The MSM and the Scales of Justice

This is how the mainstream media treats Republicans on social and personal matters.

Like so much about the Bush presidency, the wedding of daughter Jenna brings out a strange strain of media bias and bitterness. Take as an example this Associated Press report, which recounts the history of First Family weddings over the course of the last 200+ years, from John Adams’ adninistration to present day. According to Leanne Italie, George Bush would have had a hard time explaining a White House wedding:

Bush’s wedding in tiny Crawford, Texas, on the other hand, is expected to be low-key — out of the view of prying media eyes.

“This is going to be such a different kind of situation,” said Katherine Jellison, an associate professor of history at Ohio University who chronicles the American obsession with marital pomp in her recent book, It’s Our Day.

“Jenna’s father is not running for re-election,” she said. “The frivolity of a big White House wedding in the middle of an unpopular war would have used up what little political capital he has.”

Gee, did it do that for Lyndon Johnson? In 1966, the Vietnam War hadn’t hit the peak of its unpopularity, but political pressure in opposition had certainly hit the mainstream. That didn’t stop Luci Baines Johnson from having her wedding at the White House in an elaborate ceremony, complete with television coverage.

The idea that it takes “political capital” to stage a wedding for a child of the President is patently absurd. Who besides the most extreme lunatics would demand an end to someone’s wedding because their parent didn’t have political capital? Better yet, what credibility would Bush lose on policy after hosting a wedding reception for his daughter at the White House?

With this sort of reporting about a wedding - does anyone for a moment think that a Republican administration has a whisker of a chance to get a fair hearing on issues of policy?

Yeah; right.

Comments

[Greg]

I am curious as to which policy issues have not the Republicans and this administration have not been handled fairly? This whole misnomer of a liberal media is a joke, which you have never been able to show to any sort of consistent standard.

So let's look at some of the issues, and let's see how the so called liberal media has gone super hard on Republicans? I re-call not so long ago I Lexis-Nexis on stories the MSM had pushed. At the time torture, and other scandals took a back seat to Obama and his bowling score. Am I to assume this is one of the policies issues you enjoy seeing in the MSM?

In the last month we have been witness to torture being discussed by those in the highest office in the United States, not too much press there. I am sure you spoke out or wrote about that. We have seen the leading Republican candidate confuse Sunni's with the Shite's with not too much fanfare. We have seen that same candidate make the another claim that Iran was training their mortal enemies Al-Quada with the media really getting on top of that. Then you have McCain imply we went to war over oil. What about the story once again of the Bush Administration using retired generals to push their spin for war. Seen a lot of coverage on that?

My point is that this Administration has been handle with kit gloves by the MSM. Do I believe they do this because they are conservative by nature? No. I simply believe they are scared to death of the Republican attack machine, so they sugar coat things and not try to do too much to annoy the Republican's. But I ask you this, in all fairness, if a Democratic Administration would of took a fiscal surplus, turned it to record deficits, have the dollar shrink under it's Administration, see housing foreclosure's rise to incredible levels. Seen hundreds of thousands of jobs loss, and watch oil triple in under it's Administration would you and the MSM been so kind to that administration?

Here is one last on for you, let's see how honest you and any other Bush supporter are. If Osama Bin Laden would of been responsible for 9/11 under a Hillary or Barack Administration and 5 years later had not been caught or brought to justice. What would your reaction to them saying that they did not know where he was, or was to concerned with him or finding him. Do you think Fox News, MSM in general, or even yourself would be satisfied with that response?

I personally have no interests in weddings at all, but to act as if the MSM has been hard on Republicans or this Administration is simply laughable. The MSM has failed this country and is partially to blame for allowing all the issues I listed to persist, and to fail to discuss any sort of policy issues what so ever. That is probably why we see stories on Rev Wright, and not on the abuses that have occurred in this country over the last 7 years.

[JFP]

Greg, the only way I know of in which the MSM might be called conservative is in how it handles sports. The NY Times, for example, despite thinking of itself as the world's newspaper, still seems frightened by the idea that outside of America there are billions of people who love soccer. Why would the "world's newspaper" be afraid of covering the world's most popular sport? There's no reason except prejudice.

But this is the exception that proves the rule, since most liberals and leftists in America share this prejudice with conservatives -- if anything, more conservatives have gotten beyond it than liberals -- so it's not really being conservative at all.