I call bullshit on the Politico.
Here's the lede from the current Politico article:
President Barack Obama has spent months recasting Democratic goals on climate change and health care reform from liberal-leaning moral imperatives...
...to hard-core economic necessities.
But when it comes to paying for them, Obama’s creative juices seemed to run dry as he turned Thursday to his party’s most predictable revenue enhancer: taxing the wealthy.
The result: an instant revival of an old and predictable Washington debate.
Oh yeah, the headline is "Class Warfare Returns to Washington."
Really. REALLY. Is this where we're going now?
This is not responsible journalism. Hell, this isn't even responsible commentary.
Inflammatory? Yes. Eye catching? Yes. Attention grabbing? Yes. At all factually accurate? Not a fucking chance.
...Obama's creative juices seemed to run dry
.
Really? That's the best you've got. I mean, attack the President's plans, sure. Of course. Hell, that's the job of the press, but "Class Warfare Returns to Washington"...really?
Look, I don't like Kim Jong-il, but if I write a piece criticizing North Korea, I'm not going to entitle it, "Red Menace Threatens to Swallow Orient." That would just be stupid, very stupid, like this article.
Hell, the damn article even calls bullshit on itself. On page two, a page that anyone who pays any attention to journalism knows very rarely gets read, the article states,
Congressional Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leaned on the White House to move quickly and repeal the Bush tax cuts.
But, as it turns out, Obama’s budget keeps those tax cuts in place through 2010, a period in which many economists and the president hope a recovery will arrive.
So, instead of "returning" to some class warfare rapid assault against the rich, President Obama plans to move slower than the Democratic House Speaker would like. Instead, he, as the article continues, offers a plan in which a
...repeal of the Bush income tax breaks will lead to a tax rate equal to the Clinton era — when the economy seemed to be doing pretty well.
This is Extreme Ninja Class Warrior Obama? (I think I'll use that as the title of my upcoming Saturday morning cartoon as soon as the networks begin listening to the voices in my head.) This is the great modern Robin Hood shouting, "I come to steal from the rich and give to the poor...next year...maybe...and not really steal...just move them back to when they were doing really, really well."
Really? That's it?
Listen, I know the first couple paragraphs make good copy. They read well. They're candy for the simple mind, but like the neon-colored-sugar-powder-in-paper-packets-with-a-hardened-sugar-licking-stick of our youth, prologued exposure just leads to jittery, nonsensical silliness.
So, I call bullshit on this article.
Furthermore, I would like to propose a new position...for me. I ask for no government money or endorsement, only a free hand to act as I will in this new role: Web Ombudsman of the Calling of the Bullshit.
I get a huge, red virtual-stamp that will cover the entire screen of whatever article I wish. It says, "I CALL BULLSHIT ON THIS," in a "cracked" font. I get to stamp it on any article I read for infractions such as using hyper-exaggerated and contradictory seeming-facts. Bloggers are free from my wrath. Their job is to call bullshit and to sling it. However, any site like Politico, blog or otherwise, that becomes establishment media is fair game.
Anyway, my screen-stamp will cover the entire visible area across two lines
I CALL BULL-
SHIT ON THIS
with the edges of the "I" and last "L" on line one and the first and final "S" on line two pushing offscreen past the visible area. No matter how much one scrolls, my stamp stays exactly like that on the offending article. One can never see the end of the bullshit. I figure that's only accurate. Finally, this screen-stamp stays on the article until I remove it...which would generally be never.
That's it. Too much power for one unbalanced mind? Why? You can still read the article if you want, I'll make the bullshit, as all bullshit is, mostly transparent. Anyone can contact me and dispute my verdict, but the stamp stays.
So, what do you think? Do I have your vote?
This article has been cross-posted on my site.