Russert & Matthews on McSame's free ride

This is a pretty telling piece of footage from a few days ago, and again (!) I find myself agreeing with Chris Matthews. (I know - that's twice in one week!) Anyway, I have to applaud Matthews for raising the question, which in so many words was, "Is McCain getting a free ride?" Even more shocking is that Russert agrees with him that indeed he is. Of course, that doesn't suggest that much will change, starting with Cindy McCain's startling defiance yesterday that she will "never" release her tax returns, even if she becomes first lady.

Hmm - so far, I'm seeing and hearing very little in the way of outrage or backlash over that. And before you think it's not that big of a deal, again I ask you to consider and remember what big news the tax returns of BOTH the Clintons and Obamas was, just weeks ago.

What's more, the McCains have both "filed separate tax returns for the last 28 years," according the Cindy McCain yesterday. According to several reports I have seen in the last few days, all of the couple's assets are in her name. No way should all of this come out in the wash. What's more, there's mounting evidence that McCain is using his wife's wealth to skirt campaign finance laws. More on that a bit later in a separate post.

As far as the press giving McCain the same amount of scrutiny that Obama and Clinton have received, don't hold your breath. There are many reasons I feel this way, but the biggest is this - our multi-media conglomerate companies are just about all run by corporate, greedy Republicans. Asking them to give McCain the same amount of scrutiny as the Democrats would be akin to these media corporations shooting themselves in the foot. It isn't going to happen, folks. And guess what? It's why the Internet, and Net Neutrality, is so vitally important to our democracy right now - it's about all we have left, until the corporations and the lobbyists take the 'Net over. If we let them. That's not paranoia - it's a fact - there are numerous movements afoot to let ISPs do just that. Read more about Net Neutrality Here.

And that's precisely why the two most important topics that MUST be addressed in the next administration, no matter WHO wins the White House (including, heaven help us, McCain) are these:

1. Election Reform - electronic ballots, paperless voting, computers that can be easily hacked - these all need to be reformed, and massively.

2. Media Ownership - these media mergers must stop, and NOW. The next president has to put a stop to this - pretty soon, there will be only a handful of radio station owners (oops - that's already here), television station owners and newspaper publishers. Fewer and fewer media outlets now have more and more power, and this problem seems to grow by the day.

These two issues are and will continue to be a recurring theme in 2008 (and beyond) on this Website, because I really do feel that they threaten our democracy's very existence as we know it. That last sentence is not hyperbolic in any way - think about it - without free and fair elections, or a free press, the rest of our democracy is simply a sham, a house of cards, and both of these are being threatened right now, as you read this.

Do I think that Hillary or Obama will dramatically reverse these two troubling trends as if by magic if either of them wins the White House? Absolutely not. That's why we have to fight for it and demand it. However, I give reform of these two issues (and a whole lot more) a much better shot with either of those two than if McSame wins in November.