Chad Capellman: September 2008 Archives

I have had it.

I have had it for quite some time during the past eight years, but it seems as if things are accelerating now in ways they never had before, and even possibly during, 9/11/01.

I am wondering what has happened to this country and how we got here. That part isn't new. I have for a long time been focusing that criticism on the Bush Administration as have many others.

Something went off inside me when my best friend from childhood explained to me, after visiting New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, that New Orleans was more devastating and depressing to him than his visit to Baghdad. "I couldn't believe the United States could look like that," I believe he said shortly after returning.

But that was different than this. My anger then was at the incompetence our administration showed in its response. Maybe it was some indifference as well, but I'm too optimistic to believe in my heart of hearts that the administration was truly indifferent to the plight of those who were devastated after that storm.

After this week, and especially yesterday, it's not indifference or incompetence that has me writing this. It's ignorance. It's the fact that we as a country have embraced ignorance as a new domestic and foreign policy.

Just a few days after our domestic ignorance largely helped contribute to the largest economic collapse in decades, I watched as the John McCain campaign attempted to ban reporters from covering Sarah Palin's visit to the United Nations.

Back in March, Hank Paulson was spouting on and on about how fundamentally sound the economy was. He sounded almost like a homecoming queen at a pep rally. The other day, the homecoming queen pulled a gun on Congress, and used the fear of the unknown in an attempted shakedown for $700 B-I-L-L-I-O-N dollars. But even then it wasn't the money part that got me, because I have trouble fathoming that much money even when I spell it out in capital letters like that. No, it was the whole "You must trust me and you must banish any oversight of me as the sole administrator of this money" part, otherwise known as section 8 (irony!) of the proposed legislation.

Fast forward to Tuesday. We are at the United Nations in New York. Say what you like about the UN being useless in practical terms for solving any pressing global issue. I'm not trying to make the case for the UN here. But there is one inescapable (even for John McCain) fact: The eyes and ears of the world, and its leaders are all concentrated there. It is the world's largest diplomatic stage. It is where we felt compelled to present the "evidence" that we had to justify a pre-emptive war with Iraq.

So what does John McCain do there? He takes his heretofore somewhat amusing "war" with the media there and showcases for the world to see exactly how hypocritical we are when it comes to freedom.

For the Fox News (!) take on this you can play this clip:

These are worrisome times for many Americans. And the quickest way to convert worry to panic, as I see it, is to block our access to information. It's how the masses get manipulated.

I know I disagree with many of you on many hot-button issues in this campaign, but I hope we can agree that the only way we can find answers to challenges we face is to have an ability to fully explore and understand those issues. It seems that for the past eight years the tide has shifted in an unprecedented way towards a secretive, centralization of power that has already shown itself to be corrupt and misguided at best, and criminally immoral at worst.

I have spent my entire adult working life pursuing both traditional and new ways for people to discover, use and act on information. This issue of ignorance is not one I take lightly. It is, I believe, the founding principle that this country was based on, and I feel I am right to be legitimately worried about our ability to truly function in a free democratic society should either candidate treat an administration in the manner John McCain has done during this campaign.

I hope you at least consider this perspective when voting this November.

Chad

I recently had an email exchange with a conservative friend of mine who works for a national media outlet. I really feel like this is something that should be read by many others because I really feel like perspective is lacking. I have had many debates on a range of issues and one of my wishes for this country is that we could all have debates that maintained the level of respect for each other as the ones I have with my friend. Anyway, here's the exchange:

As a journalist, does the "silent treatment" and the running vs. the media approach the GOP seems to be taking bother you?

It bothers me as a working journalist because if they won't talk to us, the last thing anyone needs is more journalists just talking to each other.

Also, it's a cheap applause line, and it demeans the politician who uses it. Not because we're so important and how dare they, but because it's the wrong solution to the wrong problem. By and large, the media isn't pushing an agenda -- I've never edited a reporter who did. But it's absolutely true in my experience that many journalists can't relate to conservatives, and it doesn't take much for their assumptions to flower into full-blown narratives.

The real problem is that the press doesn't understand "the other side" as well as it should, and as we discussed briefly last week, I believe this ties *directly* to the problems Palin has had since being nominated. I still believe she got a raw deal on her introduction, and the press shouldn't assume no-harm-no-foul on that just because she killed in her convention speech. I still have the McCain camp's press release announcing Bristol's pregnancy -- it was issued in direct response to a Reuters story spreading the rumor about Sarah passing off Bristol's baby as her own. That rumor has since been proven not only false but comically so, and yet I can tell you nobody is saying, "crap, you know, we only know about this kid because we dignified that rumor about the baby being Bristol's." There is plenty to challenge Palin on, quite fairly, and the media is belatedly doing so, but the Palin they introduced to America was a pure tabloid caricature, and making nice is absolutely not Palin's problem.

So, to summarize: Palin should be the bigger person, and conservative whining absolutely needs to stop, but I'm not going to say they don't have a point.

I know you'd like them to win, but does how they do it matter to you?

The campaigns are only really concerned with getting elected. Their needs and our needs don't coincide in this day and age. If we offer them no services, only liabilities, they're going to drop us like an embarrassing surrogate. It's no less true for Obama than it is for McCain

I know what services my employer provides the candidates; we know how easily a reputation can be ruined and we guard ours very closely. But what does MSNBC offer McCain? Viewers? He has those. A forum? He has it. Credibility? How could it possibly?

A dramatic foil? A-ha. Why did Obama appear with O'Reilly last week? Why did Hillary appear with O'Reilly this spring? Why was that news? This is a universal tactic. There's more for a Republican to boycott, and the larger scale means a larger outcry, but it shouldn't follow that a Democrat's boycott of Fox is principled where a Republican's boycott of everyone else is crass. It does follow for some people.

There's more primary-source material available to voters now than ever before, and in-depth analyses of the campaigns can be done without the campaigns' consent. What we're missing is a little bit of the day-to-day on the trail, but again -- we're getting that from our reporters. Blackout is an overstatement.

This feels like a dangerous precedent to me.

Eh. ;)

So it appears the public (i.e. YOU) are having trouble getting questions to the GOP ticket answered. Even if you are conveniently located where they wanted to go get some salsa it can be difficult, even if you meet them in person. Therefore, I thought I'd pass along some questions that would be good for Charles Gibson to ask when he interviews her this week.

I filled out their contact form in the hopes of possibly getting these valuable links into Mr. Gibson's laptop ahead of the meeting:

Mr. Gibson, since you are in such a unique position to ask Mrs. Palin questions on behalf of us, the electorate, please include the following items in your pre-interview research:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/gop_convention_spin_part_ii.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-seitzman/if-you-really-work-for-me_b_124465.html

If you're unsure of some of them, perhaps you could ask yourself "What would Peter Jennings do?"

Thanks in advance,

Chad Capellman