My conservative friends...my apologies in advance. This is a political post with opinions that you may disagree with, but I really hope not.
I have made no secret of the fact that I strongly support Obama to be President. I supported him in the primaries, and I took the kids with me to one of his rallies. It was an opportunity for them for many reasons, which I will describe in a subsequent blog post.
The kids know why I support Obama, and one of the main reasons involves the pure nature of the political campaign of 2004. I absolutely abhor misleading political ads, and the 2004 campaign seemed to reach a new low. Yes, my conservative friends, I know that both sides engage in misleading attacks. However, it is the nature of what is being misled that has upset me so much - it is one thing to mischaracterize a vote and another thing to smear a person's integrity or character. It is the latter that especially has no place in our politics in my opinion.
I want to raise the kids to be informed voters, i.e. voters who can distinguish between a misleading ad and the actual facts. The last two weeks have given us an opportunity to put into practice my philosophy. The kids are familiar with the internet, so I added a new website to their repertoire: http://www.factcheck.org/. When the ad appeared claiming that Sarah Palin told Congress "Thanks but no Thanks" to the Bridge to Nowhere, we fact checked it and found that it was misleading. Ditto on the "Lipstick on a Pig" ad. We have done the same with Obama - his ads claiming that McCain supports troops in Iraq for 100 years was fact checked.
However, despite my best of intentions with the kids, "fact checking" ads has had an unintended consequence. Mark asked me last night if every politician lies. That made me very sad, and yes, ashamed, of our country's state of politics. What does this style of politics teach our children? I think this is a legitimate question for both liberals and conservatives. Why can't campaigns just run truthful statements? I have no answer. I didn't know what to say to Mark - other than we are only fact checking some, but not all ads, because I don't want him to grow up to be a cynic like Dan.
So .... my conservative and liberal friends - please comment - please tell me why both sides are not standing up and demanding that our politicians follow the rule that we, as parents, insist upon our children following: honesty.
I have made no secret of the fact that I strongly support Obama to be President. I supported him in the primaries, and I took the kids with me to one of his rallies. It was an opportunity for them for many reasons, which I will describe in a subsequent blog post.
The kids know why I support Obama, and one of the main reasons involves the pure nature of the political campaign of 2004. I absolutely abhor misleading political ads, and the 2004 campaign seemed to reach a new low. Yes, my conservative friends, I know that both sides engage in misleading attacks. However, it is the nature of what is being misled that has upset me so much - it is one thing to mischaracterize a vote and another thing to smear a person's integrity or character. It is the latter that especially has no place in our politics in my opinion.
I want to raise the kids to be informed voters, i.e. voters who can distinguish between a misleading ad and the actual facts. The last two weeks have given us an opportunity to put into practice my philosophy. The kids are familiar with the internet, so I added a new website to their repertoire: http://www.factcheck.org/. When the ad appeared claiming that Sarah Palin told Congress "Thanks but no Thanks" to the Bridge to Nowhere, we fact checked it and found that it was misleading. Ditto on the "Lipstick on a Pig" ad. We have done the same with Obama - his ads claiming that McCain supports troops in Iraq for 100 years was fact checked.
However, despite my best of intentions with the kids, "fact checking" ads has had an unintended consequence. Mark asked me last night if every politician lies. That made me very sad, and yes, ashamed, of our country's state of politics. What does this style of politics teach our children? I think this is a legitimate question for both liberals and conservatives. Why can't campaigns just run truthful statements? I have no answer. I didn't know what to say to Mark - other than we are only fact checking some, but not all ads, because I don't want him to grow up to be a cynic like Dan.
So .... my conservative and liberal friends - please comment - please tell me why both sides are not standing up and demanding that our politicians follow the rule that we, as parents, insist upon our children following: honesty.
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