Obama: does the truth even matter?

Appelbaum leaves Globe for Post--updated!

New in the Phoenix: McClatchy does Gitmo

6 Comments

• aging cynic said:

  We reap what we sow. That right-wing rag, the Boston Globe, showed the level of administrative expertise by Obama last week.

  www.boston.com/.../grim_proving_ground_for_obamas_housing_policy

  If he is going to claim that moving speeches and domestic policy expertise are his stock in trade, fair enough. But to have "Code Pink" call McCain a war criminal and dispatch that buffoon Wesley Clark to denigrate McCain's wartime service? He can't have it both ways. If he wants to make this all about marketing, truth be damned to close the sale, so be it. But don't whine about the ambiguity you yourself created. People know chutzpah when they see it.

  June 30, 2008 11:56 AM

• Adam Reilly said:

  AC, I'm confused--did we read the same article? And are you saying that *I* helped blur the line between  fact and fiction where McCain is concerned? If the answer to the latter question is yes, please elaborate?

  June 30, 2008 2:51 PM

• aging cynic said:

  Adam,

  It's not always about you, I was referring to Obama. The back-pedaling by Wesley Clark over the last few days would seem to make my point. While Obama uses Clark as a surrogate, the origin of the rhetoric is pretty clear. Even CNN has tagged this for what it is, "how dare you not have the foreign policy experience I don't have either!" (Has Groucho Marx joined the campaign?)Meanwhile, Clark, (who isn't running for anything), says that his executive military service trumps that of McCain, (who actually IS running but got much of his experience at the Hanoi Hilton. Dizzy yet?) Obama has set up more straw men than a Kansas farmer. (He gladly accepts support from members of the Weather Underground but he is "outraged" that some would question his patriotism. The 3 guys who were waterboarded at Gitmo were subject to "torture" but McCain, being American, was only subject to "torment". Cute. The guy does know how to stay on message.)  All the while, my original point gets obfuscated. If any of the Chicago residents in Applebaum's fine piece made it onto TV, I sure missed them. If you're going to make your election about domestic policy experience  and the largest example thereof is an unmitigated disaster, how is that not news? If Bush gets tagged for Iraq, as he should, why is Obama immune to criticism on the only ground-level stuff he has actually done since college?

  July 1, 2008 9:22 AM

• Adam Reilly said:

  AC, Obama absolutely shouldn't be immune from criticism for his record. And yes, Applebaum's story was terrific. But that criticism should be *reality-based.* The story I linked to in this post suggests that many people won't vote for Obama for reasons that are demonstrably false.

  July 1, 2008 10:34 AM

• aging cynic said:

  Fair enough, Adam. "Boobus Americanus" comes in all shades of red, blue and purple. If the saga of Mr. Obama's dubious accomplishments in the private sector goes national and has any legs, I will have been proven wrong.

  July 1, 2008 4:40 PM

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