Over the course of the last 30 days, the McCain campaign has raised questions - legitimate questions - about former community organizer* Barack Obama's relationship with unrepentant terrorist William "Bill" Ayers. The McCain campaign even released an ad, to which the Obama campaign responded with an ad of their own, specifically about the Ayers-Obama relationship. The release of papers by the University of Chigago from the Annenberg Challenge revealed that Obama's earlier assertion that "this is a guy who lives in my neighborhood. ... He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis" was, at best, incomplete and inaccurate.
On Monday, it was revealed that Republican VP Candidate Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, 17, is pregnant and preparing to marry the father.
Story Continues Below Ad ↓
"Bristol Palin" - 665
"William Ayers" - 442
"Bill Ayers" - 135
Total stories mentioning Bristol Palin in the last 30 days: 665
Total stories mentioning William Ayers in the last 30 days: 577
Let's check Google news:
"Bristol Palin" - 2148
"William Ayers" - 1502
"Bill Ayers" - 515
Total stories mentioning Bristol Palin in the last 30 days: 2148
Total stories mentioning William Ayers in the last 30 days: 2017
Because a Vice-Presidential candidate's daughter's life is far more relevant than the long-time associates of a Presidential candidate...
* - The Obama campaign has chosen to characterize Goveror Palin as the former Mayor of Wasilla. Following their lead, I plan to ignore the fact that Mr. Obama is a sitting United States Senator and refer to him as a former community organizer. At other times, I may call him a "former back-bencher in the Illinois legislature," which sounds even less impressive. Maybe I'll just let them choose.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
At least half of the
September 2, 2008 - 09:03 ET by mattmAt least half of the liberal media bias is based in stories they cover or don't cover, and the degree of coverage a story gets.
Palin's pregnant daughter is a story, but compared to Obama's terrorist pal, his Rezco scandal and his utter unqualification to be a Senator, let alone a president, it's nothing more than a coffee-shop discussion.
- The Obama campaign has
September 2, 2008 - 09:08 ET by motherbelt- The Obama campaign has chosen to characterize Goveror Palin as the
former Mayor of Wasilla. Following their lead, I plan to ignore the
fact that Mr. Obama is a sitting United States Senator and refer to him
as a former community organizer. At other times, I may call him a
"former back-bencher in the Illinois legislature," which sounds even
less impressive.
Way to go, Mr. B....works for me!! I was furious when I saw that Obama spokesman completely ignore the fact that she was the Governor of Alaska.
Obama Spokesman?
September 2, 2008 - 10:19 ET by DamianoIt was not limited to a spokesman.
This also came from The One himself during a CNN interview last night. You know, the day that he was going to forego campaigning out of respect for the hurricane. But, why should CNN report on a hurricane when they can trash talk and 17 year old while they are not tossing Obama opportunities to spew talking points.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/02/obamas-answer-on-experience-but-im-such-a-great-campaigner/
Obama goes further to illustrate how his vast experience in running for President gives him the executive experience to be president, especially compare to a sitting Gov.... I mean mayor with a staff of 50 people and an budget that is 1/3 of his monthly budget.
He goes on to suggest that, thanks to his suggestions, another Katrina catastrophy was averted.
Wow... he is powerful. Moses has to actually show up at the river and hold his arms out in order to part the waters. The One can do it through mere suggestion.
Also, interesting note related to Obama's reason for not going to the area:
http://townhall.com/...
I am more pissed off than I
September 2, 2008 - 09:11 ET by obxrayI am more pissed off than I have ever been in my life.That is the truth.This freakin media is so damn dangerous.I had absolutly no sleep last night over all this media crap going on.This should start waking people up to what is going on.I'm swo upset I don't even know what to say anymore.errrrrr!!!!!DAMNIT
I don't see any reason to be
September 2, 2008 - 09:16 ET by BruzillaI don't see any reason to be pissed. The truth is that Palin has very little experience to be VP, so just like the Obama supporters, the McCain/Palin supporters were forced to try to over-emphasize aspects of Palin's life that show's she's a good pick to be VP. And one of the things I heard about the most this weekend was her being the wonderful mother of a wonderful family. They chose to make her parenting and family an issue, not the media. And now that the media has found some dirt, it's fair to use report it. If you don't want your judgement as a parent used against you, you shouldn't waive it out as a reason to vote for you.
Bruzilla, the Presidential
September 2, 2008 - 09:29 ET by Dan The Man 2Bruzilla, the Presidential race has and always be one about character. No one, except a President has the experience to fill the Presidents shoes. Only through an examination of ones character can we determine what their qualifications are. The voters will determine this aspect. The other stuff is quite a bit of fluff as qualification is up to the individual to determine.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
In most elections, character
September 2, 2008 - 09:56 ET by BruzillaIn most elections, character issues such as how a candidate dealt with a busted budget, or providing emergency services, or handled other forms of government crisis, were used to define character. Now we have three senators with no executive experience and a governor who's still wet behind the ears. This is why they are scraping the bottom of the barrel of offer up examples of their ability to lead, and they shouldn't whine when they get challenged on what they themselves are offering as a reason to vote for them.
Bruzill, the info about her
September 2, 2008 - 10:36 ET by motherbeltBruzill, the info about her family when she was chosen was background information about her!!
It wasn't meant to be an "issue" as you put it. No one ever said she has a wonderful family, therefore she will be a great VP!
Joe Biden talks about his family. I don't see anyone going around trying to dig up "dirt" on them...in spite of the fact that his son is a LOBBYIST!
To be fair, that analysis is
September 2, 2008 - 09:11 ET by BruzillaTo be fair, that analysis is itself a bit spun. The Obama/Ayres story was covered extensively months ago. Going back just 30 days doesn't offer a very realistic comparison. Why don't you go back to when the Ayres association story was as new as the Palin story and do a comparison of those numbers?
"to be fair"
September 2, 2008 - 09:29 ET by larry on LIif you think that the obama /ayres story was well covered , you must be relying on obama's personal rendition of the facts, the real story is just about to come out regarding these two "fellow travelers".
Bruzilla to be fair......
September 2, 2008 - 09:33 ET by connmanthe Chicago Annenburg Challenge is a "new" story. BHO for months has claimed little involvement in the CAC money vanishing act, and the U of Ill had been until "very" recently stonewalling efforts to release any information. The only place that Obama/Ayers has been "extensively covered" has been on conservative blogs, the MSM treated it like the plague.
This town needs an enema! - The Joker
I heard lots of stories
September 2, 2008 - 09:39 ET by BruzillaI heard lots of stories about the Obama/Ayres relationship on CNN, ABC, NBC, etc., but these were made months ago... not 30 days ago. All I'm saying is if you're going to compare, compare apples to apples and not apples to oranges.
It might make for a more
September 2, 2008 - 11:10 ET by Hero SquadIt might make for a more compelling comparison anyway. It took the MSM weeks to get moving on any coverage going on the Ayers-Obama relationship. On the other hand, coverage of a pregnant teenager, came out of the gate faster than Big Brown on steroids. The gap between the two numbers may be more significant.
*****
"People only insist that a debate stop when they are afraid of what might be learned if it continues." - George Will
"Covered Extensively?"
September 2, 2008 - 09:51 ET by Lyford BeverageI think not. The New York Times, for example, has mentioned William Ayers in two stories this year. The first was the day after the Philadelphia debate. It ran on A24.
" For a time, Mr. Obama was on the board with Mr. Ayers, though he no longer has a formal association with the group. At the debate, he described Mr. Ayers as ''a guy who lives in my neighborhood,'' but ''not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.'' Mr. Obama said he was being unjustly linked to ''somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old.''"
The second was last week, when they ran a story about how the Obama campaign was fighting back against smear ads.
"As Senator Obama's campaign makes its argument for his candidacy before a national audience here this week, it is waging a separate, forceful campaign against a new conservative group running millions of dollars of ads linking him to the 1960s radical William Ayers Jr."
That's the "extensive coverage" from "the paper of record."
Maybe you could present us with some evidence of this "extensive coverage.
And the 30 day comparisons really should tilt toward the story that was (or should/could have been) a story for 30 days, as opposed to the one that's been a story for 24 hours...
LyfLines - Lyford's other blog...
You're trying to compare
September 2, 2008 - 09:59 ET by BruzillaYou're trying to compare apples to oranges also. My comment about extensive coverage dealt with the topic of the post, that being the number of times the story was reported, and not about how in-depth it was, or wasn't covered. The author only offered a number of times each story was covered in the media, not the quality of that reporting, and if you're going to be fair and honest, you can't compare a breaking story to one that was a breaking story several months ago.
"...covered extensively..." ?
September 2, 2008 - 10:01 ET by JPR1Bru, is that hyperbole?
The only effort that can be considered extensive is the medias attempt to keep the details of Obama/Ayers in the shadows.
Google News, advanced archive search;
Obama chairman Ayers Annenberg Grant,
Feb 1 thru July 30... ZERO documents.
Ordinary, run of the mill journalism would/should have revealed this connection.
Obamas responses to initial questions regarding Ayers were complete bull$#*!
And all of that may be
September 2, 2008 - 10:23 ET by BruzillaAnd all of that may be true... but not relevent to the topic at hand. The topic was a comparison of the number of times the Palin story has been covered in the past 30 days to the number of times the Ayres story was covered. And, again, my point is that it's unfair to compare the times a breaking story has been covered to the times a story that was a breaking story much longer than 30 days ago was covered. The author is trying to make a point by comparing the times that a new story is covered to the number of times an older story has been covered just recently, and that is intellectually dishonest.
Topic is
September 2, 2008 - 10:45 ET by JPR1the ludicrous nature of the unbalanced coverage.
Personal life of daughter of Rep VP nominee
vs
New information reflecting poorly on Dem Pres nominee.
Bristol Palins situation is readily understood by a great many people and lacks real significance.
Mr Obamas situation on the other hand....
Gotta get to work.
Looks like some of those
September 2, 2008 - 10:43 ET by obxrayLooks like some of those fightthesmear.com are getting into NB.
Beware!
Google
September 2, 2008 - 13:10 ET by JDWRNC protesters: List over 10,000 links yet provide fewer than 180.
JDW
DAILY WAVE