An editorial from the LA Times put into light of how biased and hypocritical the two political parties are in regards to criticizing the other party. It starts out by mentioning the MoveOn.org’s full page ad in the New York Times in September, which stated in big, bold letters, “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?”. The author then compared it to the “far more egregious” Swift boat ads directed at Senator Kerry during the 2004 presidential election. Many politicians criticized the ads which made “unsubstantiated allegations that besmirched Kerry's Vietnam War record”, but nothing more was done about it. However, at the end of last month, “the House condemned MoveOn's Petraeus ad by a 341-79 vote, a week after the Senate did the same by a vote of 72 to 25”. This shows the double-standard and hypocritical world that politics live in. A commercial paid for by the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, a political group consisting of Vietnam War veterans, that accuses a fellow Vietnam war veteran and presidential candidate of numerous allegations shown throughout the country? Let’s just slap them on the wrist. A fairly harmless ad in the newspaper that suggests that we have been betrayed by the General that is overseeing the Iraq war? Let’s take it to Congress and have an official condemnation. The reactions are completely fair... right?
More proof is given in the editorial by showing the responses of each party. Liberals were quick to point out that the condemnation shows evidence of double standards, but the Democrats were the ones who created the 527 groups, which consists of both the MoveOn and Swift Vets and POWs for Truth groups, so as to not inhibit campaign donations. Senator Clinton criticized President Bush for not condemning the Swift boat ads, but she herself voted “no” to condemning the same ads. Lastly, President Bush, who didn’t even comment on the Swift boat ads until after they stopped airing, criticized the Democrats for not condemning the Petraeus ads. Criticism is spit out left and right by one party towards the other. Each party turns a blind eye towards their own hypocritical actions. All of this is as innate as breathing.
The last paragraph of this editorial eloquently sums up this problem: “The message here is that sleazy political ads are OK as long as they're on your side, but otherwise they're unacceptable. We've got a different message for Congress: Instead of wasting time on this kind of meaningless political theater, how about solving the nation's healthcare crisis or doing something to fight global warming?”
Source: LA Times
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