Well, now that we have our new President Elect it is time to stop the Republican hard right whining and start figuring out how to spend the next four years. He seems to be off to a good start, other than appointing Hillary as Secretary of State. Guessing that since he needed something to "offer" her for shutting down her campaign and the VP job wasn't really an option then the appointment as Secretary of State helps her fuel her campaign in 2012 or 2016. She gets national level political experience (which she grievously lacks, thank dog) and also International Affairs (not the kind Bill is always working on but the Department of State kind).
Personally I am not a fan of hers and feel it is a little sad that she is being groomed to position her as the next Democratic Presidential candidate and provide her with the opportunity to have the experience she (and Barack, candidly) lack in the World Political scene. I still don't think having the Clinton's back in the White House is a good thing. But, it is what it is.
So then, signing off and getting ready to sit back to watch the fun begin.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Politics and the media
With the election for our next Press-a-dent so near it is time to wake up from the daily distractions of work, home life and all the other things that normally occupy my mind and pay close attention to the realities of what I want politically for the next several years. McCain or Obama. What a choice. You might think I am in the "we'd be better off without a President than either of those idiots" but no. Candidly I need to make up my mind apart from the influence of the overwhelming onslaught of emails that from friends on the Republican side that show Obama as being the end of our American middle class way of life. From those on the Democratic side, McCain is pretty typically portrayed as the new Bush. Personally, after watching them in action in the debate last night I think they are both level headed and intelligent people who genuinely care about doing what is right. I think the real issue is, what IS right?
The things I think we all need some help on are understanding the key issues and what we really need our leaders to do to ensure we stay on track and prosper rather than sit by as the economy tanks and we watch our futures grow dim as our investments and homes lose rather than increase in value. I sure as hell know how I would lead. That'll be the next blog. The real issue here for me right now is the media and the candidates.
I am so disillusioned by the media's complete and utter lack of character, ethics and responsibility to report the news and not run a media campaign for Obama while doing everything in their power to attack and demean McCain and Palin. I am really checking out on the media. Television is no longer Bob's main past-time (actually it hasn't been for quite a while). All TV News programming is complete and utter bullshit and the programming is clearly getting in the way of advertising. Yep, another topic some other time.
What we need in the media are some new versions of my early influencers, pictures above, Edward R. Murrow, Dave Garraway, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. Why, you might ask? Because they were the bastions of editorial opinion and honest reporting. No talking heads there. What are the issues, who is involved, who is right and why, who is wrong and why? That is how it is supposed to be done. Sure they had producers and writers telling them what to say but I always got a sense that they had a lot of influence over the content and it seemed more real and down to earth to me.
Nowadays, the media is not doing that. The real change came during the Vietnam war. The media became a powerhouse and quickly began to believe their own B.S. Since then it has become all about the media and not about the down to earth reporting we the public deserve. Hence the talking heads we see now. So if you aren't "pretty", an actor and good at appearing sincere you can't do well. If you aren't a liberal Democrat, same deal, not going to do well.
Obama is their golden boy and I ask WHY!? He is clearly intelligent, articulate and I like him but he has a very poor record in voting the way he claims. He has repeatedly voted against tax cuts for middle income, elderly and farmers designed to help protect them from being overburdened tax-wise and he claims he is for tax cuts. Not too convinced by your claims last night Barack.
McCain, somewhat better record but interestingly, as many bills as Barack has not voted on John seems to be way more inclined to not vote. If you are interested in how I come to these conclusions try the voting database on the Washington Post site:
For Barack specifically:
For John specifically:
The really disappointing thing about McCain for me is Senate bill 2371 which he failed to vote on that had a provision to establish a bipartisan committee to reduce and eliminate wasteful government spending. Interestingly it was a large bill with many provisions and John McCain was one of only two Republicans that failed to vote on the bill which was defeated by a 63-32 tally. There were 15 Republicans that chose to vote with the 46 Democrats against the bill. No Democrats voted for it. And if you are into the math, there were two Independents who also vote against it. But I digress, back to the media.
So do you listen to and believe Katie Couric and Brian Williams and the other talking heads? Not me. After the few minutes I watched of the Sarah Palin interview Katie conducted I have had my beliefs firmly reinforced watching the perky news anchor trying (well, actually working, hard) to back Sarah into a corner. I really like and admire Sarah Palin. She stood up and basically confronted Couric. She has strong opinions but still seems open minded. She has a solid track record and is truly impressive. Ask the corrupt politicos she went after and who are now in jail where they belong. Her heart is in the right place.
So all in all, I am de-marketing oriented. I research major purchases and consider the numbers on my own. I have no strong compulsion to buy something because I saw it on TV. Sorry numbskulls, marketing doesn't work on Bob. Big SUV, not a status symbol to me, rather an embarrassment instead. Big giant house, too bad for all you meatheads that overbought and "took advantage" of the "adjustable rate" mortgages. Did you think the rates were going to go down? Sad for the folks that got snookered because they were too ignorant to understand the error of their ways and now have mortgage payments that may have doubled in the last year and they could barely make them before.
The media should have been looking at the mortgage market and doing specials on how to understand and do it right. Advising folks to stay away from the low interest "deals". Did they? Hell no. So, they need a wake up call from us, the people, to force them to stop being so full of themselves and get back to reporting the news and events rather than twisting everything to create the controversy they so desperately want because it helps them sell the ad time. You think Wall Street is the only place where the common good and what is truly honorable and right is completely disregarded by the "greed heads"? Nope, the media is in the lead there as far as I am concerned.
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