Atrocious to Smear a Private Citizen

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2008
Atrocious to Smear a Private Citizen
369
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 4:22pm
I think it is atrocious for the press to try to smear a private citizen who merely used his first amendment rights to question a candidate! He didn't ask for all this attention, and he has not stated who he will be voting for, but since John McCain received some points in the debate last night about an exchange "Joe the Plumber" had with Barack Obama the press is out to destroy this man. Good Grief! The man is a plumber! An average citizen. Now the left wing is trying to vilify him like he's George Bush! How HORRIBLE! And the extremists on the left seem to be following in lock step. No compassion for an ordinary man UNLESS he shares their socialist viewpoint. This is about as dirty as it gets!

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2003
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 5:01pm

<>


As a subject of numerous smears himself and someone with DECADES of public life under his belt....Yes, he should have known better.


<>


Yes, he

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2008
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 5:05pm
I'm sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I am going to go back and edit the post to make it more clear. I was upset when I posted it. That interview was fine. After it, the press went after him with a vengeance. This is frightening.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2008
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 5:06pm
It's Obama's way -
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2003
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 5:07pm

It seems that McCain is often pretty slapdash. He doesn't vet his people particularly well, doesn't do his homework (or ask permission) when strategically dragging the names of private citizens onto the international stage and he doesn't even bother going through the proper channels and asking permisson (or paying royalties to the artists) before using their music in

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-15-2005
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 5:08pm

I'm honestly not understanding your use of "smear".


I've always thought that meant to spread false and damaging rumors about someone.


Is it factual information that he didn't pay the taxes and isn't licensed?


If it's true, how is it a smear?


I know right from wrong.


Wrong is the fun one.


iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2008
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 5:09pm
It's Obama's way -
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2008
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 5:10pm

I agree that dragging innocent bystanders into the crush of a campaign like this one for any reason - especially political gain - is more than just a bit slimy. And I, too, would like to know how much John McCain thought about that before he did it.

However, I feel constrained to point out that there's a bit of the old "takes two to tango" going on here. "Joe" doesn't have to give six-minute interviews to Diane Sawyer or anyone else. He can tell the media to go jump in the lake, and they will. Maybe not immediately, but there is nothing more boring than a nobody who won't give an interview. Heck even waiting for Paris Hilton on the day she went to jail was boring and a waste of TV time....the press sat through it, because Paris is a celebrity and everyone knows she has no objection to making the news - in fact that's what she DOES: seek out cameras. But a journeyman plumber from Ohio who isn't interested in talking to the media? That's at most a two-day story, and then it becomes just another facet of an increasingly lengthy campaign, no more or less remarkable than Hillary Clinton doing a shot and a beer in Pennsylvania during the primary (remember that?). He has chosen to do multiple media interviews, thus indicating his approval and even his enjoyment of the treatment. If he hadn't, "no comment" would suffice quite nicely to get the media vultures to go away.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2008
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 5:11pm
Please cite me one example in the past where a private citizen has been smeared in the press simply because one of the candidates used his story to make a point. This is unprecedented and truly sickening and frightening.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-05-2008
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 5:11pm

"Maybe John McCain should have asked him first, especially since McCain had never even met or talked to the guy."

Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2008
Thu, 10-16-2008 - 5:13pm

You really think Obama dug the dirt on this guy and fed it to the press?


 

Pages