Response, Rebut, Retract: Spin vs. Record
If you judge by response, Toni Becker’s article “Spin vs. Record” has provoked our readers more than anything we’ve seen. We’ve received three times the responses than any other article posted on semo.net’s home page (raffle’s and giveaways excluded). Both sides (equally) have weighed in with their kudos & kudon’ts.
REBUTTAL:
Every individual who disagreed with the post was offered a chance to post a rebuttal. Only one person has responded to that offer:
Energy – Supports Expanded Drilling for Oil.
Obama does support expanded drilling for oil. In the second Presidental Debate on October 7, Senator Barack Obama stated that oil companies should “Use It or Lose It” in reference to 68 million arces of unused oil leases. An article by the Rocky Mountain News suggested that using theses leases could double domestic oil production and increase natural gas production by 75%. Many of these leases are offshore. Obama thinks that we should use these areas before opening up new areas to drilling.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/04/obamas-use-it-or-lose-it-policy-makes-sense/On August first, Senator Obama stated “he would back limited offshore drilling as part of a broader energy package that attempted to bring down gas prices and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Obama dropped his blanket opposition to any expansion of offshore drilling and signaled support for a bipartisan compromise in Congress aimed at breaking a deadlock on energy that includes limited drilling.”
http://www.truthout.org/article/obama-limited-offshore-drillingIraq War – Obama Supports Immediate Removal of Troop from Iraq.
Senator Obama has never supported immediate removal of troops from Iraq. He has suggested that the removal of troops should take anywhere from 10 months to 16 months depending on the conditions in Iraq. Even President Bush is now negotiating a withdrawal by 2011.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/650/Ray Binford
One email indicated that Toni’s post had the hidden agenda of promoting John McCain. I certainly don’t agree it is a hidden agenda FOR a candidate, but do see this as an overt agenda FOR certain issues: Her personal beliefs on these issues were the reason that she posted this article.
In my opinion, if Barack Obama was “pro-life” and John McCain was “pro-choice”, her vote on Tuesday would probably be for Missouri to be a “blue state.”
RETRACTION:
semo.net is making a retraction to a statement in Toni’s article & the title Spin vs. Record
In Toni’s article she states “…per the votes they’ve cast as U. S. Senators. A historical record of how each has voted cuts through all the spin and slick speeches and gives us, voters, a more truthful look into each man.”
Although no one has mentioned this, while researching for this response to Toni’s article, I discovered that Toni misquoted the original document from WallBuilders.com. Only 9 of the 14 were actual U.S. Senate votes by John McCain and only 3 of the 14 were U.S. Senate votes by Barack Obama with a fourth being a Illinois State Senate vote.
semo.net, therefore, regrets that the original article attributed this to U.S. Senate votes and not the candidates’ rhetoric and retracts the statement as well as the title of the article, “Spin vs Record.”
FINAL NOTES:
First, I would like to thank Ray Binford for providing his rebuttal.
Second, please remember to vote on Tuesday for all the local, state and national candidates of your choice!