Andrea Mitchell attacks Wesley Clark
I find it amusing to see the tizzy that the media have got themselves into and the aggressive way that they are attacking Wesley Clark for the crime of questioning McCain's suitability to be president based on the fact that he was once a POW.
I seem to remember four years ago almost the entire Republican Convention wearing "purple heart" bandages to mock John Kerry's war record.
Why are the media horrified when McCain's record is merely questioned as a basis for him to be president, and yet they happily went along with Kerry's record being openly mocked and made fun of?
Why do we have this ridiculous double standard in which Republicans can mock war heroes, but it becomes scandalous if Democrats even question a candidate's suitability based on his own record in the armed forces?
2 comments:
Why do we have this ridiculous double standard in which Republicans can mock war heroes, but it becomes scandalous if Democrats even question a candidate's suitability based on his own record in the armed forces?
The Republicans have essentially re-defined the word "patriotism" to mean "support for the Republicans".
This is a double-edged sword, however, with support for the Republicans being so very low. And they've been using this tactic for about five years now to no avail. It only works on their base.
Generally, the American media has proven itself to be about a year behind public opinion, as well as very anxious to bolster its own credentials regarding patriotism. Thus, they have swallowed the new definition of patriotism and can see no defence against it. If you a Democrat, you are "by definition" unpatriotic, so we see the media publicly scratching their collective heads over "how Obama is going to counter this".
So far, the polls show the nation yawning over this, as they did over Wright, Ayers, secret Muslim, secret Hindu, flag pins, and Rezko.
By framing dissent against the Iraq occupation as "traitorous", the GOP essentially blew their wad on this issue long ago. Strong majorities show that Iraq is considered a mistake and those numbers have been very stable over time, so in order for the GOP to make this a credible issue they must portray a strong majority of the voting public to be traitors seeking the defeat of America. Tough sell.
By framing dissent against the Iraq occupation as "traitorous", the GOP essentially blew their wad on this issue long ago. Strong majorities show that Iraq is considered a mistake and those numbers have been very stable over time, so in order for the GOP to make this a credible issue they must portray a strong majority of the voting public to be traitors seeking the defeat of America. Tough sell.
Brilliantly put, Doug. And, as you say, the US media are way behind on this one.
Post a Comment