When you open your mouth, you are responsible for what comes out of it. If you lie, you may suffer consequences for the exposure of the lie. When you compound your lie by lying about the meaning of the other lie, you spawn exponential growth for the consequences of the original lie. That is, it seems, unless you are a Senator, Congressman, fellow, fellow of a neocon thinktank, or media pundit.
Over recent years, I am astounded by the protection and endless chances certain people are given to mask complete lack of credibility. Specifically, John McCain’s blatant and delusional verbal debauchery of late has lowered the bar for credible, objective government to a staggering depth. Sadly, it seems that although he had once again completely contradicted reality in plain-as-day clarity, within hours, he is yet again permitted to rectify his perceived reputation via the corporate media.
What he was saying to Bill Bennett was, in my opinion, a duplicitous sermon to his choir. Further, it was selectively ‘tested’ by airing it out via Bennett’s conservative listeners. What people like McCain don’t ever get is that when he is addressing yes-men via yes-men outlets, he is in danger of mistaking the support he gets for tangible support; he perils himself by mistaking the cheers of zealots with the raw voice of the American people.
Equipped with his corrupted marketing data, he takes his ridiculous lie to the mainstream media, where he takes the time to preface the potential defense of his lie with chiding remarks about the “time warp,” out-of-touch media. When he feels he has got his digs in, he explosively spews out the most off-based, un-cited, incredulous inaccuracies he can muster, often embellishing the original lie he had tested on some loyalist outlet somewhere.
From CNN
The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer
McCain:
“You know that's where you ought to catch up on things, Wolf. General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee. I think you ought to catch up.”
(bolded by me)
The above statement sums up my opinion. It is the quintessential example of an embellishment of an original, “tested” lie. Thankfully, for once, we were blessed by the availability of a credible person to flat out shut the lie down, which supports my opinion about people like McCain’s delusions of grandeur based on their rich supply of loyalist media mouthpieces. But sadly, after the thumping McCain received from the credible and direct opposing statements of Michael Ware, McCain was swiftly and purposefully granted a plethora of opportunities to redefine his original lies. Mind you, the intention had nothing to do with recanting or humbly dismissing prior statements that did not ring true, which he may have countered with adapted views based on updated knowledge. Rather, his intention, in my strong opinion, was merely to apply murk upon his original lies, restate his edited lie, and perpetuate the continuum of the original lie’s perceived positive impact.
Via ThinkProgress & From Interview with CNN’s John Roberts
(American Morning)
[John] ROBERTS: Senator, did you mean to say that, that General Petraeus goes out every day in an unarmed humvee?
SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): I mean that there are neighborhoods safe in Iraq and he does go out into Baghdad and the fact is there has been significant progress and people are stuck in a time warp of three months ago. Of course, it’s still dangerous. Of course it’s still very dangerous. We only have two of the five brigades there and we are already seeing significant progress.
To his credit, CNN’s John Roberts did offer several challenges to McCain’s earlier statements; however, he did not, in my opinion, dutifully discredit his statements, as should be one of his primary journalistic components. Mr. Roberts is not a major culprit, but rather, he is an example within a large and growing media trend, which, of course, is its capitalistic policy of the abandonment of seeking accountability from government. That said, McCain was able to remedy a much larger proportion of his guise of credibility as a result of an explored, but uncertified lie and therefore, he is equipped with a newer, more marketable variation of the original lie.
The problem here is credibility. John McCain has squandered his once bountiful supply of it. Others had none to begin with. Yet, they carry on unabated by objective journalism because frankly, it is becoming a rarity in the era of corporate media.
Secondly, I feel strongly that although the internet and specifically the blogosphere persistently exposes the incredulous nature of our current political landscape, it does not effectively cleanse the landscape of those who have time and again offered purported facts, statements and observations that transcend non-credibility to a degree that borders on utopian delusionalism. Therefore, I propose that those of you who enjoy a superior gift of persuasive or analytical writing to direct a portion of your writing to the exploration of the credibility of individuals that affect our media and our government. Lastly, I would like to suggest that those of you who have been dedicated to questioning the credibility of individuals and their statements here at Daily Kos to include the tag “Credibility” to your diaries. I feel that if that becomes a high rated tag, it would inspire people to both read and write about this problem.
The perpetuation of success for those who have endlessly lacked credibility is universally damning to the health and sovereignty of the United States. While I am not the best representative of any cause, I am compelled to seek a greater exposition of the lies and consequences we suffer as a result of enabling a culture that lacks credibility.
When I open my mouth, I am responsible for what comes out of it. Isn’t it about time for that rule to apply to our representative government?
PS: David Frum. I had to put that name in there somewhere~!
:)
::::::::