Do Facts Matter?

Here's an AP article on the fact that both campaigns tend to stretch the truth in places.

If we, as a country, could agree on the facts of a situation then we probably still wouldn't agree on how to address that situation, but we could at least understand the other side's point of view.

As it is we just think the other side is crazy, because they actually believe what they've been told by their media.

I don't know how to fix this. I don't want a single media entity deciding what is and isn't true, but having divergent media outlets appears to have resulted in divergent views of reality.

Does anyone out there have a suggestion? How can we find out what's true?

It seems like organizations like FAIR - Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting - are good in theory, but I look at their site and it seems to be more critical of McCain than of Obama.

Is this because McCain's campaign is more worthy of criticism? Or is FAIR biased?

FAIR watches the watchmen, but who makes sure FAIR is fair?

Where's Hillary?

Well, as many of you may have noticed I have become more vocal, politically. This started with my original post on Palin - in which I was impressed by how she appeared to have been created for her role as vice-presidential candidate this year. More (and more accurate) information on Palin came out at the same time that some very baffling rumor-mongering was going on. I posted on these things separately. My post about the rumors was, possibly, just more rumor-mongering. My post on the Bridge to Nowhere was more clear, I hope. Admittedly, I compared her unfavorably to Dick Cheney in that one...

What's interesting is that Google Ads, looking at my content, seemed to think that my blog was frequented by McCain-Palin supporters (if my family reads this blog then possibly it is...) and several ads for their campaign then appeared.

So I wrote an Obama article. It appears to have balanced back out a bit.

The presidential election is certainly the topic of greatest interest to me just now, although Wall Street's current melt-down is a close second.

These topics will run together, eventually, I am certain.

For now, though, I'm an Obama-supporter on the sidelines, having lots of Kerry flashbacks.

And today I found myself thinking: Where's Hillary?

Who could best respond to Palin's attacks on Obama? Who could best reach out to women voters and say "A vote for Palin is a vote against everything I believe," ?

So where is she? Does she actually care about the country? Or is she going to sit this out, let McCain have his turn, and then wait for 2012?

And for that matter, where's Biden? Why is a man famous for running his mouth off failing to do so at this critical juncture?

The Obama campaign is going on the attack. And they're attacking McCain, which is appropriate, as he's the other person running for president. The attacks are still high-road, which I appreciate on some fundamental level.

But shouldn't we be seeing more surrogates? Why aren't we?