Liar-Liar

So, let me ask you this: where is that fine line between political spin and outright lies? I feel a little uneducated about this and slightly naive, but... shouldn't some political watchdog group be stepping in at some point during this presidential campaign? Where are the people with integrity? Where are the ones who are supposed to come out and say, "Well, actually, that's simply not a fact, John."

Instead of facts and opinions being shared and argued in a "may the better man win" sort of way, we seem to be stuck with lies, machinations, manipulation, propaganda and general media hocus-pocus. How can this media we have just sit back and judge a presidential debate's merits (very few of which I have spotted), "Well, John McCain clearly dominated the first half... etc.", when every second word is complete crap!?

Out of sheer irritation this morning, along with a heavy dose of anxiety, I've decided to hunt out the truth-sayers. Here's a great page, which offers some examples of the usual spin being taken way too far: http://www.mccainpedia.org/index.php/Count_the_Lies.

I'm happy to know that at least a couple mainstream journalists are bringing up this problem. It's too bad all those McCain voters don't seem to be reading the right articles. I think that Joe Klein sums it up perfectly in his Time.com article when he says that "The McCain camp has decided that its candidate can't win honorably, on the issues, so it has resorted to transparent and phony diversions." (http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1842030,00.html)

Unfortunately, if even his own party doesn't think he can win on the issues alone, shouldn't some of them have the integrity to keep the man from getting into office? Does no one out there care that our country is in a shambles, dragging the rest of the world down with it, and that this man may very well make it much worse? Not to mention his running mate who, ironically, could very well become the first female president, but is not even being endorsed by the National Organization for Women! I shudder to think what could happen in the next four years if people don't make the effort to look past the words and images being thrown at them. It's time for Americans to take a little initiative and start educating themselves... for once.