Saturday, November 27, 2010

The Media's Double Standard for Governor Palin vs. President Obama

“This speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policy. But obviously we’ve gotta stand with our North Korean allies.”  - Sarah Palin making a verbal slip on the Glenn Beck Show. 

Of course the "gotcha" state-run media immediately ran with this story further "justifying" Palin as not up to the caliber of a presidential contender.  Never mind the fact that Palin throughout the very same interview, including just seconds before the above slip had correctly stated our relationship with South Korea and North Korea as she has done continuously in many previous interviews in the past. 

Evidently the press, once again, has double standards when it comes to broadcasting her simple slip of the tongue, and yet one rarely if ever hears of the doozies from our current president from that same media.  Governor Palin responded with a fantastic post on Facebook that points out the hypocrisy, accordingly.  Following is an excerpt from her posting that clearly makes her point, complete with links for the millions of Americans that might not ever have heard of these silly slips of the tongue from President Obama:

"My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…"

2 comments:

Dave Splash said...

Don't you think that Palin brings more attention to her screw ups because she refuses to just let it go? I mean, politicians have to have a thick skin, yet Palin seems to want to address every single time she feels slighted (whether real or imagined). There is always a new tweet or Facebook posting every time she feels she is treated unfairly (which is a lot because she suffers from a major persecution complex).

I don't see how she will be able to withstand the scrutiny of a real presidential campaign (not the two month one she was a part of after being put on the ticket) if she cannot just brush off criticism. She makes herself look petty, shallow, and vindictive.

S.W. Anderson said...

Now that you mention it, I recall a few of these slip-ups by Obama being noted in the media.

It makes the point that it's not rare for people who do a lot of public speaking to trip up from time to time.

I think a big reason for the difference in how much coverage these things get between Palin and Obama is that there's comparatively high confidence Obama knows the right thing, but just had a split-second lapse while speaking, whereas with Palin, it could very well be a case of not knowing what's correct.

Why would the confidence level be different? Well, it's not because Obama is more attractive than Palin. I think it's because Obama has on so many occasions and in so many settings spoken knowledgeably, accurately and sensibly about all sorts of complicated matters. Palin, not so much.

Paine, I don't like unfairness. I don't like it even when it affects someone whose politics and attitudes I disagree with. I grant you, it's at a point with Palin that some in the media probably go a little overboard looking and listening for gaffes, and pointing them up when they happen.

At the same time, Palin could do something about that by doing some serious homework on the many issues she takes positions on and speaks about. The fact she'd rather be out hustling for money and applause isn't the media's fault.

BTW, I hope you and yours had a nice Thanksgiving and that everything's OK.