Does the Truth Matter Anymore?

[shipperx]

Okay, so I said I don't talk politics.  And I try not to talk politics.  But headshaking over people believing stupid stuff only goes so far.  So... a link: To an op-ed stating what's right in front of our faces

It's going to be a damn long election season.

Comments

[usedtobeljs]

I have been APPALLED by the way the McCain campaign (and the candidates) have so blatantly, repeatedly lied. May there finally be some consequences for this...

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

What does is say about McCain that he has now hired the exact same people who lied about him and smeared him in the 2000 campaign?

Nothing good.

[cindergal.livejournal.com]

What has happened to John McCain? I have always thought him a man of integrity, even when I didn't agree with his position on some issues. Now, not so much.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I agree!

When the campaign started, I had affection and respect for the man.

Now?

I'm over it.

[molliemole.livejournal.com]

The more I learn about Sarah Palin, the more frightened I become at the thought of her ever getting near the White House. And John McCain's health and age being what they are....

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I was frightened the moment I realized that her foreign policy qualifications amount to "Alaska is the state to closest to Russia."

Er... okay, with Mt. McKinley, Alaska is also the state closest to the moon. Does that qualify her to be in charge of the space program?

I mean, let's back down to reality for a moment. If someone doesn't care that she has no foreign policy qualifications, there's nothing to debate. But to make utterly ridiculous arguments about foreign policy qualifications is worth a giggle, but that's about all.

Well, there's also the bone-chilling terror of it, I suppose.

(And then there's the fact that she seems to not have a very good grasp on what in the heck Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae actually are. Hey, she really is just like me! I don't understand it very well either (although apparently better than she does), and it's not like they're a big deal when dealing with the housing crisis...)

[oneloveonelight.livejournal.com]

I TRY not to overdo politics on my LJ (and I don't even discuss with family anymore ever since they are dead set in their ways). But, like you, sometimes I can't help it online. Most of my friends are voting for Obama but there are a few who will probably vote for McCain and I'm TRYING to get them to see what I see with McCain/Palin. I also can't believe people are so naive and completely ignore these silly things called facts. Which this article so eloquently points out. I guess they're so used to Bush's lies that it's really not a big deal anymore...

One of my LJ friends has even asked me to stop posting anything politics-related because she gets too upset by me bashing Palin. But that's just wrong, in my opinion (censorship, anyone?). Besides, she has the ability to skip over an entry if she wants.

And I honestly don't think talking about politics is in bad taste when you NEED to. When it's important and it comes down the future of our country because, after all, what we say online and in person will affect the vote in November. So, I've decided, if I have a good point about something political, I will say it. It's very American to do so.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

One of my LJ friends has even asked me to stop posting anything politics-related because she gets too upset by me bashing Palin. But that's just wrong, in my opinion (censorship, anyone?). Besides, she has the ability to skip over an entry if she wants.


That's always been what I've believed. I have people who are really strongly one way or the other on my f-list and I've been known to disagree with both, but the thing I try to keep in mind is if I don't want to read it, I don't have to read it. They're allowed to post whatever they want, and I can agree, disagree, or ignore.

That said, I have been stunned as to the utter disregard of facts this time around. And I'm beyond frustrated with the media who are far more interested in keeping the news cycle/horse race going than in actually doing their job regarding finding and posting factual information even if campaigns whine about it and especially if they continue to lie even after the facts have been revealed.

[oneloveonelight.livejournal.com]

Yes, the media has a responsibility to the American people, absolutely. But on the flip side, sometimes the politicians WON'T give the media anything. McCain & Palin were in my neighborhood yesterday giving a speech (yup!) and local reporters were saying that they were ordered NOT to ask Palin any questions. Any questions that managed to sneak through to Palin were ignored.

Is it just me or do you think a candidate should be able to answer any and all questions? Especially when they're going to be helping to run the country?

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I think it's obscene that they pull in someone few people have ever heard of then have the nerve to insist that no one ask her any questions until they finish tutoring her with people from the Bush admnistration unless they show her deference (this the day or so after they said she would only speak in venues "positive to the campaign"! WTF? No, seriously, her manager said that. So, let me get this straight, unless they kowtow and gild the lily for them, she isn't allowed to speak.

WTF?!

*sigh* I have to stop reading politics. I've become very very angry. I cannot believe the depths the McCain campaign has sunk. I respected the man once... just a few months ago in fact. It's apalling.

[oneloveonelight.livejournal.com]

Yup, they haven't been tutored yet; these things take time...

I know, I have to resist the urge to post things to my LJ on a daily basis about Palin. In fact I wrote something today about her. I don't know if I'm actually going to post it or not. Maybe behind a cut.

If she and McCain have nothing to hide, then they shouldn't be afraid of questions. Good god, these people will have billions of lives (not just U.S. lives) in their hands if they win. I think they need to be smart enough to answer anything and everything they're asked.

[cy-girl.livejournal.com]

I really thought John McCain was above this kind of crap. He's killed my admiration for him.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It's sad. I think McCain once did have actual stances and actual honor, but that seems to have been swamped such that now all over the place he's turned his back on stances he used to support, turned to the people who used to defame him, and resorted to wholly disingenuous rhetoric to win news cycles.

Country First?

Not with the way his campaign is being run. Not at all.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I think I know exactly the moment when John McCain was lobotomized. sillymagpie and I figured it was the moment during the 2004 campaign when Bush hugged him aboard Air Force One. Literally, you can see the aneurysm burst in the man's head. He's never been the same since. (They went in through his nose, and he got to keep the little piece of brain they took out.)

I'm terrified beyond words of McCain/Palin, because this kind of campaigning has proved so horribly effective in the past -- no one listens to the truth, just to the smears; no one wants to know what's really happening, just that they can "have a beer" with their president (or VP)... ARGH.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I think it's the totally disregard of truth, facts, and reality that's making it feel like we've plunged into the bowels of the Ministry of Truth in 1984. (And I usually hate statements like that, but if anything calls for bringing up the specter of the Ministry of Truth this unceasing, undeterred repetition of proven untruths deserves it. )

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah.

Because if you say it often enough, it becomes true...

(I have never figured out why the common person will believe lies without hesitation, but anything that refutes it--ie., the truth--not so much.)

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

It used to be I'd keep quiet about politics. (Yes, ME!)

But more and more, I feel like I'd be a traitor to myself and my country if I didn't speak, ya know?

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I used to respect McCain even while disagreeing with him on virtually every point. But now? Now I think he's so desperate to be President that he'll do or say anything, and it makes me sick.

[shapinglight]

God, that's depressing! It's as if the so-called journalists of the Daily Mail over here were writing all the Republicans' speeches.