Thursday, October 07, 2010

"Character assassination"

U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell (Delaware) doesn't approve of her treatment by the news media. Of course she doesn't. By and large they've been treating her like the baffoon with nutty ideas that she is.

What O'Donnell is decrying is an absence of the sort of media behavior that candidates usually receive that can be so easily manipulated by campaign operatives-- the kind that treats every election campaign as a side-by-side horse race between the candidates for the two dominant parties. Two sides of every debate are always treated with the same level of respect, regardless of their individual merit, and no additional sides other than the dominant two are ever considered. That's the kind of garbage that needs to come to an end.

O'Donnell has been a public person on television for better than 15 years. During that time, she has said a number of really foolish things, things she still seemingly believes. She's so clueless on matters of science and reason-- embodying perhaps a new low for American political figures-- that even now she thinks the biggest perception problem of her campaign is that people might believe she's a witch. (I guess maybe if you're pandering to fundamentalists.) If she were not a Republican or Democratic candidate, she would be treated even less seriously than she is, so she still has that going for her. She's so far in over her head that she's been having to avoid most public appearances and nearly all interviews, and she's now trailing dramatically in the polls. Maybe there's hope for our system yet.

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A county judge in Los Angeles ruled against Tila Tequila today during a case in which the model and TV personality was trying to block the release of a sex tape that was shot more than seven years ago. The judge dismissed the privacy argument, saying "Tila exploits her sexuality."

The TMZ news report doesn't dive into the specifics of the legal arguments presented, but there better have been a more substantial argument against her than "Tila exploits her sexuality." So that means her right to privacy cannot be violated? Privacy claims can and have to be treated differently for celebrities, true, but that comment is sick.

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Postseason win after postseason win, these recap stories of Andy Pettitte's diamond feats never reference the fact that the now-38-year-old pitcher (a year older than Barry Bonds when he hit 73 home runs) was named in a 2006 federal affidavit as a user of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, and amphetamines (baseball's pharmaceutical holy trinity). The rules of reporting are different when you're a Yankee.

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