You may recall that in my commentary on Kathleen Parker’s "Palin-should-drop-out" column, I wrote:
Kathleen is able to cite her initial defense of Sarah, then her
breathless tension watching her and hoping she wouldn’t screw up. And
that’s something I can’t possibly identify with — worrying about
someone’s performance because I’m a member of the same demographic.
Maybe I’m too self-centered. But I have had to accept that black folks
do that with Obama, and women do that with Hillary Clinton and/or Sarah
Palin, depending on their proclivities. When I see a white guy out
there succeeding or failing, he’s on his own as far as I’m concerned. I
might agree with him or I might not, but it won’t have anything to do
with which restroom he uses or what boxes he checks off on a census
form.
Well, I found myself breathless at times during the debate — whenever Mrs. Palin was speaking — and was really glad when the whole thing was over. But it wasn’t because I wanted to see a woman succeed. And it wasn’t because I wanted to see McCain’s running mate succeed (his choice of Mrs. Palin is one of the few things about McCain I disapprove of). And it wasn’t because she’s a babe. (even though she was cute, when she wasn’t grating.)
No, it was that phenomenon that comes over me when I’m watching a movie or a TV show, and something’s about to happen that will be enormously embarrassing to the character on the screen, and even if you don’t like the character (although it’s worse if they’re likable), you cringe, because you don’t want to see it. You get embarrassed for the human race; you empathize no matter how much you try not to, and it’s painful.
And the awful part is that you see it coming. Often at such moments, I leave the room. Life is painful enough without having your nose rubbed in contrived discomfort.
As I was typing the above, I was struggling to come up with an example, but one just hit me: I’ve never watched the American version of "The Office," but I’m a big fan of the BBC original. I say that in spite of the fact that the entire second season was just excruciating; David Brent got worse and worse. But in that case, I had to keep watching.
I had to keep watching the debate, too, on account of it being my job. But in the end, it went fine for all concerned. But I was tired, from all the breath-holding.
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Every time you venture out into the real world, it overwhelms you, Brad.
Maybe you need to stick to your escape world of TV shows. Just don’t watch any of the stuff masquerading as factual history that feeds “bud”.
‘Often at such moments, I leave the room.’ So you’re making comments on watching half a show? She did awesome during VP debate but if you would’ve stayed in the room you would’ve saw it. Did you also miss that Obama is a muslim? See you should have paid attention.
Did you notice the number of lies Biden told, Brad?
Or do you actually know anything about the records of McCain and Biden, both of whom you once considered for endorsement, and one of whom you did endorse?
Some folks just don’t read the posts before they comment, do they?
Not you, p.m. — I was talking about our tovarich Dmitry.
Palin did a lot better than I was expecting. She avoided answering most questions rather than saying the wrong answer. Which is good for stopping bad soundbites from getting out but utterly useless from what we should expect in a VP. She seemed calm and confident, which was all she was really trying to do. So job well done. Not that I can believe anyone seriously thinks she’s ready to be president if something happened to McCain.
But as for you, p.m….
You know what I’m really tired of? People accusing the “other side” of “lies.” To paraphrase Rodney King, can’t we all just disagree, yet get along? Why do we have to constantly impugn the character of those with whom we disagree?
You know, different people DO perceive reality differently. And when they describe it differently, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re lying. And I don’t mean that in a Bill Clinton “meaning of is” way; I mean people really DO see things differently. And that’s not (always) a character flaw.
Maybe I react to the word “lies” because of the way my Mama brought me up. I wasn’t allowed to say the word “lie;” the word was considered too ugly. You could say someone “told a story,” but you couldn’t say they lied.
Whatever the reason, it always rubs me the wrong way, and makes me thing less of the accuser, not the alleged “liar.”
Sorry, but it does.
Funny how the folks on the right are resorting more and more to name calling. They’ve never had much of substance to actually talk about so I guess that’s what they’re forced to do. Yet there is another way all you McCain supporters. Simply acknowledge the utter failure of your guy, Bush, to govern the country and further accept the fact that McCain will offer only more of the same. It’s ok to admit you’ve been wrong. Wrong on the economy. Wrong on foreign affairs. Wrong on healthcare. The GOP created an economic environment that allows a couple thousand billionaires to thrive while the rest of us are forced to scratch for a few pennies to put food on the table. And what does McCain/Palin offer? More of the same. More tax cuts for billionaires. More war. More budget deficits. Continued wage stagnation. A healthcare plan that can only be described as horrendous. The nerve of these folks to take away our company healthcare plan in exchange for a measly $5000 to help buy a healthcare plan that will cost twice that much. Imagine a president who will continue to retain troops in Iraq at the cost of $10 billion/month while the roadside bombs and suicide bombers continue to reek havoc. This is crazy.
So go ahead folks in the fantasy land right. Continue to call Obama and Biden liars if it makes you feel good. Or, you can join us in the reality based world and vote for Obama/Biden. If you choose the former your trip through fantasy land has about as much relevance as Brad’s musings about Governor Palin’s legs.
Brad, what do you have against calling out liars?
Democrats constantly accuse every opponent of lying, which psycologists tell us is a form of projection: they know Clinton and Obama are liars, but they don’t care. They know their opponents, being more moral than themselves do care about honesty, so they think they can hurt us by continually calling every liberal scandal “a lie”, and every conservative, every libertarian, every Christian or Jewish leader “a liar”.
At the very least, they hope to dilute the impact of the very real lying of Democrats.
Of course Obama is lying about his beliefs and his lack of accomplishments.
He has to lie, because he is a thief at heart.
His friends are swindlers, terrorists, radical Muslims, and haters of America, haters of Jews.
Lee, I gotta say, I really wish you’d take a break from this blog.
KP, why don’t you man up and try to discuss just ONE of the FACTS about Obama which cause decent Americans to oppose him?
1. Obama’s entire family were communists – father, mother, brothers, uncle, and mother’s friend boyfriend, Frank Marshall Davis.
2. Obama has been a friend and co-worker of cop-killers and terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorn since 1987. They helped run all his campaigns.
3. Michael Klonsky, another Weatherman and member of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party, set up and ran Obama’s offical blog site until May 2008.
4. Obama has blocked reform of FNMA, FMAC.
He has received millions in “contributions” from the execs there, and from Lehman Brothers and AIG.
4. Harold Raines, who cooked the books at FMAC to get $100,000,000 in bonuses, is economic advisor to Obama.
Apr 18, 2008 … Former Fannie Mae (FNM) chief Franklin Raines agreed to settle an … an accounting scandal at the government-sponsored mortgage lender.
dailybriefing.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/04/18/big-settlement-tab-for-fannies-raines/
5. Obama’s other economic advisor, Laura Tyson, was a champion of communist Romania as a model of health care. Remember them? They sold 20,000 children as orphans who had HIV.
6. Obama’s campaign is run by the corrupt Chicago Daley machine, and K-Street lobbyists, including:
Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), a consultant for Alston & Bird;
Broderick Johnson, president of Bryan Cave Strategies LLC;
Mark Keam, the lead Democratic lobbyist at Verizon;
Jimmy Williams, vice president of government affairs for the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America;
Thomas Walls, vice president of federal public affairs at McGuireWoods Consulting;
Francis Grab, senior manager at Washington Council Ernst & Young.
Actually, bud, I hear the "lies" thing more from Democrats. It’s become a favorite lament. Just minutes before I had read p.m.’s comment, I had seen a press release from the DNC alleging "lies." In fact, it’s such a mantra that they have a whole Web site devoted to it, called "Count the lies," and they e-mail me every day. One gets tired of it. And you get jaded. One of these days somebody is going to catch someone in an actual lie, but I won’t be listening, and the wolf will eat the shepherd boy.
It seems to me that even the partisans to whom this stuff is directed would get sick to their souls of the constant state of extreme outrage. But I guess they don’t.
I just happened to see p.m.’s comment right after seeing one of those DNC things, and p.m. was unfortunate enough to be the straw on this camel’s back.
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Fine, Brad. It’s OK for a candidate for vice president to go on national TV and misrepresent the opposing presidential candidate’s votes. It’s fine for Joe Biden to say he’s spent a lot of time reaching across the aisle like John McCain when that’s a flat lie.
So it’s fine for us to be led by people who have no souls, and no value system a normal human being might recognize, just as long as they tell us the all-important lie that they care about the little people.
And it’s fine for newspaper editors to have no soul, too, because when the newspaper doors shut, like they will altogether too soon, no one will feel sorry for the so-called journalists, because they forgot their job was to value the truth, find it and pass it along.
So no matter how many times Joe Biden misrepresented the facts last night, no matter how much he insulted his “friend” John McCain with nothing but his political skill to back him up, he knew the media wouldn’t call him on it, because they’re so caught up in their own opinions to see the truth begging for attention by doing handstands on their noses.
Furthermore, not one of them knows how anybody voted on much of anything, and most of them are too lazy to research it, if it might happen to force them to revise the version of the truth they wish to believe.
But you say people perceive reality differently? Does that apply to McCain not voting at all and Biden say he voted yes? What kind of perception does that require?
I’ll tell you: a blind eye.
Pardon me. You ticked me off so much my fingers outpecked my thoughts. That should be:
… the media wouldn’t call him on it because they’re so caught up in their own opinions they can’t see the truth begging for attention by doing handstands on their noses.
Furthermore, not one of them knows how anybody voted on much of anything, and most of them are too lazy to research it, if it might happen to force them to revise the version of the truth they wish to believe.
But you say people perceive reality differently? Does that apply to McCain not voting at all and Biden saying McCain voted yes? What kind of perception does that require?
I’ll tell you: a blind eye.
Brad, how about a “Count the Lies” for Lee’s posts?
How about, “try to refute the facts about Obama” for Randy?
Try one, Randy. I dare you. Pick 1 through 6. Bring your sources. I have mine, and have already posted them for each of Obama’s lousy associations.
Here is how an unqualified Democratic candidate (like Obama) uses the art of lying to their advantage, with the help of the news media. He or she the Democrat, will accuse the opponents, the Republicans, which will be lies, of all the bad baggage that he or she the Democrat, truthfully has. The good old reliable liberal news media will grab it and go. So when the Republicans say the Democrat is lying and actually all those negatives truthfully apply to the Democrat. The Republicans will then be accused of lying and slander. So if Mr. Warthen is tired of people accusing people of lying, he should begin with his Democratic colleagues first.
Good luck on getting Brad Warthen to even read the the scandals on Obama, much less report it.
Ish, give a specific lie that a democrat told that the “liberal media” promoted. There’s only one current national candidate who has been called before congress to answer for his nefarious acts. Another has been issued a subpoena to face a state legislature.
I take it you don’t buy into all that man on the moon nonsense either.
When Obama said he was qualified to be President of The United States. That is a lie. And the news media promoted it. Blaming McClain for the economy and the bailout is a lie. Obama and the Democrats are more responsible for those. But the things that Clinton and Biden said about Obama during the primaries, those were not lies.
While we are on the subject of lying. This observation. Democrats tell all the lies. Just think about why that is. They are never called on it. If the Republicans even think about stretching the truth, they get tar and feathers. The news media will not let the Republicans tell a lie. The Democrat lies get ignored, overlooked, rules are changed, justified, or the definition of “is” is changed again.
Those two national candidates mentioned above, had they been Democrats, they would not even be in the news. Had Nixon been a Democrat, all else the same, Watergate would be a three line entry in history. Had Clinton been a Republican, all else the same, he would have beenkicked out of office by the liberal news media.
When Obama said he was qualified to be President of The United States. That is a lie. And the news media promoted it. – Ish
LOL, that is maybe the most amusing post I have ever read on Brad’s blog. Obama lied because he said he was qualified? The only objective measures are age and birthplace. He meets both criteria (btw McCain was not born in the U.S.). If you feel he is not qualified (but Palin is, LOL) then you can believe he is misguided or his OPINION is wrong. To call it a lie is hysterical.
You then go on to compare Nixon’s illegal acts and subsequent lying with adultery and subsequent lying. Clinton was IMPEACHED! That is hardly getting away with anything. I guess the Ford pardon means you can pretend Nixon didn’t commit crimes.
Does anyone else think Ish may be the pen name for Lee Mueller?
Clinton got a pretty sweet deal in plea bargaining his way out of even going to trial, simply surrendering his law license and paying $500,000 in fines, which was paid by rich backers.
Obama is worse than Clinton because he has no record of doing anything in a real job. He claims to have been on Harvard Law Review, but no one can find articles or any member of the Review that knew him. All his associates are hard core communists and radical Muslims.
Randy,
You still won’t touch any of my six examples of Obama’s corrupt friends. Since your rehabilitation is a 12-step process, you need to get started.
1. Obama’s entire family were communists – father, mother, brothers, uncle, and mother’s friend boyfriend, Frank Marshall Davis.
2. Obama has been a friend and co-worker of cop-killers and terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorn since 1987. They helped run all his campaigns.
3. Michael Klonsky, another Weatherman and member of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party, set up and ran Obama’s offical blog site until May 2008.
4. Obama has blocked reform of FNMA, FMAC.
He has received millions in “contributions” from the execs there, and from Lehman Brothers and AIG.
4. Harold Raines, who cooked the books at FMAC to get $100,000,000 in bonuses, is economic advisor to Obama.
Apr 18, 2008 … Former Fannie Mae (FNM) chief Franklin Raines agreed to settle an … an accounting scandal at the government-sponsored mortgage lender.
dailybriefing.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/04/18/big-settlement-tab-for-fannies-raines/
5. Obama’s other economic advisor, Laura Tyson, was a champion of communist Romania as a model of health care. Remember them? They sold 20,000 children as orphans who had HIV.
6. Obama’s campaign is run by the corrupt Chicago Daley machine, and K-Street lobbyists