You Can't Have it Both Ways... Anymore

Apparently the Republicans are up in arms about the treatment that poor Sarah Palin has received in the "liberal media". Well the self-proclaimed pit bull with lipstick better get used to it, because no one is going to make this easy for her. The problem is that the Republicans attack any opponent on any front when it suits them and then cry foul when it's done to them.

So Sarah Palin's personal family business shouldn't be splashed all over the tabloids? So then why did we have to endure days of coverage of John Edwards' marital infidelities just a few weeks ago... covered by the same "liberal media"... long after the man had left the race for the presidency?

Sarah Palin is actually on the ticket. And her views on teaching abstinence only and eliminating a woman's right to choose as policy are actually relevant. Edwards was crucified in the media for mounting a presidential run when he knew that he had a blonde skeleton lurking in his closet. But similarly Sarah Palin knew her unwed teenage daughter was pregnant when she entered the race.

Despite the fact that Edwards' affair had absolutely nothing to do with his abilities as a public servant, the Democrats knew they had to distance themselves from him and, in so doing, lost one of the leading advocates for the rights of the poor working class people of this country. So Sarah, man up. Face it... if the shoe were on the other foot and the Democrats were running a candidate like John McCain, who had cheated on his first wife after she waited more than five years for him to return home from Hanoi, you bet they'd bring it up... as "a matter of character".

But it's par for the course for a party that's pandering to George W. Bush's base and enjoying his endorsements while denouncing him and pitching themselves as agents of change from his administration. If it were the Democrats playing that game, I'm pretty sure you'd call them "flip floppers". You should just be grateful no one has made up any cruel, horrible lies about the McCain's adopted daughter for political gain in this race. Because any party that would allow that kind of unconscionable conduct from a candidate's campaign is beneath contempt.

Comments

[StrategicThinker]

You make too much sense to get many comments.

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

1) Register
2) Vote

Obama/BIden 08

[BAVirago]

Yes, the free press is not so free anymore, it's been leashed by corporations. Thomas Jefferson would shake his head in disgust at what we've allowed to happen to the press.

Unfortunately, the Republicans have figured out a way to have it both ways. They've spent the last 8 years perfecting their techniques. Why won't they be able to get away with it this year as well?

Someone needs to go to the temple and start kicking over the moneylenders' tables before we see change happening.

[Insearchoftruth]

The republicans protestations are designed to intimidate the media. And, it works because the media then finds a way to criticize Obama in order to criticize McCain, which is then supposed to represent fair and balanced reporting. Unfortunately, voters see through the crap. Unfortunately for the country, voters become disgusted and decide not to participate in the electoral process. Republican's win when voter turnout is low. Democracy loses because of the republican tactics but that suits them just fine because they can claim the power they seek. To hell with the rest of the country. Winner take all. Its democracy in action. REPUBLICAN ECONOMIC PLAN? TAX THE UNBORN!

[jingles32]

How about the media believing it to be fair game to "analyze" the appropriateness of Elizabeth Edwards continuing to campaign for her husband after her recurrence of cancer? How about all of their speculations as to whether or not it was "appropriate" for her and Edwards to be "dragging" their younger (and very healthy) children around the campaign trail, "homeschooling" them? Hmmm?

And I was at the supermarket last night and lo and behold there at the check out counter, what did I see??? People Magazine, the cover story? The Pal*in family, with a very happy, smiling Sarah Palin plastered on the cover, her younger daughter seated beside her, with Palin holding up, face forward for all the world to see, her DS infant. Hands off the family except when she decides it's politically expedient, right Sar*ah. What a phony.

[Buffkat00]

Thank you, Dan, for putting so eloquently what has been on my mind since Palin was first put on the ticket!
Is Ms. Princess Pudding Palin getting her feelings hurt? This so-called "pitbull" and "maverick" needs to buck up and deal with the media attention she herself seeks simply by accepting the nomination. On that note, I hope the Dems wake up soon and begin not only calling out the Repub's lies, but using those lies to denounce their character! If we can't vote for Obama simply because he's black, we certainly can't vote for Palin simply because she's a woman (p.s. I am female!).
One last note: if Bristol's pregnancy being discussed is a problem for the Palins (and Repubs in general), please don't parade her in front of the entire country and world. Is having her be such a public figure showing your support for your "Abstinence Only" education? How's that working for ya Palin?

[hopeless277]

Yeah, wel, it's not the Republicans that bother me. It's CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, FOX, and CNN. When every major media outlet takes it's orders directly from the RNC, and every dissenting voice is silenced by intimidation or worse, we see that the contest is fixed. Fixed from the outset by the very people we are supposed to trust to give us information on which to base our decisions. It's a no win for Democrats. We basically have NO VOICE AT ALL in this country. And as long as the media is controlled by the very people committing the crimes, we never will. As Glenn Greenwald said, the corporate media will not change. WE MUST DEVELOP ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF INFORMATION or risk facism at best, slavery at worst.

[tubeygw]

You forget that PBS is pretty straight. They bend over backwards to give both sides a word. We watched the DNC with them and it was 99% great. Our only quibble: they were doing an analysis piece over Brian Schweitzer's speech; which meant that we missed most of it. I'm sure we can find it online somewhere.

Last Friday night their public affairs block was great, as usual. Starting with NOW and proceeding through Moyers, who had Kathleen Hall Jamiesen on. She's about as impartial as they get. Even though she has just written a book - "Echo Chamber" - about conservative media.

[LeftRight]

But that's the point. Sometimes there just isn't another side. And yet when the "other side" is represente­d.......

[TedB]

Olbermann was well on his way to carving out that last bastion, but it looks like his own hubris may put an end to any hope for *that* happening.

[LeftRight]

Just listened to the Tom Hartman program, who had someone on from the Media Research Center (MRC) who was claiming that it's okay for mcbush and quaylin to lie about Obama's tax plan raising taxes on the middle class "since we know that he'll do that, never mind what his plan says" but that it's not okay for people to come out and talk about her daughter "since that's a private matter"...­....

What the hell happened to the party of personal responsibility???