American Pundit, you mean Cindy McCain didn't recount her stealing medications from the charity she ran, (mind you she was a multi-millionairess) to feed her addiction? I am shocked. Shocked at her lack of candor.

NOT!

Man, McCain sure was candid though, wasn't he?

His speech tonight revealed his temperament with the use of the word ‘fight’ 25 times. McCain’s presidency will be defined by that word he has made central to his candidacy. Putting McCain in office is akin to drafting an Army platoon sergeant or Marine Captain into the Oval Office.

War is what McCain was trained for, fighting is how he approaches challenges, and conflict is what motivates him. He made that abundantly clear tonight. The only war he got to fight in, cost him more than his POW horrors, it cost him the vindication of victory. He is a man still seeking that vindication. It is what drives him, as his speech tonight made so very, very clear. His Viet Nam experience is never out of his mind, and never escapes an interview or public speech. The man is fighting a war America put behind it 3 decades ago.

The moderates and independents could not have asked for a clearer or starker choice in presidential candidates. One who is living in the present and seeking to address the challenges of the present, and one who seeks in the last years of his life, justification for the suffering he experienced 40 years ago which he simply cannot move past.

It fills his thoughts, his emotions, his policies, and even has made him a combatant toward his own party as he indicated tonight by condemning its actions under President Bush. McCain is a man in conflict, and he wants all of America to share in that conflict with him.

As for your comments regarding the sea of whiteness, I saw several folks of darker skin tones in the audience. There is a growing but, still very small, component of Black Americans who ascribe to the Republican philosophy that wealth belongs to those who take it.

There is a racial component to this election, but, it is vastly overshadowed by the starkness of contrast between the candidates on policy issues and respect for the plight of the working men and women in this country struggling to keep their families and homes together.

McCain would extend tax cuts for the wealthiest in America and truly believes with that transfer of wealth from struggling consumers to CEO's and Shareholders, that enough change will fall through the cracks to keep the poorest from dying in alleyways.

Obama would increase taxes on those earning MORE than $250,000 per year, and cut taxes on the 95% of Americans who don't earn that much. McCain would swing open the doors to higher fees on everything we do as a form of hidden taxation on the middle class, while Obama condemns such hidden taxes on the working class through legislation which allows banks and credit unions to attach a fee to every transaction save breathing.

Obama will not balance the budget in 4 years. But, neither will McCain, unless he shuts down government with vetoes that grinds government to a halt throwing 100's of millions of Americans into very, very hard times. Bush and the Congress have us charging $455 billion dollars on our children's future taxes this last year. Another near 3/4 trillion dollars flew overseas in trade deficits in the last year. Whomever is elected president, will not be able to zero out that deficit in 4 years without crippling Americans. That is the legacy of the Republican years of majority status. And McCain was right to point to this in his speech.

But, fighting between a Republican president and a Democratic Congress is not going to get America's problems solved. And that American Pundit, is the truth of the matter. Obama will not solve all of America's problems, and may even create a few along the way. But he will be able to work with the Congress and enact solutions to some of the most pressing issues confronting the next president like energy independence, green collar jobs, and health care access for all Americans and saving as much as 8 billion dollars per month by exiting Iraq to spend on energy independence, green jobs, and expanded health care access.

And with Obama, we won't have to worry about a preemptive unilateral war with Iran and another OoopS! regarding WMD that don't exist. With fightin' McCain that remains one very real potential. Just listen to his speech.

American Pundit, D.R.R.,

I would be interested to know which networks you tuned into for your viewing of the convention speeches. Much attention has been given to the imbalance in coverage during the Republican convention; I decided to alternate between quite a few mainstream and cable news outlets in order to judge their fairness in coverage. While the analysis of speeches and facts has been, in my opinion, clearly one-sided, I was surprised to find that the bias extended to how the delegates (not the candidates) were portrayed.

The coverage on NBC and CNN, for example, showed very few minority delegates; there were dozens of African-American and Latino delegates shown throughout the coverage on Fox News, on the other hand. Additionally, there was a much clearer inclusion of different ages on Fox News.

Now we all know of the reputation that Fox News has of being right-wing minded, but I can't help but wonder if the coverage on the other networks was intentionally deceptive. Are they consciously trying to paint the GOP as the party of older white men? Or is their bias so engrained that they don't even realize what they are doing at this point?

D.R.R.
You have mentioned in other postings that you think the inclusion of the pregnancy of Sarah Palin's 17-year old daughter as wrong. I could not agree with you more. Families, particularly minor children should be "off-limits" under all circumstances. In another display of the media's imbalance over the past few weeks, we have been endlessly subjected to information about not only Bristol's pregnancy, but also Trig's Downs Syndrome and how that somehow affects Sarah Palin's VP abilities. However, I have not heard a single mention of Ashley Biden's 2003 arrest or of her widely rumored drug use. And she is 27, while Bristol and Trig are 17 and 5-months, respectively.

Again, families are not the issue here. However, this coverage is clearly unbalanced and unfair.

I think that, whatever our personal political leanings, we need to hold the media accountable to fair and balanced journalism and reporting. There are too many people throughout this country that take what the media says as absolute truth without digging deeper. With biased coverage and a trusting population, the media is determining the outcome of the election before the public even gets a chance to.

j2t2:

“I watched McCain's speech on CNN and think they did a fine job of showing those in attendance. Going out of memory I recall seeing an old black guy in a Legion hat, I saw a young lady with darker skin in tears, and so on. Perhaps you are just seeking to find a bias when there isn’t any, a common conservative trait. Perhaps Fox news is the network with the hidden agenda.”

First of all, I simply raised the question of whether different outlets covered the conventions differently. The question of balance has been raised throughout the past few weeks, and I think that revisiting that is an appropriate response to “American Pundit’s” original posting (“A Sea of Whiteness”).
I do not care which side of the aisle you personally fall on; you cannot deny that there were different cross sections of delegates shown on different channels. As I said before, I have watched a variety of networks over the past few days and found very obvious differences in their coverage.

Secondly, I don’t believe that I am “just seeking to find a bias when there isn’t any, a common conservative trait.” I acknowledged in my post that Fox News reputation of being right wing minded. And I didn’t endorse one outlet over another; I’m simply stating that I saw a difference between them.

“Rachael Gov. Palin has highlighted her DS baby in her speech, why should the media not be allowed to cover the topic. Gov. Palin is an outspoken advocate for abstinence and that makes her daughters pregnancy news. Especially when her beau is at the convention with her.
Palin is a current event while Ashley Biden is old news, especially since she is an adult and not under the care of her father.”

With all due respect, I think you are missing the point of my posting and rushing to unnecessary defensiveness. Obviously the media can report that Gov. Palin has a DS baby, the same way that they can report that Obama has two young daughters. And they can certainly address the issues of Gov. Palin’s record and stance on certain issues, including sex education.

In reference to Ashley Biden and her record being “old news,” I seem to remember hearing some chatter over the past few days of Gov. Palin’s husband having been arrested for DUI 22 years ago.

Look, I’m not trying to defend one side or the other here, despite your insistence that I’m displaying a “common conservative trait.” I’m simply asking for responsible, thorough and balanced information. I’m not seeking to blame the media as you suggest. I’m simply asking for media accountability.

“Shouldn’t we as voters be aware of this or should it be left unsaid for us to decide ourselves?…regardless of your position on the issue shouldn’t you know if hers has changed prior to voting?”

Absolutely! That was my whole point in my posting. We should be able to get information from the media. They should press the candidates with tough questions that require real and specific answers. But we should be able to trust that information as well. We shouldn’t have to go behind them to find what they missed. We shouldn’t have to cross-reference different outlets in order to get multiple sides of the story.

I'm sorry, but I had to stop watching it to go throw up. And I used to be a Republican.

I'd like to ask John McCain (whose been in Congress for 26 years), and is such an expert on economics, one simple question:

• Where will the money come from to merely pay the INTERST on $53 Trillion of nation-wide debt, much less the money to reduce the current PRINCIPAL debt of $53 Trillion, when that money does not already exist? Especially when now, 80% of the U.S. population owns only 17% (or less; recently reported to now be 16%) of all wealth, and 1% owns 40% of all wealth (up by 20% from 20% in year 1976); a wealth disparity gap (among many other things) that has never been worse since the Great Depression.

P.S. The government is seizing over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. And with a regressive tax system, which John McCain wants to make more regressive, who will get screwed the worst (again)?

David Walker is telling us the truth.

But, perhaps enough voters will be less apathetic, complacent, and blindly partisan when enough of the voters are deep in debt , jobless , homeless , and hungry ? Perhaps the voters aren't feeling enough pain yet from illegal immigration and these other abuses?

At any rate, the voters have the government that the voters elect (and re-elect, and re-elect, and re-elect , . . . , at least until that finally becomes too painful.

WHY REPUBLICANS LOVE SARAH SO MUCH ...
I know a few people that live in Alaska... it is not the friendliest place for people of color!