The Contortion to End All Contortions

This article from The Atlantic Wire caught my eye today.  I generally try to keep this blog about local issues, but obviously with election season upon us and in full fury, I expect I’ll get into more of that in the coming months.  I certainly have my opinion on the candidates, but I’ll always try to refrain from cheap pot shots and name calling of any of them.  Those who do take cheap shots and lie about the positions of the candidates…you’re fair game here. <cough>  🙂

The headline of the above article is “Boehner Says Out Loud He Hopes Blacks and Latinos ‘Won’t Show Up’ This Election“.  Sounds pretty typical of what a left wing blog site might post about a Republican politician, and my first thought was “damn, Boehner, what are you saying??”  Particularly in light of the Akin “legitimate rape” fiasco, certainly Bohener wouldn’t be that stupid as to say that, would he?  Then I read the article.  This is what Boehner actually said:

“This election is about economics. These groups have been hit the hardest. They may not show up and vote for our candidate, but I’d suggest to you they won’t show up and vote for the president either.”

And I was right, Boehner is not that stupid at all.  There are slants coming from all sides these days about the other side, but this twist ranks right up there among the best I’ve seen, even from the local Fiction ‘Riters.  Where on earth did Boehner ever say “he hopes” they won’t show up?  Clearly he means that those groups may not vote for Romney, but he bets they won’t vote for Obama either because of the financial hardships the president has put them in.

This is the kind of article that is the picture perfect example of what is wrong with election season these days.  There is plenty of legitimate issues to go after with almost any politician, but to blatantly twist a statement into something it was clearly not meant to say, and simply to further stoke racism and class envy against that person, is simply deplorable and outright dishonest.  The Atlantic Wire should be ashamed of itself.

When Substance No Longer Matters

I caught an article on abc news today that really pointed out some sad realities.  The article ominously claims that “ABC has learned that Ann Romney has been given her own secret service detail”.  Is it really that necessary that “ABC has learned” this stunning bit of information, that really is not uncommon at all?

The other sentence that caught my eye was “ABC News was the first to report that Romney was to receive Secret Service protection back in January.”  Really?  Again, who truly cares that ABC was the first to report this?  I suppose when the substance of what you are reporting really is tremendously weak (or untrue as is the case many times from some of our local “progressive news” story tellers), you have to make the effort to pat yourself on the back in hopes that people will care and think you’re a big deal.

If you truthfully report news that people care about, the respect to you will naturally follow.  When one continues to spout half truths, emotional rants, and is more concerned that people know that it was you who created the story rather than the contents of the story itself, well….you’ll get the label you probably deserve.