The morning shows are all attacking the New York Times for its story about John McCain and the female lobbyist he may or may not have had an affair with, and may or may not have done favors for.
It seems that the story isn't really much of a story and reporters are therefore making it a story about the Times rather than about McCain. In the days ahead, it will either become more of a story about McCain or it won't.
Right now, it seems to be more of a distraction than anything. The biggest thing it took off the cable news networks was the ridiculous story about Michelle Obama's statement about her pride in America. For that, even though it was not really a story worth reporting, it was worth it.
Michelle Obama said in a speech that for the first time in her adult life she was really proud of her country, and then went on to explain the pride was related to people daring to have hope, daring to believe in America again, daring to become more involved in politics.
But of course, the idiots who dominate the airwaves, idiots like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, had to make a big story accusing Michelle Obama, and thus her husband the candidate, of not being sufficiently proud of America, and thus being unpatriotic.
Because of course, to these imbeciles, the most unforgivable sin is to ever say or imply that you might not always, in every instant, and with every action you take, be wildly proud of your country, its policies, its citizens, its wars, its imperialism, its smugness, its arrogance, or its political process. Remember, this is the black and white, right or wrong, Islamofascist vs. God-bless-America Christian crowd. These are people who will never be good stewards of this country because they can never admit that this country makes mistakes, or has been less than perfect in any arena except for abortion and homosexuality (and then it's not the country, it's those commie pinko immoral liberals who want to destroy America).
Michelle Obama said nothing wrong, yet the McCain campaign sent out Mrs. McCain to prissily say how proud she "always" has been of her country. It made me want to throw up.
For what it's worth, which isn't much, I think the Times story was not worth printing. I don't know why they did, unless there's more they haven't yet revealed. After all, they did endorse McCain. But these kind of "gotcha" stories are what make people feel hopeless about our election process, and lose pride in their country and politics. It makes people want to stay away, lest they be contaminated by the stench. The New York Times story is a perfect example of why Michelle Obama is not always proud of how things work in politics.
These kinds of stories, this kind of "journalism," this attempt to use rumor or misinterpretation to impact a candidate's reputation (either that of John McCain or that of Michelle Obama) make all of us less proud of our country. I think Michelle was onto something, and to the extent her husband's campaign has risen above this kind of nonsense, instilled hope and positive language into the process, and given people something to believe in again, it is something to be proud of, no matter what fat heads like Limbaugh and Hannity say.
