This is for everyone who believes in the media's view of a certain politician; please, please read

[fpb]

I answered this to one of my online friends, but I think everyone ought to read it

Comments

[sartorias]

I pay no attention to the media treatment of political situations--it's just another form of fictional entertainment.

I will say that I was extremely offended by Sarah Palin's speech, and that's all I will say on the matter.

[fpb]

I would like to be told what exactly you found offensive. Not to argue about it - you know what offends you. But I would like to know. Here is a transcript of the original script: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94258995

[sartorias]

I probably shouldn't do this, but what the hey:

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.

We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

And:

As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man.

Um, no, actually, McCain has said conflicting things in different places, like "I'm a Baptist" in Baptist country, very recently.

But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. The implication that the opponents seek good opinions before the self-

[fpb]

I think you are wrong in a considerable number of ways, but I said I would not challenge you, and I will not.

[sartorias]

Well, that's why I usually keep my lip buttoned on political topics. We all view things differently, which is why I am a strong supporter of the Constitution--it makes room for all points of view.

And I don't have any animus against my conservative relatives (the few left, most have switched sides in the past four years) or peers, but I do get pissy when politicians (this is in general, not this current contest) use the same tactics that they hammer in their opponents, but declare that their underhandedness is okay because it's righteous and from pure motive. Blech.

[starshipcat]

Ah yes, the "when I do it, that's different" defense.

Unfortunately, in many cases I think that they genuinely can't see how what they're doing is like what they condemn their opponents for doing. There's a blind spot there, and no amount of pointing it out to them will change their minds. They will simply dismiss your evidence as invalid and you as "out of touch with Reality."

And if they're in a position of authority over you, they'll also dismiss you as insolent and insubordinate.

Been there, done that.

[sartorias]

You're right--the perspective can look so genuinely different from various positions.

I think a lot of my hot feelings come from years of the circus aspect to campaigns, in addition to the search for the truth behind implications and outright statements; as fpb stated at the outset, a lot of the accusations against Sarah Palin turned out to be distortions or outright manufactured. But personal attacks have been a staple of politics clear back to the days of Walpole being raked over the coals when the Hanoverian kings were establishing themselves.

[starshipcat]

I wouldn't be surprised if it goes back to the Greeks and Romans. However, before the printing press such things would be recorded only in single handwritten copies, and thus less likely to survive the ravages of time. And what has survived may well not be among the sources that have been translated and made generally available, so you'd have to have a fair mastery of Greek and Latin to read them.

[sartorias]

Actually, you're right. Aren't the plays full of now-obscure political reference? When I was adapting Aristophanes for my drama students a few years back, I couldn't make heads or tails out of some of the refs, and only tracked down a few after much hunting about.

[fpb]

A much more powerful case can be made from Cicero - and not only because he wrote an essay about electoral campaigns that is still valuable for politicians today. One just has to compare his description of opponents in public or prosecution speeches with what he said about - or even to - those same opponents in his vast body of private letters, to see how often even the most rabid accusations could be no more than moves in a game.

[sartorias]

Cicero! Now there's another I read far too young (in translation) to appreciate. I need to revisit him--I bet I would appreciate him far, far more now.

[fpb]

And the Romans did not have "newspapers of record" that made it their business to place lies on the record and keep facts off it.

PS: I loathed the NYT, as I loathe the BBC, since long before the Palin affair. In fact, they have done nothing whatever that surprised me. I expected these man-eating beasts to do exactly what they did.

[fpb]

What I was saying is that in at least one or two points you have downright misunderstood what Governor Palin was saying. In particular, when she said that she was not going to Washington to please the media, she did not mean it against Obama as you seem to think. Everyone else, including the media, perceived it as a response to the media's own onslaught on her and her family, which had already started, singling out her daughter and her baby son. Considering the situation, I would have said more and worse.

[sartorias]

I see! At the time, it seemed to me the context was Obama-bashing. And so, of course, when I read it again, it just brought back that sense.

[fpb]

She certainly did attack Obama. That is part of what was expected - and the Obama campaign did not spare her. But a lot of that speech was dedicated to chucking back in the media's teeth all the things the media had thrown at her (e.g. small-town mayor, etc.). Of course, the two things can overlap: if I am inexperienced, what will you say about your candidate for President

[sartorias]

I hope you are right. My worries are about the growing power brokers who are not answerable to anybody.

Aside from that, I'm looking forward to the debates, when (I trust) speech-making rhetorical devices will be at a minimum, and actual exchange might be expected.