Sam Harris on Sarah Palin

[_LifeOnaPlate]

And here is Barack Obama, through the eyes of Trevor and LifeOnaPlate:

nah, i like these ones better:

[_Brent Metcalfe]

Hi Ray, Kevin, and Brackite,

Each of you strikes me as a thoughtful, astute interpreter of Mormonism—irrespective of your political allegiances.

But let me be candid: your accusation(s) that I have "used" anyone for polemical purposes, only to castigate my lackey due to a lack of adherence to my politics or areligiosity, is unmitigated b***s***!—offensive to the core.

In online venues, I've never played cheerleader or coach to any student of Mormonism. I've focused my criticisms—supportive or otherwise—on the merits of a given argument.

I could elaborate ad nauseam. I could, but I see no point.

I wish you all the best.

Cheers,

</brent>


http://mormonscripturestudies.com
(© 2008 Brent Lee Metcalfe. All rights reserved.)
——————————
The thesis of inspiration may not be invoked to guarantee historicity, for a divinely inspired story is not necessarily history.
—Raymond E. Brown

[_dartagnan]

Hi Brent, I don't think you used me. I owe you more than I could ever repay and I will be forever grateful. But I'm sticking to my guns on the politics issue.

[_dartagnan]

Couric Patronizingly Challenges & Lectures Palin, Had Coddled Biden

In her day-on-the-campaign-trail stories about the VP candidates, Katie Couric didn't even try to deliver equal treatment. Last week, after her piece on her day with Joe Biden, I outlined what she must do to be consistent with Palin this week. She failed. Unlike with Biden on September 22, in the “Sarah Palin: Behind the Scenes” story on Tuesday's CBS Evening News, Couric declared a McCain-Palin policy position “misleading,” deliberately highlighted a policy disagreement between the two (drilling in ANWR), condescendingly demanded that Palin list the names of newspapers she read in Alaska and then treated Palin's conservative views as alien and thus in need of explanation -- pressing her on whether she agrees global warming is “man-made,” hitting her repeatedly on whether it should be illegal for a 15-year-old rape or incest victim to get an abortion or the “morning-after” pill and requiring she offer her position on teaching evolution.

Couric asserted that “it will take about ten years for domestic drilling to have an impact on consumers,” before accusing Palin: “So isn't the notion of 'drill, baby, drill' a little misleading to people who think this will automatically lower their gas prices?” On how Palin is an ill-informed dolt: “What newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?” Couric wouldn't let go: “Like what ones specifically?” and “Can you name a few?” [UPDATED below with how growing up Palin “consumed newspapers with a passion.”]

Jumping to social issues, as the two sat on the campaign bus, Couric insisted Palin reiterate how she adheres to views Couric framed as extreme:

1. If a 15-year-old is raped by her father, do you believe it should be illegal for her to get an abortion? Why?...But ideally, you think it should be illegal for a girl who was raped or the victim of incest to get an abortion?

2. You don't believe in the morning-after pill?...I'm sorry, I just want to ask you again. Do you condone or condemn the morning-after pill?

3. Do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of several theories?

UPDATE: As for Palin's newspaper reading habits, Kaylene Johnson's biography, 'Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down,' recounts on page 21:

From the time she was in elementary school, she consumed newspapers with a passion. “She read the paper from the very top left-hand corner to the bottom right corner to the very last page,” said Molly [Sarah's younger sister]. “She didn't want to miss a word. She didn't just read it -- she knew every word she had read and analyzed it.” )

Earlier in the piece, Couric had wondered: “Do you consider yourself a feminist?”

Biden faced no such onslaught of demands for his views on contentious issues, even though few viewers know where he stands on such issues as partial-birth abortion, allowing minors to have abortions without parental notification, or same-sex marriage.

Instead, Couric had hailed him in a way she did not with Palin: “He's the close-talking, free-wheeling, ice-cream eating Democratic nominee for Vice President. Senator Joe Biden isn't holding back.”

Couric's obsession with Palin's social issue views matched what ABC's Charles Gibson pursued with Palin three weeks ago. My September 12 NewsBusters item recounted:

He ran through several social issues -- from abortion to guns -- forcing her to state positions Gibson certainly realized would cement her to ideologically conservative positions seen as extreme by many of his viewers....

# "Roe v. Wade, do you think it should be reversed?...John McCain would allow abortion in cases of rape and incest. Do you believe in it only in the case where the life of the mother is in danger?...Would you change and accept it in rape and incest?"

# Embryonic stem cell research, John McCain has been supportive of it.

# Homosexuality, genetic or learned?

# Guns: 70 percent of this country supports a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons. Do you?

My September 22 NewsBusters posting, “Couric Has Cushy Chat with Biden, Will She Be as Warm with Palin?” proposed:

If Katie Couric is to be consistent and treat Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin...as gently as she did Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden in her day with him Thursday in Ohio which became a story on the Monday night CBS Evening News, she will (Couric quotes from the Biden story in the parentheses

Amongst the disparate aspects of the two “Behind the Scenes”/on-the-campaign-trail stories, based on my list and so not counting the most obvious lack of any tough policy questions to Biden:

# Hail her outspokenness: ("You say what's on your mind and I think people appreciate that.") COURIC WITH PALIN: No such praise.

# Ignore obvious factual/historical flubs: (Biden: "When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on television...") FDR was not in office at the time of the 1929 crash and his "fireside chats" were on the radio. COURIC WITH PALIN: She corrected Palin on the supposed payoff to off-shore drilling and repeatedly followed up when she didn't get the answer she wanted.

# Relay as reality positive campaign spin about her attributes: ("Relating to the fears of the average American is one of Biden's strong suits.") COURIC WITH PALIN: No such equivalent connection made to the concerns of average Americans as Couric, instead, pushed Palin to espouse her presumed less-popular social views.

# Cue up campaign rally attendees to praise her: ("What was it about what he said that really resonated with you in particular?" Answers: "I think he expressed what most working Americans feel at the moment. He seems to relate to our pain." and "I want him in office because I believe he will do things for women.")

COURIC WITH PALIN: In about the only positive portion of the fairly lengthy eight-minute-plus story, Couric touted: “Speaking of energy, Palin has brought plenty of it to the campaign trail, attracting huge, enthusiastic crowds, like this one at Capital University.” Viewers then heard from an excited woman in the crowd: “I strongly support McCain, but I love Governor Palin!” Even here however, Biden made out better: He got three glowing soundbites from attendees in the crowd which Couric set up: “What was it about what he said that really resonated with you in particular?”

Couric also cited how “her trademark feistiness is on display as she delivers a punchy soundbite about her rival, Joe Biden” (“I've been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, second grade”), but Couric turned that into a negative: “You have a 72-year-old running mate, is that kind of a risky thing to say, insinuating that Joe Biden's been around a while?”

# Empathize with the challenge she faces at the upcoming debate: ("Are you worried you're going to have to pull your punches a bit because of her gender and you don't want to seem like you're bullying her? It's a different dynamic when it's a male/female thing, isn't it?") COURIC WITH PALIN: Didn't empathize with Palin's debate challenge.

# Not apply any ideological label: ("We decided to take a closer look at the 65-year-old Senator from Delaware.") COURIC WITH PALIN: Here Couric was balanced as she did not apply an ideological tag to Palin.

There is more

[_antishock8]

Dart,

How do you compare the treatment Governor Palin receives from "mainstream" media correspondents and news outlets, and the kind of treatment Senator Obama and Biden gets from Conservative news outlets like FOX (Hannity, O'Reilly) and the Conservative Blogosphere?

In other words, why do you think there's a disparity instead a balance?

[_Analytics]

Don't worry analytics, I haven't forgotten about you and your post from the other day. I hope you're hungry…

I'm still planning to respond to Analytics' idiotic post from a few days ago where he called me an ignoramus for accepting what virtually every economist takes for granted…

You're stealing some of the crow I've been preparing for Analytics.

Hey dart,

Just want to make sure you saw the thread, The Cause of the Financial Crisis (dart). On the bottom of page 2 is a more detailed explanation with a timeline.

Just giving you more fodder so you can school me with how real cause of the financial crisis is because of the Democrats pressuring banks to loan money to minorities.

[_Trevor]

But commonly understood by students of history. You don't even qualify as that apparently.

Kevin, your grasp of historical development and your use of sources have been shown to be rather two-dimensional in the past. Why I should cave in to your pretense of superior understanding now is beyond me.

Not at all. I simply understand that the VP position is a rather useless slot to fill. Nothing really has changed over time that matters. It has to be the most boring job a politician could ask for.

"Rather useless" is your opinion. I think there are a fair number of people, leaving your columnist aside, who would disagree with that. My father actually worked with Al Gore, although he disagrees with him vehemently on just about every issue, and he didn't find him to be "useless." So who am I to trust, Kevin Graham or the people who were actually there to see what happened?

Have your little meltdown Trev. I know it must really burn you up to know you made such a stupid comment and revealed your own ignorance on the topic... again.

Maybe its poetic justice since you keep trying to embarrass Palin for her so-called ignorance on the economy.

Meltdown? What planet are you on? Planet Palin? It appears to me that you are the one revealing his ignorance. I stand by my statement that Palin is ignorant on "the economy." Her short time in the governor's chair does not qualify her to deal with the complex issues of the US economy. Punkt.

Seriously, I would have thought that someone as educated as yourself would have been familiar enough with American history to know that when the word "superfluous" and VP were in the same context, that it would be in reference to the well known adage in politics. But it seems your ignorance on the subject is more profound than I realized.

Seriously, I thought anyone who lived through the last 16 years would realize that time marches on and things change. Evidently you think that something Jefferson said means the very same thing today. Once a proof-texter, always a proof-texter... in your case, unfortunately this works.

I guess I overestimated you. Now you want to wriggle your way out of your mess by pretending you're not in one.

Sorry, but the opinion of a columnist is not the Bible, Kevin, no matter how much you would love that to be the case.

[_Trevor]

And here is Barack Obama, through the eyes of Trevor and LifeOnaPlate:

Ya know what? You ought to pay attention to what I write before you falsely attribute views to me. Have I ever idealized Barack Obama here? Have I ever sung his praises like a besotted fan? Opposition to McCain and Palin does not make me a believer in their opponents. You will find I have said that I am voting for Obama because of what I now perceive to be the risks of going with McCain. That's quite different from saying Barack is St. Francis of Assisi.

Or do you not grasp even the simplest distinctions?

[_dartagnan]

From what I see in most conservative venues they're just complaining because Palin isn't getting equal treatment so they bring up things about Biden and Obama that the mainstream media isn't reporting and then note the double-standard.

Like for me, half the stupid things Biden says, I don't really care about. But the fact that none of them get reported and none fo them are used as a club to blindside him with in interviews, kinda pisses me off because that is how they approach Palin - with the gloves off. I can explain away Biden's gaffes as easily as I can Palin's. But when I defend Palin, I'm attacked. So I bring up the double-standard in that their own candidate says things much worse, and gets a free pass.

Obama has never appeared in an interview with Sean Hannity so it is hard to tell really how he would be treated. I can't stand Hannity. O'Reilly gave a good interview with Obama though, and I doubt Biden would show up on the show. Clinton vowed never to go on FOX and then when she finally did, she had to admit FOX treated her more fairly than any of the other media outlets. And the only reason Obama showed up on O'Reilly was because O'Reilly forced his way to him in public, through a man trying to block him, when the cameras were on him and publicly invited him on the show. What was Obama gonna say, NO? For months he had been holding Obama to his "word" that he would appear on the Factor and so he eventually did. But I think he did it because he would rather risk doing an interview (for once) with someone who isn't going to coddle him, than risk having been proved a liar before election day. But I think the interview went well for both of them. Obama had the chance to put to rest some of the concerns many people had about his affiliations with questionable characters. The mainstream media wouldn't touch any of that with a twenty foot pole. They've been primping Obama for the White House as carefully as they can.

But aside from FOX, there really is no other "conservative" media that compares to the dominating liberal media. MSNBC is by far the worst, and then CNN and then CBS/ABC/NBC. I remember within seconds after Governor Palin was announced as the VP pick, MSNBC alerted the world with "Breaking News." What was the announcement? Check this out: "How many houses does Sarah Palin add to the GOP ticket?"

These guys are clearly in the tank for Obama. I mean for crying out loud, the new PBS "moderator" for the next debate is coming out with a pro-Obama book calling him "upstanding."

Most people who watch FOX are conservatives who are already in the tank for the Republicans anyway. CNN is the news station you always see in public areas like airports. On the whole, FOX is far more fair and balanced. It just is. Aside from Hannity, there isn't much to complain about. O'Reilly even defends Obama at times, saying he really likes him. He also likes Clinton. What annoyed him before was that they were taking this elitist position by not showing up on his show because of pressure from extreme leftist groups like moveon.org.

[_Trevor]

In other words, why do you think there's a disparity instead a balance?

Someone who is a big question mark is in for greater scrutiny. There's no use whining about it.