An Itch to Scratch April 24, 2008
Posted by threadingwater in politics.Tags: Clinton, Make Them Accountable, Obama
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I’ve tried. Tried to distance myself from the meaningless minutiae of the Democratic primary race. Tried to keep focused on the big issues like Obama’s and Clinton’s positions on Iraq, the economy, foreign relations. I’ve tried to ignore the negative tone of both campaigns (boiling over in the case of Clinton and seeping into Obama’s from time to time as well.) I’ve unsubscribed from a good many lefty, progressive blogs that I used to read daily because I thought the bloggers and their commenters were becoming petty and, in some cases downright nasty.
I’m not a head-in-the-sand sort of person and my attempt to impose distance was, and is, my way of maintaining a healthy perspective on the events of the day. Besides, which, I lead a fairly complicated life with disparate demands on my time and energy. Don’t we all? I mean, really, if all the time I have for blogging is posting a pretty flower picture, I count on my readers to understand.
However, just in case you (the reader) need an example of what’s bugging me about the lefty blogosphere these days, I have a beautiful example to illustrate my point.
Somewhere along the line, (I don’t remember when or why) I subscribed to an online news and commentary blog by the name of Make Them Accountable, a website with the subtitle, “making politicians and media accountable to ordinary citizens since 2000.” This week I opened one of their emails and found this article about Obama’s supposed “flipping the bird” gesture, complete with second-by-second video frame analysis adnauseum and not one ounce of saving, satirical grace. I encourage you to follow the links until you can play the video for your own eyes. Don’t take my word for it.
So, really. How rabidly devotional to Senator Clinton does one have to be to structure a big “something” out of absolutely nothing? And, how is it that this sort of story gets reported as “make them accountable” news?
In keeping with my attempts to insulate my psyche from this sort of dirtiness, I wrote to “Make Them Accountable” to request removal from their distribution list. Here is what I wrote:
Please remove me from this list. Your story yesterday of Obama “giving the finger to Clinton,” was a joke. I no longer consider Make Them Accountable any more trustworthy than the mainstream media. This kind of journalism is no better than Fox News.
And, here is what I received in return:
How can you believe it’s a coincidence that Obama had exactly the same itch at exactly the same spot, scratched with exactly the same finger, at the exact same spot in the speech, AT TWO DIFFERENT RALLIES?
http://makethemaccountable.com/caro/Comment_080420_BarackObamaHasDisrespectedUsAll.htmSure, you’re off the list. I don’t want any blind Kool-Aid drinkers on my mailing list. The last time we had that kind of devotion for a candidate, we got eight years of George Bush.Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com
Nice, huh? This from someone who (according to the Make Them Accountable website) purports to “use every talent I possess and all my energy to try to bring back tolerance, decency, and generosity to the country I love.”
Darling, I propose that you begin by listening to criticism and treating your fellow comrades in the struggle to save our country from another Republican regime by digging a little deeper into your stores of tolerance, decency and generosity.
To my way of thinking, it wouldn’t take very much of any of those qualities to acknowledge that sometimes an itch is just an itch.
My mother must be in complete mourning. She is so completely over the moon about Obama (me? Afraid to invest, afraid to hope) that I’m afraid to talk to her. And Hillary sounds so darned smart. Slap me will you?
I’m sorry - did she just call you a “blind kool-aid drinker”? Wow. It’s not that I’m unfamiliar with the term, just surprised by the application.
And yes, why not take a possibly humorous moment and turn it into a major issue. Because, really, it’s not like we have anything better to do or more important to consider in selecting a candidate for President, right?
I agree with you. Sometimes people are not only just plain silly, they are also very nasty–something that doesn’t speak of dedication to truthfulness. Also, I always look at your beautiful photos of flowers, and sometimes that’s all I’ve got, looking at them, not commenting on them.
That’s right, Kath. According to Carolyn, I’m a blind Kool-Aid drinker because I don’t agree with her analysis of the Obama videotape. Obviously, I’m not the only one who needs to take a little break from this campaign.
And, Leslie - I know that “smart” is awfully appealing after the past eight years but I remain intensely wary of Clinton and the (IMO) horrible folks she has recruited to run her campaign. I remain appalled at her vote to authorize Bush & Co. to pursue the war in Iraq AND her most recent comments threatening Iran with “obliteration” don’t impress me as being smart as much as they sound foolhardy and hawkish. So, as I tell my son at every available opportunity, “Listen to your Momma ’cause mom knows best.”
Something tells me that when you held THEM accountable, they had a problem with it, mainly because they’ve already decided on who they think should win this thing. Just guessin’.
This “campaign” reminds me a lot of our annual eighth grade Student Congress elections where I work, except that our kids are more mature than this.
Peace.
Ah ha. Caro and I have bumped heads too. And also here. I just didn’t out her, ’cause I didn’t see the point.
You, my dear, have a point. That’s not good netiquette let alone good politics.
Caro was a really good, very hard working source before all of this and I hope she will be again when it’s over.
What I mean is, Caro’s behavior is not good netiquette let alone good politics.
She’s off the deep end for now. Again, I hope she comes back from this Moby Dick thing (don’t let me use any “pursuit of the great white whale” references, please) in one piece and ready to work again.