All Style and No Substance?

Here's a great post from my friend Monte's blog -

It’s certainly a popular comment - but is it true? We went to Factcheck.org, an independent political accountability group. Their evaluation includes a quote from last night’s debate:

Clinton: “I was somewhat amused the other night when on one of the TV shows, one of Senator Obama’s supporters was asked to name one accomplishment of Senator Obama, and he couldn’t.”

And Factcheck analyzes:

Clinton is referring to Texas state Sen. Kirk Watson, who completely whiffed when Hardball’s Chris Matthews threw him a softball question. But Clinton is wrong to suggest that Watson’s inability to answer means that Obama lacks substantive accomplishments.

In fact, Obama sponsored more than 800 bills during his eight years as an Illinois state senator. And his U.S. Senate career, while brief, has been action-packed.

As for Obama’s list of his accomplishments, he’s right on every count. A Washington Post editorial credited Obama for helping to create “the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet,” and the Coburn-Obama Act created a new Web site, USAspending.gov, which allows anyone to see where federal contracting and grant money is being spent. Moreover, it was an Obama-sponsored amendment that ended Walter Reed’s practice of requiring outpatient military personnel to pay for their own meals.

And as a state senator in Illinois, Obama championed a bill requiring the police to videotape prisoner interrogations. Although initially controversial, the measure passed the Senate unanimously; even Republicans conceded that the turnaround was largely Obama’s doing.

Finally, while Obama didn’t mention this one, we think it’s worth noting that the Lugar-Obama non-proliferation initiative provided funds for destroying nuclear weapons and for intercepting weapons of mass destruction.

In short, Clinton is wrong to suggest that Obama lacks a substantive legislative record.

Well now, voter friend: Do you think eight hundred bills in the Illinois legislature is “all talk?” Do you think making the Army pay for veterans’ meals during treatment is “all style?”

May I invite you to bookmark this clip? If you should enjoy responding to those ubiquitous allegations, it could come in handy. And I suppose there are a thousand such posts, and people everywhere who are doing the same thing.

We get to be a part, you and I, in these glorious internet days, of creating a groundswell of truth where once facts were too hard to come by. What a privilege! What a time to be alive!