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This Is What Democracy Looks Like
www.NationalView.org's Note From a Madman
October 30, 2008
"I'm Elizabeth Dole and I approved this
message"
In the ad which followed the above, required statement, Senator Dole accused her
challenger, Kay Hagan, of being "Godless". But just accusing a woman who is an
elder in her North Carolina Presbyterian Church and a Sunday School of religious
heresy wasn't enough - No, no - Dole had a Southern accented woman close the ad
out by saying, "There is no God!"
The woman wasn't Hagan, but the intent was clear: Make North Carolinians believe
that is was Hagan speaking those words.
Hagan, for her part, was obviously besides herself with anger. She is suing Dole
to have the ad removed from the air within 24 hours, but that, in my opinion, is
not enough. Here was Hagan's response, in full, to the over-the-line attack ad:
"I'm Kay Hagan, and Elizabeth Doles attack on my Christian faith are offensive.
She even faked my voice for her TV ad to make you think I don't believe in God.
"Well, I believe in God. I taught Sunday School; my faith guides my life; and
Senator Dole knows it.
"Sure politics is a tough business, but I approve this message because my
campaign is about creating jobs and fixing our economy, not bearing false
witness against fellow Christians."
-Hagan, from her response ad
Dole should take this opportunity to take stock of how she wants to be
remembered by the people of North Carolina and history. She should call Hagan to
apologize, pay for the response ad and create a new ad apologizing to the people
of North Carolina for her misuse of their good will.
Or she should just drop out. That would be fair. After all, she's losing anyway
and this would give her the opportunity to get out of the ditch and claw her way
back up to a higher road.
That would still leave her about three inches short of the curb.
By the way... I haven't heard the outage and condemnation from either John McCain nor Sarah Palin about this latest GOP slander. After all, they are the new leaders of the Republican Party so one would expect one of them to offer up their repudiation of Dole's ad.
None was
forthcoming and never will be.
-Noah Greenberg
"I'm John McCain and I approved this
message"
Has anyone seen the new John McCain ad yet? It's the one where the deep-voiced
announcer tells us as it appears on the screen, "The fact is, Barack Obama's not
ready... yet."
What's up with that?
Is John McCain saying that after two-and-a-half years of being vetted more than
anyone's ever been vetted before that Barack Obama will, some day, be vetted?
And if Senator Obama isn't ready, yet, what does that tell us about McCain's
pick for Vice President, Sarah Palin? There are more people living on the Coney
Island (Brooklyn) peninsula than there are in the whole of the state she governs
(Alaska, in case you weren't paying attention); and there are more people in the
development there (the Coney Island Houses) than on the town she used to be the
mayor of Wasilla, Alaska - population still under 7,000.
After browsing the anti-Obama ads on the McCain-Palin web site - and tall there
is are anti-Obama ads on the web site - one notices that they can't find one
picture of Obama caught in anger.
(By the way, is it time to call the web site the "Palin-McCain website" yet?)
Of all the things one can look for in the ads sent out to television sets in
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, Florida (and the other red states now turning
different shades of blue in the various electoral maps on TV and the Internet[s]),
one cannot find a picture of senator Obama in which he appears angry. In all of
those made-for-TV PowerPoint presentation, they couldn't even phony up a shot of
malice in his (Obama's) face.
Even on the Internet(s) one cannot find a picture of Obama mad. Conversely,
there are plenty of pictures of John McCain angry all over the place (and I
ought to know - I've used a bunch of them myself).
The cable news programs even tried to use Obama's calm against him. During the
financial meltdown of what some now call "Black Monday", as the pundits were
decrying McCain's whacky reaction to the news that the Bush economy has
collapsed (and rightfully so), they tried to display Obama's calm as a bad
thing. They wanted us to believe that calm in our nation's next leader could be
construed as something bad.
Calm is good. Calm fixes things through forethought and contemplation. Calm asks
for the opinions of experts before making rash remarks and decisions.
We've seen what reaction and impulse brings to the table during a crisis. We've
seen it for the past eight years and we've seen it after the markets hit
near-rock bottom just one month ago. McCain's reaction took him from the
campaign trail to Washington and from suspending his campaign and not showing up
for the first debate to continuing ads and showing up for that debate, McCain
has been all over the place and that's not what we need in our next president.
While viewing all the ads listed on the McCain-Palin web site's ad page I was
hard-pressed to find one where Barack Obama wasn't the featured player. In fact,
it was almost impossible to find any ad mentioning the accomplishments of
Senator McCain more than the perceived inadequacies of Senator Obama.
John McCain is, at best, a supporting player in his own television ads!
The thought of another four-to-eight years of avoiding problems and reactionary
government is more than we should have to bear. And on Tuesday evening, there's
a good chance that we won't have to any longer..
-Noah Greenberg
In response to, "What does Sarah Palin bring to the table other than "Aw shucks"
and "golly gee"? Dorothy Schwartz wrote:
"You betcha..."
And Eddie Konczal says:
Don't forget "Darn right!" and "Gosh darn it!"
Send your comments to: NationalView@aol.com
-Noah Greenberg