When Some on the Right Lie

I have really come to appreciate the site Media Matters (http://www.mediamatters.org/). It has done an excellent job of sorting out the lies that are being put out there by the right. For the record, I would appreciate something that sorts out the lies that are put out by the left as well. Truth is the key here, as well as honest assessments of the things that are reported in the news.

Media Matters has an excellent post showing how some on the right are being quite open about fanning the flames of misunderstanding regarding BHO's trip to the Middle East. There are too many people in this country who accept, without even thinking, that anything related to Islam is inherently evil. One of my biggest critiques of the Bush administration was its effort to render complicated things simple, banking on the hope that Americans, impatient as we certainly can be, would simply accept what the administration had to say. Very few things in this world are simple. We, as Americans have to come to grips with that, if we really are to understand how the world, beyond our individual lives, works.

BHO's speech was good as an introduction to a new American strategy for engaging the Middle East. It was an appeal to the future leaders of the Middle East. It acknowledged the mistakes that we all have made (which is something too many on the right have difficulty bearing; yes, even the United States makes mistakes). Though I do not remember who said it, I agree with the idea that we will have seen a sea change when a leader from the Middle East could give a similar speech and live to tell the tale.

Please take a look, and see how some on the right, as Media Matters noted, have deliberately doctored BHO's words to serve their own ends, while presenting lies to the people who actually trust their words.

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