Is the “media” tougher on Biden or Palin?
Posted By RichC on October 24, 2008
Several of my “left leaning” friends continue to tell me that there is no such thing as “media bias” when it comes to politics. I seem to run into a brick wall when attempting to point it out that the vast majority of the mainstream media tends to report against conservative positions and toward those that are left of center. When it comes to politicians, the media does the same thing — they tend to report more positively about Democrats and against Republicans. Of course there are a few decent and fair journalist out there and they deserve a compliment — thank you Kristen Powers, a notable Democrat (see below). I respect her fairness and honesty.
Here’s the recent example that has drawn some attention. It seems to me as if it is being swept under the rug, or at least under-reported: Sen. Obama’s running mate Sen. Biden tells us to “mark his words” about the 47 year old Obama being tested — how would the “mainstream” media have treated Gov. Sarah Palin if she were to say something like this?
BIDEN’S BUNGLES: A BLATANT BIAS
October 22, 2008
Barack Obama‘s choice of Joe Biden as his running mate prompted a small wave ofwarnings about Biden’s propensity for gaffes. But no one imagined even in a worse-case scenario such a spectacular bomb as telling donors Sunday to “gird your loins” because a young president Obama will be tested by an international crisis just like young President John
Kennedy was.
Scary? You betcha! But somehow, not front-page news.
Again the media showed their incredible bias by giving scattered coverage of Biden’s statements.
There were a few exceptions. On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” co-host Mika
Brzezinski flipped incredulously through the papers, expressing shock
at the lack of coverage of Biden’s remarks. Guest Dan Rather admitted
that if Palin had said it, the media would be going nuts.
So what gives?
The stock answer is: “It’s just Biden being Biden.” We all know how
smart he is about foreign policy, so it’s not the same as when Sarah
Palin says something that seems off.
Yet, when Biden asserted incorrectly in the vice-presidential
debate that the United States “drove Hezbollah out of Lebanon,” nobody
in the US media shrieked. (It was, however, covered with derision in
the Middle East.) Or when he confused his history by claiming FDR
calmed the nation during the Depression by going on TV, the press
didn’t take it as evidence that he’s clueless.
And Biden is the foreign-policy gravitas on the Democratic ticket, so his comments are actually even more disconcerting.
The outakes of his Sunday remarks don’t begin to capture the
magnitude of what he said. After warning the crowd that there would be
some sort of international incident – Biden could think of four or five
scenarios – he told the donors: “We’re gonna need you to use your
influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him.
Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be
apparent that we’re right.”
What does that mean? Obama’s election would provoke an
international incident because of his inexperience and even Obama’s
biggest supporters won’t be reassured by his response?
Then there were Biden’s predictions on the economy: “I promise you,
you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, ‘Oh my God,
why are they there in the polls? . . . Why is this thing so tough? . .
. I’m asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith
you had at this point, because you’re going to have to reinforce us.
“There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, ‘Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don’t know about that decision.’ “
Biden is teling us that, at a time when Americans need to feel
confidence in their government, they will be going “Oh my God.” Not a
great message.
Needless to say, if Sarah Palin said this about a McCain administration, the media world would be exploding.
Whether you believe Biden is exaggerating, as he is known to do, or
is providing real insight, the double standard in the media does even
more damage to their lagging brand.
Part of the problem is their “Obama love,” but we’re also seeing
the media elite’s belief – prejudice – that anyone with an R behind
their name is dumb. So, if they say something dumb, they must
be dumb. A Democrat, like Biden, can make wildly inaccurate or
outrageous comments and they are ignored because the TV and press
insiders feel they “know who he really is.”
On the stump recently, Sen. Biden declared he had “three words” for what the nation needs: “J-O-B-S.”
Lucky for him, his name isn’t Dan Quayle, or that would have followed him for the rest of his career.
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