Monday, January 11, 2010

Can someone help with this? When is it OK to lie in a campaign?

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Seriously.

I'm watching coverage of labor throwing a fit over the taxing of health care benefits that Obama complained McCain wanted to tax during the campaign, and I've got to ask: how come Obama gets to lie?

Was it that long ago that the left was flipping out over Bush's alleged "lies" that were used to justify our invasion of Iraq?

Why is it that Bush's "lies" were to be condemned so loudly and long.... but Obama's lies are, essentially, given a complete pass.

Did that man and his lackeys not stand there in front of all of us and tell us that if you earned less than $250,000, you wouldn't pay "one dime more" in taxes if we elected him?

So.... what's the deal? Were we to take that literally, as in, "I ain't paying ONE dime more in taxes... I'm paying THOUSANDS of more dimes in taxes?"

I mean, if we're supposed to take it literally, then the man isn't lying.

But if we have to take what he said about THAT literally, then weren't we supposed to take his claim that if we'd only allow him to bury us in debt, why, well, unemployment wouldn't climb over 8%.

And if we take that literally, don't we have to take the promise to not hire lobbyists literally? How about the promise to end earmarks or other pork in budgets?

At precisely what point is this man supposed to be held accountable for what he promised during his election?

We are told to "give him a chance."

Well, he's had a chance, and things continue to be worse now than ever under Bush.

But why is it OK for him to lie? And when, if ever, are we SUPPOSED to believe him?

Doesn't our failure to hold HIM accountable mean that NO politician should be held accountable?

And if we're willing to hold, say, a state representative or commissioner accountable...

...then why don't we hold Obama accountable?

Can someone help me with that?

I wanna know.
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8 comments:

Howes The Money said...

Very few are giving Obama a pass on either side of the aisle.
Problem is the government has been taken over by corporate interests. No longer matters who you elect.

Lew said...

tool, would that be those coporate interests whose CEO pay is being capped and who are being instructed by the administrastions czars as to how they will conduct business and what they will produce?

And, if you really believe it doesn't matter who is elected, just look at how the country has regressed since the 2007 takeover by Democrats began.

Republicans don't get a pass as they tried to out Democrat the Democrats and the country turned them out.

Blind voting is what doesn't work. That's voting without any knowledge of what the person you vote for stands for. That's just voting for party over anything else.

Voters must begin looking at candidates and stop supporting only because of party.

Howes The Money said...

The country IMO has been regressing since Ronald Reagan. In order to agree with your statement I would have to agree that something more "regressive" started in 2007. And I don't.
Definitely agree with you that voting for party over the person is a problem and contributes to the lack of accountability we see in our elected officials.
The only solution I see is real campaign finance, lobbying and media reform. And none of that is anywhere in sight. And until that happens or some big catastrophe, we will just keep getting more of the same or worse regardless if it is Rs or Ds that get elected.
You might find this article interesting, http://www.regressiveantidote.net/Articles/The_Implosion_of_the_American_Political_Consciousness.html - no pass for Obama here by the "liberals".

Howes The Money said...

Lew,
Sorry I did not hot link this in my previous post,
David Michael Green article

Here is an article indicating we might be on the same side and have just been manipulated into thinking otherwise by a corporate owned media.
Cenk Uygur article

Here is another article by a progressive critical of Obama, Taibbi article

Lew said...

Sorry tool, but after Green's tripe, if he is in fact is an Political Science professor, little wonder our kids know as little as they do today.

Call him whatever he desires, regressive or what, he still comes across as just another BDS inspired leftist.

If this is where you get your inspiration, I feel for you.

Howes The Money said...

The point was that Obama is not getting a pass on his failure so far to accomplish many of his campaign promises.

K.J. Hinton said...

"Definitely agree with you that voting for party over the person is a problem and contributes to the lack of accountability we see in our elected officials."

Exactly.

Too often, I believe that party pressure trumps what's best for the people.

I am frequently pissed off to the point of throwing things at what the GOP does. The tin ear of those running the show in the face of such overwhelming opposition is astonishing.

Things are not going well for the Administration. But they HAVEN'T been going well... for months.

And the people's anger is, I believe, is due to the shattered expectations resulting from the promises made... and broken.

Regardless of side, we cannot simply go along with the program because a party so out of touch with the people says so.

K.J. Hinton said...

Upon reflection, I have to do a quick rewrite:

I am frequently pissed off to the point of throwing things at what the GOP does.

The tin ear of those running the show in government in the face of such overwhelming opposition is astonishing.