Why So Mean and Nasty?

  Why So Mean and Nasty?

You’d have to live on Mars to believe that the mainstream media, i.e. Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, New York Times, CBS, ABC, and NBC isn’t biased to the left. But generally, they are smart enough to keep their bias within the bounds of reason and common decency. That being the case, why did they react so intensely and unreasonably against the selection of Governor Sarah Palin to be John McCain’s running mate? Their attacks were not only irrational, they were downright mean and nasty. What gives?

Some laid it off to the media being caught by surprise, but the mainstream media has been caught by surprise before and hasn’t reacted with such venom. Others said it was the Governor’s lack of experience, but at minimum, Sarah Palin has as much experience as Barak Obama. Still others said it was John McCain’s failure to conduct proper vetting, but after all she is a sitting Governor and it turns out that the vetting process was actually quite lengthy. 

So the attacks began... "She’s too inexperienced." Or, "She has five children, one with special needs which precludes her from having enough time to handle the responsibilities as Vice President." In their panic to gain traction with any attack, they tried every possible approach.

Why the gutter level attacks?

It’s not about experience. It’s not about her being distracted by her family. It’s not because she was not properly vetted. It’s not because she is a woman (although it does rankle them that the first woman President might not be named Hilary, but Sarah). It’s not because her daughter is pregnant out of wedlock.

So why have the attacks on Governor Palin and her family been so vicious?

The answer is that the mainstream media is still living in the 1940’s and 1950’s when the Eastern liberal establishment was able to control the selection of both political parties. It’s the same reason their attacks on Barry Goldwater were so outrageous and over the top. The Goldwater campaign put the Republican Party firmly in the hands of conservatives and because of that, Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States.

Just a couple of weeks ago the liberal news media thought they were back in the driver’s seat. It was 1950 again and they were serving as "king maker" in choosing the Republican nominee. They had already gotten their pick for the head of the ticket, John McCain, and they thought that they had secured the second spot for liberal Democrat, Joe Lieberman.
It was Nirvana! At the top of the Democratic ticket was a US Senator with a very liberal voting record and a personal background complete with radical leftists. In the second spot, they had another reliable liberal Senator. 

Perfect! No matter who would win the White House, they would have been successful in driving those hated Reagan conservatives from power. Even better, there would be no conservative star on the horizon.

But their plan to act as "king makers" of the Republican Party failed and they are outraged. Not only is it now possible that the Republicans will triumph in November, but worse yet, a Reagan conservative is waiting in the wings (win or lose)! How could John McCain be so stupid? 

Clearly Governor Palin had to be driven off the McCain ticket. She and her family had to be destroyed. And that’s exactly what they tried to do for a few furious days.

It was a high risk gambit, because to fail would be to lose further credibility with regard to any semblance of objectivity. Throwing caution and common sense to the wind, they went all out, but they forgot several things.

First, Americans cherish fairness above almost anything else and their low level attacks were anything but even handed and fair.
Second, it’s not the 1940’s, 1950’s or even the 1970’s anymore. The Eastern liberal establishment no longer has the power to act as "king maker" when it comes to choosing the nominee of the Republican Party. The mainstream news media no longer has a stranglehold on the news. That monopoly was broken long ago by talk radio, by the Internet, by FOX News, and by independent minded newspapers like The Washington Times. The mainstream media no longer has the ability to limit the American public to hearing only one side of the story.

So they lost. They lost big time. As a result their readership will continue to decline, viewer numbers will continue to drop, and their influence will continue to wane. The power of the so-called "mainstream media" has hit the skids.

Their anti-Sarah Palin gambit backfired. Ironically, their unfair attacks have offended fair-minded Americans and unified the Republican Party, thus boosting the chances of the McCain-Palin ticket winning in November.
Lovely!