Monday, November 24, 2008

Now He Tells Us

Recently, in an article written on Politico.com, Mark Halperin of Time Magazine admitted that the media bias was at an unprecedented level in favor of Barack Obama. This conclusion is not exactly breaking news but it is interesting that Halperin is admitting the bias.

Time Magazine was one of the most flagrant in the fawning coverage of their chosen candidate. Obama received halo styled photos on the magazine's front cover more than the current president or any other presidential candidates. Only the most out of touch would have not noticed.

Halperin manages "The Page", Time's political Web site. He points to The New York Times portrayal of the two potential First Ladies in profile stories. "The story about Cindy McCain was vicious. It looked for every negative thing they could find about her and it cast her in an extraordinarily negative light. It didn't talk about her work, for instance, as a mother for her children, and they cherry-picked every negative thing that's ever been written about her."

"The story about Michelle Obama, by contrast, was "like a front-page endorsement of what a great person Michelle Obama is, " according to Halperin."

Interesting. Though there is nothing in her biography that makes Michelle Obama a "great person" by any stretch of the imagination, she is called a great person. Cindy McCain, in contrast, has spent her life doing good works and living what she preaches while overcoming her own personal demons and she is not worthy. Michelle Obama is raised in the church of black liberation, brings Barack Obama into this form of Christianity - who was raised by two Muslim men previously before converting to Christianity - wrote a college thesis on black versus white in society and then had the thesis untouchable from interested press, has only worked for big business or the city of Chicago in her professional capacity while demanding others pursue careers in low paying public service and non-profits, and raises her children with benefits of private schools, dance lessons, piano lessons, summer camps and a million dollar home in Hyde Park thanks to sweet publishing deals of her husband while claiming how hard it is to make ends meet.

Incredible.

And, don't forget she is only just now "really" proud of her country.

John Heilemann of New York Magazine, co-writing a book with Halperin about the 2008 race, said, "The biggest bias in the press is towards effectiveness." "We love things that are smart." "We'll scold you for being negative but if it seems to be working, the tone of your coverage becomes more positive." Oh. If you campaign negatively, and are successful in that approach, then the press approves. You are smart. Effective.

Unless you are a Republican candidate. Then your tactics aren't just negative. It is politics of personal destruction. These tactics were fine-tuned under the guidance of Hillary Clinton during Bill Clinton's runs, but never mind. Throw it on the Republicans.

Halperin concluded with this: "I think it is incumbent upon people in our business to make sure that we're being fair," he said. "The daily output was the most disparate of any campaign I've ever covered, by far."

Too little, too late. The media lived in an atmosphere that made the decision not to pursue anything of substance about Barack Obama. The slick marketing campaign produced by David Axelrod was very successful for them. Obama will save America. The seas will part and the skies will clear. And the followers lapped it all up.

Zogby International verified just how ignorant the Obama voter was this past election day. 83% failed to be aware that Obama won his first election by getting his opponents removed from the ballot. 88% didn't know Obama said his energy policies would bankrupt the coal industry. 56% didn't know Obama started his political career at the home of two co-founders of the Weather Underground.

72% did not know Joe Biden dropped out of a previous run for President due to plagiarism of a speech. 47% didn't know Biden stated Obama will be tested by an international crisis manufactured specifically to test him in his first six months in office.

57% didn't know Democrats control both the House and the Senate.

What did the voters know in the Zogby poll? They knew it was John McCain who owned mulitiple homes - though it is his wife who owns them - and that it was Sarah Palin who was said to have a new expensive wardrobe.

If asked, do you think any of these voters would know it is Robert Rubin, former Treasury Secretary for the Clinton administration and top financial adviser for Barack Obama, who has been making the handsome sum of $17 million a year for advise, though he is credited with writing rules that have led to the collapse of our financial institutions? His loosening of regulations in place since the Depression is directly responsible.

Yeah. Probably not.

5 comments:

Beverly said...

Too little, too late...incredible. Indeed it is.

Anonymous said...

Ah. Well, here we are now with millions of Americans exercising their solemn duty to vote, many for the first time, and less than 10% of them having any clue about the issues. Lacking the skill set of critical analysis, they’ve swallowed whole the Obama/Biden talking points as edited and served to them on an MSM platter. This comes to us from a very long train called public education, a platform of socialism now for the past sixty years. As our good friend Jeremiah Wright reminds us, “The chickens have come home to roost.”

As the inevitable unfolds, these same ignoramuses will dishonestly point to Washington to divert blame from the true villains — the American voter. And then of course, the cycle will begin anew and the MSM will once again choose our national leader.

Well, that is unless or until (1) conservatives begin extol the wisdom and virtue of traditional principles, (2) conservative leaders can themselves pass the stench test, and (3) we demand impartial reporting by the communications moguls.

Semper Fi

Anonymous said...

Hindsight is always 20/20. Yet this time our country lives with the consequences of an ill-informed public and a blatantly - and now self-acknowledged - biased media.

It's laughable truly, because we know they won't change.

Incognito said...

all they cared about was getting O elected.. which they did.. pathetic it took that and he didn't win the presidency through his own merits. truly shameful.. at least they are admitting it.

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

Cindy McCain, in contrast, has spent her life doing good works and living what she preaches while overcoming her own personal demons and she is not worthy.

You should link to that great post you did of Cindy McCain months back.