Elephants v. Donkeys battle it out

CNN plans to incorporate bloggers directly into its coverage for the upcoming mid-term elections. The station plans to have an E-lection Nite Blog party. The event will allow some of the top online opinion-makers in one place to provide instant reaction as the results come in. In this is just one of the many ways blogs will be used in this year’s mid-term election. Surfing through the Internet, you will encounter many blogs on President George W. Bush all the way to former Democrat, now Independent candidate, Joe Lieberman.
Speaking about CNN, a recent blog posted by an unknown person reads, “CNN shows Terrorist Propaganda”. According to the blog, CNN, which is known to be a liberal station, showed footage of an American solider being shot by a terrorist sniper. Apparently, the blog says the terrorist organization gave the tape to CNN, exclusively. This man’s argument is that CNN doesn’t show 9-11 footage because it is traumatic to children. The CNN host will not wear American flag pins because they do not want to take sides in the war on terror and it will not show how many schools, hospitals, roads, and buildings are being built in Iraq.
Yet, they showed the U.S. soldier being shot. In my opinion and the person’s opinion, it’s just another ploy to attack the Bush administration and the flaws it has on the war in Iraq. The person goes to say that CNN screwed up by showing the tape because Americans will get angry. CNN is ignorant enough not to release the footage. CNN was used as the terrorist had their propaganda shown.
Another argument he presents is that with the elections approaching, CNN will increase ratings by showing such footage because it will get more Liberals to watch and motivate them to protest or vote against the Republican Party.
The person does have a point and that’s that no one wants to see his own kind being shot. This is a stab at the current administration to rally up the Liberals to protest at Bush’s ranch along with the radical leftist, Cindy Sheehan.
The bashing starts now before the voters hit the polls.
This week John Kerry said a comment that called military men uneducated. He said that education is important, but if you don’t study you might get stuck in Iraq. According to Kerry’s blog site, it was a botched joke. The White House is calling for an apology for the Senator. On Kerry’s blog site, he says that the president is the one who owes the troops an apology. His blog reads, “Let me make it crystal clear, as crystal clear as I know how: I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy.”
The senator is getting support from other individuals as he posted many individuals names who support Kerry and his clumsy move. Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Claudia J. Kennedy supports Kerry. She said; “The men and women of our armed forces know they have a friend and tireless advocate in John Kerry. When it comes to Iraq, he's right to stand up against baseless attacks, and right to keep fighting for a better course for our troops and our country."
This could be a dumb move by Democratic leaders because they are attacking the troops. This could be a plus for the GOP party as they can take advantage. Clearly, in the video, students and others in attendance misinterpreted the comment and had no idea what the jokester was implying. Not once did he mentioned the word “Bush” in the comment; thus, he should apologize, which he did. He had no other alternative because if he didn’t apologize then he would ruin the Democratic Parties image.
In continuation with the Kerry comment, another blog claims that the media is not paying attention to the dismantling of U.S. military checkpoints related to the search for a ran abducted solider. In this blog, the person said that at a White House brief, reporters primarily asked about the comment and only one reporter mentioned about the dismantling of the checkpoints, which is more significant. The press secretary just said that the alleged abducted soldiers status is that the military is trying to find him. But, continues to pick on Kerry. Bush had an interview with Rush Limbaugh, where Bush stated Kerry needed to apologize. The entire blog takes you through initial steps of what has happened. The person takes the role of the comment is insignificant compared to the dismantling of the U.S. checkpoints in Iraq.
Another blog states about the same theme and that the media should forget about the Kerry comment and focus more on the fact of dismantling the check points. The soldier is called an abandoned soldier by this blogger because no one really cares if the U.S. military is closing the areas. Apparently, the Iraqi government is the one claiming to be kicking out the U.S. government. “The U.S. military does not have a tradition of abandoning its own soldiers to foreign militias, or of taking orders from foreign governments. No commander-in-chief who actually walks the walk, rather than swaggering the swagger, would acquiesce to such a thing. The soldier appears to be of Iraqi descent who is married to an Iraqi woman.”
He calls for Senator John McCain and Dick Cheney to step up to the plate and explain the situation of this abandoned soldier.
Another blogger attacks Bush after he appeared on the Rush Limbaugh radio show. The blogger mentions that the only important quote to mention was that Bush said that he was confident in a GOP victory because the party stood right on the two main issues: lower taxes and winning the war on terrorism. The blogger calls Bush an idiot and says, “Americans do need more financial security, but giving people a tax rebate—especially one that, for the people most struggling economically, won’t make a damn bit of difference over the course of a year—isn’t the answer, not when you’ve got millions and millions of people without health insurance, millions of people suffering under crushing debt and filing bankruptcy, wages stagnating, education costs increasing, and a federal minimum wage that doesn’t provide enough income to rent a one-bedroom apartment anywhere in the country.”
The blogger says that we need to be protected from terrorism. However, there’s another issue that we need to be protected from, poverty. Many Americans are losing their homes because Americans don’t make a sufficient income. Poverty is increasing in the United States and the president nor any party to be exact is not addressing the issue.
“Bush likes to assert that the GOP is right in-step with mainstream American values, but they’re so far off the mark, they can’t even see it anymore, if they ever did,” said the blogger.
Blogs are a significant tool in the elections. The mainstream media is not giving enough attention to the candidates and is focusing more on the party agendas instead of the candidates themselves. Blogs are a major factor and they can influence many voters when they go to the polls on Tuesday. That’s why voters should focus on the candidates agenda and study their motives because voters can’t trust bloggers and the media. Blogs are just another way of expressing themselves with no limitations.