A request to the media to do some actual research

The liberal blogosphere was buzzing yesterday about McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakins stupid gaffe indicating that McCain, as head of the Commerce Committe helped create the Blackberry. Gosh, that was stupid. And Jonathan Martin, who blogs about the Republicans at Politico dug up a survey that McCain had filled out when he'd bragged about his work as a former Chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

"I am the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The Committee plays a major role in the development of technology policy, specifically any legislation affecting communications services, the Internet, cable television and other technologies. Under my guiding hand, Congress developed a wireless spectrum policy that spurred the rapid rise of mobile phones and Wi-Fi technology that enables Americans to surf the web while sitting at a coffee shop, airport lounge, or public park."

Why don't these reporters, instead of just reporting talking points from the trail, actually do some research and report on what McCain did on this committee. I have no idea what McCain did in this respect. Is he being a blowhard bragging about his record or did the committee actually play a key role? Wouldn't that be a more relevant subject for us to know about than whether he does or doesn't use email? McCain has a long record in the Senate. Most people know about the parts of that record that he brags about like supporting the surge or the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform. But since the economy is such a crucial issue for us this year, let's find out what McCain has done on the Commerce Committee.

The media has done a lot of concentrated research on Sarah Palin letting us know that, horrors!, she came into office and hired people she thought would be loyal to her, but why not take a look at the actual head of the ticket's record in the Senate beyond the usual stories. And while they're at it, let's hear about what Biden has actually done. How has he voted in the Senate. And of course, there is Obama's record in both the Illinois Legislature and the Senate. We have three senators on the two tickets - it would seem a natural to go back over their records and examine some of the bills they supported and opposed to give us more of an idea than just telling us that they voted liberal or conservative. For starters, let's hear about what McCain's Commerce Committee actually did rather than the one-liners about PDAs.