Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLastBoyScout
Hypocritical? Yes, if you tend to apply your personal standards judiciously.
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/McCain_I_Didn_t_Love_America_Until_I_was deprived of her company VIDEO
1) When Michelle Obama said "For the first time in my adult life, I'm proud of my country", the implication (by those pre-disposed to defame her) was that until that moment, she was NOT PROUD of her country.
2) So when McCain said "I really didn't love America until I was deprived of her company", the implication (by those who wish to defame him) would be that until John McCain travelled to Vietnam, he did NOT LOVE his country.
MY characteriztion is that:
- Both quotes, on face value, lend themself to be open to that negative implication.
- That negative implication is easier to make when the quotes are lifted from their context.
- Pushing the negative implication of either quote is unfair and unjust.
- The clear intent of each respective quote was to demonstrate how proud they were of, or how much they loved America. That is a very positive sentiment, despite the poor wording.
- Both Michelle Obama and John McCain deserve the benefit of the doubt by everyone and their words should not be conveniently and disingenuously misinterpreted and used in a smear campaign.
QUESTIONS:
+ Does anyone still think that either Michelle Obama was not proud of her country or that John McCain didn't love his country?
+ Does anyone think that these 2 quotes, and the negative implications that can be made from them, are not equitable for comparison? |
Question #1
Answer: The idea that McCain, who served in the military, etc, didn't love his country beforehand is absurd. In this case, John clearly meant that being cut off from the US and incarcerated in a torrid environment gave him such a greater appreciation of all the valuable things both big or small in the US that people take for granted. Deprivation does that. I see this in incarcerated prisoners all the time just how much upon reflection and viewing their situation as compared to when they were free. In McCain's case it was worse because in the US many of the abuses and neglects he experienced wouldn't even be allowed for prisoners.
As for Michelle, the 'comment' is materially distorted. And it's been a common one due to politically motivated mischief intended to itch and trigger any and all 'Angry White' resentments/bigotries against blacks that such types are just dying for any excuse to vent (and likely vote upon) anyway.
Here is what Michelle actually said--twice actually--in the same day:
YouTube - Michelle Obama "Proud" vs "Really Proud"
It was a scripted speech she was giving all over WS on a daily basis, even repeatedly in different places on one day. She missed the 'really' before proud in one of the speeches when blowing through it and of course the jackals were ready to pounce on it, never of course interested in being honest about what the real deal was with her speeches. Canned speeches with multiple time and place pressured repetitions are rarely exactly the same on as speaker will take shortcuts, get a secondary memory laspe on the memorisation of each word, etc.
Here is what she said about it in full explanation once the mischief started with the McCains and Clintons:
YouTube - Michelle Obama Clears Up 'Proud of My Country' Response
Personally, I don't even care about whether she said 'proud' or 'really proud' because I got the context of what she was meaning anyway in the full context of what she was saying. The distortions' purposes are obvious and duly discarded.
Answer #2: Any attempted spin/strawmanning of McCain's comment to claim that he never loved his country before his POW incarceration or that Michelle wasn't proud of her country beforehand is just a politically motivated manipulation.