HansMast.com

6 Responses

• Hans Mast Says:
  September 5th, 2008 at 5:49 am

  She guaranteed the race was going to get ugly? Have you been following this election at all? She just came through being the recipient of some of the most vicious, irrelevant, and false smears I have ever seen in a political campaign and you are saying that she guaranteed the race was going (future tense?) to get ugly? Her performance was Mother Theresa by comparison. Furthermore, she made very good points that the media has been adamantly ignoring. She made those points with humor that brought those points home. I don’t see anything wrong with that.

• Hans Mast Says:
  September 6th, 2008 at 7:40 am

  I am surprised, though, that this was the ugliest you have ever seen. Are you serious? Was it that much worse than Bush’s campaign’s smears about McCain’s adopted daughter?

  I am afraid you have shown up my youth and inexperience. I remember the Bush/McCain primary contest (shoot, I remember the Bush/Clinton general election night when I was all of 4), but I was young enough (apparently) that I don’t remember the attacks of Bush on McCain. Wasn’t that mostly in South Carolina ads, anyway?

• Hans Mast Says:
  September 6th, 2008 at 8:59 am

  One other difference between Bush/McCain circa 2000 and Palin 2008 is that Bush/McCain was a candidate attacking. Palin 2008 is the media attacking; the media’s attacks are especially hypocritical in light of their deliberate hush-hush ignoring of the Edwards scandal of infidelity until he finally admitted it, even though the evidence was clear long before.

  Also, I would agree with the NYT:

  Mrs. Clinton can seem harsh when she goes on the attack; Ms. Palin has shown a knack for attacking without seeming nasty.

  That’s much more how I viewed what she said about Obama. A sort of incredulity that Obama would do some of these things. Not a nastiness or a cruel sarcasm, but a sort of amazement at the absurdity exhibited; an amazement that is mirrored by many, many Americans.

• Hans Mast Says:
  September 6th, 2008 at 10:19 am

  Not sure if it will play well with independents.

  According to Rasmussen, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of Americans (a jump from 52% pre-speech). Biden is at 48%. McCain and Obama are at 57%. 52% of unaffiliated voters said McCain made the right choice for running mate. 58% of voters said that Palin’s speech helped the McCain campaign. I guess my point is that there are a lot of people that agree with me that she wasn’t being nastily sarcastic.

  OK, I’m on a roll, but wasn’t Palin over the top when she said “What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet?”

  Obama is definitely a media star, but he doesn’t claim to be the Messiah. To suggest he does is disrespectful not only to him, but also to Palin’s (and my!) Savior. Since when do we drag Christ in here to bring a slur against our opponent? I am being over-sensitive to say that this quote evokes images of Christ? I see no humor here. Only poorly chosen disdain.

  Obama does claim that he wants to bring hope, that he wants to mobilize people, and there may be times when he is too willing to play to the media’s portrayal, but this is completely inappropriate.

  Have you seen this clip of things Barack has said?
  

  I don’t think it’s inappropriate (or disrespectful to Jesus) to ridicule someone that thinks of himself so highly, in such messianic (and maybe even borderline blasphemous) terms.

• FavoringCurry Says:
  September 6th, 2008 at 11:00 pm

  Hans, you’re right. Some of those quotes from Obama were bad. However, I found McCain’s ad completely revolting. The quotes weren’t a tenth as blasphemous as the rest of the ad. If that ad was all I had to go on, I’d pretty quickly choose Obama.

  Justin, of course sarcasm is part of politics. Politics is ugly. I expect ugliness from the left (at least from the secular left), but I’m still jolted every time I see ugliness from the Christian right. Do I set too high a standard? Does politics in the U.S. requires attacking and scorn and belittling? If so, are you willing to participate in that?

  I can’t make a doctrinal case against voting, but the more I see of politics (both in the U.S. and in other countries where I’ve been), the more I fear the compromise that politics brings to the church. It’s an issue of giving honor and respect. We give respect to everyone whether they deserve it or not. Palin was not doing that. Obama wasn’t either when he spoke of bitterness, guns, and religion.

  Am I all wet? Is sarcasm appropriate for believers? Do you use it when debating with others?

• Hans Mast Says:
  September 8th, 2008 at 3:28 am

  Hans, you’re right. Some of those quotes from Obama were bad. However, I found McCain’s ad completely revolting. The quotes weren’t a tenth as blasphemous as the rest of the ad. If that ad was all I had to go on, I’d pretty quickly choose Obama.

  Well, I’m sorry you feel that way. I think that this is the best kind of ad because it uses the candidate’s own words. I feel quite clearly that this is an expose of blasphemy, not an act of it. Is it wrong to quote someone’s blasphemous words in a book to call out their blasphemy?

  Is sarcasm appropriate for believers? Do you use it when debating with others?

  I don’t see it as inherently wrong, though it certainly can be misused. Yes, I use it when debating with others.

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