Posted by John Nolte May 20th 2011 at 9:05 am in ABC, CNN, Mainstream Media, Old media, Politico, Politics, citizen journalism, elections 2012, media bias Let’s talk about 2012 and electability…
There’s no way to be sure if the story is true or not, and I don’t even remember where I read it, but when I did I knew Senator John McCain had no chance of winning the presidency in 2008. The article was about his relationship with the mainstream media, which had been a pretty chummy one while he was the Maverick in the Senate stirring up trouble for conservative Republicans, most especially President Bush. The story said that McCain felt that his long-standing media relationships would serve him well during his run for the White House. After all, he had been friendly with these folks for years, they had treated him pretty fairly, and there was no reason for him to believe that would change.
Again, I don’t want to sell McCain short with something I read two years ago that may or may not be true, but either way it goes to a larger point. But first, a more recent example — which would be this. Yes, that’s correct, the GOP actually considered letting two of the most corrupt news outlets ever conceived — NBC and Politico — co-host the first presidential debate. Thankfully, someone smartened up and the debate was postponed until September, but it’s still a very bad idea and shows a dangerous naivete from our side when it comes to dealing with the media.
When Democratic candidates boycott Fox News, do you want to know what that is? Smart. Real smart. Not to take anything away from Fox, who would obviously be much fairer to Democrats than the rest of the MSM is to Republicans, but those Democrats are trying to get elected and so it only makes sense that they play it as safe as possible. That’s not cowardice, it’s tactical competence. (Once elected, however, they have an obligation to do the rounds.)
Shouldn’t our candidates consider doing the same thing in 2012?
For example, NBC/MSNBC’s sins of bias are too many to count, but just for starters, why would any Republican do any kind of business with David Gregory after his racist race-baiting of Newt Gingrich this last Sunday? Furthermore, why would anyone on our side do any kind of business with that appalling ode to jour-o-lism we call Politico? Newsflash Republicans: In the age of New media, the road to the White House need not go through Chuck Todd’s goatee, Diane Sawyer’s plastic smile, Anderson Cooper’s hypnotically sexy blue eyes or Matt Lauer’s buzz cut.
The media is not only NOT on our side, they are out to destroy us. And as a voter, as an observer of these things, and as someone who cares very much about ending this nightmare my beloved country is currently going through, I have to question the judgment of any candidate who doesn’t understand that their primary adversary is not a failed president but rather the MSM Palace Guards who surround and protect him.
Which brings me to this:
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Last night, while I watched this for the first time, what excited me was Governor Palin’s willingness to take it directly to David Gregory — who deserves it and then some:
“Well, talk about racism – that was a racist-tinged question from David Gregory. He made it sound like that if you’re black you’re on food stamps and the president is referring to you being on food stamps. I think that’s racist.Granted, that’s pretty awesome all on its own. But then the Governor said this, and I’m not going to lie to you, I swooned a little:
“Why do we let the press, the media personalities get away with such? Let’s call him out on them and let’s start concentrating on what the real issue is.”Somehow it got even better:
“Well, I think to start with, we ignore some of these reporters and their requests for us to comment and be interviewed. We know going in to it what they are going to do to a conservative. So why participate in their game? Instead, candidates need to get their message out via new social media via fair and balanced reporters who will just allow the facts to get out there. Don’t participate in that goofy game that has been played now for too many years with the leftist lamestream media trying to twist a candidate’s words and intent and content of their statement.”Sitting here at my kitchen table eating cookies in my pajamas, I’m no position to give anyone unsolicited advice, most especially potential and/or announced presidential candidates. But to say that I like the sound of a potential GOP 2012 heavyweight exposing the corrupt MSM and — even better — talking about going around the corrupt MSM, would be an understatement.
There are exceptions: Jake Tapper, Bret Baier, John King, Chris Wallace, and others — journalists I’ve watched over the years and have come to respect for their professionalism and honesty. But for the most part, the MSM is our fiercest and most dishonest political enemy. They use objectivity as a weapon and are only interested in seeing their own misguided worldview validated though the re-election of a failed president. And as we’ve already seen with their reprehensible attacks on Palin, Bachmann, Trump, and Gingrich — in their attempts to Alinsky effective Obama critics with phony charges of racism and worse — the media will stop at nothing to re-elect Obama.
So to quote the Governor again: “Why participate in their game?”
Again, I’m in no position to give anyone any kind of tactical advice when it comes to getting elected president, but at the very least what I will need to see in my candidate is that they have a very firm grasp and understanding of what they’re up against when it comes to dealing with our craven mainstream media.
When I think about the whole “electability question,” this is at the top of my list. Because if you don’t get this, you don’t have a chance in hell.
Big Journalism
