Campbell Brown Pleads: 'Don't Let This Devolve Into A Campaign That...We Are Sickened By'

Hey everybody! What do you think about the ugly turn the presidential campaign has taken in the past forty-eight hours? Truly, it has managed to degenerate considerably beyond the ugly turns that have gone on for the past 4,800 hours. It helps, of course, when one candidate tells the New York Times, "Hey, yeah, well, we sure hate your gollydarned guts, but here's an exclusive for you: WE'RE GOING CRAZY NEGATIVE." And so now it's all William Ayers and Keating Five Webisodes and pretty soon, no one in the country will be in the tank with anyone except for maybe Tina Fey's imitation of Sarah Palin, which is one of the few things you can see on teevee these days that actually takes the American people by the hand and whispers, soothingly, "This is not your fault."

CNN's Campbell Brown mounted a spirited call for a return to some degree of politesse and decorum at the top of her newscast last night. Brown termed Palin's "pallin' with terrorists" line "outrageous," but also accused Obama of dredging up past McCain issues that he once averred were "not germane to the presidency." Then, Brown took up for everyone in America who's not looking forward to their eyeballs bleeding from all of the vitriol:

There is just one month left. Please, please, don't let this devolve into a campaign that you are sickened by, that we are sickened by, and that you are embarrassed to be part of. I mean, here is a purely practical reason. The negativity you are spewing now is only going to make your job harder after Election Day. Bipartisanship is really tough to achieve when everyone on both sides is left with a bad, bad taste in their mouth.

Look at this new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. When asked how are things going in the country today, 80 percent said badly, 80 percent. Pollsters have been asking that question since 1974 -- 80 percent is an all-time low. People want to hear solutions from you. They want to hear how you are going to get us out of this mess. And one of you is going to have to. Don't you want to be able to walk into the White House with your dignity intact and your head held high?

[WATCH.]

I've noted that during debates, ordinary citizens tend to ask questions that eschew the typical idiot obsessions of the professional political press. So Brown may yet get her wish, if whoever selects tonight's questions will allow us the pleasure of something other than a televised geek show. Fingers crossed, Campbell!

Comments

[fDubya]

McCain pledged to not go dirty. Obama said he didn't think the Keating scandal was germaine to being president. McCain then went very, very dirty; he did it first (clearly), and he (and Palin) escalated it.
Obama fought back, hitting one of McCain's political acchiles heels. Obama told us he didn't want to have to do it, but thatt he could. McCain didn't listen. McCain caused the outing of the Keating video.
If Obama did not fight back you'd say he was pulling a Swift Boat Snooze. It's starting to seem you feel obliged to criticize the victim of a smear no matter the response. Or is there some method of response to a smear that you can come up with that would make us all happy, Campbell?
You are underestimating your own abilities and standards. You are still a sideshow. But I do applaud the effort, and I think one day you will be one of our greatest journalists, I really do.

[Whiteneck]

Sarah Palin-Iran tie.
The founder of Alaska Independence Party Joe Vogler, the raging anti-American and Todd-Sarah's political godfather, said, "My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand."

"Vogler's greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance before the United Nations to denounce United States "tyranny" before the entire world and to demand Alaska's freedom. The Alaska secessionist had persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue.

That's right ... Iran. The Islamic dictatorship. The taker of American hostages. The rogue nation that McCain and Palin have excoriated Obama for suggesting we diplomatically engage. That Iran."
Palin's friend and AIP chairwoman Lynette Clark : "[Sarah] is Alaskan to the bone ... she sounds just like Joe Vogler."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/10/07/palins_unamerican/

[Maschine]

Too late, the world is sick of Americans.

[Samirah1368]

Campbell you need to address to mccain

[jazzman]

You can't act like A=B when A is much worse than B. The MSM has to stop this 'balanced' reporting and report the truth. The McCain/Palin has gone negative in an ad hominem way that attacks Obama's patriotism, his character, and supposed associations. The accusations are lies and smears and the tactics of the McCain/Palin campaign are meant to stir up hatred, fear, and violent mob like responses. The Obama campaign's dredging up of the Keating affair is not nearly in the same ball park. When Brown says, 'Let's all settle down', she needs to be more pointed. The big offenders need to be called out as being way over the line. Otherwise, her reporting is misleading.

Obama has no pre-determined tactic to smear or go negative. However, he has to counter punch. So if Campbell Brown wants to call of the dogs, she has to start with the pit bull with lipstick first.

[surfcitysteven]

It seems that every time I turn to CNN lately, they are devoting 90 percent of their airtime to letting pitbull Palin spout her nonsense. CNN is the main culprit in the nastiness. At least with Fox, they don't even pretend to be fair and balanced.

[Joeblue]

Maybe if Brown the republican cheerleader for Bush hadn't supported him and his band of crimmanals we would't be at this place.

[gregjones]

I am Greg Jones, National Director of Blacks4Barack....in harmony with millions of Whites4Barack...Asians4Barack...Hispanics4Barack...Jews4Barack...Republicans4Barack...Men4Barack...Women4Barack....Students4Barack....and united we are all... AMERICANS4BARACK....Together, We WILL Make The Difference ! MUST HEAR ! Most POWERFUL race speech in a decade....from a WHITE BROTHER ! Listen to Obama Talk Radio.....Nothing But The Truth with Greg Jones. What MSM omits....you'll hear on NBTT !

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stations/HeadingLeft/The-Greg-Jones-Show/2008/10/05/NOTHING-BUT-THE-TRUTH-with-Greg-Jones

[fnygy]

I wish Brown had offered a strategy for people to fight smears without smears - because that's the issue. We saw what happened when Kerry "wouldn't dignify the Swiftboaters with a response." And, we saw how well Dukasis fared when he "took the high road." It's not enough to decry the negativism - we also have to effectively fight it. So far, no one has written a playbook that doesn't include throwing mud right back.

How does one fight someone who's wiling to do ANYTHING to win?

[DJ23]

CNN and Campbell Brown are unbelievable! While they are trying to be fair and balance and give equal time. The actions that each campaign have taken are not comparable by any stretch. If we are going to cut through the BULL lets not act like its the same tactics on both side. The McCain campaign would like nothing more than that. If people perceives that both side are slinging mud then the start to tune out. Including the issues being addressed or not being addressed. I wonder which campaign would benefit from this the most? THE MEDIA IS BEING PLAYED! Campbell Brown is clearly impress with herself of late in her recent rants. But she is doing the voting public a disservice if she is not telling it like it truly is. If something is overwhelmingly wrong or dishonorable, then she should just say so and not try to create a balance that is not there. This is exactly the thing she said she would not be doing in the recent NYT article I read about her just this weekend. How quickly they forget. The Keating five is totally relevant right now with the crisis that the economy is in. Mccain has shown did not learn the lessons of pushing for less regulation even after the Lincoln Savings and Loan debacle.

CNN truth squad confirmed it.

CNN Truth Squad on Keating Economics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF1m5-XHvLU

[yesshespeaks]

Campbell speaks as if McCain and Palin will somehow be swayed by this. If they walk into the White House they are going to walk into the White House their way. They are proving it day in and day out. Decorum doesn't exist for them. Shame doesn't exist for them. They definitely won't lose any sleep over any of this if they end up there. In fact, if you want to use a term from pop culture they will walk in with heads held high and a mischievous gleam in their eyes saying to America.....YOU GOT PUNK'D!

[DeeW]

Why is everyone getting upset when the Democrats fight back? They didn't fight back last time and lost.

It's obvious what the Republicans are doing and anyone who even "kind of" watches politics knows what they're doing ... so why doesn't the media call them out for it? Well ... they don't call them out because they don't want to be seen as being the "liberal media" but the fact is, that attitude lets the Republicans get away with a lot of nonsense.

The media should do it's job. If they tick of one party over the other, well that's just life. If ya can't handle the rough & tumble you shouldn't be in this profession.

[yesshespeaks]

Oh no! Not LIBERAL!!! How could they? Liberal is SUCH a dirty word! And I'm tired of it! When will Liberals not be the bad guys anymore?

[fnygy]

I agree!

[MDinOK]

Campbell sounds gullible. Does she think this is heaven and not earth? Doesn't she know that McCain's is actually showing us what he will be like as president when the winds shift. or a leader of another country doesn't agree with him? Does she expect Obama to sit back and not respond? The media is partly to blame. Sometimes they are not satisfied with just reporting a story; they feel a need to give their opinion to boost their rating.

[BKLN]

Campbell Brown is making a false assertion and instead of "Cutting through the Bull" she is just making a bigger pile of it. The McCain-Palin camp has been vicious and unsubstantive. Obama-Biden have brought out relevant information.
Palling around with terrorists DOES NOT EQUAL McCain lobbied for Charles Keating.

Obama has regularly taken the high road. I cannot for one second imagine that if someone audibly shouted "terrorist" or "kill him" at an Obama or Biden rally that it would not receive and immediate rebuke from the mic. Obama-Biden simply would not allow that. McCain-Palin obviously do.

[JUSTME]

Campbell, they are calling Obama a traitor at McCain/Palin rallies and are even yelling "kill him." You guys love to repeat the slime as part of your "fair and balanced" reporting, instead of calling McCain/Palin for the lies and slanders they so successfully peddle to you and your colleagues. Were are the stories about Palin's involvement in the Alaska separatist movement? Where are the stories about McCain's participation in an ultra right-wing organization tied to Ollie North and the Iran-Contra Scandal? The stories about McCain's gambling problems and unreported income? The stories about Palin's tax evasion? I mean, come on and give us an effing break, Campbell. But you love to talk about Wright and Ayers, don't you? And then you act all coy and shocked and plead for civility.

It's a little late to act as though you and CNN are above the fray. My friends and I on this site will never, ever forget that the MSM were complicit in the Bush/Cheney push for war with Iraq. You had your chance to get above the fray then, but you chickened out. We no longer trust you.

Really, we have come to expect a high level of hypocracy from the Republicans. You and CNN are not much further behind.