One of my favorite political observations is that I am constantly amazed at the wisdom of the American electorate, and its stupidity. There is an underlying assumption in that observation. Is assumes that the American electorate is informed. That wasn’t the case this year. And it wasn’t the electorate’s fault.
When Obama ran for president in 2008, the potential of the first African American president permeated the media. Already steeped in liberalism, here was the chance to assuage white guilt and right all of the wrongs Americans had inflicted on the world in one fell swoop. The press became orgasmic and hasn’t stopped since. Obama understood American guilt. Hewould be the father confessor to grant absolution. And it was a double bonus. He also would give blessing to the cultural path forged on both coasts of the continent while denigrating those in the center who clinged to their bibles and guns.
America was already on the path to a British style press where the press isn’t objective, but left or right. Talk radio and Fox News developed as a backlash to the Dan Rather types who decided their wisdom rose above the hoypoloi of perceived American ignorance. 90 percent of the main stream press identify themselves as liberal and Democrat. Of course they are objective…if you agree with them. Since Walter Cronkite’s public epiphany criticizing the Vietnam War, the press has moved steadily down the path of shaping the news rather than reporting the news. Since the 2008 election, the press has actually become the news, the most obvious example being Candy Crowley inserting herself into the second debate defending the President rather than moderating the debate. And it turned out she was wrong and quietly back tracked the next day. Really?
The reaction to the collapse of a watch dog professional press was the rise of talk radio and Fox News. Talk radio makes no pretense of being objective. It is raw conservative meat. Fox News is different. Although it has an obvious right wing political bent on its commentary shows, its hard news is highly objective and sometimes can be left of center. Its panel discussions on the hard news shows have equal numbers of liberals and conservatives. It is not unusual to see panelists from the ABC News, the Washington Post, and the New York Times sitting with the likes of Fred Barnes and Charles Krauthammer. Brett Bair, Britt Hume, Shepard Smith and Chris Wallace are consummate news folks of the old school.
But it still a cable news channel although it consistently draws several million viewers a night compared to CNN which barely draws a few hundred thousand. Most folks still get their news from ABC, NBC and CBS who as of late don’t even try to hide their left wing bias. Every now and then they get caught with their pants down…CBS News and that Dan Rather thing with dummied Bush documents. CBS say a few Hail Mary’s but old habits die hard. There isn’t a Republican or conservative in the bunch.
The result of all of this has been a non-reporting of basic news to the American public since Obama took office. The press not only spun the news, it just stopped reporting it. Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the green energy scandals, the huge unemployment problems, Hurricane Sandy, all were mentioned, but barely and shoved under the rug. Where are the homeless? Where are the stories about the highest poverty level in 60 years? Where are the stories about food inflation and gasoline inflation? The most disturbing was the cover up of the Benghazi incident. CBS withholding footage of Barack Obama comments as to the nature of the attack up to the day before the election is unforgivable, and America should take note. You cannot trust these people for the truth.
And since the election, we now find out the press hid stories about an American drone being attacked by Iran over international waters and General Petraeus, head of the CIA, caught with his pants down, literally.
The press knows that news is now fractured with Americans pre-occupied with all of their electronic gadgets watching 200 cable channels. The press can get away with it now. And what really is scary to me? I would guess that some of you reading this wouldn’t know about some of the issues I mentioned above not because of anything you did, but the press didn’t report them.
The surprise isn’t that Obama won the last election. The surprise is that given how the news has been reported this past year that Romney did as good as he did.
This is scary stuff. When the proverbial you know what hits the fan in this county, and it will, point the finger at the press…if they bother to report anything at all.
2 comments:
Wishing your skewed perspective to be 'reality' is the crux of the biscuit when it comes to why the republicans lost this election. So sure that your white, smug, rich 'playground bully' was the right answer for the country, you've truly bought into the conservative propaganda that didn't work when you were in high school and still doesn't work 45+ years later. Rather than find any fault in your party that dismisses anyone as wrong except rich white males you, along with Fox News, take a swing at everybody that doesn't share your supposedly superior opinion. Like Romney, you dismiss at least 47% of Americans and then wonder why you didn't win the election in the face of so many false facts that have propped up your own perspective. We can never know how things would be today if your candidate had won in 2008, but we do know that the budget at the turnover to GWB had a surplus, yet now you claim that the deficit is only the fault of Obama and his liberal sidekicks. Gas prices might have gone higher if retaliation by the middle east due to harsh policies of a republican presidency had gone into effect. It's easy to blame the party in power for the failures of the current age by claiming that the other party would have done a better job but that argument holds no water. Your opinions claimed as facts are falling on deaf ears and maybe it's time to admit that you are continuously wrong and join the 47% that you and your candidate dismissed so harshly. You call it 'liberal' but we call it 'enlightenned'...and you wonder why your party lost?
See u haven't addresses the clustermesses of Fast and Furious, Benghazi, poverty, prices, and the TRIPLING of the deficit. Were those and the under reporting thereof fault of the smug rich white candidate, or the elephant in the room. Actually in the oval ofc. The inexperienced black community organizer surrounded by liberal sycophants that drink the koolaid with no leadership
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