Elections for Sale

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-07-2008
Elections for Sale
8
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 11:57am

Once our elections actually had to be fair.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 12:08pm

Wow. The last time I heard any complaints about the Fairness Doctrine is when Republicans thought it unfairly benefited Democrats.


Fact--Fairness Doctrine applies to everything except newsbroadcasts. Yes, I would agree that the press has had a love affair with Obama and that has unfairly harmed McCain, but I don't know if McCain would be as happy with the same amount of coverage as Obama has had. He'd look pretty darned boring in comparison.


Fact--Fairness Doctrine applies to availability ONLY. So, Jay Leno can't invite Obama without also inviting McCain on another date. Fred Thompson couldn't even appear as his regular character on Law and Order without triggering the Fairness Doctrine. But Obama CAN purchase time, because McCain has the same opportunity to purchase the same amount of time. In fact, the networks would eat it up.


I seem to recall a similar programming thing done by Bush in 2000? My memory could be fuzzy, however.

The 3 Day

Sandy
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2007
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 12:54pm

I'm pretty sure people

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 12:57pm

Yes, I would agree that the press has had a love affair with Obama and that has unfairly harmed McCain, ah we agree

Photobucket

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 1:14pm

>He'd look pretty darned boring in comparison. I don't agree but I also find it not important ... I vote by issues not charisma ;-)<


I do as well, however, having been involved in politics, the boring guy rarely, if ever, gets elected. Kennedy vs. Nixon, Reagan vs. Mondale, Clinton vs. Bush, Bush vs. Gore, Bush vs. Kerry...see a pattern there?


Fact is, charisma does get folks to the polls. There are many who would go, yeah, I like this guy but the lines are too long/I can't get to the polls without missing work/my polling station is too far from my home/I can't drive and so don't bother to vote. Charisma makes people passionate about a candidate.

The 3 Day

Sandy
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 1:27pm

This is not new:


Sopal

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-23-2008
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 1:29pm

Yeah, I'm bookmarking this for the next time I hear the typical GoOPer bleat about the Fairness Doctrine and how Obama Will Outlaw Talk Radio, etc.

Pretty danged hilarious to see conservatives all up in arms about what they would otherwise describe as the perfectly legal purchasing of television airtime through our privately-controlled media, in order to "sell" a "product." Not that that EVER happens on TV or the radio, LOL.

Kinda reminds me of the aging pre-boomers who're already collecting social security, medicare, were the first in their families to go to college, courtesy of the original GI bill, but who can't stand "government interference" in people's lives. Always makes me LOL a bit.





Konichiwa, Bitches!
McCain LOST???

Community Leader
Registered: 09-14-1997
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 4:50pm

"Once our elections actually had to be fair"


Sorry, this struck me as funny because I was just reviewing the lera of political machines and the elections of the 1800s.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2001
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 5:57pm

I don't begrudge Obama buying the time. . .I just wish he had been more open about where the money for the purchase came from (George Soros and foreign nationals have contributed heavily to the Obama campaign).


I do begrudge the biased coverage by the mainstream media who have purported to be "journalists" but have been totally in the tank for Obama.