Newspaper Page Text
THE ISLANDER, NOVEMBER 3, 2008, PAGE 9
Back Talk
Continued from Page 24
Barack Obama, and so you have bur
ied this story, and when the McCain
campaign dared to call Raines an
"adviser" to the Obama campaign -
because that campaign had sought his
advice - you actually let Obama's peo
ple get away with accusing McCain of
lying, merely because Raines wasn't
listed as an official adviser to the
Obama campaign.
You would never tolerate such wea-
sely nit-picking from a Republican.
If you who produce our local daily
paper actually had any principles,
you would be pounding this story,
because the prosperity of all Ameri
cans was put at risk by the foolish,
short-sighted, politically selfish and
possibly corrupt actions of leading
Democrats, including Obama.
If you who produce our local daily
paper had any personal honor, you
would find it unbearable to let the
American people believe that some
how Republicans were to blame for
this crisis.
There are precedents. Even though
President Bush and his administra
tion never said that Iraq sponsored
or was linked to 9/11, you could not
stand the fact that Americans had
that misapprehension - so you pound
ed us with the fact that there was no
such link. (Along the way, you created
the false impression that Bush had
lied to them and said that there was
a connection.)
If you had any principles, then
surely right now, when the American
people are set to blame President
Bush and John McCain for a crisis
they tried to prevent, and are actually
shifting to approve of Barack Obama
because of a crisis he helped cause,
you would be laboring at least as hard
to correct that false impression.
Your job, as journalists, is to tell
the truth. That's what you claim you
do, when you accept people's money to
buy or subscribe to your paper.
But right now, you are consenting
to or actively promoting a big fat lie
- that the housing crisis should some
how be blamed on Bush, McCain and
the Republicans. You have trained
the American people to blame every
thing bad - even bad weather - on
Bush, and they are responding as you
have taught them to.
If you had any personal honor,
each reporter and editor would be
insisting on telling the truth - even if
it hurts the election chances of your
favorite candidate.
Because that's what honorable
people do. Honest people tell the
truth even when they don't like the
probable consequences. That's what
honesty means. That's how trust is
earned.
Barack Obama is just another
politician, and not a very wise one.
He has revealed his ignorance and
naivete time after time - and you have
swept it under the rug, treated it as
nothing.
Meanwhile, you have participated
in the borking of Sarah Palin, report
ing savage attacks on her for the
pregnancy of her unmarried daugh
ter - while you ignored the story
of John Edwards' own adultery for
many months.
So I ask you now: Do you have any
standards at all? Do you even know
what honesty means?
Is getting people to vote for Barack
Obama so important that you will
throw away everything that journal
ism is supposed to stand for?
You might want to remember the
way the National Organization of
Women (NOW) threw away their
integrity by supporting Bill Clinton
despite his well-known pattern of sex
ual exploitation of powerless women.
Who listens to NOW anymore? We
know they stand for nothing; they
have no principles.
That's where you are right now.
It's not too late. You know that if
the situation were reversed, and the
truth would damage McCain and help
Obama, you would be moving heaven
and earth to get the true story out
there.
If you want to redeem your honor,
you will swallow hard and make a list
of all the stories you would print if it
were McCain who had been getting
money from Fannie Mae, McCain
whose campaign had consulted with
its discredited former CEO, McCain
who had voted against tightening its
lending practices.
Then you will print them, even
though every one of those true sto
ries will point the finger of blame at
the reckless Democratic Party, which
put our nation's prosperity at risk so
they could feel good about helping the
poor, and lay a fair share of the blame
at Obama's door.
You will also tell the truth about
John McCain: that he tried, as a sena
tor, to do what it took to prevent this
crisis. You will tell the truth about
President Bush: that his adminis
tration tried more than once to get
Congress to regulate lending in a
responsible way.
This was a Congress-caused crisis,
beginning during the Clinton admin
istration, with Democrats leading the
way into the crisis and blocking every
effort to get out of it in a timely fash
ion.
If you at our local daily newspaper
continue to let Americans believe -
and vote as if - President Bush and
the Republicans caused the crisis,
then you are joining in that lie.
If you do not tell the truth about
the Democrats - including Barack
Obama - and do so with the same
energy you would use if the miscre
ants were Republicans - then you are
not journalists by any standard.
You're just the public relations
machine of the Democratic Party,
and it's time you were all fired and
real journalists brought in, so that we
can actually have a daily newspaper
in our city.
Orson Scott Card is the author of
the novels Ender's Game, Ender's
Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead,
which are widely read by adults and
younger readers, and are increas
ingly used in schools. Besides his
writing, he teaches occasional classes
and workshops and directs plays. He
recently began a long-term position as
a professor of writing and literature
at Southern Virginia University and
currently lives in Greensboro, NC. □
Calendar
Monday, November 3, 7 p.m. The
Golden Isles Fiberarts Guild will
meet in the parish hall of Holy Nativ
ity Church, 615 Mallory Street on
St. Simons Island. (912)638-8596 or
(912)638-1617
Tuesday, November 4, 7 p.m. The
Southeast Coastal Georgia Computer
Club will meet at the Ida Hilton Public
Library on Highway 17 in Darien. Pre
sentation on Quality Freeware Recom
mendations. 912-267-7613.
Saturday, November 8, 10 a.m. - 4
P.M. Experience The "Debatable Land"
autumn encampment at Fort King
George. Admission $2.50-$5.00. (912)
437-4770
Sunday, November 9, 2 p.m. The
Coastal Georgia Genealogical Society
will meet at the Brunswick Library for
a panel discussion entitled "Document
ing Your Research... Joining a Lineage
Group." 265-5916. □
Movie Night
at the Casino
Sponsored by tKeSt. Simons Library League
W \ Heavenly
Creatures
Wednesday, Nov. 12
7 p.m.
Casino Theater
"Heavenly Creatures." New Zealand, 1994,
directed by Peter Jackson. Kate Winslet stars
In this real life story about two young girls
who have an Intense fantasy life. When their
concerned parents separate them, the girls
take revenge. (The film comes with a footnote
attached: One of the girls, Juliet Hulme, has
been Identified as Anne Perry, the best-selling
British crime novelist.) 99mlnutes; Rated R.
Upcoming Movie Include:
November 21 - Sweet Land
Movies are free, but contributions are appreciated.
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