I couldn't believe it when I heard this 'playground taunt' come out the Moderator's mouth, on this morning's MTP:
" ... do two wrongs make a right?"
I thought to myself -- What are we in the 7th grade here now?
Your panelist is trying to make a very relevant point about "holding all candidates to the same standards" (with respect to their email transparency)
-- and THAT's your reply!?
... Two wrongs don't make a right.
(In other words: "Nevermind that everyone else does it -- were picking on Hillary Clinton now.")
Meet the Press Transcript -- March 15, 2015
MEET THE PRESS -- SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015
[...]
KAREN FINNEY: [...] For all of those who criticized how slow she was, I think she also deserves credit that she went out there and did it. Because that's been the other criticism, right, that you wanted to see her come out. [...]
And when that narrative about her and the Clintons were set, the country was not ready for someone like her. And so I think she's being held to a different standard. I would argue Jeb Bush has a lot of problems with his emails. If transparency is paramount to becoming commander in chief, then let's have the same standard for everybody. And she's already turned over 55,000 pages.
CHUCK TODD: The problem is, Jeb got ahead of this. She had an opportunity to get more ahead of it.
KAREN FINNEY: But he still hasn't released it.
CHUCK TODD: There's no doubt that do two wrongs make a right? That's been another pet peeve of mine this week.
KAREN FINNEY: But no, but that's not the point. The point is, everybody should be playing by the same rules.
CHUCK TODD: Let me throw something up here
KAREN FINNEY: -- the same standard.
CHUCK TODD: Andrea and Kevin, let me throw something up here. And it's from our history of our NBC Wall Street Journal poll. There's no woman politician in America that we've polled on more in our 25 years than Hillary Clinton. And check out this chart. It looks like an EKG. [...]
Mission accomplished Mr. Moderator -- not only did you manage to shut down the mere mention of "equal email treatment" under the press, for each of the Candidates --
you also managed to abruptly change the subject to your pre-planned bit, about "Whether Hillary has a Likeability problem, or not?"
Geesh Chuck, that's what I thought Elections were for.
(to see who the majority of Americans "like.")
It seems the Tim Russert under-study want-a-bee, has been promoting his new "News Standard" for a while now. Apparently in hopes of making himself appear to be "impartial" and above the fray.
Newsflash Mr. Todd: That ship (SS Impartiality) has sailed already -- and guess what, you weren't on it.
Nine in 10 Americans Agree: D.C. Looks Out For Its Own Political Interest
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann, nbcnews.com -- Mar 12, 2015
[...]
Two wrongs don't make a right
The two big political stories over the past week -- Hillary's emails and that Iran letter -- have led to partisans saying, "Well, the other side does it, too!!!" as one of us recently noted in a Facebook post. Case in point: Hillary Clinton's defenders have argued that Jeb Bush has his own private server, and that Scott Walker had his own email system in Wisconsin. But do those practices mean that Clinton's personal email use is OK? The other example: Republicans contend that the GOP's letter to Iran's leaders is justified because Nancy Pelosi went to Syria in 2007, and because ex-Rep. David Bonior went to Baghdad in 2002 to protest in the impending Iraq war. But when did two wrongs make a right? If you criticized said behavior in the past, you can't turn around and use it to justify your current behavior. It's no wonder that 90% of the country thinks Washington is looking out for its own partisan interest.
[...]
Here's a puzzler for you Mr. MTP three-ring-leader:
If two wrongs don't make a right, Chuck -- What about 3, what about a dozen, what about hundreds?
Because if "journalists" such as yourself had have been doing your jobs (ala Mr. Russert) ...
that's about how many "wrongs" you should have uncovered by now, just in the normal course of "making D.C. accountability to those 90% of Americans," that you now claim to care so much about.
Two wrongs may not make a right -- but neither does the 'selective ignoring' of all those other wrongs, do either.
That kind of ignorance, just simply rewards the "wrong" behavior. Any school-kid knows that, moderator "pet peeves" notwithstanding.