The Robb Report

Am I completely innocent and naive to be shocked at this?

“I ghost-wrote letters to the editor for the McCain campaign”

“You can be whoever you want to be,” says an inviting Phil Tuchman. “You can be a beggar or a millionaire. A mom or a husband. Whatever. You decide!”

The assignment is simple: We are going to write letters to the editor and we are allowed to make up whatever we want — as long as it adds to the campaign. After today we are supposed to use our free moments at home to create a flow of fictional fan mail for McCain. “Your letters,” says Phil Tuchman, “will be sent to our campaign offices in battle states. Ohio. Pennsylvania. Virginia. New Hampshire. There we’ll place them in local newspapers.”

Phil bends over my computer screen and reads. This takes a while. I am expecting roars of laughter or to be kicked out. Then he says drily: “I like that. It appeals to the hearts of people. Can you write more letters?”

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/24/mccain_letters/index.html

A certain classmate of mine sent a message to a bunch of us:

I’m interested to hear your thoughts on these. . . . On what grounds could Obama not answer / refuse to answer? Why wouldn’t he answer just to shut this guy down? . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6_k3NtXZs This video has close to 2.5 million hits.

Oy!  What what he thinking?  Anyhow, I’m a compulsive researcher, so I took a look, and wrote this:

I did some “due diligence”, and am convinced that the video contains many untruths and disingenuous arguments.  So much so, that I lost interest in pursuing it.  I like to apply the science-investigation ethic  — “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”  In addition to the distortions, the video fails this test for sure.

Here’s what I found, before I got fed up:

Intro screen: “I invented the Internet”
This trope is a common distortion.  Al Gore didn’t say this, and what he actually said is correct.  I’ve been involved with the Internet since 1986, when it was still the “Arpanet”, and I might go into the details in another post.

Berg: “Barack Obama is not a natural born citizen”
Conclusory and unsupported.  Begs the question, etc.  I find this fairly shameless, and appears to be disingenuous: he doesn’t come off as a concerned citizen; rather, that he has an axe to grind.

“FactCheck.org . . . supposedly checks out documents to make sure they’re correct.”
A slanted characterization of factcheck.org with no supporting details or evidence.  He then goes on immediately to another topic.  This is pure propaganda intended to create doubt.  (And further, what does it mean, “to make sure they’re correct”?  Not very precise language.  There’s probably no answer for that.)

“[in re Annenberg] There’s a little conflict of interest there, I believe.”
Same as previous.  This is tossed out, and then not followed up.  Is he claiming that Factcheck is wrong?  If so, where?  Did they fabricate?  If so, where?  He doesn’t say.  This is pure propaganda.

“John McCain . . . immediately released his birth certificate . . . he immediately released his medical records . . . . He said, ‘Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you.’ and he did, right away.”
This is apparently false.  I found no evidence of this.  I did, though, find lots of evidence to the contrary.  It seems to have taken 4 months for his certificate to become public, and not through McCain’s organization:

Feb. 21: Earliest mention I could find of McCain’s citizenship question. [1]

May 2: Dept. of Homeland Security refuses to hand over copy of McCain’s birth certificate in response to a subpoena, claiming improper service. [2]

June 20: The Dallas News runs picture of birth certificate, courtesy of a source, “Don Lamb in Panama.” [3]

“Obama . . . has refused to release any records . . .”
Untrue on its face.  The video itself talks about the records Obama has released.

[1] http://newsbusters.org/forums/latest-news/q-panamanian-born-john-mccain-natural-born-citizen-united-states-19392
[2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/01/AR2008050103224_pf.html
[3] http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/06/mccains-citizen.html

The current hot election story is that Randi Rhodes has been suspended by Air America because of the content of a comedy bit she did two weeks ago, off air:

Ms. Rhodes used vulgar language that likened Mrs. Clinton to a prostitute at an event sponsored by KKGN, the Air America affiliate in the San Francisco area, on March 22. . . .

In a statement, Charlie Kireker, the chair of Air America, said the radio network “encourages strong opinions about public affairs but does not condone such abusive, ad hominem language by our hosts.” (NY Times)

Here’s an example of how the conservative media is reporting it:

Air America radio has suspended talk show host Randi Rhodes for what has been described as an appalling rant . . . (Fox News)

The transcripts are online, but one really needs to see the video to get the feel of the event; that this was definitely schtick: (YouTube)

But there’s no big problem with what she said, nor with Air America’s reaction.

Contradictory? I don’t think so:

1. This was an entertainer, doing a stand-up comedy bit in an adults-only venue. Her routine was typical and appropriate for that context.
2. The content of her routine, likening some politicians to prostitutes, is political language that usually deserves a high level of deference.
3. Nothing she said is any worse than what one hears in right-wing talk forums. For example, I recently switched off the David Letterman show when comedian Dennis Miller was on, and in the beginning of an energetic routine called Senator Harry Reid a “bloated pussbag” and other pejoratives. I found it unfunny and bizarre; simply insulting for the sake of insulting.
4. It’s actually a real stretch to call her bit ad hominem. The prostitute analogy is pretty directly about the politician’s acts and behavior. For real ad hominem, consider the Dennis Miller quote, above. Or, alternatively, most times that pundits on either side of the political spectrum liken someone to a Nazi.
5. Finally, Air America is a business, and Rhodes seems to have made this appearance as representing them. And they apparently didn’t bargain for this kind of performance, nor consider it appropriate representation.

So, me personally, I’m not so shocked as I am interested in how our society is working out these events that intersect three spheres: media, politics, and comedy.