Last night, I got home from a long trip to Grand Rapids, MI that involved cancelled flights in Chicago, a lost credit card somewhere in my voyage, and, to top it off, I got rear-ended in an Intersection in Michigan. To add to the mess, I got to learn that the State of Michigan employs a "no fault" policy in collisions, meaning that I'm responsible for any damages to the vehicle. While I am insured through work with my rentals, it was no fun to site an extra 90 minutes in the rain for a useless police report that still results in my need to flip a repair bill. Ugh.
I got home, put on the TV around 9pm to see who Larry King Had on for the night. Saw Joy Behar and couldn't change the channel fast enough. As I could find nothing else to pique my interest, I flipped on Hannity & Colmes (a.k.a. GOP Spokesman and and creepy bug-eyed conspiracy theorist). I rarely watch the program as I would much rather enjoy a yardstick to my head, but they caught me early on with an "Obama comment" that must have caught fire. Evidently, Obama used the "lipstick on a pig" comment to describe McCain's plans on making changes of his own as President. While, at first, I assumed that it was something contrived by Fox News only, it picked up steam everywhere else. I heard debates over the comment this morning on Smerconish's show as well as the almighty "Good Day Philadelphia".
Here's my take - While the crowd was chuckling and smiling in the background as he was saying it, I don't believe in any way Obama was relating the comment towards Sarah Palin. If he was, that I must have as well for each time I've said the same comment in the last three decades. I'm not a fan of his, but I believe he's got the class to not make such a statement. However, I believe that his advisers should have tried to coach him from such a statement, mainly to avoid the chatter we have today. It will be interesting to see how long this lingers in the public. My prediction is another 48 hours before it dies out for something new.
Despite the horrendous voyage yesterday, I had the fortune to stop by the Gerald Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, MI. The museum is a fascinating place to visit, it's also President Ford's final resting place, and a location I would happily recommend to everyone. President Ford, in my opinion, is one of our country's unsung heroes. He knowingly entered the presidency not elected on a ticket and set out to keep the nation stable through the aftermath of the Nixon Watergate scandal and resignation. He worked the aisle with individuals such as Speaker of the House Tip O'Neil to keep the ship afloat, and I believe those two years were a success because they put the country and its people ahead of party interests. In the end, Ford's Presidential Pardon of Nixon was what ultimately cost him the election of 1976, yet today, I believe that the public has grown to understand that he didn't make it for party interests, he did so to save the office of the presidency and to give the country the opportunity to move on. Ford was awarded the Profile in Courage Award in 2001 by the JFK Library Foundation for his actions.
While many of us relate Gerald Ford to Chevy Chase's antics from SNL due to his occasional clumsiness, I find the former president to be a great role model for future generations. Hard worker, selfless, honest, and dignified, Ford may be the most genuine individual to hold the office in the 20Th century (Harry Truman makes this point worth a fair argument).
By the way, its been several days since Spencerblog has been updated, has our pal Gil finally given up? Has Nostra-Steve-us predicted the end accurately? Stay tuned...
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5 comments:
Steve-
SpencerBlog will probably wake up from his SpencerNap when his bosses realize he doesn't actually do any work for his SpencerCheck and threaten to fire his SpencerAss.
The noise of lipstick-gate is pretty ridiculous. All the fake outrage by the McCain people shows how desperate they are to talk about anything else but the issues.
Obama's going to be on Letterman tonight, and I saw a promo clip where he and Letterman discuss how ridiculous it is.
I give Obama points for getting his people out there (rather than the way Kerry let this stuff go unchallenged) and talk about the issues.
The news media looks like it is tired of getting played like pawns (and is righteously pissed that a VP candidate goes 2 weeks without taking questions from the press or audiences). They played several clips of McCain using the "lipstick on a pig" phrase when talking about Hillary.
I realize you are not an Obama fan, but check out HuffingtonPost.com
The site has some excellently written opinion pieces and stays pretty current with links to what's going on in the Presidential campaign and politics.
I'm not expecting you to agree with the more left-leaning arguments, but it does contain a lot of well written ones.
The right wing (cherry) picks that Spencer uses make false/inaccurate portrayals of left-wing arguments and then attack them with straw-man technique. If you read the original arguments, you may see them in a different light.
my favorite election site is electoral-vote.com, hardcore statistics during each election and a decent round-up during mid-term elections. I know the "votemaster" votes democrat, but he does a great job of presenting EVERYTHING in a neutral plane which I can especially appreciate. his data collection wasn't able to predict the correct election outcome in 2004, but who's did anyway?
i believe his senate & house predictions will be accurate within 1-2 seats each this year.
I though you kids might be interested to see an email exchange I had with Phil Heron today…
ME: How come a pending visit to the County Seat by a presidential candidate AND his historic VP running mate only receives a tiny blurb on page 4 in the County’s newspaper of record? Shouldn’t this breaking historic moment merit Page One exposure as was the case when the Democrats’ candidate was coming? Is the Liberal Daily Times actively doing its small town part of the biased Liberal Media to help their chosen Affirmative Action Candidate by downplaying and keeping quiet the visit by the Republicans?
And you wonder why you’re losing readers.
PHIL: There is a very good reason why the visit Monday was a blurb on P. 4.
>> Because we got it very late, with the information not being made public
>> by the party at all, but rather with us learning it at the Media Borough
>> Council meeting Thursday night.
>>
>> You continue to see some great conspiracy where there is none.
>>
>> We are foloing on the story for our lead P. 1 package tomorrow, will
>> remind people on Monday of the rally that afternoon and provide full
>> coverage of the event on Tuesday.
>>
>> If you have a complaint, call Tom Judge and ask him why they didn't
>> announce the rally earlier.
>>
>> Instead, you take the easy wayout, firing away at the liberal Daily
>> Times. I suppose it's that same kind of hell-bent leaning to the left
>> that we used to editorialize today for the death peantly for child
>> abuser John Jackey Worman.
>>
>> Yeah, that;s us again, blatantly doing our part as part of the biased
>> media to keep "our chosen" candidate, whoever the hell that is, in the
>> forefront and trying to hush up the visit by Republicans.
>>
>> Let me ask you something. Have you heard word one about the McCain-Palin
>> visit from any other media outlet today? Yet it was in our newspaper
>> this morning, on our Web site, and the lead item in my blog.
>>
>> Really, Randal, you need a new tune. The one you sing every day is
>> getting old.
ME: Touchy-touchy, Mr. H.
Well, it sure seemed suspicious. But still, if what you say is indeed the case, why then no little teaser on Page One today?
You’re gonna run this story on Page One tomorrow? Oh goodie! Tell me, how many people actually read the anorexic Saturday paper, about ten?
How about you hold it until Sunday? Isn’t that your biggest day of the week for readership?
You cite ONE non-Lib/ non-Gil editorial as some evidence that your paper hasn’t sunken dramatically to the Left? Lol… How about the many, many eds written by your Radical (yes, radical) Libs on your Editorial Board that can’t resist taking partisan cheap shots at our President, no matter the topic? What about all them?
You can’t tell me that your Editorial Board is anything close to being balanced and, believe me, it shows. And these are the very same people we are then expected to accept the “news” they present us as being unbiased. Umm, okay.
You are correct, the rest of the Lib Media has been largely silent, downplaying this McCain/ Palin visit too. This just further illustrates the level of LibDem bias in the Media –particularly during this election season- therefore further making my conspiracy suspicion about your paper’s motives quite reasonable. And you can hardly claim that mine is the first time you’ve heard this charge during this election season. Sheesh.
If the News Media Libs put as much effort into searching things like this as they have in digging petty dirt on Palin, this visit might get the exposure it deserves.
I don’t expect you guys to abandon your Lib ways, I’m just looking for some balance. But Media Libs seem more concerned with seeing to it that they get Obama elected than they are about alienating half of their reader base. Even with the industry on its deathbed they hardly even try to hide their bias anymore. That’s just bad business.
Maybe you’re the one who needs to find a new tune.
PHIL: [sound of crickets]
ME again: And another thing, for a number of weeks there were frequently Editor’s Notes attached to some Sound Offs, correcting misconceptions and myths and such about Obama. This may not seem at all odd until one considers the fact that NEVER in his eight years in office have you corrected such misconceptions -and even outright lies- about President Bush that regularly appear in Sound Off by shrill partisans.
Also, Sound Off is selectively filtered not just for topical or offensive but for ideological content. Some things are off limits. I know this to be fact. I have been a victim of it many, many times through the years. Some of your Lib henchmen there have even personally responded to my Sound Off offerings, challenging me on ideological grounds. You well know this because I have at times CCed you so you could see what was going on.
Now you have the nads to tell me that the paper you run isn’t run with a blatant Liberal/ Democrat bias?
Really?
Oh, and I got my tickets for the rally on Monday! You should go too, S. Just go to the Delco Repub headquarters on Front Street and pick them up while they last.
And don't forget to wear RED!
randal, i should start reading my own blog now and then. I didn't really have a big issue with the delco times, other than their endorsement of Frank Daly for the judgeship last year. I got word of the rally friday morning from my wife, who also learned of it from the media borough council meeting. I got my tickets on Sunday morning from the GOP office in Media and enjoyed the experience. It took me enough years to go to one of these!
I'll post pictures shortly.
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