Firsts

Although today may seem like just another Monday for you and most other Americans, today is Columbus Day. It's still an official U.S. Federal holiday, even though the age-old idea that Columbus actually discovered America has long-since been thoroughly disproven.

The fact is, Columbus was an ambitious man who made the mistake of thinking he'd landed in India when he landed in the Americas. That fact, however, was one Columbus was never willing to accept - maybe because he wasn't starting from the same place in his thought processes, a concept known as 'first principles.'

One of our staff members has been doing a good bit of thinking about first principles lately, in light of two news stories: the pile of lies that Mitt Romney told at the first presidential debate that many in the media continue to mull over, and a new contraception study released over the weekend.

The debate over the debate is the story we're fairly sure you saw over the weekend, if you took in any serious media. As more and more journalists look back over the facts of the debate, many of our colleagues seem to be coming around to the position we originally took last Thursday - that no one who lied as much as Mitt Romney did could have possibly won the debate. Even former GOP rival Newt Gingrich admitted Romney wasn't honest during last week's debate.

As the contraception study and the story of Chris Columbus remind us however, many of us in the media may not be starting from the same first principles as Team Romney, or the extremists on the right.

The two-year contraception study released over the weekend basically gave women any kind of birth control they wanted for two of years at no cost. The study found that no matter what the women's background, education, religion, or economic level, abortions were reduced by 75%. The study comes just as millions of women will begin to get access to contraception without insurance co-pays, thanks to a part of Obamacare that we discussed in detail earlier this year.

In short, the study proves that all those on the extreme right who have been fighting for years against low or no-cost contraception, or for abstinence-only education, have in fact been responsible for INCREASING the rate of abortions, not protecting the sanctity of human life, which is their stated goal.

That's now a scientific fact that's not up for debate, unlike many of Mitt Romney's statements at last week's debate, which distorted and obfuscated undebatable facts.

That's where first principles come in.

Most educated people now think that Columbus was educated, but pridefully stupid - too proud to admit his factual error about landing in the Americas. In a similar manner, many people who see this contraception study may think the extreme conservative anti-abortion rights crowd will now see the error of their ways, and change their tactics.

Both groups are wrong, just as many of us in the media who have factually proven Mitt Romney didn't win last week's debate are also wrong.

If you're starting from the premise that debates should be about facts, you're not starting from the same premise as Team Romney. They wanted to win the battle against the first draft of history, which deals almost exclusively in appearance, not fact. As far as they're concerned, facts weren't important - only appearance.

Likewise, the extreme anti-abortion groups don't really care about preventing abortions, especially using methods like those outlined in the new contraception study. Sexuality, to them, is something to be feared, and the reproductive system is something to be controlled. That's their first principle.

As for Christopher Columbus? His first principle was to become wealthy, not to discover the route to India and East Asia. His principle, like the others, worked for a while, at first. But the Spanish crown eventually took his title, holdings and money.

In the end, facts matter. But often, not at first.

Friday Funday: Truth, Lies, And Friendship

By the time you read this today, chances are good that one or more members of our staff will be at the 2012 North Central Chapter National Cartoonists Society meeting in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Not only is the North Central Tooners a professional group of incredibly talented individuals - they're also our friends.

Like any group of professionals, we don't all have the same ideas about important topics like politics, the future of cartooning, and what beverage tastes best after a late night of roaming the streets of Sioux Falls and having some pirogis.

For the member of our Daily Felltoon staff who also toils in the national broadcast media, Wednesday night's unprofessional reaction by some of our broader media colleagues was a bit of a surprise. We're all used to overreaction by the extreme media blowhards, especially those in right-wing radio, who've become experts at making mountains out of molehills.

What surprised us - and especially our broadcast staffer - was the level of pure whorish groveling that so many in the mainstream media fell to immediately after the Presidential debate.

As we stated yesterday, at best, the debate was a wash for both candidates. President Obama's performance didn't meet the high expectations too many had set on him, while Mr. Romney's petulant, mendacious performance had neither facts or details in it anywhere. That didn't stop most of the media having a massive knee-jerk reaction after the debate Wednesday night.

By Thursday morning, however, members of our staff and a few other ethical journalists had been working late into the night, making sure everyone knew exactly how many lies Mitt Romney told in that debate. By Thursday afternoon, some of our media colleagues began to feel guilty about selling out and hopping on board the Romney wagon - so they began to turn their opinions around about who actually won, based on the fact that Romney had given no facts.

Many professionals in the larger media are now grudgingly accepting what we first noted - or sagely following our lead - that the debate was, in fact, a wash, mostly because of Mitt Romney's horrendous lying.

While we're glad our broadcast staffer now feels a bit more vindicated, the rest of our staff has to say - we're glad our main focus is in physical and digital print. For cartoonists especially, there's an unwritten rule that we create and draw what we do - and we don't worry about responding or apologizing. Our work stands on it's own, for better or worse - and then we move on.

Many of our friends in the North Central Tooners feel the same - and those who don't, don't judge the others.

We hope this weekend, whatever group of friends you have, they accept you for who you are, whatever your opinions are.

We also hope your friends pick up the bar tab, as we're certain our friends in Sioux Falls will. Right, guys?

The Debate: Who Won, Who's Lying About It

Heading into last night's debate, much of the discussion in the media was about the "expectation game" and whether each candidate would meet or exceed expectations. In other words, most members of the media hedged their bets - meaning they didn't have the guts to tell you what they really thought.

The fact is, Mr. Romney's campaign set the bar so low, if he didn't make an outright ass of himself - as he did in many of the GOP primary debates - he was going to have exceeded the expectations of most Americans who expected the President to win the debate handily.

As you may have noted in our Wednesday edition, unlike much of the rest of the media, we didn't hedge our bets. We don't lie - and we won't start now. We thought the debate wouldn't live up to the media hype - and it didn't.

That didn't stop many of our ethically challenged colleagues in the wider media field, who began spinning the debate in favor of Mitt, the moment it ended, as though their careers depended on it. Chances are, their careers do depend on their lies making the presidential race appear closer than it actually is, so their corporate master's ratings, clicks, and copies stay at high levels. Funny how the threat of losing something important can focus one's ability to lie.

As we already noted, though - we don't lie. So here's what really happened at the debate last night.

At best, the debate was a tie. At worst, Mr. Romney lost.

The debate leaned heavily on the economy, with four of six sections devoted to the economy. The moderator, PBS' Jim Lehrer, was surprisingly weak, allowing for Obama to talk much longer than he should have, while allowing Mr. Romney to walk all over him. Multiple times, Romney bullied his way past Lehrer and attempted to take control of the debate, much as he did with Gov. Rick Perry in the GOP primary debates.

We'll agree that President Obama spoke a bit longer at times than he should have. That said, his answers were highly detailed and fact-filled. On questions of jobs, taxes, debt & deficit, education, and earned benefits (entitlements), President Obama patiently went through details of his plans, their positive effects, and what progress had been made the last four years. On Obamacare, Obama simply bearhugged Romney to death with the facts.

On the other side of the stage, Mr. Romney was aggressive and at times petulant, like a spoiled child. As we already noted, Romney interrupted, bullied, and pushed his way through much of the debate. Romney also had virtually no details on ANY of his plans.

When pushed by both President Obama and Mr. Lehrer, Romney deftly and repeatedly avoided direct requests for specifics. Romney could not explain how he would pay for his $5 trillion tax cut - a plan he consistently lied about, multiple times during the debate. Romney insisted he wasn't going to reduce taxes on the wealthy - but refused to say how he would pay for any of his promises. What's more, Romney insisted his plans wouldn't cut other programs in the goverment, even though fact checkers have proven his math doesn't add up. Romney also insisted he was going to eliminate any Federal government program he didn't really think was necessary, including budget allocations to PBS - which is a power that Congress has, not the Presidency.

The truth is, Mitt Romney couldn't stop lying in the debate. As Jon Lovett of The Atlantic magazine pointed out:

Romney claims he never said Romneycare should be a national model. He did.
Romney claims he never promised to cut taxes for wealthy. His plan did.
Romney claims he won't change Medicare for current seniors; repealing Obamacare will do exactly that.
Romney claims he covers pre-existing conditions - in every meaningful way, his plan does not.

In short, Mr. Romney lied about nearly everything important, while giving next to no details. He even lied about Massachusetts schools being number one. That designation belongs to Maryland, actually - and has for the last four years.

Overall, the debate wasn't very exciting.

President Obama was measured, head down, writing notes throughout the debate. He was the fact-filled, wonkish scholar President that America has come to know and trust over the last four years.

Mr. Romney was the plastic corporate executive with the fake laugh, who's ready to push snap judgments, even when he has no facts. Romney had no details about any of his plans, had more than a few toned-down zingers, and had enough lies to keep the fact-checkers going until the next debate.

In a nutshell, Mitt Romney needed the debate performance of his life. He didn't give it - which means this debate wasn't a win for Romney - no matter how hard anyone tries to spin it.