I used to think Politics were boring, I couldn't have been more wrong. Politics has drama, suspense, humor and sometimes verges on the ridiculous. When I voted in the past, I voted the issues but I also took into account a candidates character. What annoyed me last night was what Dick Chaney had to say about Colin Powell vs. Rush Limbaugh. I didn't know before the election that I was a Democrat, but if I had to choose between a flighty, shady Democrat and a Republican such as Colin Powell, who is a man of honor and integrity, I would have chosen Colin Powell hands down.
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I'd rather have someone with integrity and honor in office than a Democrat that I couldn't trust, someone that holds the interest of the American People at heart. Remember, we elect these people, they work for us and are are "our" servants, "We the People" have the power to say how our Government should be used! that's "Democracy"! We are partially to blame for voting the last administration into office and then letting them rule the roost and doing what was in their own interest. I don't think that these handful of "Republicans" that are sounding off because they're unhappy about how the election turned out, realize the majority no longer recognizes them, we have a new administration and the "majority" are quite happy with the decision we made.
Knowing what I know now, there is no way I would walk into a voting booth and vote straight "Democrat"! (which I've never done anyway) That's probably how we ended up with some of our most corrupt officials. I think we should remove the option to vote straight Democrat or Republican from our ballots; Force the American people to "think" and use their common sense (if they have any). When we were forced to choose between McCain and Obama, the people saw the extreme differences in the two candidate's "Character" and that's why many of the Republican voters, with common sense, crossed over and voted for a Democrat, it was a "no-brainer". I'm certain that Colin Powell took that into account when he cast his vote.
The hand full of Republicans who have "Gone Overboard" (and they have) no longer represent the people, and are grasping at recovering their image and making it worse by trying to discredit our current administration with lies and twisting the news to suit them and on top of that they have the media reporting biasedly on the news. Would not the act of trying to discredit our President and his administration constitute as "treason"? They are in essence betraying the Country and by "Country" I mean the American People who, by overwhelming majority, voted in the current administration. They are being counter productive in their pursuit and its beginning to verge on the "Ridiculous". Sadly, they make the entire Republican Party look bad.
There was a great article in the June 2009 issue of "Readers Digest" entitled "We're Done With Greed" by Michael Crowley encouraging the people to be more informed. He stated "The only way to get America back on its feet is for regular folks to speak up". The Country belongs to us "Regular Folk" and it is our job to make sure the Government is being ran in a manner that we approve. "We" are partially to blame for not doing so.
Included in the article was a side bar with links to some great websites so we can "Check up" on our servants, check the facts, see how our congressman are voting, read the text on bills such as the stimulus, see where the funds are going. I've included this list of sites on my own side bar. Its become quite clear from today's media, we can't trust what they say as truth as evidenced often by my friends at MSNBC, they love to check facts and find discrepancies in our politician's statements as well as other members of the press.
Which leaves the question for me, If I run the Government does that mean I can have Rush and Cheney's mouths duct taped? Just a thought.
Peace
Liz
5/12/09
Posts
2 comments:
To add my two cents (pence really,being english) to the original question of trusting the media i really dont think you can anymore as the days of a free press seem to have passed.Nobody can tell me that media organisations such as those owned by Rupert Murdoch dont have any political leanings which are then passed on to their subscribers.A perfect example of this occured in this country when the leading tabloid rag,The Sun,switched allegiance from decades of Conservative support to the cause of "New" Labour at the beginning of Tony Blair's reign.This front page decision directly influenced the voting of a huge percentage of its readers and Labour were elected.True they may have got in anyway but the point is should a newspaper just report on the facts or actually direct its readers on which way to vote?
The modern politician has to be as adept at dealing with the media as they do opposition party members.If a politician comes over as likeable and trustworthy during a TV interview then his future is more or less assured.Just take a look at the bumbling,inept but loveable buffoon who is now Mayor of London!Step forward former MP Boris Johnson,a man who would struggle to tie his own shoelaces without assistance but was never short of,generally positive,media headlines.And Mr Blair himself was a classic case of style over content but will go down in the annals of British political history as a successful and popular Prime Minister which Gordon,the self-styled "man who saved the financial world",Brown never will.
The popularity of politicians (surely a contradiction in terms?!) in Britain has never been lower thanks to some media revelations,taken from official statistics,concerning MP's expences.This is an example of the power of the media for once being channeled in the interests of the electorate without the newspaper in question having to push its political bias along with the story.The story,for once,is the story.ALL the relevant political parties have been caught and what an outcry it has caused.It seems that being suspected of riding the gravy train is one thing but to actually be caught with your nose buried in the expenses trough has the entire country up in arms.We suspected it went on but dont like it when the cold hard facts are revealed.Facts such as the average expenses claim for all members of Parliament was £118,000..this on top of a salary of £57,000!!No amount of media-friendly soundbites or sleight of hand is going to get the politicians out of this one..or will it?Maybe if Mr Obama decides to invade somewhere interesting (unlikely i hope) our attentions will be diverted long enough for some seriously creative accounting to take place.You can hide anything from the people as long as you have a big enough smokescreen.
It has been said that 99% of newspaper stories are either rehashed lies previously made up by other journalists or carefully "leaked" pieces from political parties.Either way every thing you see in the media is there for a reason so the question after reading shouldn't be "do i believe this?" but "who wants me to believe this?"
In conclusion i would say that the media and politicians both use and abuse each other and ourselves for their own aims.Neither have the interests of the voter/reader at heart so,personally,i dont trust any of them as far as i could comfortably spit Rupert Murdoch.
matt "boom" errett,
somewhere in england
Thanks for the response Matt. You answered a question of mine, as to weather or not the BBC is a good source for news. Thank goodness for the internet and the sites out there that allow us to check the facts and do our own research.
LOL.Rupert Murdoch was mentioned a lot on the news last night. Financing one of our "brightest" (sarcasm) in writing her memoirs! Can't wait to read that one (with a grain of salt)
Peace
Liz
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