The case against McCain's campaign rhetoric

[maddezmom]

October 28, 2008 1:18 PM

The case against McCain's campaign rhetoric

Posted by Richard Wagoner


University of Washington professor David Domke, an expert on the intersection of faith and politics, writes today about why he signed on to a statement criticizing John McCain's campaign rhetoric.


By David Domke

To his credit, Republican Party presidential candidate John McCain has not invoked the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in his campaign against Barack Obama. It was Wright who blasted America in 2001 while pastor of Obama's church in Chicago. Obama denounced Wright's incendiary words during the Democratic Party's primary, and McCain in April said Wright was off limits. McCain has stuck to his word.

To his great discredit, though, McCain has done just about everything else. And it's not OK, say more than 100 professors of communication and journalism across the nation.

I'm one of them.

In a nonpartisan statement headed by Professor Edward Schiappa, Chair of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota, my colleagues and I say this, in our opening words:

We wish to express our great concern over unethical communication behavior that threatens to dominate the closing days of the 2008 Presidential campaign.
Both major campaigns have been criticized by fact-checking organizations for prevarications. We call on both campaigns to halt blatant misrepresentations of their opponent's positions.

It would be misleading, however, to imply that since "both sides do it" there is no qualitative difference worth noting. In recent weeks, the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin has engaged in such incendiary mendacity that we must speak out. The purposeful dissemination of messages that a communicator knows to be false and inflammatory is unethical. It is that simple.



One might dismiss the statement as the product of liberal professors who adore the Democrats. In my case, I have indeed worked with Democratic campaigns in recent years. But here's the crux of the matter: almost every example offered as rationale for the statement accords with what Colin Powell, in his interview last Sunday on "Meet the Press," said has troubled him about the McCain campaign and Republicans this election cycle. Last I checked Powell isn't liberal or a Democrat.

So what are our concerns? I'll focus on two.


more:http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/politicalcaucus/2008/10/28/domke.html

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1. HERE'S the case against McCain's campaign rhetoric

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