In all the gas baggery since the vice presidential debate, we waited for someone to note the first aired sentence from Palin after the debate ended.
Did anyone?
"Where are the kids?"
That's what she asked her husband Todd when he walked up to her onstage. A typical mom question. She'd done her job, she'd conducted herself well in the debate. The debate's over, look here comes hubby, hey, where are my children?
We're fully aware that a lot of liars would scream, "Props! Mere props!" And that false accusation is why we refrained from noting her remark until now. But when Jim (obviously reading too much Newsweek) insists we need an article that covers the various campaigns, we reach for all the scraps we've been holding.
Last week, Palin gave two major speeches. The first was on the progress women have made. (Click here for it in this edition.) The second was on special-needs children. That speech opened with, "Too often, even in our own day, children with special needs have been set apart and excluded." And there's no denying we've seen a very strong desire to exclude the Palins' youngest child, Trig.
No, the Palins have not attempted to exclude him, but many on the left and 'left' have. They've made rude comments and then tried to insist that it had nothing to do with Trig being a child with Down Syndrome. They seem annoyed when you point out that they never would have made such remarks about a child considered 'normal' or 'average.' Most of all they seem ticked off that their bitchy attempts at South Park humor didn't have you rolling in the aisle.
Then there were the 'reporters' and 'journalists' so in need of exploring Palin to illuminate life and the human condition. Or that's the lie they hid behind. Take Kellia Ramares (KPFA) who just had to 'weigh in' on Palin's oldest daughter, Bristol: "And teen pregnancy is something the government needs to address. . . . The issue of teen pregnancy is too important NOT to address on the grounds that candidates' children are a 'no-go' zone. Bristol Palin may have accidentally rendered a service to all those pregnant teens who don't have supportive parents and who can't or shouldn't marry the father of the baby." It all sounds so lofty (if you use the link, prepare to laugh when Kellia claims the issue can be addressed without naming Bristol . . . right before she again names Bristol). Kellia wrote that crap September 4th, for the Pacifica election blog. And if she or Pacifica would like to disagree with us that it is 100% crap, we'd reply, "What of Trig?"
What about Trig? Teenage pregnancy "is too important NOT to address . . ." Get a life Kellia, the bulk of humanity would never have been born were it not for teenage pregnancies. It's not a crisis. Pregnancy itself is not a problem. There are those who attempt to treat it like an illness but, like Carol Tavris, we've always rejected that 'diagnosis.' (Tavris' The Mismeasure of Women, p. 118: "But if pregnancy occurs with so may variations, why not regard it as something comprable to illness and disability, which affect both sexes and which also occur in degrees of seriousness and incapacity? For many, the answer is that once again, it is the male norm that construes pregnancy as a disability rather than, say, as an addition ability.") Surrounding conditions are the issues -- health care, access to information on birth control and abortion, access to birth control and abortion, an equal wage, et al. Bristol Palin was made a Poster Girl because some just care SO DAMN MUCH. Or that's what they wanted you to think.
Down Syndrome and special-needs children actually are "too important NOT to address" but Kellia never felt the need to bring Trig in to highlight an issue. And are we surprised? No, but then we are fully aware of Pacifica's appalling record on disability rights and there lack of interest.
(Quick name the Pacifica radio shows whose focus is disability rights! Need some help? Okay, name the 'one' show. And, no, the one show isn't even a weekly show. For those who attempt to cheat by visiting the Pacifica Radio site, please note Houston's Pacifica no longer airs Access This! despite the Pacifica website claiming it does. If you put two together you get one month's worth of programming. WBAI airs a Pacifica program for the disabled and they air it . . . one week out of each month. What a service for the disabled community Pacifica provides -- yes, that is sarcasm. For those too lazy to research, The Largest Minority is the program. Three Fridays a month, KPFA airs Pushing Limits so combine the two and you have one weekly program if you stream both online.)
While Pacifica doesn't give a damn about the disabled, we should note, in fairness, that some may not know that Trig has Down Syndrome. For example, if they get their information from Democracy Now!, they no doubt believe Trig is serving in Iraq since the 'expert' Amy Goodman brought on to trash Sarah Palin didn't even know that Track Palin is the son in Iraq and that Trig is the newborn. But those truly concerned about issues in need of highlighting would have picked up special-needs long ago. The tongue wagging gossips, of course, latched onto Bristol.
So that's the news re: McCain's running mate Palin.
Staying with the women, we'll move immediately to Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party presidential candidate (Rosa Clemente is her running mate). Cynthia was on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday. We didn't listen. We caught the attack attempting to pass for an interview that the boys of Talk of the Nation inflicted mid-week and were accused by two friends at NPR of trying to 'work the refs' in Cynthia's favor by objecting. No, it was a really bad broadcast and to introduce an element into the mix that we haven't previously, consider Daniel's phone call or, rather, consider all the phone calls to the show and how only Daniel was allowed on air.
Why was that? Daniel, in his pre-screen, had presented as someone unable to vote for Cynthia and that's a position Neil thought could be a real gas, a real ha-ha. So Daniel was let on the air. Those wanting to ask Cynthia questions, the many calling in for that? They were ignored. A call-in show ignoring callers? Well of course . . . when Ken and Neil want to reduce a guest to a joke. If you know even a little about Cynthia, you know she's no joke and will never be reduced to one. So, on her end, she made the interview worth listening to. Working the refs was the accusation made toward us -- indicating that the two hadn't listened to the broadcast because in no way did what Ken and Neil do on air meet any criteria for NPR.
Cynthia had to correct Neil on her campaign trips. Neil did not like that. If Neil doesn't like being corrected on air, he might try getting his facts down before the live broadcast begins airing. Neil and Ken's behavior proved all of Cynthia's criticisms and never more so than when Cynthia was pointing out the silence on the issue of the death penalty from both of the two major party campaigns. Instead of rushing to explore that topic, Neil and Ken immediately changed the subject, thereby reminding the audience that Barack Obama and John McCain could not get away with their refusal to address the issue (both McCain and Obama support the death penalty) were it not for a press so willing to ignore it.
Today and tomorrow, Cynthia has campaign events in Washington:
The Washington State Power To The People Campaign has announced that Green Party Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney will be visiting Seattle on Sunday, October 26th and Monday, October 27th. Scheduled activities include:
Sunday, October 26, 2008
* 3pm - 7pm
"Vote...Then What? From The Day After The Election Onward: Strategies for Community Organizing, Greening & Reconstruction"
Umojafest Peace Center
24th Ave & E Spring St, Seattle
The public is invited to attend.
Cynthia McKinney will be speaking in support of grassroots and institutional solutions to violence and other issues plaguing urban communities nationwide. This event is hosted by the Umojafest Peace Center and the McKinney/Clemente 2008 Power To The People Campaign. The program will include hip-hop and spoken word performances, speakers from youth and community based organizations, and a showing of the award-winning film, American Blackout.
Monday, October 27, 2008
* 11am - 12:30pm
"The Power of Student Movements: How to Use Your Campus as a Tool to Change the World!"
Broadway Performance Hall
Broadway at Pine Street, Seattle
The public is invited.
Ms. McKinney will address the growing concerns of students, the need for student leadership, and how students can organize on campus to engage in and impact social justice struggles and make meaningful contributions to communities outside school. This event will be hosted by the Black Student Union of Seattle Central Community College.
Which brings us to independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader who has Matt Gonzalez as his running mate. Yesterday Ralph was trying for a world record: Most speeches in a 24-hour time period.
Early this morning (midnight), they announced Ralph had made the world record. 15 speeches were required (each at least 10 minutes long) and -- no surprise for the campaign whose motto should be "Surpasses All Expectations" -- they made the work with 21 speeches. Always going the extra mile, Ralph Nader. Team Nader notes, "In the coming days, the Nader/Gonzalez campaign will submit all the paperwork, photography and video footage to Guinness World Records to be evaluated and decided upon. For more information and to see a full itinerary, please visit http://www.votenader.org/events/marathon/".
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams aired a report Monday on Ralph and, for the report, Ron Allen interviewed him. At the program's website the interview is being offered as a web extra and we think Ralph's comments on why he is running and on what "makes this worth it" bear noting:
Ralph Nader: You have to keep justice on the front burner. The forces of injustice never take a vacation and the forces of justice can never take a vacation. So as long as I can go around the country putting the progressive agenda on the front table for people, giving voters a choice, I feel I have to do it. [. . .] There are a lot of different definitions of winning. One of them is building for a future third political force that can really win an election. The second is bringing lots of people into local, state and national elections as candidates -- especially young people in the future. The third is to push the two parties -- a tugboat candidacy to either make them less worse or a little better which is a historic function of third parties. [. . .] Well we're turning a corner on the violations of candidates' civil liberties by winning cases to break down the ballot access barriers in many states that deny voters a choice. These are Jim Crow type laws to keep candidates off the ballot and without candidate rights, voter rights aren't worth as much because voters won't have a choice. That's a clear trend that we are advancing. Number two, we keep alive a future progressive enlightenment in our country. All of the things that are so overdue that the American people need and deserve and are being denied because of the concentration of power and wealth in so few hands. Number three and the most gratifying for me is the young people who are volunteering, who are going to be the political leaders of the future, who are learning the skills of clean political activity.
Voters in 49 states and DC can vote for Ralph. He is on the ballot in 45 states allowed as a write-in on four more. The only state where supporters are not allowed to vote for him is Oklahoma.
The last few weeks saw Ralph finally get something resembling the sort of press attention he should have been receiving all along so naturally it was time for the worthless Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) to show up with one of their increasingly worthless 'media advisories'. This one wanted to bemoan the shutting out of third and independent presidential candidates. And there's something truly pathetic about FAIR waiting until AFTER the debates are over to bring up the issue. But FAIR's been pathetic for some time and in the tank for Barack. Which is why the finger-pointing FAIR can't add, "By way of contrast, our own program CounterSpin regularly included Ralph, Cynthia and other candidates as guests and topics."
What they can do is that weak whining they've become so good at. They open with, "While the major-party race for the White House has been the subject of broad media attention for more than a year, the corporate media have mostly ignored at least four substantial third-party and independent candidates for the presidency." Then it gets really confusing and, note, we are using their updated "Media Advisory." If we wanted to be really cruel, we'd use the version they sent out on the 21st and not the one they 'fixed' online two days later.
"The main question media tend to pose about third-party candidates is whether or not they will impact the outcome of the election." said FAIR echoing our own criticism (offered when it damn well mattered and, yeah, we called out FAIR along with all the rest). They go on to lament how issues aren't discussed or aren't discussed in full and yet they then offer, "Democracy Now! (10/16/08) allowed Nader and McKinney an opportunity to respond to the debate questions posed to Obama and McCain-- a rare opportunity for such candidates to let voters hear them alongside major-party nominees." What? Uh, first off, why isn't a "rare opportunity for major-party candidates" instead of the other way around? Second, what issue is supposed to be the 'magic' one this year?
Hint: Barack thought he could get away with utilizing sexism because this issue would keep women sticking to him. Hint: Women are currently the most sought after voters.
Abortion.
And what issue did Amy Goodman avoid in the 'debate' FAIR's praising? Now Bob Schieffer moderated the last debate between McCain and Obama -- which Goody used for clips and questions -- and Schieffer did ask about abortion.
Goody didn't. And if there's one issue that's important (because it's being used as a club) and one issue Cynthia could clearly point to being the strongest -- of any candidate -- on, it was abortion. Cynthia never voted 'present' when in the Georgia legislature or while serving those many years in the US Congress. She not only has a record, an actual record, she's also never shied from addressing the topic.
So before FAIR praised Pravda on the Hudson, they might have tried 'analyzing' what was on display. Repeating, no one in the race is stronger on abortion rights than Cynthia. So isn't it strange that when picking out questions from Schieffer's debate, Goody can waste everyone's time by asking Cynthia and Ralph what they think of the remarks Obama and McCain have made about each other but she can't address abortion?
Again, it is Cynthia's strongest position and it is the position that could drive plenty of votes to her. It is also the issue Barack's attempting to club women with, threatening only he can 'save' us. But he has no record on abortion when it comes to voting. And he has a lot of pathetic statements that make him sound like Randell Terry's less well spoken sibling.
FAIR never used its own program CounterSpin to promote the independent and third-party candidates (but made sure to cover Barack non-stop and to lie about McCain non-stop). FAIR never called for the debates to be open and, in fact, FAIR never gave a damn about calling out the news coverage until it was too late to make any sort of difference.
The real story of the 2008 campaign remains the hucksters of Panhandle Media and how they gamed it for Barack early on.
