I keep fretting about that Republican strategist saying that the "bigger truth" - that Palin was "new" and "popular" - trumped the "smaller truths" (that she and McCain were lying). And the McCain campaign spokesman who defended their dubious attacks by saying, "We're running a campaign to win. And we're not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it." The media filters would be those fussy "fact check" articles.
"I'm a terrible cynic, I think, because I just can't get worked up," writes Ross Douthat, an excellent conservative blogger at The Atlantic "Every successful politician and political movement has to master the art of below-the-belt, us-versus-them political engagement, because that's how democratic politics works."
Obviously I'm being too prim in my quaint view that dishonesty in campaigns actually matters a lot. Obviously I'm being unrealistic and ahistorical.
Still, I keep having a nagging feeling that I've seen this prohibition on lying somewhere --- somewhere outside, the League of Woman Voters brochure. Oh yeah, that Charleton Heston movie!
Well, He saw fit to put lying in the Top Ten, He must have felt it was somewhat important. Why? I asked one of the wisest men I know, Rabbi David Wolpe, who by the way has a terrfic new atheism-battling book out called Why Faith Matters. His response:
The narrow interpretation of false witness is that it refers to legal proceedings, where there is an immediate, and often dire, consequence. The broader interpretation is that you 'implant' in someone else's mind something false about a third person. Part of the potency of gossip is that it is very difficult to dislodge from memory, even if you learn it is untrue. I remember things about friends from high school that probably were never true, but they stick..That is what makes negative campaigning so effective, and so pernicious. To lie (or even to phrase the truth in a deliberately misleading way, as in "I am quite sure my opponent never meant to deprive orphans of food" - thereby implying that he did deprive them) is clearly wrong. It takes a toll on the character of the candidate, but also on us. We are all sullied in the duplicities of those who would represent us
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
In Judaism, if you sin against another person, you must ask the forgiveness of the person you wronged. You do not ask God. You must ask for the person's forgiveness, in some cases, by even visiting their grave if they've passed away.
Lying or slandering or even gossiping about another person is a great sin against another person, and if you do it, you are personally responsible.I don't ever remember reading about an exception for politicians.
Unfortunately, the negative ads and campaigning is very effective.
Obama was seen as weak when he did not attack back harder against Hillary Clinton. Democrats have been after Obama to get tougher with McCain.
Drew Westen, Ph.D. is a clinical, personality, and political psychologist and neuroscientist, and Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Emory University. He wrote a well respected book, "The Political Brain." He said
Westen said Obama needed to throw a punch. Westen said do not be like Kerry, instead fight back
Until voters stop being fooled by ads and campaigning filled with lies and fear tactics, the negative ads and campaigning with continue
Of course you should be upset by lying. And of course you should be upset with religious or moral authorities who ignore it. But you should allow for the possibility that what you perceive as blatant lying is not perceived the same way by conservatives who may still be intelligent and moral. There is no way for you to tell how biased I may be myself (though of course I think I am being objective), but I don't see the examples you cite as being so clearly blatant lying. They seem more like the over-simplifications you would get if you tried to state, in one line, what is actually a complex and nuanced situation, depending on whether you were in favor of it or against it. And the original "accusations" or characterizations by McCain about Obama seem pretty mild to me -- why should progressives or liberals care if Obama voted for sex education, or if he knew lipstick on a pig would remind people of lipstick on a pit bull, or if everyone knew he did or not? The McCain campaign about lipstick on a pig. It may be pointless for me to make that comment, since I could be just as biased as any of the fanatical partisans who leave raving comments. I just was bothered by your low opinion of your fellow Americans and people of faith who haven't decried what you see as terrible lying. Why do progressives of faith have such a low opinion of conservatives of faith? It was only 2 generations ago that their mainstream faiths believed the same things Even if you don't agree with them, can't you remember that people like you once thought the same way -- and there are still people today who can think that way without being irrational, immoral, or stupid?
McCain's ad about sex education is appalling. No one can know for sure about Obama's thoughts for the "lipstick on a pig," but he was talking about McCain's policy.
Palin lied about Obama's tax plan, including on Hannity & Colmes. Tax plans make a major difference for voters and they deserve the truth.
Tax Tally Trickery, July 3, 2008
Republicans claim Obama "voted 94 times for higher taxes." But their count is inflated and misleading.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/tax_tally_trickery.html
More Tax Deceptions
August 8, 2008 Updated: August 12, 2008
McCain misrepresents Obama's tax proposals again. And again, and again.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/more_tax_deceptions.html
There He Goes Again - September 18, 2008
McCain ad misrepresents Obama's tax plan. Again.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/there_he_goes_again.html
Count the McCain Lies - 57
http://www.mccainpedia.org/index.php/Count_the_Lies
Why are negative ads effective? The answer is that a significant percentage of the voting public lacks and does not use common sense for reasons known but to themselves. Most of these folks believe that what they see on TV or hear on the radio, or read in the papers, is true. How scary. As examples of my argument are as follows: this country elected an actor as president twice, the second time with a neurodegenerative disorder and for the past 8 years we have been subjected to a "president" whose combined mental output is that of a Christmas tree light bulb! The republicans have trashed the Constitution in the name of protecting the American people, how disgusting.
So, to all of you graduates of the school of Gheabt nicht Sechel, keep on believing those negative ads and on the 4th of November you all will be in for a big surprise when Barack Obama and Joe Biden win walking away.
Hill 881 South
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.