October 24, 2008

$150,000.00 smoke screen

Obama is dropping in the polls. The Main Stream Media (MSM) is supporting Obama to the elimination of any attempt at prefessional balance. This current attempt is another stab, so do not be fooled. A Classy liberal blogger to whom I have come to have great respect for lays out the Media bashing of Palin and why its important.

CNN actually reported this:

CAMPBELL BROWN: ...[F]irst, as we do every night, we’re cutting through the bull -- a lot of sniping and a lot of stories today about Sarah Palin’s clothes. Politico.com reports that the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothes, hair, and makeup for Palin on the campaign trail.

Now, these are not your tax dollars. This is money given by Republican donors to the RNC. But the report questions whether it's legal to use campaign cash for quote,’personal use.’ My issue: there is an incredible double standard here, and we're ignoring a very simple reality. Women are judged based on their appearance far, far more than men. This is a statement of fact. There has been plenty of talk and plenty written about Sarah Palin’s jackets, her hair, her looks. Sound familiar? There was plenty of talk and plenty written about Hillary Clinton’s looks, hair, pantsuits. Compare that to the attention given to Barack Obama’s $1,500 suits or John McCain’s $520 Ferragamo shoes. There is no comparison.

Women get scrutinized based on appearance far more than men, and look, I speak from experience here. When I wear a bad outfit on the air, I get viewer e-mail complaining about it, a lot of e-mail, seriously. When Wolf Blitzer wears a not-so-great tie, how much e-mail do you think he gets? My point is, for women, unfortunately, appearance is part of the job. If Wolf or Anderson shows up on the air without makeup, do you think you would even notice? I show up on the air without makeup, trust me, you’ll notice. This doesn't just apply to TV. All women in the public eye deal with this issue, and it’s for this reason that I think the RNC should help Palin pay for hair, clothes, and makeup. It is part of the job.

Now, you may think that’s an awful lot of money to spend on clothes, hair, and makeup, or you may complain, as some have, it’s hypocritical to sell yourself as a small-town hockey mom when you’re wearing designer clothes. That's fine. Just don't ignore the fact that there is a double standard here and personally, I think, in this campaign, with so much at stake, this is a peripheral issue. I myself have raised plenty of questions about Sarah Palin, much to the annoyance of the McCain campaign. But those questions have been about her qualifications and experience, never her appearance. Let’s keep the focus on what really matters here.


I am wondering why the MSM is ignoring that the Obama campaign deliberately disabled a basic credit card security check feature for donors. Like this example or this one.

Then we have all these polls which historically have been fairly close and now are all over the place. Is the idea that someone already won an election that has not happened supposed to sway people? Vote for a winner?

The press is also non-existant on the 401k butchery going around. The original story has been pulled from http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/25/83/58 so here is the writeup before the write up. Until I can find another un-censored reference.

Sen. Obama's Socialist beliefs has been revealed by press crucified "Joe the Plumber" what should be the final nail in that coffin is likewise missing from the nightly news, his membership in a socialist party most of that info comes from here.

Folks, if you are counting on the MSM to bring you the facts you are sadly as out of touch as Joe Biden. Among his numerous, mostly unreported, gaffes in the Debate he claimed to go to a nonexistent Katie's Restaurant to learn the wants and needs of the middle class, it went out of business in 1986. Likewise unreported.

And just so you know I am checking various places about the Media Bias. shows I am far from alone.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are a complete hypocrit. Your post describes you to a T.

"Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Being correct
No one wants to be wrong all of the time. Yet, no one is correct all of the time (outside of my wife, of course). I recently made a choice to engage some people in political discussion."

You call that a discussion?

"I am thinking this was a mistake as they were not interested in any discourse."

You are UNABLE to have any discourse, as you are blinded by YOUR beliefs. You believe a rag like Hot Air and Newt Gingrich, and yet you expect people to take you seriously?

"I know, and figured it was obvious, that political 'spin' is the name of the game when it comes to elections. This means, distortions, concealment, falsehoods, fibs, untruths, prevarications, fabrications, equivocations and tergiversations."

On BOTH sides.

"Then there was an epiphany, many liberals believe that Republicans are all bad, simply because they are Republicans."

That is your own sad and skewed version of things.

"There is a severe lack of tolerance for any position held outside of their core beliefs. Which include:
Gun control (elimination of all firearms)"

There are liberals/Democrats who own guns. Many of them.

"Abortion (wanting all abortions possible to take place)"

If you really believe that Democrats or liberals want this, you are completely out of touch with reality, and need to get out of your house (and that tiny town) more often. You've been on a flight only once in the past 15 years? Holy Crap.

"Minimum Wage (to keep the poor, impoverished)"

Do you seriously believe this? Have you ever TALKED to a Democrat?

"Man Made Global Warming (scaring people away from progress)"

You can have progress without the destruction of the earth, you idiot. Man may not have built it, but man sure hurried it along. Do you just not want to take responsibility for your giant gas guzzler and polluting ways? And Christ, YOU HAVE KIDS. Don't you want to leave a clean planet for them and their kids?

"Public Education (keeping kids indoctrinated)"

You are brainwashed. NO ONE thinks public education is good. NO ONE.

"Environmentalism (stop anything from being built anyplace)"

This last one really shows your ignorance. READ A BOOK for fuck's sake.

You DISGUST me. I can't believe I was ever even fond of you. It's like some other person took over my intelligent, curious, inquisitive friend Lee and brainwashed him into this ignorant, sheltered, close-minded, out of touch, self-righteous middle-aged, overweight lemming.

I don't know why I thought your other blog might be more like the Lee I remember. I see that person is dead now.

Unknown said...

Whatever.

Stella by Starlight said...

Lee, thank you so much for stopping by and your post about Shoo. The terms "tenacity and candor" came from you on Wizard's blog: I couldn't have written a more perfect description.

Happy cynic, I am a liberal bordering on Socialist. There, Lee. Now you know. I've seen the excellent standard of living in small, Socialist countries in, for example, those of Scandinavia. The problem with Socialism is that, sadly, it's impractical in America.

You don't agree, Lee? That's fine.

Happy Cynic, I think Lee makes an excellent point about women being more judged on their looks than men. I hate that this is true, but if women continue to spend $8.00 on fashion magazines, this trend will continue. Until we boycott frivolities like expensive makeup, hair products, and clothes, this trend will not change.

Fed up (I am) with this Sarah Palin nonsense. Cindy McCain's outfit at the close of the RNC cost $300,000—for one night. Does such wealth show a lack of connection with the people from whom they want votes? Sure. Do I care? No. I'm not voting for Palin.

I agree it's not the best way to spend campaign money when Michelle Obama is wearing $184 dresses with elegance and style, but that's not my call. This non-scandal is a non-issue. We face tremendous challenges in this current economy and the continuing war.

Lee's right: "many liberals believe that Republicans are all bad, simply because they are Republicans." Conversely, there are many conservatives that believe all liberals are bad because they are liberals." We need to stop this divisiveness.

Unknown said...

Hi Stella,

Yeah, I knew that quote was taken from my posting. You liked it and used it, so I figured it was a silent pat on my own back.

I am really not very versed on any country other then USA and Canada. I have some pretty bad experiences with the socialized medicine they have. I like Capitalism. I would agree it is impractical in America.

Where we are in full agreement is that we should treat people one way and ideas another.

Unknown said...

"I would agree it is impractical in America"

Should read:

I would agree that socialism is impractical in America

flyingvan said...

Happy Cynic---I hope you re-read what you wrote. It's a perfect illustration of liberal vitriol; it made our refridgerator. My kids have noticed that if a blog starts in with name calling, swearing, and self contradiction, it isn't coming from a conservative.
Example---you discard a viewpoint because it cam e from Newt Gingrich, as if everything he ever uttered was wrong---then go on to talk about liberals that own guns. Is pigeonholing OK or not? Is it only OK for liberals?
On the environment---I've had direct dealings with environmental groups that were very open about wanting a financial payoff to go away and not block projects. (These were projects needed to keep an outdoor recreational facility open for public use, all non profit) Environmental law is broken. You suggested reading a book, in a rather nasty tone--- Please go read 'Undue Influence' and see how environmental law is crippling industries without doing squat to actually protect the environment.
All sides agree public education stinks? That's your arguement against the blatant socialist agenda in our schools? You keep claiming 'That's no arguement!' Pick up a textbook and try to tell me it isn't way left leaning. Try to justify for me free breakfast, lunch, and after school care for every child. Explain to me why birth control, marriage counselling, and 6 days a week care (even for illegal immigrants)is the job of public education. The schools don't just TEACH a sccialist agenda; they practice it. Show kids the government will take care of them no matter what.
You have swallowed the global warming kool-aid. You don't require proof, just statistics showing how many other people believe it. Reality isn't open to majority rule and actual proof is missing. Lee doesn't share your faith in man made global warming. So what?
Things like minimum wage, forced 'cost of living' income for unskilled labor, force people into a proletariat life. The leftist policies absolutely favor redistribution of wealth not based on merit or hard work, but on need. It takes away drive and initiative. The left knows, though, that they can get a majority vote from people with their hand out.
Finally, your greatest hypocrisy is in calling Lee brainwashed, closed minded, out of touch, etc.....He doesn't share your opinion so you label him. If Lee moved to the right with age, as most intelligent people do, yet you stay mired in the liberal muck--which of you is closed minded?

Stella by Starlight said...

"I would agree it is impractical in America" Should read: I would agree that socialism is impractical in America.

LOL!!! Are we both English majors? You're absolutely correct. I never use the word "it" in professional writing, but lapse when I'm blogging. I constantly annoy people who use "it" by asking, "What is it?" When I taught composition, my students got so frustrated because I insisted on specificity in their writing. I am officially busted.

Flyingvan, you are responding vitriol with vitriol. I like Lee's perfect response: "Whatever." How else can he respond?

Yes, public education stinks. I completely agree, and am terribly saddened by the intellectual decrease in America. I question whether throwing money at the problem is the answer. No one knows how to solve this problem.

I assure you education is not left-leaning. As an animal rights activist, I assigned a paper to my students on that topic. I taught in a rural area. One of my students, who just could not write well enough to get an A, vehemently disagreed with my perspective.

I responded, "Prove me wrong when you write your paper." She wrote a brilliant essay on the necessity of hunting. Although her topic could hardly be considered left-wing, I marked her paper as follows: "A+. You made me want to go out and eat a hamburger." Did I agree with hunting as a liberal and vegetarian? No. She wrote an excellent paper with lucid arguments. My opinion was not at issue.

Global warming, based on human consumption is a fact. This issue is not a "liberal" cause, but a human cause. To provide you with facts and statistics would prove futile: there are reams of data to prove my point, not just one book. This site might interest you, though.

Reality may not be open to majority rule, but Democracy is. I am uncomfortable with that statement and the anger in both yours and happy cynic's comments. A good Democracy requires civil dissent.

I welcome yours and Lee's disagreement. Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope were great friends. They disagreed with each other's religious beliefs, but created some of the greatest literature in the history of the world.

Similarly, I do not forget the McCain-Feingold Bill from 2006 to create clean elections. There's a great example of far right working with far left and achieving a positive result.

What kind of world could we have if, as Lee stated, treat people one way and ideas another?

The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don't agree with.
~~Eleanor Holmes Norton

(Sorry, Lee: the quote ends with a preposition: I hope my grammar is correct...)

;-)

flyingvan said...

I do applaud you for giving a good grade a disagreeing with the premise....That supports what I feel---there are some great teachers, and some really biased curriculum. If you are left leaning, you probably don't see it; just as you probably think the media isn't biased, simply because you agree with them.
Sorry, but saying global warming exists, and is due to human influence, is factual is incorrect. There is plenty of evidence to the contrary, such as Mars and Venus showing identical warming trends. It is an opinion, not a fact. I can claim it's a fact that human life begins at conception and that individual is guaranteed Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness. There's more proof of that than of human culpability in global warming, yet I lack the arrogance to declare it factual. It is my opinion. (My wife's uncle spent his whole career as a chemist dealing with carbon. His view is, all the CO2 mankind has ever belched out is negligible and has no impact whatsoever on the weather) I'm very, very interested in the science behind global warming, and my opinion is NOT based on a lack of knowledge. I've worked in and around chemistry. A closed system like a terrarium will show a rise in CO2 AFTER a rise in Delta-H, not the other way around. Further, if you look at graphs for global atmospheric CO2 in earth history, we're in a significant CO2 deficit.
Sorry you saw vitriol in my response....I guess if you imagine me yelling my writings instead of calmly discussing them....I try to avoid name calling and such. I suppose one could take offense to 'being mired in liberal muck' but it's a far cry from calling someone fat and intellectually lazy, don't you think? I'd so much prefer discussing topics with folks that disagree with me. Much more interesting. I person is better because you can delineate a common ground and discover where opinions veer, all without offending. Subtle tones and body language let you know when you're coming close to crossing the line. Written blogs don't really allow for that, and I think we (I really mean 'we' in the sense of everyone) will read someone with an opposing viewpoint and picture them as the epitome of the extreme. I swear I don't look much like Hitler.

Unknown said...

Stella, Wikipedia has quiite a listing on scientist who see Man Made Global Warming as a hypothesis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scientists_opposing_global_warming_consensus