Friday, June 20, 2008

Campaign Of Lies

Aside from commercials, one of the main things I avoid on television is politics. Don't get me wrong, I like the science of governing people. And I'm fascinated by the evolution of that process. But I'm sickened by the tendency of modern politicians to prey on the stupidity of the masses and the media's proliferation of lies and deception. Today's campaigns based lack honesty or integrity. The whole science has gradually transformed from what was once politics to what is today's modern scamitics.

Today's example of the lies and deceptions of scamitics involves Barack Obama's "broken promise" on "public finance." Both sides have their version of the situation. Somewhere between the statements lies the truth, but getting to it is extremely difficult and nearly impossible if one depends solely on the information provided by the media outlets.

Obama announced that he will not accept $84M of taxpayer money and will not stick within that budget as he campaigns for POTUS. Instead he will only accept private donations and will not constrain himself to a limited budget. Obama says he is doing this because a) The current system is broken, b) The Republicans will unleash their "527 Groups" who have no budget caps, and they will mercilessly attack him. So if the GOP is not going to campaign within the bounds of the $84M cap, he is not going to hobble himself by staying within such a limited budget.

John McCain immediately announced that a) He is going to accept $84M of taxpayer money and will stick within that budget as he campaigns for POTUS, b) He is disappointed that "Obama lied," and "Obama broke a promise," and "Obama flip flopped."

Both announcements are full of holes and distractions. Neither parties are being honest with the American public. And the media outlets are not doing anything to shed light on these shady characters.

First, Obama says "527 Groups" are a major part of his reasoning. He paints himself as their victim and says he is going to bring a knife to a gunfight. But he does not mention that there are currently no major anti-Obama 527 groups. He does not mention that the largest, most active 527 is MoveOn.org are Democrats, and they are on his side. So, while I agree with his decision and I have little doubt that radical Republican 527 Groups will spring up and attack him, I don't agree with his omission of the reality of the situation.

Second, what Obama did, was complete a questionnaire last year and answered YES to the question: "If you are nominated for president in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?" It is a classic IF... THEN... statement. IF (something X happens) THEN (something Y will results.) The IF in this case is "your major opponents agree to forgo private funding." This IF THEN condition has rarely been mentioned. The media only reports that Obama is not forgoing private funding.

Third, while spewing his condemnation of Obama's "lies," broken promises," and "flip flops," McCain does not mention (nor does the media enlighten anyone to) that from March 4th (after he became the presumptive GOP candidate) until June 19th, McCain was campaigning on private funding by accepting private funding.

Fourth, it was only after Obama said he was NOT going to accept public funding (he would be accepting private funding instead) did McCain say he WAS going to accept public funding (after he has been accepting private funding for four months.)

Fifth, McCain does not mention (nor is it widely reported) that he completed the same questionnaire in 2007 and on the question about public funding, McCain did not answer.

So McCain didn't agree to the terms of the "IF... THEN..." statement in the questionnaire.
And McCain has been accepting private funding since March 4th, in clear violation of the "IF... THEN..." statement. Then Obama absolutely should not be held responsible for fulfilling his end of the agreement.

Perhaps I'm nitpicking. Maybe I'm obsessing over the details. But if I can't trust the media on issues like this, how can I trust them on important issues. If they fail to give me a complete picture of this situation, how can I be sure they will give me any useful details on future issues?

(sigh)

Frustrating stuff. Scamitics, I calls it. Scamitics, I says.

1 comment:

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