By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Les Payne ought to know better. Yet Payne, a Newsday editor and one of the country's leading black journalists, recently complained about how the media are lavishing praise on ... John McCain. Are you kidding me?
Payne, a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists, recently appeared at the Unity: Journalists of Color convention in Chicago.
According to Star colleague Steve Penn, Payne said:
"There’s no question that the mainstream journalists almost worship and love McCain. They cheer for him all the time."
What a laughable statement.
Even staunch Obama supporters would have to acknowledge that the Illinois senator has been the darling of much of the media for months.
He's been portrayed as the fresh agent of change, the person who stood up to the Clinton machine and won, the Democrat who will bridge the gap between whites and blacks while winning back the White House in November.
McCain, meanwhile, has been portrayed as an old man out of touch with technology, fumbling around to get his presidential campaign in gear, a Republican who will suffer the consequences of the disastrous George Bush presidency.
Sure, Obama's media coverage has toughened up as he has gotten closer to his goal of being president. Meanwhile, though, the media's coverage of McCain hasn't become any softer.
Payne has his right to claim the media are bending over backward to cover McCain in glory. He's just flat out wrong.
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Those Genes
Let us suppose, for just a moment, that the Obama genes had zigged instead of zagged and he resembled his mother rather than his father. Would a fair skinned, blue eyed, blonde Obama have reached the same level of political attainment and been close to receiving the nomination for president? Would Les Payne, or anybody else in the black community, have expressed any concern about equality in news coverage? Would the media still refer to Obama as the "first legitimate black candidate"? I think it is absolutely amazing that the erratic actions of microscopic human building blocks, called genes, could have such an affect on the fate of a nation.
I see that Grinch
still can't come up with any positive arguments in support of McCain, so has to content himself with jacking off to this non-issue.
I wonder if he has a picture of Obama taped to his bathroom mirror. It wouldn't surprise me.
I am so glad....
...this year that I don't have to talk up the Dem nominee. How dumb I would look. I wonder if Hanna Montana will be the sideshow for the fans in the stadium. Yeah, filling a stadium is such an AWESOME reason to vote for Obama.
Jen - thank you for once
Jen - thank you for once again proving I'm right.
You people just cannot admit that anything could be other than perfect with the Democrats, nor could you possibly admit you might be wrong. Even when it's obvious that what is going on here is wrong. And the funniest thing is, you each think you're oh so clever in your witty repartee, when you can't see the simplest fact. The simplest fact here is that it is wrong to 'bait and switch', but you simply cannot admit it, which is dishonest. Which means, of course, that you have no problem with lying. Which means you're probably a liar, had plenty of practice doing it, are facile with it and probably is a main reason you support Obama. You love dancing and prancing about on the head of a pin, wheeling and pirouetting, in love with your movements that you imagine evade logic and reality.
Any wonder why mainstream America laughs in your faces and doesn't want to have anything to do with you? Any wonder why I feel sorry for you, that you cannot admit even one mistake?
Thank God you're not one of my neighbors - I have enjoyed helping them during the years, but you I'd make an exception for, you and the likes of you. I'd simply tell you to go ask your Messiah for help, and softly close the door in your faces, because your need is not my responsibility, due to your destructive beliefs.
The funniest thing is that I'm an atheist - go figure ...
I just got word they've had ticket requests from
60,000 colorado residents alone. So, yea....I think it will be well-attended. I would LOVE to see McCain try to sell-out an 80,000 NFL stadium anywhere in the country.
[laughing]
So far as I can tell, it's a non-issue, drummed up by the likes of yourself -- I suppose because you can't think of any positive argument for voting to support McCain.
Don't you think that's kind of sad? Particularly since back in 2000 so many of us had no problem articulating support for McCain. What happened to him in the ensuing 8 years?
Wow. Such insight. Such 'who
Wow. Such insight. Such 'who cares' - why don't you run for office, you have all the credentials needed - arrogance, hypocrisy and sanctimony.
But to compete with Obama I'm afraid you'd need a crown of thorns and a better bumper sticker theme than 'Hope and Change' ... how about 'An Intern Under Every Desk'?
big whoop
I suspect we'll be able to judge the degree of outrage by looking at the event's attendance.
My money says that it will be well-attended, and that there are many folks who are willing to donate a few hours of their time to help spur a much-needed change of direction in our country.
Are you incapable of
Are you incapable of understanding a simple point, Jen? My point was that people who applied for tickets which had no strings are now told that there ARE strings, and those strings require them to 'donate' 6-12 or more hours of their time to get those tickets - that is what is called 'false advertising'.
Do you not understand this point? Do you wish me to state it some other way? It is not about compelling people before they applied for tickets, it is about doing so AFTER they thought they were getting them.
If ALL tickets had been clearly identified as requiring time donations, it would be a non-issue since the people would know up-front what was expected, which would be perfectly fine and dandy - but that's not what some of these ticket holders are saying.
I will assume, since you're unable to respond to the point, that you think it's perfectly fine to run a 'bait and switch' scheme in which you promise something but then change the terms after the hook is set.
No wonder you like Obama. Of course, it's getting impossible to know what he actually believes, since he's managing to straddle the fence on almost all issues, so whatever he does if he's elected, he can always say he meant to do it.
deleted - duplicate post - the Grinch
deleted - duplicate post - the Grinch