DOWNBOUND TRAIN
or, riding the forked-tongue
express.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: New kind of
politics, my ass.
Here's Slate's John Dickerson, riding the Hypocrisy Train through Pennsylvania with Senator Breath of Fresh Air:
DOWNINGTON, Pa.— At the next train stop, I'm going to stand behind Senator Obama when he speaks. When he's decrying the trivial distractions in politics, I think he may be crossing his fingers behind his back.
As the Senator's campaign train wound from one speech where he denounced tit-for-tat politics to the next speech where he denounced tit-for-tat politics, his campaign hosted a conference call to engage in the practice the candidate was busy denouncing...
...Obama campaign aides scheduled the call to talk about Hillary Clinton's fantastical story about her breakneck race to shelter under sniper fire during a visit to Bosnia. You might think this would be the last story the Obama campaign would be pushing, because in Wednesday's debate the Senator mistakenly suggested his campaign had only discussed the issue because reporters had brought it up, not because they were trying to take advantage of Clinton's extended work of fiction. To push the story again now would make Obama look even more insincere about that claim...
...On his train tour Saturday, Senator Obama continued to condemn the petty distractions that keep Americans from focusing on real issues. He decried Clinton's "tactics of Washington," in which she attacks him with every possible weapon. "She's got the kitchen sink flying, the china flying. The buffet is coming at me…when we get involved in the constant distractions the petty tit for tat politics…that may be good for the television ratings, but that's not good for you."
While the candidate was denouncing the distractions, his aides were promoting them. Three veterans of the Bosnia conflict joined for a conference call to explain just how crucial this particular distraction was, and why we should ignore Senator Obama's guidance and get obsessed with this issue.
Major General Walter Stewart explained that because Clinton had fabricated on the issue of sniper fire, Clinton would not be able to perform the traditional ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier who, he averred, was undoubtedly killed by sniper fire. "She will lack the moral authority to lay the wreath on Memorial Day," he said. She would also be unable to honor the veterans remembered on the Vietnam memorial because many of them had also been killed by sniper fire. Captain Aaron Clevenstine offered a variation on this theme: "As someone who trained snipers, I take offense to the notion that she was under sniper fire." Michael Kotyk, a retired veteran of the Navy broadened the significance of Clinton's yarn: "We've had 8 years of dishonor. We need honor. If you're going to tell stories then you're not displaying honor."
Shortly after the conference call ended, Senator Obama's train pulled into Downington and he worked the crowd into a frenzy denouncing the scourge of petty distracting attack politics.
In the end, I have to agree with Mr. Kotyk: if you're telling stories -- about what you weren't doing in Bosnia, or about what you are doing in your campaign -- you're not displaying honor. You're just another phony, hypocritical candidate playing politics as usual. No matter how often, or how loudly, you and your apologists proclaim otherwise.
Here's Slate's John Dickerson, riding the Hypocrisy Train through Pennsylvania with Senator Breath of Fresh Air:
DOWNINGTON, Pa.— At the next train stop, I'm going to stand behind Senator Obama when he speaks. When he's decrying the trivial distractions in politics, I think he may be crossing his fingers behind his back.
As the Senator's campaign train wound from one speech where he denounced tit-for-tat politics to the next speech where he denounced tit-for-tat politics, his campaign hosted a conference call to engage in the practice the candidate was busy denouncing...
...Obama campaign aides scheduled the call to talk about Hillary Clinton's fantastical story about her breakneck race to shelter under sniper fire during a visit to Bosnia. You might think this would be the last story the Obama campaign would be pushing, because in Wednesday's debate the Senator mistakenly suggested his campaign had only discussed the issue because reporters had brought it up, not because they were trying to take advantage of Clinton's extended work of fiction. To push the story again now would make Obama look even more insincere about that claim...
...On his train tour Saturday, Senator Obama continued to condemn the petty distractions that keep Americans from focusing on real issues. He decried Clinton's "tactics of Washington," in which she attacks him with every possible weapon. "She's got the kitchen sink flying, the china flying. The buffet is coming at me…when we get involved in the constant distractions the petty tit for tat politics…that may be good for the television ratings, but that's not good for you."
While the candidate was denouncing the distractions, his aides were promoting them. Three veterans of the Bosnia conflict joined for a conference call to explain just how crucial this particular distraction was, and why we should ignore Senator Obama's guidance and get obsessed with this issue.
Major General Walter Stewart explained that because Clinton had fabricated on the issue of sniper fire, Clinton would not be able to perform the traditional ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier who, he averred, was undoubtedly killed by sniper fire. "She will lack the moral authority to lay the wreath on Memorial Day," he said. She would also be unable to honor the veterans remembered on the Vietnam memorial because many of them had also been killed by sniper fire. Captain Aaron Clevenstine offered a variation on this theme: "As someone who trained snipers, I take offense to the notion that she was under sniper fire." Michael Kotyk, a retired veteran of the Navy broadened the significance of Clinton's yarn: "We've had 8 years of dishonor. We need honor. If you're going to tell stories then you're not displaying honor."
Shortly after the conference call ended, Senator Obama's train pulled into Downington and he worked the crowd into a frenzy denouncing the scourge of petty distracting attack politics.
In the end, I have to agree with Mr. Kotyk: if you're telling stories -- about what you weren't doing in Bosnia, or about what you are doing in your campaign -- you're not displaying honor. You're just another phony, hypocritical candidate playing politics as usual. No matter how often, or how loudly, you and your apologists proclaim otherwise.
Posted: Sun - April 20, 2008 at 10:42 AM
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Published On: Apr 20, 2008 12:22 PM
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Published On: Apr 20, 2008 12:22 PM