Omissions, half-truths make up Gazette's

Donna Gosney
Omissions, half-truths make up Gazette's contrast of campaigns

WHILE attacking the McCain-Palin campaign for so-called smear tactics, the Gazette's Oct. 9 editorial, "Ugly," fell into their own political quicksand of leveling half-truth, total omissions and false information against the Republicans.
WHILE attacking the McCain-Palin campaign for so-called smear tactics, the Gazette's Oct. 9 editorial, "Ugly," fell into their own political quicksand of leveling half-truth, total omissions and false information against the Republicans.

Take Sarah Palin's remarks about Barack Obama and William Ayers. The editorial failed to mention Ayers attempted to blow up the U.S. Capitol and Pentagon in his 1970s protest against the Vietnam War and evaded jail only due to prosecutorial misconduct. The deep connection between them goes beyond Ayers' living-room fundraiser for Obama's state senate campaign. Millions of dollars, from Ayers' Chicago Annenburg Challenge grant, went through Obama into ACORN, which is now under investigation in 10 states for voter registration fraud. Obama once served as ACORN's attorney. Stanley Kurtz's excellent research on the Ayers, Obama and CAC connection, which came from previous undisclosed CAC documents from the University of Chicago Library, was apparently overlooked by the writer.

John McCain has never leveled a nasty attack on Obama's personal life, as the editorial dumped on a man who is a unique American hero. Obama's life and background are not clean slates. Personal statements about Obama's father being an alcoholic bigamist leaving a string of illegitimate children over two continents; Obama's drug use, which he admits; his mysterious years at Columbia University; his association with a convicted felon real estate developer, would have been declared racism in bold headlines.

The editorial heaps insults on the Pentecostal Church, which Palin no longer attends, and other fundamental faiths, but fails to mention that Obama, for 20 years, sat in the pew of Trinity Christian Church as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright excoriated white Americans while preaching the hatred of black liberation. It is doubtful if Sarah Palin ever heard her minister say, "G- d- America."

Did the newspaper make an issue of John F. Kennedy's Catholicism?

Both political parties share in the blame of the current financial morass. The editorial neglected to mention Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank, both Democrats, were involved in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae up to their ears. Dodd and Frank accepted hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars, as did Obama, from the two housing entities while demanding sub-prime lending for those unable to pay their mortgages. Nor does the editorial mention that John McCain, in 2006, unsuccessfully urged his colleagues to investigate Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae.

The editorial, in mentioning Iraq, failed to note the surge, which McCain supported and which Obama has been unable to admit is nearing success. The newspaper also neglected to mention that during his recent trip to Iraq, Obama asked their president to withhold making any commitments on troop removal until the next administration begins. Apparently, the newspaper finds no fault with a mere presidential candidate exhibiting such arrogance while attempting to implement foreign policy before the election.

Nor does the newspaper reveal that, in less than three years in the U.S. Senate, the earmarks Obama has slipped into bills amount to $1,000,000 for each day he has served while McCain has never inserted an earmark into a bill.

The editorial concludes the overriding concerns of the presidential campaign must not be camouflaged by petty mudslinging attacks. Then, they proceed to do just that: hoisting themselves on their own petard. The Gazette's failure to present a fair contrast between the two campaigns may be the reason more newspapers are losing advertising and subscription revenue, laying off employees, and some are closing their doors.

Gosney is a West Virginia Republican National Committeewoman.

http://www.wvgazette.com/Opinion/Op-EdCommentaries/200810160710