And just so everyone knows, I'm not doing this to point out this person for ridicule or to make him/her seem stupid. Not at all. They made some valid arguments from their point of view to counter my positions. I want to address the issues and give my thoughts, not point out that anything is wrong with this person's thoughts. That's my only intention. I very much appreciated the response, I'm very glad to have received it, and I'm happy now to give my thoughts on these points.
Here's basically what was said:
- I was basically told that the media is liberally biased because that's how they make money. They make money from their advertisers by "formulating and reporting stories that best attract views to watch the commercials and buy the products".
Why is it that conservatives always claim the media is liberally biased? I'm sorry, but I don't see it that way. I think that's an excuse and way of diverting away the attention from the truth that's being exposed. It's their way of covering up their poor plans: just say the media is biased instead of admitting the truth or taking the blame.
What, the media is reporting on what we are really doing and exposing the truth about our devious ways, untrue ads, and poor plans? Well, that's just media bias! It couldn't be that what we really are doing is not telling the truth and we're getting exposed for it! It couldn't be that we picked a poor VP candidate. No, it couldn't be that!
Sorry that I'm making some fun there. Just having a little fun. But I have a hard time with saying that the media is biased. I just see it as they report what's going on. I'm just not seeing any bias. If the reporting doesn't favor the conservative agenda, that's their own fault.
Also, just so everyone knows, I'm not just getting my information from one source. I'm checking many sources and trying to find even more. So if you know of any, please let me know by adding comments to my posts. I'd love to have more information and views from both sides.
- The comment that got me the most is that I was told that the Republicans did not say Obama was attacking Palin about the lipstick on a pig comment. That's just not true:
- From CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/10/campaign.lipstick/): McCain spokesman Brian Rogers told CNN the campaign saw a "big difference" between the two references (meaning the way Obama used it and the fact that McCain used it several months ago): "McCain was referring to a policy proposal. Obama was referring to [Alaska] Gov. Sarah Palin. It's obviously disrespectful and offensive.
- Also from the same CNN story: "Barack Obama's comments today are offensive and disgraceful. He owes Gov. Palin an apology," said Maria Comella, a McCain-Palin spokeswoman.
- The Republicans had put out an ad saying that Obama called Palin a pig. I couldn’t find the actual ad because it was pulled, but I found this on youtube about the add being pulled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhQSfdJ2Ie8
- From ABC (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5769091&page=1): "She is the only one of the four candidates for president, or the only vice presidential candidate who wears lipstick," said former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift, a member of the Palin Truth Squad. "I mean, it seemed to me a very gendered comment."
So there you go. The Republicans said it, including two of their spokespersons, and tried to put an ad out about but pulled it because CBS complained that they used Katie Couric in the ad. Any questions?
- I was told that both sides are running dirty campaigns. While I'm sure that there are things happening from the Democrats, too, that maybe I'm not aware of (and as I said, if anyone can offer me proof, please, send me the link) there are many more coming from the Republican side. Just check factcheck.org and you'll see many more McCain claims debunked than Obama.
- I actually was told some pretty interesting information about taxes. It basically came down to it's bad to tax businesses because that means they raise the prices of goods and services and lower benefits and salaries for employees. It's bad for consumers and employees to raise businesses taxes.
This has a concern of mine about the Obama plan and I could see how that could happen. But then I thought about it again: Right now we have the same plan McCain wants to use in place with the Bush tax cuts. And what's happening? The price of goods is going up, please are losing their jobs, health care is killing people, the economy is doing terribly... so how is keeping this plan in place going to make things any better? I guess there's always the possibility it could make things worse but if 90% of the people in this country are getting their money back and then using it to buy goods and services and giving it back to those companies, how can that be a bad thing?
The other thought I had about this: With the Bush plan in place, the basic same plan McCain wants to continue, we're doing very poorly. In the 90s, with Clinton's plan in place, companies and the economy were prospering. Now, I don't know exactly what Clinton's tax plan was (and if someone has that info and can give it to me, that would be great... just add a comment...) but I don't see how trying something differently can put us in any worse of a position than we are in right now.
Also, again, while I do have some slight concerns about raising taxes for businesses, there's no reason why wealthy consumers should not pay the same percentage in taxes as everyone else. And I'd like to see that happen.
- I was given one other comment about some news agencies (NBC) being owned by energy companies (GE) and to watch out. I really don't know what that has to do with anything. I really haven't gotten much of my info from NBC and only a little from MSNBC (mostly I go to Time, ABC, CNN, Fox News, factcheck.org, procon.org, and some other sources... also, of the candidate websites, I've only had time so far to check out John McCain's site briefly). I think that both candidates have energy positions that wouldn't necessary be liked by energy companies. If anything, I would think they would like McCain more since he seems to be pro-oil.
Anyway, that's what I was told and what I think about it. Let me know what you think.
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