Friday, September 5, 2008

Can't We All Just Get Along?


Quoting Peggy Noonan's column today:

"Campbell Brown of CNN did nothing wrong for instance in pressing a campaign spokesman on Palin's foreign policy credentials. She was unjustly criticized for following an appropriate and necessary line of inquiry. But endless front page stories connected to Mrs. Palin's 17-year-old daughter? Cable news shows that had people insinuating Palin, whom America had not yet even met, was a bad mother, and that used her daughter's circumstances to examine Republican views on abstinence education? That was ugly.

In the end it made Palin the underdog, and gave her the perfect platform for the perfect dive she made Wednesday night.

We have had these old press fights in the past – they were a source of constant tension when I was a child, when Barry Goldwater came forward as a conservative and the press scorned him as a flake, and later when Ronald Reagan came up and the press dismissed him as Bonzo.

But this latest fight commences on a new and wilder battlefield. The old combatants were old school gentlemen, Eric Sevareid and Walter Cronkite; the new combatants are half-crazy cable anchors, the lower lurkers of the Internet, and the anonymous posters on the comment thread on the radical website.

This new war on new turf is not good, and carries the potential of great harm. Everyone really ought to stop, breathe deep, and think.

I am worried they won't. A friend IM'd the day after Palin's speech, and I told him of an inexplicable sense of foreboding. He surprised me by saying he shared it. "Calling all underworlds reporting for duty!," he wrote. "The bed is about to fly around the room, the puke is about to come out." He meant: this campaign is going to engage unseen powers and forces. He meant: this campaign, this beautiful golden thing with two admirable men at the top and two admirable vice presidential candidates, is going to turn dark."

After Noonan's open mic gaffe this week, I figured she would have to tread carefully into Palin territory. Gifter writer that she is, she did. And I like the point of this quote. Stop. Take a breath.

We've been going at it pretty good on this blog on some of the comments and I love that. I love the productive debate. I think it informs us all. I know that when one chooses to enter politics then basically you are volunteering yourself and your family to be flayed, salted, abused, tortured, examined, poked, and prodded. It's part of the game. But stop. And think. We have been respectful and fair on this site, I think, for the most part. But I think that some of the things said about Palin, about McCain, about Obama, about Michelle, in the media have been mean. Hateful mean. When Randi Rhodes said on her program tonight that Palin should "just stay home and raise her retarded baby" that just crosses a line.

I'm in agreement with Ms. Noonan. We need to be real careful here as this campaign continues. Politics is politics, but hate is hate. And I don't do hate.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh, good old Randi Rhodes.
The first time I heard her I realized what a genius she is. It was just south of Kansas City on U.S. Hwy 71 on a afternoon just a few days before the 4th of July. I was listening to my XM radio, switching channels between different genres of music, comedy, and talk radio. As far as talk radio I was running the gammet from CNN, Fox News, America Right and America Left, the latter I can only take in very small doses, but I try, I honestly do try to listen to both sides.
I'm a registered Independent due to the fact that I don't like either party and find very little difference between them. I am conservative, but feel that if a Democrat has a good idea that will preserve the greatness of this country, who cares where the idea came from, let's do it. I love my God, I love my family, and I love my country.
I've heard numerous times over the past several years a Dem or a Rep come up with an idea that I feel would be beneficial, but the other party chew it up, spit it out, and say it won't work. Then the opposite party comes back later and try to make the idea their own.
Hell's bells, if it wasn't good then, why is it good now, or if it's good now, why not then?
Anyway, I digress.
Back to good old Randi, the stroke of genius I discovered on a highway in Missouri. I tuned in to Air America and what did I hear? A woman who made no sense at all at what she was saying, spewing nothing but hate, and playing a song called, "Bounce Your Boobies!"
Randi Rhodes, a woman who has been suspended a couple of times for spewing hatred on Air America. To be suspended for saying hateful things on Air America, it must have really been below the low standards of Air America.
The same Randi Rhodes who claimed she was attacked and beaten up by conservative thugs for what she says on the radio, only to find out she fell down a flight of steps after a drunken spree.

Mary Frances Archer said...

political campaigns for presidency are a lot about COMPETITION - it is a RACE and there is a WINNER and a LOSER. competition brings out the absolute worst in most. it is personalized. it is labeling. it is beyond psychological. you will never - and I mean NEVER - seen it done fairly.

blogging (as you know, I've done it for over 5 years and trust me - i have had stalkers, haters, worshipers, etc. over those years on my blog) and this pc age of texting, instant messenging, blogging, etc. - folks are quite brave behind the safety of their screen

so good luck with all that. good for you though - and i agree. it takes GREAT maturity to deal with this subject and I think you've done really well with it. :)

Pat Austin Becker said...

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about our discussions here, we're all respectful to each other on this blog. I mean nationally, the things the media is saying. Man, some of those folks are just vicious.
We're cool here! We rock!

Mary Frances Archer said...

in this vein - i watched all the speeches of the DMN and the RNC - and both president's let their VP do the "dirty work" in speeches - but seriously - Palin was criticized hugely for over attacking on her speech - distracting the meanness of it with humour (common ploy). so far the worst of all so far.

Trixie said...

Bravo! I think this is a great entry, Pat.

btw, forgive me for my absence...personal drama, as I am sure you have read on my blog...and if you havent, why arent you visiting!!!??

lol, j/k...

and you (as well as anyone/everyone else in the path of destruction) are in my prayers.

luculent
web-justice.blogspot.com

Pat Austin Becker said...

I think we're dodging Ike; looks to be a TX thing; take cover.