Tuesday, August 08, 2006
In which I choke on my own disbelief
I'll admit it. The MSM got one half right.
You may recall the "reporting"/wishful thinking/intentional distortion of the MSM after the Mexican election. I discussed it here and here.
Well, today I happened to find a link to an article in the L.A. Times, and what to my wondering eyes did appear? An acknowledgement that Obrador is a "sore loser."
In the L.A. freakin' Times.
Note that to be a "sore loser" you must first be a "loser," which I guess makes Calderon a "winner," which I guess means that Calderon didn't defraud his nation. After all, if there were penumbras or emanations pointing to fraudulent behavior, the MSM could never admit that Obrador was the "loser."
Not that I'm fully satisfied. The LAT could have gone a step further and spoke truth to demagoguery. They could have pointed out that the socialists were too quick to point the finger of corruption, to bring their nation to a standstill, to threaten public safety, to jeopardize the public good for their own political gain. They further could have pointed out their own complicity in the stunt. And the shared complicity of most of the MSM, who were all too happy to report anything that echoed of, 'Republicans are corrupt corrupters who corrupt within a culture of corruption.'
Instead of getting completely above board, the Times glossed over the instability of the past month. Had the shoe been on the other foot, and conservative protesters had shut down roads and businesses in Mexico City for the better part of a month, I'm sure we would have been reading the most outlandish estimates of the effect on the Mexican GDP. And then reading the anecdotes of kids unable to get to their schools through thousands of fascists, rowdy drunks creating an 'atmosphere of violence and intimidation,' and so on. Instead we got this:
As though the fact that he called the duly-elected President-elect a liar and a cheat, and left thousands of fellow citizens to question the validity of their own government, is water under the bridge so long as he stands down now.
And what of the fraud allegations? I had surmised the charges were unsubstantiated a month ago when my faux-MSM report concluded as follows:
Sure enough, buried deep (magma deep) within today's LA Times story, was this little tidbit:
I know, I know. I shouldn't expect too much at once. Baby steps.
At least there was a belated admission that a conservative can win an election without being a cheat. Speaking truth to truthiness, so to speak.
You may recall the "reporting"/wishful thinking/intentional distortion of the MSM after the Mexican election. I discussed it here and here.
Well, today I happened to find a link to an article in the L.A. Times, and what to my wondering eyes did appear? An acknowledgement that Obrador is a "sore loser."
In the L.A. freakin' Times.
Note that to be a "sore loser" you must first be a "loser," which I guess makes Calderon a "winner," which I guess means that Calderon didn't defraud his nation. After all, if there were penumbras or emanations pointing to fraudulent behavior, the MSM could never admit that Obrador was the "loser."
Not that I'm fully satisfied. The LAT could have gone a step further and spoke truth to demagoguery. They could have pointed out that the socialists were too quick to point the finger of corruption, to bring their nation to a standstill, to threaten public safety, to jeopardize the public good for their own political gain. They further could have pointed out their own complicity in the stunt. And the shared complicity of most of the MSM, who were all too happy to report anything that echoed of, 'Republicans are corrupt corrupters who corrupt within a culture of corruption.'
Instead of getting completely above board, the Times glossed over the instability of the past month. Had the shoe been on the other foot, and conservative protesters had shut down roads and businesses in Mexico City for the better part of a month, I'm sure we would have been reading the most outlandish estimates of the effect on the Mexican GDP. And then reading the anecdotes of kids unable to get to their schools through thousands of fascists, rowdy drunks creating an 'atmosphere of violence and intimidation,' and so on. Instead we got this:
if Lopez Obrador only convinces a fraction of those who voted for him that he is the victim of a rapacious fraud, he can still do the country a great deal of harm.
As though the fact that he called the duly-elected President-elect a liar and a cheat, and left thousands of fellow citizens to question the validity of their own government, is water under the bridge so long as he stands down now.
And what of the fraud allegations? I had surmised the charges were unsubstantiated a month ago when my faux-MSM report concluded as follows:
To this point, Al-A.P. has not obtained objective analysis of whether the videotapes -- the alleged evidence supporting Obrador's fraud claims -- are authentic or not (if we had been able to confirm fraud by Calderon's supporters, it would have been the headline).
Sure enough, buried deep (magma deep) within today's LA Times story, was this little tidbit:
A video purported by Lopez Obrador in mid-July to show ballot stuffing in the state of Guanajuato was discounted by a representative from his own party. He replied, in typical fashion, by questioning the integrity of his party's representative
I know, I know. I shouldn't expect too much at once. Baby steps.
At least there was a belated admission that a conservative can win an election without being a cheat. Speaking truth to truthiness, so to speak.
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1 comments:
Just for fun:
1. Replace Obrador's name with Al Gore
2. Replace Calderon's with George Bush
3. Replace Mexico with United States
4. Replace Cardenas with Teddy Kennedy
Look at the hilarity that ensues:
UNWILLING TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT his own dismal campaign may have cost him the presidency, United States's sore loser, Al Gore, is threatening to bring the country to a standstill. He repeated his call for a civil disobedience campaign in the aftermath of Saturday's preliminary decision by the nation's Federal Electoral Tribunal to review only 9% of ballots cast in the July 2 election.
Al Gore, who lost by less than 1% of the vote to conservative George Bush, has demanded a full recount of all ballots, but the tribunal for now will be looking at polling places where affidavits suggest a possible error. Already, Al Gore's cries that he was robbed have left United States City with a sizable headache. The leftist former mayor's supporters have pitched tents on the city's central square and along busy Reforma Avenue.
As much as Al Gore would like to believe otherwise, this isn't the United States of a quarter of a century ago. The nation's electoral system is now independent. Al Gore hasn't been victimized by an authoritarian government, as he and Bush's party were in the heyday of the long-ruling Institutional Revolution Party, or PRI. Instead, Al Gore is now trying to intimidate and undermine the democratic process.
In the weeks since the election, Al Gore has been trying to have it both ways — exercising his right to challenge the results before the specialized court created for that purpose while arguing that the vote was rigged and that he will never concede defeat. Thus far, his attempts to find irregularities have failed miserably. A video purported by Al Gore in mid-July to show ballot stuffing in the state of Guanajuato was discounted by a representative from his own party. He replied, in typical fashion, by questioning the integrity of his party's representative.
Widespread fraud in this election would have been quite a logistical undertaking, involving hundreds of thousands of citizens chosen at random — much like Americans are chosen for jury duty — to operate polling stations.
Given Al Gore's incessant complaining about the unfairness of the election, it is important to remember that the independent bodies that oversee elections in United States were largely created and designed in response to the urgings of Al Gore's Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD. The tribunal could still call for a broader review, but Mexican law is wary of full recounts lest the election-day work of those conscripted ballot-counting citizens be undermined.
Even some within his party, including influential Teddy Kenedy (grandson of the nation's iconic populist president and son of the PRD's founder), are suggesting that Al Gore's tantrums are going too far. And 15 of 17 PRI governors, who saw their presidential candidate come in third place, have echoed the assessment of international monitors who called the election exceptionally clean.
For their part, the two-thirds of Mexicans who did not vote for Al Gore in July must be feeling a lot better about their decision with each passing day. Trouble is, even if Al Gore only convinces a fraction of those who voted for him that he is the victim of a rapacious fraud, he can still do the country a great deal of harm.