This post isn't about politics. It's about stupidity in the media.

By the way, I have boycotted any and all companies and products who put their links anywhere near a page representing said topic.

Since when, in this day and age, does an aspiring presidential candidate advertise a trip to a war torn, bomb-ridden area latent with literally thousands of humans who'd think nothing of self-detonating themselves?

Uh, DUH?

I expected this headline on CNN (they've lowered themselves to this level for years).

But I didn't expect it on Yahoo.

I'm very disappointed.

I think I'll go microwave (I hate to use the word "nuke" as it's so wrong) a potato in the microwave.

Salt, pepper, and butter.

Mmm!

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol. Human.

Whoever says "perception is reality" is daft. It's merely an abstraction, and often not a very good one.

For some jobs there must a question like "would you like to have your IQ lowered by at least ten points?".

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

It's just the media being mad because noone told them.

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And the "driving on the freeway on a scooter" analogy still holds true because the pilots are sitting in 7 to 30 ton aircraft o' doom and you are running around them in your very own Meatbody, Mark I. Beep, beep.
Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

So they are not going to pull the trigger just telling the people who are pulling the trigger.

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

Well, some regular media have actually shown that they can shut up about something.

It was the Drudge Report, not the regular media outlets that leaked the story about Prince Harry serving active frontline duty which required him to be pulled out.

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And the "driving on the freeway on a scooter" analogy still holds true because the pilots are sitting in 7 to 30 ton aircraft o' doom and you are running around them in your very own Meatbody, Mark I. Beep, beep.
Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

Gosh - I wish I could put both of your quotes together.

Really.

Priceless, like the add.

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol. Human.

Whoever says "perception is reality" is daft. It's merely an abstraction, and often not a very good one.

Was my potato in the microwave longer than I thought?

Really, I've enjoyed all your comments.

Thank you.

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol. Human.

Whoever says "perception is reality" is daft. It's merely an abstraction, and often not a very good one.

I don't really understand what is going on.

Some politician was going to Iraq and the media reported it?

Doesn't this simply mean:

1. The media was doing their job.

2. The polician needs to improve his security.

Isn't it much better that the media find the security flaws than some assassin?

I think the point was that the media reported it as something special that the trip was unannounced, instead of treating it as the selfevident thing to do.

As for it being better that the media finds a security flaw than if an assassin finds one, that's only true if they don't immediately tell him about it.

Same as when reporting a security flaw in a software product, it's the epitome of irresponsibility to publish the exploit instead of publishing the solution that blocks it.

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And the "driving on the freeway on a scooter" analogy still holds true because the pilots are sitting in 7 to 30 ton aircraft o' doom and you are running around them in your very own Meatbody, Mark I. Beep, beep.
Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

The really strange thing is that it was not unannounced. It was reported a day or two ago on NPR that McCain would be making a trip to Iraq.

I wonder if the report was an accident -- that they were told of the trip but asked not to report it in advance (for security reasons) but it got on the air anyway. Maybe?

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Bring back Firefly!

"It is quite clear that Occam's razor does not sharpen in your pyramid." (Nicolas)

"Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." (Paul Simon)

It seems to me that any comment on this topic is strongly circumscribed, and I will be extremely careful.

Actions must be examined in context. For example, the Rapid Resignation(TM) of Gov. Spitzer in New York last week was at least partly due to an Elmer Gantry-like hypocrisy (having no friends seems to have hurt as well). The perception was worse than the action.

Here is my assessment: Sen. McCain has consistently supported the Iraqi intervention (while strongly criticizing aspects he thought were mishandled) and believes things are getting better. For his campaign, some footage of the candidate with the troops will be helpful to his image. But, as mugaliens noted:

Yes, this is the fundamental problem. After five years, any such trip must still be unannounced. This is what McCain has to deal with, offering a hopeful long-term prognosis while visiting incognito. The perception of the actions runs counter to the statements. A headline: "McCain Makes Trip to Iraq" would be as accurate, but the original delivers additional information on the state of the country, with which McCain seems to agree.

And like it or not, the humans self-detonating themselves probably think about it quite seriously.

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The Devil offered me power. I told him I preferred aperture.

Could it maybe be that he actually has an idea on what it is like to be deployed ten thousand kilometers from home in a rather unfriendly place, and wanted to show his support for the 150000 or so men and women who are their now?

Heck, I will even be as cynical as to say he wanted to make points with the 150000 voters that are over there.

The fact of the matter is, there has been many trips by many officals to visit Iraq in the last several years. Both the Pres and the VP have gone at least a couple times, so has the
Sec Def and Sec State. Many Congressmen and Senators have also gone to visit the troops in the field.

So what are you complaining about? That one of the men that sent troops overseas went himself even tho it was dangerous? Seeing as how Sen McCain knows pretty much better than anyone else how dangerous that can be, it seems that we should be praising him for showing solidarity with our troops, for accepting a little of their risk as his own, instead of denigrating him.

Drudge got it off of a british tabloid.

Drudge doesn't really ever "report" anything- all they do is scour media sites from around the world, and bring up the things they deem to be either important or sensational enough to get traffic to the site.
it is a simply laid out page of mostly simple black text on a white background with links to pretty much every media website in the world.
anyone else remember the last time McCain went to iraq? he walked thru a market and said how "safe" and "normal" life was in the middle of Baghdad, and how he didn't feel the least bit worried about his own welfare while he was there .. of course it was "safe" in that area- the military went thru there a few days before and pretty much cleared everyone out, then allowed a few token (and well guarded) merchants to set up shop for the photo op when he showed up. that visit was also a "surprise unannounced" visit, just like this one.

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"blacker than the blackest black... times infinity."- Nathan Explosion
The.. Best.. Thread..Ever...

Actually, Drudge got it from an Australian source. He should have known better than to break the news silence, but of course that wouldn't have been as attractive to him as getting attention.

Getting back to McCain's trip: it was reported before he left. I'd like to think that maybe he's there to find out the truth behind the war, which he voted for, based on some questionable evidence by the government. But, I suspect he's really there to grandstand and look heroic. IMHO, he'll get a pass from the media for HIS trip, but if Obama or Hillary were to go over, there would be media and right-wing accusations of pandering, even though they'd be over there for exactly the same reasons as McCain.

Frankly, I think everybody who voted for this war should go over there and see first-hand what they've wrought. I'm not a fan of any of the folks running for President, btw. Just observing, for now.

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Starry, starry night...

My site TheSpacewriter.com
and my blog: TheSpaceWriter's Ramblings

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And the "driving on the freeway on a scooter" analogy still holds true because the pilots are sitting in 7 to 30 ton aircraft o' doom and you are running around them in your very own Meatbody, Mark I. Beep, beep.
Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

The two are not mutually exclusive, and it's the fact that one can lead to the other that's the problem here.

Although if it was actually announced, in this case it's not the media's (entire) fault.

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

It seems to me that some members here are being quite rude to fellow board members who, by virtue of their choice to follow board rules, cannot respond to claims made in this thread - no matter their individual opinion on the subject. It's like inviting someone into a conversation but not really allowing them to participate.

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In the progress of this discussion I shall endeavor to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made their appearance, that may seem to have any claim to your attention.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1

Not British, Australian. Even then, no one noticed until Drudge picked it up weeks later.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Which I mentioned above, ToSeek. The Australian source had the news out there for some time before Drudge picked it up, but for some reason it didn't make a splash until Drudge publicized it.

I can't say that I think Drudge is really what you'd call "mainstream" media. Seems to me like his site is really an overgrown opinion column, and that's not really the same as objective journalism.

Can I take exception to the OP's firs