John McCain’s Moment: ‘Innovation’ Equal to Obama – Le Figaro
One thing that the selection of Sarah Palin shows about John McCain, is that in terms of sheer inventiveness, he is at least Obama’s equal. This is the thesis of Le Figaro’s chief editorial writer Pierre Rousselin.
Writing of the choice of Palin and the flood of criticism it has elicited, Rousselin writes:
“The flood of revelations, intended to harm the suddenly praised unknown, has in fact served the Republican ticket by mobilizing his supporters, who once more are convinced they are being targeted by the left-wing media. One wonders, moreover, if this sequence of criticism wasn’t deliberately orchestrated by Republican strategists.”
“The Republicans succeeded in doing what was most important: they are campaigning as if George W. Bush never existed and have seized the theme of change that Barack Obama had confiscated for his own benefit and on which he had brilliantly based his entire campaign.”
By Pierre Rousselin
Translated By Sandrine Ageorges
September 10, 2008
France – French – Original Article (French)
The post-convention is an important stage in the election campaign for the presidency on November 4th. It’s the moment when conclusions can be drawn about the nomination of the candidates and their running mates before the final sprint to Election Day. In less than sixty days, the dice will be thrown.
On the starting line, the team of John McCain and Sarah Palin appears to have a slight lead over the Barack Obama-Joe Biden tandem. The polls confirm that Republicans have won their gamble by stealing the spotlight from Democrats.
The choice of Sarah Palin for the Vice Presidency is a big part of the reason. The young woman of 44 years and mother of five children has succeeded in presenting herself as embodying an America close to the people, while uniting the conservative faction of the Republican Party.
In particular, she has infused the campaign of septuagenarian John McCain with youth and renewed vigor.
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5 Responses to “John McCain’s Moment: ‘Innovation’ Equal to Obama – Le Figaro”
Now that's funny!
Enjoy the weekend, All.
EDIT FUNCTION not available…
My “Now that's funny!” comment was aimed at the cartoon!!!
“The flood of revelations, intended to harm the suddenly praised unknown, has in fact served the Republican ticket by mobilizing his supporters, who once more are convinced they are being targeted by the left-wing media. One wonders, moreover, if this sequence of criticism wasn’t deliberately orchestrated by Republican strategists.”
Now, this, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with the Republican Party and their more rabid supporters. Yes, its true some of the rumored allegations about Ms. Palin, have not turned out to be true. The ones that are true, however, should give every thinking voter pause. The ethics probes, the per diem expense charges, Palin's prior statements that global warming is not caused by manmade factors and subsequent denial of those statements, the 200 million received in federal earmark funding during her administration—-these are not lefty propaganda- but cold hard facts. We've had 8 years of a president and VP who were more than willing to ignore factual evidence when it suited their agenda to do so.
It is not surprising that partisans blame their favorite whipping boy “the librul MSM”. It is the press' role in our society to weed through the deceptions, half-truths and out-and-out lies put out in political campaigns—and there are just as many conservative media outlets as liberal ones these days. Many in the GOP, long depressed about their party's fortunes after 8 disasterous years of W, are more than willing to engage in self-delusion, in order to retain the presidency.
The media has given up all pretense of investigative journalism. A recent news program talked about “the Neil Armstrong principle”. If McCain says the moon is made of green cheese and Obama says it's made of rock, the media now thinks “balanced reporting” means presenting quotes from both under a headline that says “Candidates differ, spar over moon composition.” Someone needs to pick up the phone to someone (Neil Armstrong in this case) who can say “I've been there. It's rock.” Maybe the media now starting to call McSame and Palin on their obvious lies. I hope so. This stuff really is not a matter of opinion. There are facts and the media should be holding those facts up as their editorial guidance.
IMO, the media is too sensitive to offending powerful corporate sponsors or owners to investigate too deeply. Our Congress is similarly timid- stopping short of taking any action that could upset the status quo. Newspapers who are quickly becoming antiquated, have cut investigative journalists to save cash.
If Watergate occured today, Nixon and Agnew would have both finished out their terms in office—with the investigation concentrating on nailing the minor players. The Justice Dept would have instructed Sirica to issue rulings favorable to the Nixon administration- and Gerald Ford would have remained an amiable congressman. WaPo would have offered both sides of the controversy, and conservative allies would have started a campaign to portray those urging Nixon's resignation as Commie pinkos.