Aug 28 2007
Wisconsin Right Wing Media: Lay Off the Teenage Girls
Interesting the right-wing hate machine in Wisconsin has no problem just laying into teenage girls on TV who flub answers about US geography and such. Apparently it’s a reflection on how bad the US educational system is or something. Maybe she’s not the brightest 18 year old in the world, or maybe she was just nervous as hell about being on national television. But seriously, who knows and who cares for that matter? 
It’s interesting that when the President of the United States on the other hand, leader of the free world, beneficiary of the best schools in America and a graduate of Yale & Harvard, who can’t put together a coherent sentence to save his life, it’s no big deal to these people.
Just to recap, an 18 year old girl saying,
I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., er, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children
…is, in the words of Charlie Sykes, a “poster-babe” who’s a result of “DUMBING DOWN AMERICA” while:
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
or:
“Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods.”
or:
“The California crunch really is the result of not enough power-generating plants and then not enough power to power the power of generating plants.”
…are the words of a brilliant man and a strong leader.
Right.
Maybe the tough guys and gals on the right in Wisconsin can find someone else to pick on besides teenage girls? Maybe not.
You’re kidding right? Every “mistake” George Bush makes is considered HUGE news. The left, which includes the likes of NBC, Washington Post, NY Times, etc, have been making it their mission to point this out since he ran for office in 1999. For as many verbal mistakes President Bush has made, I could point out as many or more when it comes to the left’s darling, Al Gore, but you won’t read much about those will you?
As for Miss Teen South Carolina, don’t point fingers just at the right wing media, pretty much every radio show in the area, and the country for that matter, have been ripping her “attempt” at answering a simple question. You mentioned, “Maybe she’s not the brightest 18 year old in the world, or maybe she was just nervous as hell about being on national television.”, or maybe, just maybe, she truly is an example of how screwed up our educational system is……
I think it’s HILARIOUS that you connect Bush with this flubbing. You are fixated on this man to a fault.
Sean, Can you post a link or offer any support of the ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX nightly news ever criticizing the President’s language/grammar/etc or his inability to make coherent points? It’s no secret that the Washington press corps considers it “inpolite” to do so and fear the retribution they’d get from the White House if they ever did.
And yes, lots of maybes and people making fun of her. I just pointed out one I thought was particularly over the top about it and using it to advance his own circumspect and tired ideology - “All schools are bad and parents, teachers, and kids are all morons.” - to sell more copies of his “book” on the subject.
So if one teenage girls terrible answer on the subject is a single indication of how “screwed up” our education system is, then all the great answers by other teenage pageant contestants are shining examples of how great our education system is, correct?
And that’s part of my point. It’s easy to take an isolated case like this and try to make it into the rule that proves a point. It’s also quite ridiculous.
This is not a question of the MSM criticizing Bush’s grammar/language, but more of the Medias infatuation with his intelligence as a whole. This is also evident in your blog when you say “beneficiary of the best schools in America and a graduate of Yale & Harvard, who can’t put together a coherent sentence to save his life, it’s no big deal to these people.” and coming up with your own quotes, to bolster a sad, and quite honestly hollow argument.
As for your analysis of who was making fun of her, it is interesting you picked a conservative. You couldn’t have picked on of the other hundreds of bloggers, radio hosts, or tv personalities both on the right and left. No you have to use a conservative, (even referring to him/they as the “right wing HATE machine.”) If you consider what Charlie Sykes said as mean, you obviously were not listening or reading other commentary on this girl. Also, I read the attached link, and I don’t see anything in there that refers to parents, teachers, or kids being morons. What I do see is a point being made that here is ANOTHER example of our school systems not properly educating our young people.
To point that out as an example of poor education is not necessarily a correlary to your great answers=great educational school systems logic, because that would be absurd (our school systems are not great, and it’s becoming more and more evident). This is not an isolated case of poor education, it’s just one more card on a deck of cases, and one that can and should be made, otherwise our school systems that are in dire need of a change of course, will never be fixed
But Sean, I thought it was a question of the “MSM” criticizing Bush when you wrote, “Every “mistake†George Bush makes is considered HUGE news. The left, which includes the likes of NBC, Washington Post, NY Times, etc, have been making it their mission to point this out since he ran for office in 1999″ to begin with. It sounded like you were questioning my assertation that the media has given him a free pass when it comes to language and ridiculous quotes.
One other thing, those aren’t “my quotes”. Those are quotes from President Bush over the last six years. I mean, if you want I can link to the location and date of the quote, or you can search them for yourself, but they’re not “my quotes” and it’s ironic that you’d make that kind of an accusation in the same sentence you’re accusing me of making things up to bolster a “sad” argument.
On the point of education, I couldn’t disagree with you more and don’t understand your logic that:
“stupid answer” equals “terrible schools”
while:
“smart answers/kids” DON’T equal “good schools”
I mean, either it is or it isn’t, and as I stated above, you can’t just cherry pick one teenage pageant contestants bad answer as absolute proof that “our schools are not great” and that she’s the epitome of a “poor education”.
As for who I singled out to make my argument, it happened to be what I was listening to in the car, and again, as I wrote above, I see as a thinly veiled attempt at faux outrage to sell copies of his book on the subject.
I’d also like to restate my original opinion on this, because as it so often happens, it’s been lost in the ensuing discussion. “Maybe she’s not the brightest 18 year old in the world, or maybe she was just nervous as hell about being on national television”