Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Politics are Bad for My Blood Pressure

And like many politicians do, I just made a statement that might be true but for which I have no real proof. Anyway, I became entirely too angry while watching Campbell Brown interview a McCain representative this weekend. While Brown asked some relevant questions and attempted to get a straight answer, she also went entirely too far and made a mockery of her position as a "news anchor." For example, Brown strongly implied that Palin was a bad mother for accepting the vice presidential nomination and thrusting her pregnant daughter into the spotlight. I cannot imagine the same insinuation would be made if Palin was a man. And her pregnant daughter wouldn't be so much in the spotlight if anchors like Brown would focus on more newsworthy topics; surely CNN can find something else to criticize about Palin besides her parenting skills. Sigh.

CNN has been my network of choice for years now. I've recognized that it has a bias to the left but always felt like Fox News was even more slanted to the right (not to mention that its morning show is incredibly juvenile and irritating--or at least it was two years ago--the last time I watched it). Now both networks seem to be staffed by "commentators" more than reporters, which means everything is "reported" with misplaced cynicism, enthusiasm, sensationalism, etc. depending on the candidate. If you know about a more neutral news source, please share. Regardless I need not get so angry about it (or the continued computer issues at work....although I do now have my laptop--even if I can't have more than one internet explorer window open at a time...weird!).

p.s. I'm grateful for my friends Isabella and Chasie's visit to Chatty this weekend. We had a lot of fun, and I liked sharing part of my life here with them.

16 comments:

Aaron said...

You should be using Firefox and all it's glorious add-ons anyway. :P

And I agree. What has Palin's pregnant teenage daughter got to do with her credibility as a VP, governor or mother?

Ally said...

Aaron: I totally agree about Firefox, but it seems that our network/system is so delicate that there's a preference that I just use IE. Needless to say, so far I'm NOT impressed by our tech people (who I emailed early today about internet issues and still haven't heard back from).

Seized by Hope said...

Loved the statement about commentators vs. reporters. Just the facts...I can come up with my own commentary.

I am with you!

TC said...

I've been soooooooo frustrated by the Palin's pregnant daughter situation. First off... how many millions of teens get pregnant every year? Is it a good thing? No. Does it NECESSARILLY mean they have bad parents? No. It means they, as an individual who has a mind of his or her own and who acts independently - many times from what they were taught - from his or her parents.

But what makes me the most mad is that Palin gets asked if she can be a Mom and a VP. Was Bill Clinton ever asked if he could be a Dad and a president? Has anyone asked Obama? Doubt it. The double standard frustrates me to no end.

brandy said...

I watch MSNBC on my computer for more of the reporting (Andrea Mitchell is a favorite reporter) and watch CNN more for commentary. I agree with you on the reporter vs. commentator factor- CNN has a lot of great Democrat contributors, but their Republican ones are not as well known and there is less of them, which really skews discussion I think.

Also, it makes me sad that people are using Palin's daughter this way. Palin is a very direct individual, there's enough of HER (and by HER, I mean her views on issues etc) to engage in that her family shouldn't even be brought into it. They should not be an issue, and a vote shouldn't be lost or gained because of her daughter.

Unknown said...

I'm a McCain/Palin supporter and I agree that more is being made of Palin's daughter than should be. I also understand that the Republican party platform is one of more traditional family values and the media wants to play gotcha with this issue because the "ideal" family is not meeting the standard of "ideal".

If you are looking for a neutral news source than you gotta check out C-SPAN. My wife likes to tease me cause I say I love C-SPAN, but you always feel like you are hearing both sides of an issue when you listen/watch them. Not to mention you get to hear all these speeches in their entirety with the full context that a sound bite will never give you.

PS - if you are having internet problems then chances are your email didn't reach them ;-)

Thomas said...

Anyone else thinking about dropping out of paying attention to the presidential race? Neither side is impressing me much.

Lib said...

I think that O'Reilly acts like a child. I don't really watch Fox news...he's pretty irritating. To tell you the truth though, I don't watch much news period. It usually nauseates me.

i just watched the Rep. convention and Sarah Palin brought the house down. Gooooo SARAH!!! and major brownie points that she didn't wear a Cheeto-orange suit!

Ally said...

Lib: I totally agree about O'Reilly. And I agree....all in all Palin did a great job. At first I wasn't sure about all of the personal stuff, but as I listened, I realized what a regular person she is, and I find that appealing. She seems like a normal person who got involved in local politics to serve her community (as opposed to career politicians who attended Ivy league schools, etc.). It's refreshing. And yeah, I prefer for my political candidates (male or female) to avoid ridiculous and distracting colors:)

Price: I have an internet connection! And they responded but still haven't fixed the issue....Good call on Cspan....it seems a bit labor intensive, but it would be neutral.

Brandy: I'll check out MSNBC; I've only watched it here and there.

TC: Exactly. No one has suggested Obama is a poor excuse of a father for campaigning for years of his daughters' formative years!

Jennifer Owens said...

I think politics make my Grandmother's blood pressure rise too. I saw a vein that nearly popped out of her head the other day when talking about some of these things.

I am with TC - the double standard is so frustrating. And it's more than obvious who the media sides with. I wish things could be presented and talked about from more neutral standpoints. But then I suppose that wouldn't be politics.

ella said...

Palin needs a one way bus ticket back to Stepford.

I'm Not Carrie Bradshaw said...

I like NPR. I think some people find it liberal but I usually find it to be pretty thorough and the commentary can be easily avoided if needed.

boohoo said...

They way they report politics in the UK is biased wherever you look. It's just a farce really. Only a few people actually bother to read/pay attention to what's going on so the majority of people just believe what they read in the 'papers and see on the news. It's a real shame. And extremely frustrating.

brandy said...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TV_NBC_OLBERMANN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

I hope that works. It's basically saying that MSNBC is turning Keith in't a commentator because he's too opinionated. It would seem that other people are feeling what you are feeling.

(With that said, I still like it. Andrea Mitchell appears unbiased- I promise!!)

Susanna Rose said...

I think Palin is such a figure of intimidation to the left...it will be so interesting to see what happens in the Vice-Presidential debates! I love it that she stands for everything the left hates but does it with such grace and an unapologetic view point! I almost hope they keep slamming her for supposedly neglecting her family because they're really going to turn a lot of women who would typically vote for the Democrats away because of their blatant sexism.

Thomas said...

I guess liberals are all for women's rights until they have to face one in a political race.

And I agree with the commenter who said Obama never gets called on the fact that he has largely been absent from his two daughters lives for the last two years or so.