Air Date: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Hiller Instinct: Political garbage
The road to the White House is paved with primaries, caucuses, TV and money. And tonight, there's something else on the road - garbage!
Maybe you think "garbage" is too strong a word to describe the story about John McCain's suspected affair and alleged abuse of power, but I don't. It's an oil slick of a story. By definition, a political smear designed to stain or destroy a reputation.
And what is McCain actually charged with on the front page of the New York Times?
"His confidence in his own integrity has sometimes seemed to blind him to potentially embarrassing conflicts of interests, " said in the article.
"Sometimes seemed" and "potentially embarrassing" are weasel words for "we can't prove it."
"We think our story speaks for itself," said New York Times editor Bill Keller.
And so does McCain. His campaign is already seeking contribution money to fight back against the newspaper. Now before you call me a McCain guy, here's some more political garbage- Barack Obama the plagiarizer.
Gov. Deval Patrick says, "I'm not taking asking you to take a chance on me, I'm asking you to take a chance on your own ambitions."
Sen. Barack Obama reiterates, "I'm asking you to take a chance on your own ambitions."
This is also a smear- designed to destroy Obama's reputation as a leader who uses words to inspire voters.
Obama may have been wrong not to mention Deval Patrick, but that doesn't make the charge, "his words are empty," right.
"Words are important. Words matter," Obama said.
You don't have to support John McCain to think the New York Times hurt the media's reputation today more than it hurt his. And you don't have to support Barack Obama to believe: you can have hope without being a dope...
I'm Andy Hiller, and that's my Instinct.
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