By Bruce Bialosky
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Finally the Republicans have someone in charge that is
not afraid of his own shadow. Republicans are always cowering to the mainstream
press while they mutter about the corrosiveness of it. If he keeps it up, the
Republicans might actually win the U.S. Senate in 2014 and the Presidency in
2016. We are referring, of course, to Reince Priebus, Chair of the Republican
National Committee (RNC).
You probably have heard that two television operations
announced they were doing projects about Hillary Clinton. NBC has plans to
produce and air a four hour mini-series about Hillary Clinton and CNN has plans
for a documentary. Diane Lane has been attached to the NBC mini-series to play
Ms. Clinton which speaks to the evenhandedness of that program. That is
equivalent to a film about my life story with Brad Pitt in the starring role.
In a previous world, we would not even be having this
discussion. These projects would never ever have been brought forward because
even my dogs know Hillary Clinton is running for president in 2016, and the
appearance of a potential conflict of interest would be killed by the news
divisions. But that does not happen any longer. When CBS’s Les Moonves, head of
TV’s most successful network, stated while attending a Barack Obama fundraiser
that “ultimately journalism has changed… partisanship is very much a part of
journalism now,” why would anyone believe that NBC and CNN would be
even-handed?
They have defended their respective decisions by stating
that the entertainment departments were planning these programs. NBC can at
least attempt this ploy since they have an entertainment division (their
ratings for the past decade notwithstanding). CNN, which last time anyone
checked, is solely a news network. Their argument is that CNN Films, a division
of CNN Worldwide, is doing the film. One wonders if CNN Sports is next.
Fortunately Mr. Priebus saw through this charade and
finally drew a line that should have been drawn years ago. Priebus must have
been watching in 1992 when Carole Simpson of ABC News hosted a debate that was
so slanted against President George H.W. Bush you would have thought she was on
the Clinton payroll. He certainly was watching as Candy Crowley of CNN injected
herself in the debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney with an
absolutely wrong answer regarding what Obama said September 12, 2012, about
Benghazi and terrorism, thus ending Romney’s attempt to unsettle Obama on a
critical issue.
Priebus came out and stated the obvious; that if these
two operations went forth with their Hillary projects the Republicans would not
play ball with them during the 2016 election cycle. That means the Republican
primary debates would be held on networks other than NBC, MSNBC or CNN. One has
to wonder why Republicans would have debates on these networks in the first
place -- as if they would be fair and even-handed. Envision Lawrence O’Donnell
asking Marco Rubio why his policies encourage the starvation of young children.
When Priebus appeared on Fox News’ Special Report, he
misspoke when being interviewed by Bret Baier by stating the RNC would want to
approve the moderators for debates. Baier jumped on that, but Priebus is not
far off. Maybe the RNC should not approve moderators, but they certainly should
be able to veto moderators who they have every reason to believe would be less
than fair in critical moments of debates.
Priebus appears to be on firm ground. Chuck Todd of NBC
News came out and said that the proposed mini-series would be a nightmare for
the news division. Andrea Mitchell followed up criticizing the project. It is
nice to see that the network of Huntley, Brinkley, Chancellor and Brokaw still
has a modicum of integrity. Unfortunately voices have been silent at CNN. How
NBC can go forward with their political reporters in open revolt will be
fascinating to watch.
Kudos to Priebus for coming forth and saying we aren’t
going to take it any longer. This follows on the heels of some other
common-sense decisions that sources say are coming down the pipeline. These
decisions include actual full-blown outreach to minorities, moving the national
convention to June and limiting the endless string of primary debates to a set
number that will only protect all candidates from the supercilious situation
that occurred in 2012. Next thing you know, the RNC will be establishing
integrated candidate development from the grassroots through the national level
– actual cooperation for all levels of the Republican Party.
If the mainstream media revamps how they operate to
recognize the new reality that was clearly enunciated by CBS President Les
Moonves, then Republicans need to confront that new reality and adjust how they
operate. Priebus took the first step and it was a Crush Davis grand slam.
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