By Derek Hunter
Thursday, October 24, 2013
That the mainstream media is biased against Republicans
is news only to those who’ve been living in bomb shelters since the 1950s and
the Georgetown/Manhattan/Hollywood cocktail set. The former is a fiction, the
later only knows those who stray from the mental plantation of liberalism as a
fiction. No matter what the case for their denial, media bias is real and cases
continue to rack up every day.
No matter the size of the scandal, bias can be easily
seen.
When Congressman Mark Foley, a Florida Republican, was
caught sending disgusting text messages to Congressional pages, he was rightly
forced to resign by Republican Congressional leadership. When the stories were
written about it, almost without fail, they cited his party in the first
paragraph.
The New York Times story on the resignation started, “In
six terms representing a wealthy swath of southern Florida, Representative Mark
Foley, a Republican...” Two swipes for the price of one!
Not to be outdone, the Washington Post story read,
“Six-term Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) resigned yesterday amid reports that he had
sent sexually explicit Internet messages to at least one underage male former
page.”
OK, he’s a Republican, and noting that fact in the
paragraph read by everyone who glances at the story is valid. But it’s not the
norm.
When the Democratic mayor of San Diego, Bob “filthy”
Filner, who was forced to resign for groping, grabbing and God knows what
else-ing at least 17 women, pled guilty to charges including false imprisonment
and battery, you’d need CSI to find his party affiliation anywhere close to his
name in the news stories.
The New York Times led paragraph six with, “The deal
signals the end of Mr. Filner’s life in elective politics, which included
nearly 20 years in Congress and the distinction of being the first Democrat
elected mayor here in more than 20 years.”
The Post, running an Associated Press story about Filner,
did put his party affiliation in paragraph three, but they omitted his name
from the paragraph.
Examples are countless.
But it’s not just on a national scale. Which state-level
stories warrant national media coverage expose bias as well.
When Texas State Senator Wendy Davis filibustered to
block an abortion bill with 60 percent approval among the public she was
treated as a conquering hero. Soon after, the bill became law anyway, but
national media still fawns over Davis, now running for governor. Why? What
difference does it make, especially more than a year out? None, but it does fit
their desired narrative.
Another story that fits their narrative is the Texas
lawmakers allowing college students to carry guns, if they so choose, to
protect themselves on campus. MSNBC, which still spends an inordinate amount of
time singing the praises of Davis, had a piece that said, “Freshman state Rep.
Steve Toth, a Woodlands Republican, rose to prominence recently when he
proposed throwing federal agents in state prison if they dared enforce any new
anti-gun laws.”
The only reason anything Steve Toth, or any state
representative, says can rise to prominence is when the media covers them. To
ignore story choice in bias is to ignore the roots of bias itself.
Sticking with Texas, have you heard of District Attorney
Craig Watkins? Unless you live in Texas, probably not. But he’s the DA of
Dallas County, no small job. He also has an interesting history, to put it
mildly.
Watkins is accused of pressuring prosecutors in his
office, his staff, to challenge judges he has issues with in Democratic primary
elections. In short, he’d like to have a slate of judges loyal to him on the
bench, a dangerous attempted power grab by any political party.
Those challengers, six of them, claim they have not been
influenced to consider their challenges, but that number is unprecedented and
dangerous.
Imagine the power a District Attorney could wield if the
judges they went in front of owed even some of their success to him? Candidates
can’t file to run until November and have until December to ultimately decide,
a fact not lost on the sitting judges seeking reelection. True or not, the
subtext of this is “Don’t do what I like and I’ll take you out in the next
election.” It’s subtle, but it’s very real. It’s also unreported on outside of
Texas.
Also unreported is the fact that Watkins also opened a
criminal investigation against three judges and tried to subpoena them in front
of a grand jury. All this because Watkins is mad a judge held him in contempt
for refusing to answer questions about why his office indicted an oil heir on
mortgage fraud charges even though the bank was paid back and said there had
been no issues. Might it have something to do with the legal dispute the heir
had with one Watkins' largest political donor, who also named a scholarship in
his honor at a local law school?
An advanced search of MSNBC’s website turned up
(ironically) six results for “District Attorney Craig Watkins” and none of the
results have anything to do with judicial intimidation.
If Watkins were a Republican it would be portrayed as
every bit the intimidation and abuse of office it appears to be. You also would
have heard about it because the media would not only cover it, they’d portray
it as “yet another example of Republican power grabbing.”
But Watkins is a Democrat, and as such, this is may be
the last you hear of it.
Media bias is much more than how a story is covered, it’s
what stories are covered in the first place. Whether it’s a pervert, a
grandstander or a politician abusing his power, what qualifies as “news” isn’t
dependent upon a story’s impact, it’s dependent upon the media’s desired
narrative. When a Republican politician does or says something stupid it is
presented as a party’s “norm” and all members of that party are asked to account
for it. When it’s a Democrat, everyone gets a pass.
We don’t have to wonder, “What if a Republican had done
this?” when it comes to scandals or corruption, because we have seen the
answer. The media screams it from the mountaintop. Knowing that rule does not
apply to Democrats, and knowing corruption knows no party, makes you wonder
what else they’re getting away with.
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