Mea Culpa
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- March
- 20
Invading Iraq was purely a Bush/Cheney vanity and the news media bought it. The media now has to be careful that its overt adoration of Obama isn’t also a vanity.
I personally think Obama is an incredibly gifted speaker and charismatic leader. He holds many of the same world views as me. But I (and many in the NY media) felt the same way about Eliot Spitzer. The result was a lack of skepticism, a landslide victory and, well you know the rest. You may see signs in my cartoons that I approve of thoughtful engagement and dialogue over mindless xenophobic chest thumping, but I will always remain healthily skeptical of anyone who is seeking power, no matter how much I agree or sympathize with them. After Obama’s well crafted race speech, one of my cartooning colleagues asked the other day how the “I have a dream” speech would have been received by a skeptical media. But it isn’t the same. The Rev. Martin Luther King wasn’t running for President.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 10:16 am by Matt Davies.
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How can the media not question the right of a womanizing, DRAFT DODGING, pot smoking, lying former ‘Commander In Chief” to claim that Barack Obama is unpatriotic?
Where is the healthy skepticism?
Thank you for this look at the media! The Obama love fest is going to crash and burn if he gets the nomination—the General Election will not be a cakewalk for him. The Dems will lose another election because they forgot to kick the tires before they bought the car!
awesome! and too true…
This is so accurate and sadly true. I worked for a company that dealt with television ratings. Before Iraq, ALL the cable / networks stations called to find out what there ratings were during the earlier Iraq / Kuwait operation. I guess business is business. Five years ago 72 percent of Americans approved of invading Iraq and the media jumped on the bang wagon (remember all those giddy embedded reporters?) Five years ago watching television, if there was someone being interviewed that thought it was not a good idea the media kind of just rolled their eyes. I guessed 4,000 dead and a change in opinion polling help changed their minds. Probably more the polling.
joyce harley:
Nobody called Obama unpatriotic. Bill Clinton just allowed himselkf the luxury to forget Obama exists. He doesn’t have to praise Obambi at every step.
And frankly? After the Wright mess, Obambi does not quite have any claims to the title of patriot anyway.
Cui bono? The end result of both media anointings, is to help the GOP. First help them to war, then help McCain win in November, by promoting Obama, the less electable Democrat.
ABC and NBC had the Wright tapes but were suppressing them (till after the nomination was settled?)
Thanks, Matt, for this very timely reminder to the media. How could they forgot so soon??? I guess it doesn’t help that the news and entertaiment have become interchangeable.
If we’ve learned anything over the last several years, it’s that it is extremely difficult to get an incompetent or even dangerous person out of the White House. Now is the time to scrutinize Obama. It seems that his ability to reach people emotionally so they in effect turn their skeptical brains off has worked even for the media—which makes him doubly dangerous, if he’s not for real and gets into office. That kind of power is not meant for the head of a democracy. The head of a democracy is supposed to ask people to scrutinize him, remind them to demand the facts, not demand that they see him as their “only hope” for change.
‘joyce harley’ must be from the US. No one from anywhere else would espouse such twisted thoughts.
Amen! I’ve been saying this for months: what is most disturbing about the complete lack of critical analysis, and fawning over Obama is that it reminds me of the march to war. At that time, I was looking around, saying to my friends, “WHAT are they talking about?! Can’t they see this is insane?” I have felt the same way for several months now, watching the Obama hysteria unfold for a man who is clearly inexperienced, untested, and we now see, has poor judgment and way too much vanity. If he is so sensitive to every perceived slight (AS IF Bill Clinton is required to mention him in any discussion of his wife as the nominee in the general election!), then how is he supposed to manage himself on the world stage in the midst of brutal opponents? He is not at all ready for this challenge, and it’s been horrifying to watch the media completely fail to execute their critical role in a democracy.
Well Done…Right On..Etc…Etc…
It would be a good thing if more democrats would take note of the fact that Obama was trained as a lawyer. Obama is a very eloquent confidence man.
I’m hoping more dems AND THE MEDIA expose the Obama Con before it’s too late.
[...] Credit for this great cartoon. [...]
Love the cartoon! I think that the art and commentary of editorial cartoons is highly underrated. You seem to stab right into the heart of issues without the need for hundreds of words, snarky cohorts, or theatrical makeup.
The earlier comment by “joyce” really illustrates my point about the talking heads—they’re positively toxic to critical thinking.
[...] I think this pretty much sums up the latest mindless obsession … [...]