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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 495 - Media Bias.

Even With Rev. Wright Included, Obama Still Media Darling-

Yesterday, I was on the road listening to XM's POTUS '08 channel, and the Washington Post's "Post Politics" podcast came on. One of the topics was a hit piece on John McCain, for being too close to-- of all groups-- Citizens Against Government Waste.

Apparently, because Citizens Against Government Waste, one of the premier government spending watchdog groups in the country, has some admiration for and peripheral associations with John McCain, there is some sort of impropriety.

This is Citizens Against Government Waste we're talking about, here. They're not working for any special favors or earmarks or pork or subsidies. They are working to clean up the system. To cut spending. To end pork.

And, yet, the podcast made the McCain/CAGW relationship sound like some sort of sinister big-money conspiracy to thwart and violate campaign laws in some evil web of corruption.

The Post reporter rhetorically asked why they care about Citizens Against Government Waste, then answered himself (.mp3):

"We care, because it turns out that they have a very close relationship, in some respects, to Senator McCain."

A close relationship!? The horror.

Then comes the supporting evidence:

-McCain shared a cell in Vietnam with a CAGW Board Member.
-CAGW has made campaign donations to McCain.
-CAGW gas called McCain a "taxpayer hero."

Then, to bring it further back to the realm of sinister, the reporter declares:

"They accept money from people whose message they are promoting."

They were too busy fawning over Barack Obama to even go into the details, but they did direct the listener to their story on the subject.

In the article, there are totally unsubstantiated and irrelevant references to Jack Abramoff and a scary-sounding Senate investigation.

Pretty weak attack, really.

Although the article and podcast are framed in an incredibly negative light, it actually reinforces my notion that:

John McCain is credible on spending.

For many people, unfortunately, it's just a hit piece, and it'll probably be filed away in the brain somewhere for later. It's just something that will make them think twice about supporting the Republican. The story is clearly part of a media narrative designed to plant a seed of doubt about John McCain's integrity.

Interestingly, the left-leaning Project for Excellence in Journalism examined media coverage of Obama, Clinton, and McCain, and found that, unsurprisingly, Obama was the media darling, followed closely by Mrs. Clinton, with Senator McCain far behind:

These numbers include all of the "bitter" and "clinging to guns and religion" hubbub, plus the Jeremiah Wright kerfuffle. And Obama's STILL getting the most positive press of any candidate.

Even with Obama quitting his church, there's very little way this will not be very relevant in the general election. I tend to believe that there are plenty more gaffes to come, from Michelle Obama, from Obama's associates, and maybe even from Obama himself. The media has covered for this guy's insane buddies and mentors, his out-of-the-mainstream left-wing record, and his politics-as-usual approach, really since his speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. They'll probably keep covering for him until November and beyond.

That's why-- as Republicans-- we've got to work even harder to get our message out. The collective establishment media, in this generation, will never be fair to Republicans. We've got to, therefore, continue to nurture our own media and speak directly to America about the conservative ideas they naturally tend to support.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: People Flee Liberal Policies.

Posted by Will Franklin · 3 June 2008 12:52 PM

Comments

Posted by: Hoodlumman at June 3, 2008 02:06 PM

Posted by: Will Franklin at June 3, 2008 02:18 PM