This is why Internet Memes sometimes Sucketh the Big Weenie:

For the past week or so, I've been seeing a meme going around that quotes this statement:

[W]omen are low-hanging fruit, though, in the terms of politics. You can reach up and say, 'I'm pro-choice, he's not.'

Then there follows a few more statements about how "I (LJ-owner-type-person) am not low-hanging fruit and I am insulted to be called thus. Therefore, I am going to prove that I am not low-hanging fruit to the ebil Democratic Party/Barak Obama/Both by (choose one of the following): voting for a third-party candidate/voting for McCain/staying home on election day and not voting at all."

The reason why it's not word for word is because there's some variation on the wording.

However, the following elements are all in place:

• The statement that "women are low-hanging fruit" for the Democratic Party, so none of the candidates have to work too hard to win over women
  
  
• The assumption that either Barack Obama , someone high up in his campaign, or some highly placed Democratic Party official said this statement
  
  
• To show that women are not low-hanging fruit, they're going to "punish" Obama and/or the Democratic Party come election time by voting Republican or not voting at all
  

There's just one eensy-meensy-teensy-tiny problem with the above meme:

The low-hanging fruit crack was actually said by Chris Matthews. And the person who said "I agree" to that statement was NBC's political director. (Link to Media Matters.)

In short, no one involved with the Democratic Party or Barack Obama's presidential campaign said the offending statements. So, would someone care to explain to me why anyone is holding Barack Obama and/or the Democratic Party responsible for something a television news "personality" and a NBC network employee said? Especially Tweety Matthews, who during Hillary Clinton's run really went all out to put the "pig" in "male chauvinist pig."

Look, you wanna hold Matthews and MSNBC responsible for that stupid statement? I'm all for it. Sign me up. In fact, let's get the party started over it.

But please stop holding Barack Obama and his campaign for every piece of stupid and/or sexist shit that hits the airwaves, especially when the person saying it is: 1) Not associated with his campaign and; 2) Isn't even acting as a spokesman for the Democratic Party. If Obama and his people say/do something stupid, by all means, hold 'em responsible, but at least hold 'em responsible for something they actually said, as opposed to something someone else said. Just sayin'.


And on that irritated note, I urge you to read this article from award-winning journalist David Neiwert: How right-wing crap polluted Democrats' political waters, which outlines the rightwingnut noise machine may have helped make the Democratic primary race look far more bruising than it actually was in the press, which has, in turn, created a "perception of reality" among the hard-core supporters of both Hillary and Obama.

So, in final note, kiddoes: Please do the world a favor and approach any and all bits of news and Internet memes with a healthy dose of skepticism during this political season.

Gracias muchly.



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