THE ABC OUTRAGE (ABC's ties to liberal terrorist sympathizers)
NY POST EDITORIAL
October 10, 2004 -- Mainstream media bias against Republican
presidental candi dates is a fact of American political life.
Rarely, though, has this been so evident as this year; the
establishment media seems to have become a wing of John Kerry's
campaign.
One unusually candid member of the liberal media mafia admitted as much
during the Democratic convention.
Evan Thomas, assistant managing editor of Newsweek, offered this
confession on media bias on the PBS program "Inside Washington."
"The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. And I think they're going to
portray Kerry and Edwards - I'm talking about the establishment media,
not Fox - as being young and dynamic and optimistic, and there's going
to be this glow about them, collective glow."
Whereupon his magazine published a - how best to put this - glowing
cover story dubbing the Democratic duo "The Sunshine Boys."
This was hardly an isolated incident - though we'll get to Dan Rather
and his hatchet work in a bit.
First, consider the latest smoking gun to emerge in the media war on
George Bush: The internal memo written by ABC News Political Director
Mark Halperin that popped up right before Friday night's Bush-Kerry
debate.
Halperin, described by the network as "responsible for the planning and
editorial content of all political news on the network," issued new
orders.
Both sides distort the truth, he said, adding in effect that Kerry's
lies don't matter - but that George W. Bush's most certainly do.
"Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but
these are not central to his efforts to win." In contrast, he wrote,
"the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking
things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done" -
a point he said was echoed by reporters from such paragons of
objectivity as the above-mentioned Newsweek and The New York Times.
Then came the instructions:
"We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public
interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold
both sides 'equally' accountable when the facts don't warrant that.
"It's up to Kerry to defend himself, of course. But as one of the few
news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate
what the candidates are saying to serve the public in- terest, now is
the time for all of us to step up and do that right."
That is, voters need skillful, strong "help" evaluating information
because they are too stupid, too ignorant or too benighted to figure
out the "right" way to vote all by themselves.
They need Mark Halperin and his crew of correct-thinkers to explain
things to them.
Such arrogance borders on the incomprehensible - and it is unforgivable
at this stage of one of the most important presidential elections in
American history.
An ABC News flack said Friday night that "we're not interested in
taking sides" - which hardly addresses the issues raised by the
Halperin memo.
So here's hoping that network handles its crisis with more honesty,
more honor, than CBS mustered in the Dan Rather Memogate fiasco last
month.
Rather and an activist CBS producer harboring a five-year obsession
with George W. Bush's military record decided to prove that the
president had lied about his service - and to do it as close to
Election Day as possible.
There was one big problem with this project: An utter lack of evidence.
So they swallowed whole "incriminating" documents that were
convincingly discredited by by any number of neutral observers within
three hours!
And still it took two weeks for Rather to admit that he - top dog at
the once-upon-a-time Tiffany network - had been duped. Almost to the
end, he snarlingly insisted that anyone who questioned CBS News was
motivated right-wing politics.
Meanwhile, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne and Time magazine were
fretting that the Memogate controversy was "shifting the debate away
from Bush's questionable record" - and mainstream media mavens were
derisively dismissing credible questions about John Kerry's own
military record as political "smears."
Again, this phenomenom is not new - though rarely has it be practiced
so openly, so arrogantly.
What to do about it?
The fact that Rather still presides over the "CBS Evening News" is an
amazement; it speaks, in fact, to the cowardice and moral rot that
informs the mainstream media.
Will Halperin be put on the shelf?
For what? For putting in writing the instructions that usually are
transmitted in winks and nods?
Don't bet on it.
But don't believe a word any of them say, either.
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Liberals Hate America!
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