2008 The Truth and not the Truth
posted by on September 12 at 10:31 AM
The AP is circulating a thoughtful essay on McCain’s brand of madness:
Politicians usually modify or drop claims when a string of newspaper and TV news accounts concludes they are untrue or greatly exaggerated. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for example, conceded she had not come under sniper fire in Bosnia after a batch of debunking articles subjected her to scorn during her primary contest against Obama.But McCain and his running mate Palin, the Alaska governor, were defiant this week in the face of similar reports. Day after day she said she had told Congress “no thanks” to the so-called Bridge to Nowhere, a rural Alaska project that was abandoned when critics challenged its costs and usefulness. For nearly a week, major news outlets had documented that Palin supported the bridge when running for governor in 2006, noting that she turned against it only after it became an object of ridicule in Alaska and a symbol of Congress’s out-of-control earmarking.
McCain (not Palin—a simpleton) is really the worst.
I love Sullivan's suggestion that McCain is losing his marbles. He still continued to insist "not as governor, she didn't" when the reporter repeatedly countered his laughable assertion that Palin never requested earmarks. Palin, of course, continued the fine Alaskan tradition of requesting -- and getting -- more earmarks than any other state.
These are such obvious lies; there's no way a person can say them with a straight face. He's like a kid with jam on his face denying that he ate any.
Thoughtful only goes so far in the U.S. Presidential election.
We need more quick, gloves-off ads. Just not by politically loaded organizations like MoveOn and Planned Parenthood.
Obama needs to send his dogs in to counter these lies, but he himself needs to say stuff more along the lines of "I'd like to have a substantive conversation about the issues, but my opponent doesn't seem to want to talk about the issues, only sound bites, made up stuff, and celebrity gossip".
@1: "requesting -- and getting -- more earmarks than any other state." In the interest of facts, that's more per capita, not more in absolute dollars. $500 per capita and $350 million overall versus more like $20 to $30 for a middle swath of states, although that translates to over $900 million for California ($25 per capita).
Not that this makes it better, but...more accurate.
Even to say "she was for the bridge before she was against it," as the AP does here, is to vastly understate the deception at work here. First, Congress cancelled the "bridge to nowhere" earmark a year before she became governor -- she had nothing to do with it. Second, she never did turn against the bridge per se, just gave up on the project when it finally became clear there wasn't enough money.
It's interesting that Palin is often careful to make misleading but technically true statements while McCain blurts out the actual lies. For example, she is careful to say "I *put* the jet on eBay". McCain says she "sold" the jet on eBay "at a profit" (it failed to sell on eBay and was eventually sold through normal channels, at a loss).
It's the GOP play book. Doesn't matter if your lie has been debunked; repeat it often enough with a straight face and people will start to believe.
She'll be giving that same dumb-ass stump speech all the way up to November 3rd.
the gop had no problem painting clinton, gore, and kerry as liars. Why can't Obama do the same to McCain? yeesh
@6 is right...
I call this the Eyman Effect. He has mastered the ability to stick to his message, no matter the question or the contradiction. I've actually been in situations with him in which he was repeatedly asked 1 question and acted as though he was asked another question, on the radio, live, for 20 minutes.
Certain politicians understand that when people want to believe you, it doesn't matter if you're wrong so long as you continue to say it. People don't believe the media or opponents about the person they want to support; they figure that if the person they want to believe continues to say it, then it must be true. What value have they added to their life to learn that their choice is a bad choice? None. That's too much work and too much of a shift in their world view.
Lies work.
Glad to see Sullivan picking up on my meme.
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