The United Hates of America

By Rick Marschall

A distinguishing characteristic of the 2008 election, but also of the American culture in general, is the relative importance of the peripheral. I am reminded, for instance, of Katie Couric putting matters in perspective – at least her perspective – when she announced the death of Mother Teresa: “We just got word that Mother Teresa, who once met Princess Diana, has passed away…” Yes, it was during the week of Diana’s fatal accident; yes, many news readers never develop improvisational skills. But she could have focused the curious connection in the other direction, or simply not stretched for a connection.

Yet it was an emblem of America’s obsession with celebrity, and, I said, our elevation of the peripheral over the substantive. “Trivia” now seems like the stuff of doctoral theses compared to the stories that flit across front pages, TV-crawls, and computer screens for flickering moments.

In this campaign one of the topics that has shoved aside discussions of, say, foreign policy or judicial activism, is Sarah Palin‘s medical transcript.

She has not provided it to hungry journalists, particularly the watchdog of public affairs, Kate Snow of ABC News (about whom more anon). Neither has Obama, although his campaign released a one-page summary of his health, scarcely the same thing. For that matter, he has stonewalled on the release of his birth certificate in the face of questions about his parentage and the location of his birth, a Constitutional matter (his campaign has released an after-the-fact “record of live birth,” a different document); neither has he yielded to intense curiosity about college transcripts or theses he wrote at Columbia and Harvard, in the face of suspicions of early fealty to Marxist doctrine.

In the interest of full – or partial – disclosure, Biden has released his medical records… with redactions of details about recent brain scans! As someone who has been treated for dangerous brain aneurysms in the past, he should want to reassure the public.

So Sarah Palin has not released her medical records either. It’s not irrelevant matter with any of the candidates, and she has indicated that she would do so; therefore soon rather than late would be appropriate.

But let us pause for a moment on the real story, which is not blood pressure but political pressure. Kate Snow has been an embedded with the Hillary Clinton campaign and a weekend anchor for ABC News. Her puffball questions of Hillary are textbook examples of favorable bias. An “exclusive” interview with Bill Clinton included a question about his arguments in the primary campaign that began “You might not want to answer this, and I’ll respect that…”. Her Democrat bias lends credence to the new nickname of ABC – Another Barack Channel – and her shameful imbalance explains why the mainstream media is losing audience at warp-speed.

In the ABC News “Political Radar” blog for November 1, she writes of the fact that Palin has not yielded to Snow’s request: “Of course there are plenty of perfectly innocent explanations. The governor is perfectly healthy and the campaign feels no public pressure to release information? The doctor is on vacation and unreachable?  The dog ate their records? There are also more sinister explanations. But we won't go there.”

Say it ain’t Snow, Kate. By “not going there,” you HAVE gone there. One place you HAVEN’T gone is Journalism 101. A columnist or commentator properly might write “sinister explanations.” A reporter or anchor should write, “troubling possibilities,” or even “suspicions raised.”  But to write “…more sinister explanations. But we won't go there” confirms that she is taking money under false pretenses from ABC “News,” and ought to wear an Obama button on the set.

But I promised we’d discuss the “United Hates of America.” This Snow job is not it – but her words clearly invite the opening of floodgates of bile it is hard to comprehend. The blog response from Internet readers cascaded. Snow poster her brief countdown of disappointment at 2:22 p.m. I read hundreds and hundreds of posting from readers… so you don’t have to. If you insist on opening the link, I warn you – if you are civil and have good sense or good taste – this will be somewhere between offensive and depressing. Here is the link: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/11/day-six-and-sti.html

Before my summary, remember, we are talking about a sitting governor, the vice-presidential candidate of a major party, a wife and mother, a church member and committed Christian… well, before I get the REAL reasons for the venomous attacks, here is a summary:

Just on the day of Snow’s blog posting, there were reader’s “comments” that can be categorized:

Palin obviously is hiding something “sinister” (Kiss me, Kate): 25 references

Palin clearly is lying: 21

Medical records would show that her husband Todd abused her: 5

Palin is a drug addict: 11

Palin pretended to have the newborn Trig, covering for her daughter Bristol: 97

Palin has had one or more abortions: 55

Palin is mentally unstable and takes treatment drugs: 31

Palin has a STD; herpes or syphilis: 26

I hesitate to list other discussion-points from the democratic chit-chat, but in case your outrage has not been stoked, writers allege that Sarah Palin is a rape victim; is an alcoholic; needs the companionship of a female aide from Alaska; was born male; had sex with McCain; and that her medical records would show that she doesn’t breast-feed, as if that’s a crime.

Once upon a time public servants had to fear only assassin’s bullets.

Michael Barone, longtime staffer on US News and World Report and the editor of the respected Almanac of American Politics, recently wrote an essay, “The Coming Obama Thugocracy.” He properly warns that we are entering an era of intimidation, perversion of laws for partisan ends, and the suppression of free speech.

The posts on this ABC blog of Snow’s are but hors d’oeuvre to the main meal. “Oh, these are just hot-heads letting off steam; that’s what the wide-open Internet is all about.”

This is not about idiots; we have always had them. It is about the subversion of “independent” “news” “services,” for without their objectivity we are doomed as a culture.

This is not about a minimal screening of lewd and obscene posts on a corporate web site, because we long ago abandoned such expectations of the mainstream media.

It is not only about the injustice being done to a decent woman and her family. Be prepared the vilest things said about her husband and daughters – including “dangling the retard in front of screaming audiences” and “Trig probably wished he had been aborted” when he was dressed in a Halloween costume, on other blogs.

What should concern us – deeply, deeply, deeply – is the death of civility in American culture. Good Will left the house a while ago, but arrogance, coarseness, and intimidation are the thugs who have moved in. This is new Ruling Elite.

Get ready for, possibly, four years or eight years of this. Or maybe our entire future, until we are formally overtaken. The barbarians are at the gates. They are also scaling the gates, worming into the foundations, pouring through the cracks.

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