Charles Blow, "Dark Road to the White House": Hypocrite!

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Dark Road to the White House" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/opinion/blow-dark-road-to-the-white-house.html?_r=1), Charles Blow tells us that the "road map for a Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan win in November" consists of "Shady money, voter suppression, shifting positions, murky details and widespread apathy." Telling us of Paul Ryan's "letters to Obama’s secretary of energy asking that millions of dollars from the program [Obama's stimulus package] be granted to a pair of Wisconsin conservation groups," Blow concludes:

"Paint a scarlet 'H' on that man’s chest for hypocrisy."

In fact, the real hypocrite here is Blow.

Blow begins his opinion piece by quoting at length from yesterday's sleazy New York Times editorial "In Thrall to Sheldon Adelson" (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2012/08/new-york-times-in-thrall-to-sheldon.html), which parroted language from the Obama campaign, and to which the Times's public editors office responded by declaring, "The Times's editorial page has a wide latitude to express its views" (http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2012/08/new-york-times-public-editors-office-re.html).

If I understand both Blow and the Times's editorial board correctly, Romney is forbidden to take money from Adelson, but Obama can take money from Soros (convicted of insider trading), Goldman Sachs and Hollywood. Obama can also cut a stinky real estate deal with Tony Rezko (today also a convicted felon). Hypocritical? You bet.

Ryan opposed Obama's stimulus plan, but after it was approved, Blow observes that Ryan sought part of the money for his constituents. But once the plan was passed, why shouldn't he have done this for his constituents, who would ultimately also have to pay its price?

Blows accuses Romney of "shifting positions" and "murky details," however, even The Washington Post is telling us today in an editorial entitled "A presidential campaign that’s not serving the country" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-presidential-campaign-thats-not-serving-the-country/2012/08/17/502fbbee-e314-11e1-a25e-15067bb31849_story.html?hpid=z3):

"For his part, President Obama has offered only the gauziest outlines of a second-term agenda. Instead, his argument for reelection is focused on the damage he argues Mr. Romney and fellow Republicans would do. This may be enough for Mr. Obama to cobble together the necessary electoral votes, but it hardly lays the groundwork for the difficult choices, particularly on the fiscal front, that will confront the next president — and that Mr. Obama ducked during his current term."

In that same editorial, the liberal Washington Post had the integrity to reference Vice President Biden's recent inflammatory remarks (Republicans will "put y'all back in chains") and obscene attempts by the Obama campaign to link Romney to the death from cancer of the wife of a steelworker. But does Blow attempt to strike this balance? No way.

There is a much I don't like about the positions, or absence of positions, of Romney, but Charles Blow has now also done his part to further sully a 2012 presidential election, which has found its way into the gutter owing to the demeaning level of the Obama campaign - to which Obama once pledged he would never descend.

A "dark road to the White House"? Indeed, it is route upon which Obama has cast "Hope" and "Change," if they ever existed, by the wayside.