The McCain-Palin Lies and the Neil Armstrong Principle

Paul Begala voices some of the frustrations that many of us are starting to feel about the joke that this election is rapidly becoming, thanks to the shameless SOBs running the McCain campaign, the toothless wonder that is today's press, and the incredible sucking sound coming from between our electorate's collective ears:

"But facts ought not be debatable. The media have an obligation to point out when a politician is lying about a matter of fact, but the right-wing attack machine has so cowed some of them you can almost hear them moo. Steve Schmidt, McCain's top dog, is a brilliant and audacious strategist. His candidate has had the most favorable press coverage of any politician of the last century -- fawning, adoring, sycophantic press coverage. And yet he is brutalizing the press, waterboarding them into pretending that whether Gov. Palin supported the "Bridge to Nowhere," or hired an Abramoff-connected lobbyist to secure massive earmarks are somehow debatable.

The real debate is over whether the media will be vigilant watchdogs, sounding the alarm when McCain and Palin lie, or fall back to the role they've played for most of McCain's career: lapdog.

The press is so damned worried about appearing "fair" that they're going to hand a bunch of serial liars and scumbuckets the White House on a platter made from their own obeisance. And if we the people don't do something about it, we will soon get four more years of the government we deserve.