Too late, damage done. Why does CNN hate the truth?
The complaint was that CNN used McCain’s attack to bolster the first half of the news story. The truth part didn’t come until well into the story. I’ve been bothered by this approach to revealing the story. This was also the approach of the NYTimes article; it took reading almost a third of the article before the sentence, highlighted above, appeared.
I’m looking forward to the debate tonight. Obama’s campaign manager guaranteed that Obama would bring up this subject and throw it back in McCain’s face. It could be a testy show and much more entertaining than Sarah “wink wink, Say it ain’t so, Joe” Palin. I think I’d prefer a debate on issues, as Obama has been doing to date.
I keep passing this church, Marble Collegiate Church, on 29th Street and Fifth Avenue, and I frequently have been caught offguard by these ribbons moored to the iron fence around the church.
Of course, as anyone who’s heard the Tony Orlando song knows, the yellow ribbons represent those soldiers who were killed in war – Iraq. The sign outside the church details what each of the colored ribbons represents, and each of the ribbons has a dead soldier’s name attached to it.
It’s extremely moving and jarring as you pass the display, and I always stop to read a couple of the names. I guess, in some ways, that’s not unlike the Vietnam memorial in Washington where you read names of dead Viet Nam veterans off the sculpted wall.
It makes me wonder what changes the incoming President will make. Will he go to any funerals for the returning dead? Will he allow photographing these services or returning caskets? Already a congressman has initiated a bill reversing this policy of George W. Bush. The bill, the Fallen Hero Commemoration Act, is being sponsored by Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) and co-sponsored by three Democrats and three Republicans. A new President could easily eliminate this nasty measure instigated by the Bush administration.
on 08 Oct 2008 at 12:37 pm 1.Bridget said …
It’s hard for me to use the word “entertaining” with respect to anything political these daze. The reality of four more years of this hatred,secrecy and divisiveness is too scary. You might like the documentary at Cinema Village “Boogey Man” about Lee Atwater the father of evil spin. Peace