Jumping to conclusions; The “right” and “left” making assumptions without facts

I guess in time of uncertainty, many decide to take it upon themselves to dictate the “truth” of the time to those who have influence. This isn’t simply the realm of the left but we see it on the right as well, something hard not to notice from various sources on both sides of the aisle. Who of us can say that none of their high school teachers or college and university professors didn’t try to shape our minds to fit their agenda? I have been a teacher, I have seen how powerful our statements are, more so even in a place like China where our words are taken as the absolute truth, and it is a pretty powerful feeling and it is very easy for the weakest of us to be lost in it. Take for example this disgusting abuse of a position of power. Children don’t understand the importance of this election, nor could the comprehend the implications of this action or its impact on the political race. Michelle Malkin and others who have reported on this story are correct, this is very much like what you would find in socialist country like China. With incidents like this, we should be very aware that who we trust for unbiased information can abuse their position of power, especially when jumping to conclusions about the truth of a story without examining its facts.

A few sources yesterday are coming to false conclusions in result to a few things, one being a resurgence of the market. I hate to do this twice to Michelle Malkin and her readers, but they are mistaken. If I am going to slap the left for their lack of economic knowledge, it is only fair I turn around and do it to the right as well. I don’t like it mind you, especially since it was the Democrats and their far-left supporters for the last nine years, according to former President Bill Clinton, who put us in this situation, but I am not going to be pegged as biased like many have during this election.

Let’s return to the point here, the markets bounced yesterday and many on the right are pointing to it as a sign that they are reacting positively to the bailout being defeated. The problem with this is that we had a negative reaction to the bailout failure which is evidence enough that these assertions are wrong. Many might point to this as evidence of the power of a free market to fix itself, referring to the widely held belief that in the long-run, the economy will return to a state of balance without outside assistance, but they usually forget about the economic turmoil found in the short-run. The truth is that the bounce yesterday is because a bailout is expected shortly, not because of some “mystical financial power” or “good” overly conservative fiscal policy.

I am going to let that idea settle for a bit, going to let you think about how predictions affect the market. The other day the market nearly collapsed because investors believed the government would let it fall apart. The media uproar following the bailout failure has brought more political pressure on Washington to pass the bill, even Barack “Let Congress figure it out” Obama is being forced to act, which is downright surprising since it took the President to get him off the campaign trail last time. As of now, today is the day for the Senate to vote on the failed bill, one last hope for Wall Street, and investor optimism for this allowed for yesterday’s rebound. As I said other day and several times before, perception and expectations have an effect on the economy. Just like with Obama’s pessimistic claims about the economy leading to financial hardship, especially at the gas pumps, positive assertions can create a positive economic affect. This is simple second year economics…

In their defense, this bailout is a sign of a coming economic hardship for Americans. This isn’t a quick fix like Barack Obama and the Democrats are trying to spin it, it is as John McCain said in the debate, “the end of the beginning” of another rough patch in America’s economic history. As Duane R. Patterson said on Hugh Hewitt’s Townhall, Barack Obama’s inaction was inspired by his own agenda, that he would only act to make gains in the polls. Even Rudy Giuliani was tearing “The One” up on Hewitt’s radio show, stating that “he didn’t want to stain his shirt” by putting his credibility on the line and helping the bailout plan pass. This is exactly what Karl Rove said right after the bill failed, this is what I said yesterday in my article Destroying the economy to win votes, and this is what the MSM is refusing to print.

Democrats like Chris Dodd and Barney Frank put us in this mess with their dealings and defense of Fannie-Mae and Freddie-Mac, Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama refused to help it pass, and while Republicans couldn’t get behind the bailout bill to get it passed, it is the Democrats who should take the “lion’s share” of the blame. This is why the right refuses to support the bill, because they don’t want to fix a problem the left created, but it is more than that. Protectionist policy caused this, and they believe that allowing the market to somehow balance itself is the only way to solve this problem. That is wrong, and if I am going to tear out Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the “Destructocrats” (as Hugh Hewitt called them) for not getting this bill passed (they have the majority of the house, they could have passed this without a single Republican if they wanted to), I will slap the right for not doing their part as well.

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While the right is guilty of jumping to conclusions, the left is just as bad, if not worse, on “putting the cart before the horse”. Lately, The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan seems to be filling that roll nicely, spouting off anything that comes to mind involving Governor Sarah Palin, making absurd assumptions without even an ounce of SOLID fact. One of his newer posts, Palin Is Destroying McCain, he quotes data taken by his own biased magazine to suggest that Palin’s overall impact on McCain’s campaign has been negative. SurveyUSA, following the speech she gave at the RNC showed significant gains among independents, something which Sullivan ignored. Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris from Politico were also taking shots at the Palin choice at first, publishing 6 thing Palin pick says about McCain, which I responded to, much to the delight of those like Sullivan. Her performance at the RNC howver changed their tune so much that they wrote a follow up article How Palin changed the race. When we have seen a shift among balanced sources, people who are taking an unbiased look at the presidential race, towards Sarah Palin, those like this hack seem almost obsessed with their desire to ruin a woman who’s only crime happens to be that she isn’t a “Washington Insider”.

I would goes as far to say that this is a very unhealthy obsession Sullivan has. Case in point, his “S**t fit” on Bill Mahr’s “Real Time”. No Andrew, this isn’t “Putin’s Russia”, if it was, you would have “disappeared” the instant you first opened your mouth and voiced your deranged political opinion. He even goes as far as to twist the words of his fellow columnist, Megan McArdle, who finally “admitted” that Palin was a disaster. Read what McAdle actually said,

“For all I know, she’s a genuine expert on the main issues facing Alaska. But the main issues facing Alaska aren’t all that similar to the main issues facing people in other states, and they’re very much not like the main issues of foreign policy.”

She admits that Palin’s interview with Katie Couric wasn’t what the McCain campaign was hoping for, and as Bill O’Reilly stated, that was “gotcha” journalism. Couric wouldn’t have dared to ask Barack Obama these kind of questions, and no one, not even Joe Biden, would know exactly everything their running mate has accomplished in their career to the point where they can cite specific examples. As Brent Baker at Newsbusters.org put it, Couric didn’t give the same fair treatment to Palin as she did to Biden the week before. While this woman has been unbalanced in her reporting, this display of unequal treatment is, however, much less deranged then that of The Atlantic’s most controversial columnist.

The point is here that Andrew Sullivan has definitely past the point of no return. As many have said, what scares the people like him on the left is that they have never met a woman like her before, nor do they understand how she can exist in their narrow view of the political world. I would go as far as to say that he doesn’t have much respect for women in politics, let alone understand a woman’s equal place in society. For example, that graphic on his blog clearly shows his psychological issues with the fairer sex, showing their subservient position to his perceived intellectual superiority as demonstrated by the female character’s placement in the cartoon. NEWSFLASH Andrew, Sarah Palin isn’t the “in the kitchen” type that you would obviously want and approve of. She DOES have a strong political record of reform, she DOES have foreign relations experience (I have highlighted her work on the Alaskan Pipeline Project consistently to counter accusations to the contrary), she DOES have experience in deploying troops, as we saw with her giving fellow Governor Bobby Jindal National Guard assistance following the last hurricane, and she DOES have a better understanding then Barack Obama on the War on Terror since she is in the exact same position as many other Americans who watch their loved ones go off to battle. It is all well and good that they complain about the loss in life, but they refuse to put themselves in an actual position where they would truly understand these feelings of sadness they so like to fake for political points.

I recommend that everyone as delusional as Sullivan actually sit down and look at the facts, actually take time to clear their heads of all that biased garbage and find something actually speaks to Palin’s character rather then quote numerous slanderous posts and slanted interviews to prove a point. Hugh Hewitt’s radio interview with the Governor yesterday should help point this out, but knowing the far-left as we do, I doubt it will change many minds. Already Andrew Sullivan has put out another post continuing his long line of delusional rants, this one pushing the Eagleton scenario and how he hopes Palin won’t be on the ticket come November. If I were a psychiatrist, I would have him committed by now.

Like I said, I will do what I can to keep things fair and balanced. If I see something that I don’t agree with, I will report it. I don’t care what side of the aisle it happens to be on, whether it be the right with their overly conservative beliefs on a free market balancing itself out, or it be the far-left’s delusional rants about Sarah Palin, I will make their mistakes known. I only wish the MSM would be this balanced during this election year, but instead we see a media bias which we couldn’t have even imagined four years ago. It isn’t only the bottom feeder like the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post, but also media giants like CNN and MSNBC which have put their political agendas above their duty to report the news fairly. It is absolutely shocking that these people, jumping to ignorant and downright dangerous conclusions, can get away with it now, while four years ago it cost Dan Rather his career. A true demonstration of how this presidential race has polarized the country, so much so that very few seem to get their facts straight anymore.