August 9th 2008
Media Bias #30
Georgia On My Mind
As we’d expect, both John McCain and Barack Obama quickly issued statements after war broke out in South Ossetia. With Russia reportedly escalating the war and accused of bombing two apartment buildings, here’s what Obama had to say:
“I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict. Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint and to avoid an escalation to full-scale war. Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected.”
Translation: Stop the fighting, show restraint, and Russia, get out of Georgia.
Here’s the McCain statement:
“[T]he news reports indicate that Russian military forces crossed an internationally recognized border into the sovereign territory of Georgia. Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory.
“The government of Georgia has called for a ceasefire and for a resumption of direct talks on South Ossetia with international mediators. The U.S. should immediately work with the EU and the OSCE to put diplomatic pressure on Russia to reverse this perilous course that it has chosen.”
Translation: Stop the fighting, show restraint, and Russia, get out of Georgia.
Of course there are differences in tone, and tone matters in international diplomacy, but are the two statements really so different as to warrant this analyis from Politico?
Obama’s statement put him in line with the White House, the European Union, NATO and a series of European powers, while McCain’s initial statement — which he delivered in Iowa and ran on a blog on his Web site under the title “McCain Statement on Russian Invasion of Georgia” — put him more closely in line with the moral clarity and American exceptionalism projected by President Bush’s first term.
I see. It’s OK for Obama to be like Bush if he’s like today’s Bush. But McCain is just McSame, and that’s not the same as this previously undisclosed New Bush, but the same as that ol’ bad guy, Bushitler.
The C-SM Bias-o-Meter is in the red.
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