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Why is it when a Republican is accused of anything, everyone feels the need to claim it's a political attack but when a Democrat is accused, they get a judicial inquiry going that wastes tax payers money? Claims of "liberal media" bias would make me laugh in a world where most media is controlled by wealthy in-name-only conservatives except people seem to keep drinking the kool-aid.

If it's ok to report on the numerous alleged affairs of Clinton why isn't it ok to report on affairs of McCain? Are Americans just so accepting of the double standard of treatment between Democrats and Republicans that they never question these differences? By double standard I mean the fact that time and again any Democrat's personal life seems fair game while questions about Republicans are always blamed on the "liberal media". How much money was wasted on investigating Clinton over his presidency compared to almost no oversight at all for Bush on matters of actual federal and national importance?

Are we forgetting that Bush Jr's campaign made a very big deal about McCain's supposed sexual life? It's true, not all attacks on Republicans come from the "liberal media". Their own party members will happily trot out half truths and rumors to attack each other. The really weird thing is that often those attacked come to heel like an abused animal who still craves the abusive master's touch whether it's a caress or a kick - Randi Rhodes's show compares it to a domestic violence dynamic on a fake commercial. This makes me think of the another double standard: the expectation that the Right will use any means necessary while the Left (or what Thom Hartmann calls "the Middle) is expected to always have overwhelming evidence and never stoop so low.

So has McCain had one affair, no affairs, or dozens of affairs? Why does that matter? I think it only should matter to those who claim to be supporting "traditional family values" and yet apparently his campaign and some of these media figures are using this "scandal" to help fund-raising. Hhhhmmm.... isn't that interesting? They can us it to help with fund-rising. I'm thinking if this is any sort of political tactic it is to get him more money and rally more support for him in this never-ending bleating about the "liberal media".

Stop drinking the kool-aid people. Start thinking about what is really important in a presidential election. Here's a hint: it isn't who you sleep with but how well you can manage a nation and interact with other nations. Allowing yourselves to be distracted by personal issues that do not matter regardless of which political party you support only undermines the representational democracy we are supposed to have in the USA.

Learn more about this author, Tammyjo Eckhart.
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