Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Democrats May Have Confidence, But In What?

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times can sure spin a good one. He managed to write
Democrats said that ending the war was their top priority
in the midst of an article that only mentions three Democratic candidates, all current Senators, none of whom has ever used the Senate as a platform to launch any serious attempt to end the war in Iraq (while all have pretended to do so). Excerpts follow:

NYT : For Democrats, Primary Field Gives Confidence (or here):
“I think Hillary is pretty strong,” said Lesley Cain, a dentist, as she sat out in the afternoon sun on Market Square in Portsmouth, N.H., waiting for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton to arrive for a Labor Day rally. “But I think Obama is good, too. It’s a flip at this point.”

Carol Brackett, 51, a retired dental technician from Portland, Me., said: “I love the field of Democrats. This is going to be hard.”
...

Again and again, voters — often unprompted — said they were concerned that Mr. Obama did not have enough experience.

“Not this year — he’s not ready,” said Karen Smith, 63, who works for a medical technologies firm in Portsmouth, and who said she was leaning toward Mrs. Clinton. “But he’ll be back.”

Some expressed concern that Mrs. Clinton, as a general-election candidate, would be hurt by voter animosity that has accumulated over the years. “Hillary has the baggage from the Bill years, and all the various scandals they have been through,” said Ken Purington, 50, of Rollinsford, N.H.

And Mr. Edwards, who campaigned across New Hampshire last week, was rarely named by voters when they were asked who they were considering, suggesting the difficulty he continues to face in his second bid for the presidency against two better-known candidates running for the first time.

“He is too much of the same old thing: it is time for something different,” Emily Vance, a 22-year-old writer, said in a break from reading the newspapers at a gallery in Jacksonville, Fla.
"It is time for something different," said Emily Vance. And which candidate is Emily Vance supporting? Adam Nagourney either didn't ask, or decided not to share. Or maybe the decision was made for him. Who can say?

It's remarkable that an article about confidence among Democratic voters should spend so much ink on the perceived weaknesses of the leading Democratic candidates -- or is it?

Nagourney closes with this mind-boggling sequence:
Democrats said that ending the war was their top priority, though there was no sign that Mr. Obama and Mr. Edwards were gaining an edge on the issue over Mrs. Clinton by noting that she had originally voted for the authorization allowing the war.

“With more information, you become more informed, you change your position,” said Barbara Wilson, an employer trainer from Maine, who said “the war has to stop — the war has to stop now.”
Thus Barbara Wilson, who opposes the war and wants it to end now, finds her statement juxtaposed with meaningless drivel masquerading as political analysis, making it seem that she finds all three candidates equally appealing, from an anti-war perspective.

But you could read the whole article a thousand times without ever geting the slightest whiff of the absurd notion that there might be an anti-war candidate in the running, let alone two.

If the "liberal media" were slanted any further to the right, every thinking person in the whole country would implode simultaneously.

They Don't Want You To Know Any Of This:

Anger And Wit: A Powerful Combination
Mike Gravel On The Colbert Report
Mike Gravel On Antiwar Radio With Scott Horton
Senator Gravel To Introduce Legislation Forcing An End To The War In Iraq
Gravel Press Conference Draws Almost Zero Coverage
VIDEO: Mike Gravel: Why No Senator Who Voted For The War Is Qualified To Be President
Donkey Hopefuls Kick Out The Jams In New Hampshire
Mike Gravel In The Second Democratic Debate
Dem NH Debate: Kucinich 'Draws Blood', 'Horrifies Liberals Everywhere'
VIDEO: The Military Industrial Media Complex Vs The American People
How CNN Sk(r)ewed The NH Debates
NH Dem Insider: 'Networks Should Dis-Invite Gravel'
Two Unconventional: Mike Gravel's YouTube Videos
VIDEO: Mike Gravel Explains ROCK And FIRE To Dim-Witted Journalist
Mike Gravel Would End The War On Drugs If Elected
VIDEO: Mike Gravel Meets 9/11 Truth Head-On!
Edwards, Hillary Looking For 'A More Serious Debate' ... Without The Anti-War, Pro-Impeachment Gadflies
Mike Gravel Answers YouTube Question: Were All The Vietnam Deaths In Vain?
VIDEO: Mike Gravel Explains The Similarities Between Iraq And Vietnam