Why is lying an acceptable tactic, asset, even, in campaigning for the most important job in the world?
E. J. Dionne: Does the Truth Matter any More? Subtitled at Reddit.com, "Why is lying an acceptable tactic, asset, even, in campaigning for the most important job in the world? "
John McCain wasted all that time trying to control big money in politics and got slapped down by the courts.
Maybe he would have been better off passing legislation allowing the Federal Trade Commission to fine political campaigns for purveying obvious falsehoods in their advertisements. I'm not talking about claims over which there can be a reasoned dispute. I mean claims that are just obvious lies, about which all reasonable persons would agree as to their plain falsehood.
After all, food and drug companies are not allowed to make false claims on the public airwaves. Isn't who is president potentially as vital a question for your health as whether Kevin Trudeau can lie to you in his infomercials?
The president of the United States can still start a nuclear war with an ill-considered policy, leaving tens of millions of people dead and threatening all life on earth with a nuclear winter.
That doesn't deserve the slightest due diligence from our regulatory agencies?
Ironically, McCain, who once tried to reform political campaigns, is now the Kevin Trudeau of political commercials.
posted by Juan Cole @ 9/10/2008 02:02:00 PM
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11 Comments:
You seem to be worried about a nuclear war based on ill-conceived policy. Never mind policy, just look at the gem in The Times (of London) about Palin's pastor:
Pastor Ed Kalnins cites conflict in the Middle East, America’s dependence on foreign oil and the depletion of energy reserves as evidence that “storm clouds are gathering”. He told The Times: “Scripture specifically mentions oil instability as a sign of the Rapture. We’re seeing more and more oil wars. The contractions of the fulfilment of prophecies are getting tighter and tighter.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4720440.ece
We are doomed. We are all doomed. It is the f***ing Rapture now.
"Does the Truth Matter any More? " -not to the mainstream media. And the public,seemingly, has come to accept such as 'understandable'.
The Cheney Republicans who apparently now run the McCain campaign have learned that they can lie and get away with it if:
(1) They lie steadfastly and
(2) Fox News idiots such as O'Reilly and Hannity cover their flanks with more lies.
(3) When the consequences of their lies damage us (The U.S.), they blame Democrats for things Republicans have done.
I don't know of a simpler explanation.
There is no more enforcement of the Pure Food and Drug Act than there is of the Clean Air Act. The government simply refuses its responsibilities--and would do so if the Federal Trade Commission were policing "truth" in political advertising.
Straight out of the Rovian playbook:
"We will [lie to] the mainstream press and let’s see if there’s any penalty for doing that."
Only now instead of avoiding penalties, they seem to be expecting rewards. And getting them, if the polls are to be believed.
Anonymous at 2:46, I was not aware that the Bible mentioned petroleum products at all, but then again, it didn't say anything about fossils, either. And to think these people believe in a "literal" translation of the bible.
If you are saying that people are reluctant to change attitudes, you are right. When new media allowed formation of a true mass society, there was a certain openness to novel ideas. In these days pundits present otherwise controversial ideas as if they are resolved. These days one is expected to have an opinion on almost everything. Manipulators use this near compulsory engagement, to push self interested politicians as Populists. Hence the Elitist, McCain (who doesn't know how many houses his rich wife bought the family), and Palin (a social climber who closes doors on associates who are less than deferential to her), are peddled as instruments to change. That is madness. But the Neocons could pull it off.
Meanwhile the Republican Party is aping Mao's Communist Party of China in formation of a one-party army: Republican. You or I couldn't get some of the material and videos that are being hand delivered to friendly ex-military bloggers. It is a coup.
In late 2005 (at the risk of blog-whoring) I wrote a blog post titled "Does Reality Even Matter?"
If a tree falls in the Amazon rainforest on Bush's watch, but the New York Times does not report it, has it really fallen? Well, yes it has, as we are painfully learning - and when thousands and thousands of such rainforest trees fall, our climate changes inevitably for the worse. The same thing goes for icebergs melting in the Arctic Circle or bodies rotting on the streets of Baghdad. Ignoring truths does not make them any less true. It just increases our ignorance.
Prof Cole,
your science knowledge is lacking again. a study was done using young kids. Those that were bullies and able to lie without too much flinching ended up being leaders and politicians.
So I would suggest you review work of Dr. E. O Wilson. more specifically Sociobiology - all social behavior is based on Evolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociobiology
The depravity of most politicos and bureaucrats in the federal government is truely awesome to behold, and such behavior transfers directly into policy. But actually, this has been going on for a long time now; certainly since Nixon, and one could make a good argument for its ongoing since McCarthy, or ever since the inception of the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1938 and its predecesor in 1934. Or perhaps the Palmer Raids from 1919-1921. McKinley campaigned on a very visible anti-war platform in 1916. And the list could go even further back in time. But big government clearly brought big time depravity.
But then, depravity is the norm for a country that's earned the moniker Great Satan, and keeps on reinforcing why it's earned it every day, year after year, no matter who occupies Congress or the White House. The DC after Washington stands for Depravity Central.
If successful, the lying will be the model for every Republican demagogue in the future; our democracy will become meaningless and grind to a halt.
But when have Republicans shown the least hesitation about damaging our political institutions?
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