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!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 12:34pm

Have you lived such a pure life that NOTHING could be found in your background that could be used against you? If not, you better agree with Socialism, OR KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/feb/05/religion.news

1992 In Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky points out: 'Goebbels was in favour of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you're in favour of free speech, then you're in favour of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise.'

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 12:35pm
You know as well as I do that he didn't contact the press. They contacted him.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 12:36pm
McCain is
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 12:36pm
I have no problem with free speech - just with people who can't hear what is said.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 12:39pm
At least
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 12:41pm

It's highly likely that I didn't see all that everyone is alluding to in the press....Particularly if as you say, Joe himself was under scrutiny before the debate. I DO remember a lot of attention made to part of OBAMA'S response to him (the "spread the wealth around" comment) but about Joe himself, there was nothing (that I saw at least) pointing to the fact that he was facing unfair and unprecedented attention from the media.


You saw it all and are perfectly correct.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 12:41pm
Chilly, the first part of your question has been gone over a hundred times already, but as for the 94 times, please go to factcheck.org and read what they have to say or just google it.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 12:41pm

I do not visit the Huffington Post site - I do not visit the Daily Kos site. If something is posted here and I read it then you are stretching the truth a bit to infer that I read the Huffington Post - as in I visit the site for my news. I also don't read the New York Times but I might read an article if one is posted here. I don't read Alaskan newspapers either but I have read articles here when posted.

If you want to twist facts then twist away - is really gives the rest of us insight into your mind and your thinking. So thanks for that extra affirmation of what I already suspected.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 12:41pm

Exactly.

Saying that "Joe" is being "punished for his speech" is akin to saying that if you've got a kilo of cocaine in your back seat, and a cop pulls you over because your spouse forgot to renew the registration on your car, that you're being "sent to prison for an expired registration." After all, if the cop hadn't pulled you over, they never would have discovered that kilo of blow you had. It's ridiculous.

I doubt seriously that most people check to make sure their car's registered before driving it, especially if they believe someone else took care of it. It wouldn't be YOUR fault that your spouse didn't get the registration renewed and forgot to tell you. You were doing "nothing wrong," at least as far as the car registration is concerned. And it's undoubtedly true that you wouldn't have attracted the cop's attention had the registration not been expired. By the same token, although Joe the Plumber didn't ask to have McCain bring up his name more than twenty times in that debate, it would have been very easy for him to simply tell the press "no comment," and likely nothing more would have happened. That's why we can't remember any of the names of any other people whose names have been brought up in previous political campaigns: not because the press is somehow "in the tank for Obama," or behaving unusually in this instance, but because when the press came a-knocking after McCain's repeated highlighting of him during the debate, ol' Joe threw his door open wide and reveled in pontificating about things.

In an election where the records of guys who sat on the same boards as the candidates, eight or nine years ago, are being aggressively gone-over with a fine-toothed comb, I'd say it's inadvisable at best to thrust oneself into the limelight by seeking out media interviews as eagerly as the media is seeking them out with you....unless you - like both of the candidates - have fully considered and are OK with the idea of the media going through your history and your statements to discover the truth of them.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 12:43pm
Oh so you don't actually have evidence of him being 'chased down'? Thought not.

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