December 27, 2:15 AM
by Jim L. Cunningham, DC Progressive Examiner
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(As I see it.)
10. Objectivity goes bye-bye at MSNBC: I used to argue that MSNBC had the guts to objectively report inconvenient facts about the Bush Administration without feeling obligated to present a fact along with an opposing “viewpoint” as Fox News notoriously does. Sure, Keith Olbermann was probably a liberal, but he was telling the unvarnished truth about an administration that was getting away with quite a lot. Chris Matthews seemed to sway left and right, clearly more of a rabble rouser than a partisan. He didn’t seem to choose sides. He probably even helped Bush by inventing fake issues out of whole cloth like “which candidate would you rather have a beer with”, or, “who would stop and help you change a tire”, during both of Bush’s presidential campaigns. Any question as to their objectivity went out the window when they were both stricken dumb by Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. The two of them practically wept (I think I saw Matthews sneakily wipe a tear away when he thought the camera was only on Keith) when trying to find something to say immediately after the speech. Sure, it was a moving moment and, as a liberal, I felt what they felt and I could hardly blame them, but the cat was out of the bag. That night, at least, MSNBC was a liberal version of Fox News. MSNBC management dismissed both of them from anchoring political coverage for that display of partisanship – perhaps trying to repair what they perceived as hole which the duo tore through the network’s objective news coverage. Now, MSNBC will have to redouble its efforts to keep-separate what it considers commentary and news. Olbermann and Mathews have good shows in part because of their passion, and I still watch them religiously, but the network will have to find someone else to objectively report on live political events. Fox News should remain unique in blurring those lines as a network.
9. That schmuck, Blagojevich: That just HAD to be a “D” after his name, didn’t it? Idealists like me like to believe Democrats are above such behavior and that this kind of corruptions is strictly reserved for Republicans with an “R”. And Obama had to keep his lip buttoned for just long enough for the conservative media to accuse, insinuate and bloviate. It was our turn to gloat and Blagojevich spoiled the party and stole the headlines.
8. Lieberman campaigning for John McCain: In principal, I support the premise that individuals within a party can, occasionally, against the party on certain issues. (Sometimes that’s called leadership.) Joe Lieberman made such a habit of it that he lost a Democratic Primary and had to run as an Independent. Fine. However, he still caucuses with the Democrats and his supporters count on him for his mostly left-leaning voting record. When Lieberman endorsed John McCain, campaigned with him and then spoke at the Republican Convention, he went a bridge too far. Crazy old Zell Miller didn’t do all of that.
7. A divided Democratic Party: It takes a lot of anger to make a Democrat so invested in a Democratic candidate say they’d rather vote Republican than vote for the “other” candidate if theirs lost the primary. And both Hillary and Barack supporters said they would. Senator Clinton and Barack Obama have both gone to great lengths since then to heal those wounds, but I’ll never forget how the subject was, still is, a touchy one among friends and colleagues. I have no doubt that friendships were lost, relationships ended and permanent wounds inflicted over Clinton/Obama brawls.
6. “Obama is a Muslim/Terrorist” and other lies: The insinuations from the McCain/Palin campaign were outrageous but, being an official campaign, they had to do it with a wink and a nod. The garbage that came from Fox News (like the “Terrorist fist bump”) was pretty bad and what came from conservative talk radio hosts was somewhat worse. But it was that which came from the Republican “base” in the crowds in and around the McCain/Palin rallies that was truly horrifying and shameful:
Videos at link:
http://www.examiner.com/x-1470-DC-Progressive-Examiner~y2008m12d27-The-top-10-political-car-wrecks-of-20085. Joe the Plumber: Or, should I say, Joe the logo? Even Joe himself said McCain made him feel dirty, but he still didn’t get off the bus. He rode his wave of manufactured popularity for all it was worth, accepting a book deal and a recording contract touring as a country singer… Joe the opportunist in the great Republican tradition. He was the perfect Republican logo. He was behind on his taxes, lied about being almost ready to buy a business, wasn’t registered to vote, and not even a licensed plumber to begin with. He was once on welfare and, now that he’s doing better, would deny the same opportunity to others, calling it “socialism”. He eventually admitted that he would, in fact, receive a tax cut under Obama’s plan. But sure, he hopes someday he will make that $250,000 a year, at which point he aspires to say, "I got mine. Screw everybody else."
He was practically a walking metaphor for Joe Six-pack Republicanism. Joe was an opportunist conned into voting against his own interests by conservative propaganda and the hope of a wealthy, and greedy, future. When he was shown to be wrong he would rather call people names and tell lies than admit the truth and realize he was being used. In the end, he made up a justification to stay on the bus even when he knew it made him dirty.
4. Sarah Palin: Choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate was a Hail Mary pass of an attempt at saving a Presidential campaign, and it failed miserably. She was a marketing gimmick that only the already-well-indoctrinated fell for. All the people who knew they were supposed to vote Republican but could barely stomach McCain found in Palin the excuse they needed. It made the rest of the country feel dirty. Pitching her, as McCain did, as being “just what the country needs right now” was a slimy sales job that would make most used car salesmen blush. Also sad, but perhaps less so because her political positions are so despicable, is that Palin became the unsuspecting victim of Republican opportunism. I’m sure she’s a fine leader in her own right – on her turf and of her own people. She probably would have developed into a more formidable foe if she’d been left to her own devises to mature as a politician instead of, as it happened, having the McCain campaign drag her fledgling career out into the sun before its time, where it wilted in the limelight. They told her she was ready and then used her as a mascot. She may understand this now, but it’s too late. She’ll always be a punch line.
3. A poke in the eye for Gay rights: Gay people can’t catch a break. Three states passed gay marriage bans in the 2008 election. Even the Mormons, who usually tend to mind their own business and not impose their views on others, surprised everyone by throwing their money and support behind Proposition 8. Our poll-reading Democratic leaders - even our “Change” candidate - still have not the cajones to publically support gay marriage on principal. To add insult to injury, Obama has chosen Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. For gay people in 2008, even the word “hope” has to ring hollow.
2. The hijacking of feminism: It’s true that Hillary faced sexism from the media and a still-unidentified man holding an awful sign at the back of a crowd. It was wrong to hang all these evils, like an albatross, around the neck of Barack Obama – a man who truly supports women’s issues. (Something Hillary barely mentioned, save for the “glass ceiling” references while on the campaign trail.) When candidate Clinton turned out to be a not-so-sure thing, many angry women blamed sexism instead of their candidate and her poorly-run campaign. (And consider that, perhaps, America is ready for a female President but Hillary just isn’t it.) On Martin Luther King Day, like an opportunist, Senator Clinton repeatedly snuck the words “and women” into a speech that shouldn’t have been about her. Many, when the primary was over, threw their support behind John McCain, apparently willing to overlook all else to see a woman in the Executive Branch of government. Shamefully, Sarah Palin was chosen to be McCain’s running mate simply because she was female – and then squirreled away from the media, lest they find out Sarah was only there for marketing purposes and wouldn’t hold up under the scrutiny that, once it came, was also labeled sexism. When Palin’s daughter was discovered to be pregnant, the family proudly proclaimed that said daughter had made the “choice” to have the baby, as if her mother supported a woman’s right to make any other. Sarah Palin’s views couldn’t have been more antithetical to all that women have fought for. Yet, they had the gall to call her a feminist. Now, when Caroline Kennedy is being considered for Senator Clinton’s vacated Senate seat, seemingly because of her last name, the questioning by skeptics of her credentials has also been labeled sexist.
I may have a penis, but even I know that Feminism is about rights and equality, and not something that should be used as a crutch, bludgeon, or marketing tool whenever it’s convenient. This year we saw a lot of opportunism dressed up as feminism. Ultimately, such things hurt the movement and I believe history will show that, for women, 2008 was a really bad year.
1. The end of John Edwards’ political career: For many years – for almost as long as I’ve been politically aware – I’ve believed that America’s biggest problem is that big corporations are screwing the American people to the extent that they can get away with which, over the course of the last eight years, has been quite a lot. They’re screwing us as employees. They’re screwing us as consumers. They’re screwing us as neighbors just trying to share the environment. I was always a supporter of John Edwards - back since about the fall of 2003 – because I believe that Edwards was the only candidate who truly understood the gravity of the situation – and placed it sufficiently high enough on his list of priorities to satisfy me. That, and he felt we had a duty to lift people out of poverty. What a novel concept for a Democrat. Oh, how now nicely this would have dovetailed into our current situation! Even if not President himself – even serving in any capacity – he would have been a vital and influential leader for these times. The kind who was right on the issues before everyone else caught up and his issues became all the rage. He had the credibility to speak on the current state of things and people would have listened. And then there was the thing that, unfortunately, ended his political career. I hope John Edwards continues to find a way to serve because, even though he let us down, we still need him. His country, now more than ever, still needs his brand of leadership.
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Link:
http://www.examiner.com/x-1470-DC-Progressive-Examiner~y2008m12d27-The-top-10-political-car-wrecks-of-2008Feel free to add your own! Or... change the order...
:shrug: