A day after my post about the 2008 election and the media at war, Editor & Publisher has an excellent article on fact-checking mania. Here's the central point:
Without prompting, Jackson uses the same analogy as Adair to describe the role of the media in an election. "When I first started [fact-checking] ads, I was very surprised at how little pushback I was getting from campaigns," he says. "I came to the conclusion that they were almost relieved that someone was keeping an eye on them. They'd been rugby-without-a-referee for so long they needed somebody to step in and make them play by the rules.
"It's just not good," Jackson concludes, "when Americans go to vote that they do so with their heads full of disinformation that has gone unchecked by the only entity that has a special protection under the Constitution of the United States to investigate it. I mean, why have a First Amendment if you're not going to use it?"
If you read yesterday's piece, you know I called for tough scrutiny of all the candidates, but came down harder on the GOP since 1) they've made an assault on the press a cornerstone of their political strategy and b) they followed that up with a barrage of misleading ads and bogus claims. But today, wouldn't you know it, the lousy and misleading ad comes from...the Obama campaign, seeking in Spanish to tie John McCain -- whose record on immigration was not so different from the Democrats before GOP primary season -- to Rush Limbaugh, with quotes that appear to be out of context (although I agree with Jake Tapper that the broader point is that Limbaugh and McCain are not allies but enemies, or maybe frenemies between now and 11/4.)
Anyway, ads should be accurate in Spanish as well as English -- as YOUR frenemy Hillary Clinton said, shame on you Barack Obama.
Does he really need the immigration issue, anyway? What is Spanish for "John McCain is out of touch on the economy"?
It really is unfortunate when Dems loose sight of the fact that the best way for them to distinguish themselves from Republicans is to take the high road in electoral politics. Unfortunately, far too few Dems think that taking the high road will win elections.— Talking point sleuth
Comment removed.- Obama ran a radio ad in Philly that addressed women making less than men. Too bad for his campaign that he pays women 81 cents of what men make ... whereas for McCain, his campaign pays women on average slightly more than men. It allows McCain a tremendous counterpunch if they so desire.— db_cooper
You came down harder on the GOP because that is what you do.— jmc- "I mean, why have a First Amendment if you're not going to use it?" Of course, when you use your First Amendment right to spew slime from the nutroots about Trig actually being Bristol Palin's son, a funny thing happens. When you finally decide to engage in fact-checking, readers have given up on you to be a fair arbiter of facts. Maybe you shouldn't have gotten caught up in the moment, Will, by parroting that asinine US Weekly cover. It's pretty hard to take your fact-checking seriously after that fiasco.— db_cooper
- From Babelfish: "Juan McCain está fuera de tacto en la economía", but he's out of touch with more than that.— Some Boca Dude
- "If you read yesterday's piece, you know I called for tough scrutiny of all the candidates..." Yes, like they are really listening to YOU.... What else did you "call for"? Freebies at the dollar store? Puh-leeze— shoeshineboy
- Comment removed.
- Obama is also running a dishonest ad in Michigan regarding the economy. I wonder if these two blatantly dishonest Obama ads will be covered 24 hours a day by the media, all of them calling Obama a liar and accusing him of running the dirtiest campaign in American history. (Of course they will not, but that is the point. If the media is not in the tank for Obama, why are dishonest Obama ads only worthy of a footnote while an unreleased ad about lipstick is worth three days of coverage?)— bon
- Comment removed.
- Obama the misogynist."On average, Obama’s female staffers earn just 83 cents for every dollar his male staffers make. This figure certainly exceeds the 77-cent threshold that Obama’s campaign website condemns. However, 83 cents do not equal $1. In spite of this 17-cent gap between Obama’s rhetoric and reality, he chose to chide GOP presidential contender John McCain on this issue. When Alaska governor Sarah Palin was named the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Obama told voters in Toledo, Ohio, on August 31 that “she’s opposed — like John McCain is — to equal pay for equal work. That doesn’t make much sense to me.” Obama’s criticism notwithstanding, McCain’s payment patterns are the stuff of feminist dreams. McCain’s 17 male staffers split $916,914, thus averaging $53,936. His 25 female employees divided $1,396,958 and averaged $55,878. On average, according to these data, women in John McCain’s office make $1.04 for every dollar a man makes. In fact, ceteris paribus, a typical female staffer could earn 21 cents more per dollar paid to her male counterpart — while adding $10,726 to her annual income — by leaving Barack Obama’s office and going to work for John McCain."article.nationalreview.com/?q=NmEzMTZmNTk5MDI0NTZmNjUwMjllN2ZlZTc0MWFmYzY=— E Plebnista
That ad was pretty cynical because it quotes Limbaugh way out of context, but assumes that the population it is reaching is in fact stupid. So much for Obama transcending "old politics". McCain and Palin are stretching stuff too. It's annoying because though I think Palin's been cruelly attacked personally in the mainstream media, when the campaign misleads people it adds legitimacy to those who have a tendency to ignore Joe Biden's ethical problems and focus on the AK state trooper, etc. I'm not sure what the Spanish translation is, but I know that Barack Obama knows some of the causes of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac debacle pretty well- in fact, many of them work for his campaign or have contributed to it!!!
Senior Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has voiced doubts about Sarah Palin's qualifications for the vice-presidency. John McCain's running mate "doesn't have any foreign policy credentials", Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald. Mr Hagel was a prominent supporter of Mr McCain during his 2000 bid for the US presidency, but has declined to endorse either candidate this year. He was opposed to the Iraq War, and recently joined Mr McCain's rival Barack Obama on a Middle East trip. 'Stop the nonsense' "I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States," Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald newspaper. And he was dismissive of the fact that Mrs Palin, the governor of Alaska, has made few trips abroad. "You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything." Mr Hagel also criticised the McCain campaign for its suggestion that the proximity of Alaska to Russia gave Mrs Palin foreign policy experience. "I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, 'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia'," he said. "That kind of thing is insulting to the American people."
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
PLEASE COMMENT WITH PASSION...
...but not with racial slurs, potentially libelous allegations, obscenities or other juvenile noise. Such comments will, at our discretion, be deleted in their entirety, and repeat offenders will be blocked from commenting. ALSO: Any commenter advocating killing any government official will be immediately banned.
Thanks.
- Atrios
- Kiko's House
- Suburban Guerilla
- Booman Tribune
- All-Spin Zone
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Afro-Netizen
- Rowhouse Logic
- MyDD
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- iFlipFlop
- CorrenteWire
- upyernoz
- Tattered Coat
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- Slacktivist
- Citizen Mom
- The Next Mayor
- Philly Future
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Young Philly Politics
- Phillyblog
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Phawker
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Keystone Blog
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- BlankBaby
- Above Average Jane
- Phillyist
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- The Clog
- Josh Marshall
- Daily Kos
- Juan Cole
- Oliver Willis
- Andy Borowitz
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- BuzzFlash
- Raw Story
- Cursor
- Crooks and Liars
- Swing State Project
- Kevin Drum
- Talk Left
- AmericaBlog
- Hullabaloo
- Mad Kane
- Think Progress
- Jesus' General
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Majikthise
- Echidne of the Snakes
- David Sirota
- Glenn Greenwald
- TBogg
- Fire Dog Lake
- Taylor Marsh
- Matthew Yglesias
- Jon Swift
- Drudge Report
- Beer Leaguer
- The 700 Level
- Dick Polman
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Shallow Center
- Philling Station
- Phillies Nation
- A Citizen's Blog
- The Good Phight
- Romenesko
- Editor and Publisher
- Pressthink
- Buzzmachine
- The Inksniffer
- Media Bloodhound
- Eat the Press
- Mickey Kaus
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Blinq
- The Corner
- Instapundit
- Andrew Sullivan
- Free Republic
- James Taranto
- Blonde Sagacity
- ScrappleFace
- Blogorrhea
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- January 2008
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
