It’s Them, Not Us

Written : Aug. 24, 2010

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’d know I like to watch “Reliable Sources,” on CNN every Sunday. On his Aug. 22 show, Howard Kurtz' featured guest is Todd Purdum, the national editor of Vanity Fair magazine. Just for fun, take a peek at this Purdum article from 2009, which slams then Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in multiple ways: It Came From Wasilla.

Mr. Purdum appears because Mr. Kurtz wants to ask him about his current article in Vanity Fair: Poor Obama. Kurtz begins, “You talked to Rahm and you talk to David Axelrod, and you seem to be buying into their argument in this piece that this wild and crazy media culture is undermining the administration.”

Purdum gets defensive. “…I think the wild and crazy media culture makes it very difficult for anybody, for this president - and it would apply equally to President Bush, with the one exception of FOX, which was not quite the same thorn in his side that it has been in Obama's.” This makes one wonder about Dan Rather, Hollywood, MSNBC, and the entire mainstream media. They were unfair, brash, and irresponsible in their coverage of President Bush for most of his presidency… but instead of bringing up the contradiction, Kurtz’ response is just “Sure.”

The Vanity Fair editor also says, “You have to be really careful. You have to be a discerning consumer of the news, … and if you don't really read skeptically, you may believe something, …from some totally tainted or partisan source.” This is a hidden slap at blogs, which media types hate, because blogs speak truth to their once untouchable power in their ivory tower. Mr. Purdum mentions bloggers in a different quote, but switches to a liberal talking point, “When one out of five Americans say they think the president is a Muslim, and 60 percent of the people say they learned that from the media, I wonder - I don't think that means they're watching your program [he means Reliable Sources, the show he’s appearing on] or, you know, Wolf [Blitzer, a CNN News person]. They're confusing in their whole mind the media, everybody's Twitter or something.” Kurtz, who I believe is fair in general, actually helps Purdum’s awkward statement here by adding e-mail to the list of what’s confusing the common people’s (your) view of what “media” is.

So, Purdum concludes that if you’re not reading Vanity Fair, or watching Reliable Sources, or the News on CNN, you have to watch your step. Wow. Guys like Todd Purdum need to take a peek in the mirror. We also have to be skeptical of them, too. Don’t you think media elites are conceited and condescending, and at the same time are biased beyond belief?

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, Reliable Sources, Todd Purdum, Vanity Fair, Howard Kurtz

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More Media Bias

Written : Aug. 17, 28 2010

"This Week," which can be seen each Sunday on ABC, highlights prominent people who have recently passed away in their 'In Memoriam' segment. Two controversial politicians, both convicted by juries of their peers, were featured on August 15, 2010. They were Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL).

Sen. Stevens was quoted on a video by the ABC show as having said, "The hell with politics, just do what's right for Alaska." The caption read, "Ted Stevens, 86... Former senator who helped build modern Alaska by steering billions in federal funds and earmark projects to the state." He was then shown yelling, "No!" The captioning continued, "Known for his fiery temper, he was the longest serving Republican in Senate history." They wanted you to believe he was yet another out-of-control, corrupt Republican conservative. However, they didn't tell the whole story. They left out the fact he was exonerated of all his convictions in 2009 by none other than Attorney General Eric Holder, a member of the Barack Obama (D-IL) administration!

Rep. Rostenkowski, on the other hand, was shown in a different light. We are led to feel more sympathy for him than for Sen. Stevens. "I will wash away the mud that has been splattered on my reputation," Rostenkowski said in his video clip. His caption was a little more favorable than Stevens’ as well, "Dan Rostenkowski, 82... Former Illinois congressman and powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. A broker of major social security and tax reform, he was indicted and jailed on fraud charges that ended his political career." The prosecution effort was led by the very same Eric Holder! What "This Week" didn't say or imply is that Rostenkowski was a corrupt Democrat! Often the mainstream media will not mention the party affiliation when a corrupt politician is a Democrat.

In photographic artistry, when a camera points up at someone, the person is shown in a favorable light. The opposite is true when a subject is seen from above. Of course, the camera glares down at Stevens, but Rostenkowski, in classic heroic style, is pictured from far below. All I ask is that you try to notice these things!

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Build Ten Mosques - Not One

Written : Aug. 16-17, 2010

What? They want to build a mosque at Ground Zero? Don’t you remember? The Twin Towers of the World Trade center bore the brunt of radical Islam when airliners filled with gasoline were purposefully slammed into the towers. Almost 3,000 human beings were crushed to death under the rubble when each tower collapsed! OK, you’re right, it is perfectly legal. We are a country of laws, and we’re all for tolerance and freedom of religion. But is building a house of Islamic worship right there, so close to Ground Zero, really the right thing to do?

Doing this would be like… building a Nazi museum close to the Auschwitz concentration camp… or like… the Japanese building a memorial to their Kamikaze war dead at Pearl Harbor…. or like… allowing the KKK to commemorate their efforts with a little construction across the street from the hotel in Memphis where Martin Luther King was assassinated by a lunatic. No, I’m not comparing Muslims to Nazis, but placing a mosque near Ground Zero is just a little insensitive, don’t you think? When can America get some tolerance from others? Please honor and respect our feelings, this once.

It would be called “Cordoba House,” and stand 13 stories tall - only 600 feet from where the Twin Towers stood. Those who are opposed to the mosque being built at Ground Zero don’t hate Muslims or those who want to build the mosque. We just think they’re wrong. Why not build ten mosques close by, instead? How about Greenwich Village, Midtown Manhattan, Uptown Manhattan, Connecticut, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Westchester, and for good measure, two in New Jersey? Make them all not 13, but 23 stories high! But why build even one at Ground Zero? Why would anyone get angry and call us intolerant? We are not.

Cordoba is a city in Spain, and it does not mean 'conquest of the West,' as some have suggested. But it does imply the same. Conquered by a Muslim army in the year 711, Cordoba is a city in Spain. Radical Muslims are already laughing at Americans like the Mayor of New York and others, who are speaking out for the Cordoba House mosque to be built at Ground Zero. They'll certainly have plenty to celebrate if the project is completed!

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A Presidential Report Card – Part Two

Written : July 13, 25, Aug. 10, 2010

President Bush played way too much golf. They called him a detached leader and a lazy, rich boy. Did you know that from his inauguration in Jan. 2009 until July 16, 2010, President Obama played 41 rounds of golf, smashing Bush’s eight-year total of 24 by 17? Of course, instead of criticism, his administration said his golf games were good for all of us.

Suffering with the bad economy? Don’t worry, the wealthy Obamas aren’t even close to feeling your pain. Believe it or not, the president calls this summer the “Summer of Recovery,” and the First Lady, Michelle Obama just took a luxurious vacation at a resort in Spain – on your dime. Meanwhile, President Obama shot hoops with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Carmelo Anthony, while NBA retired star Bill Russell watched. How understanding and sensitive they are to America’s plight!

The current administration prosecuted an entire state, Arizona, for non-existent racism, but won’t prosecute racists shown on video in militant garb bearing billy clubs and intimidating voters. One of the New Black Panthers seen breaking the law was shown in another video saying that for Blacks to be free, they have to kill white babies. Where’s the logic?

The presidential gaffs have been embarrassing. He’s shaken hands with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, wants a dialogue with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, bowed to world leaders, and implied it’s bad to visit Las Vegas. The president’s administration removed Faisal Shahzad from the travel watch list as it began dismantling terror investigations begun under President Bush. Shahzad then almost destroyed Times Square in New York with a car bomb. I’d say President Barack Obama has been a colossal failure so far, wouldn't you? I dislike his attitude and most of his policies.

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Unreliable Sources

Written : Aug. 3, 2010

Howard Kurtz, the host of Reliable Sources on CNN, is one of the most open-minded TV talk show hosts in the mainstream media. What amazes me is that he will bring up liberal AND conservative talking points for his guests to discuss, but he rarely has more than one verifiable conservative on his show at a time. His August 1, 2010 episode was no exception. No conservatives could be seen, and four liberal journalists were his invited talking heads this past Sunday.

To be fair, Mr. Kurtz showed a variety of clips to illustrate rudeness in the media. We viewed liberal Chris Matthews, of MSNBC, slamming Fox News for “whipping up white hysteria,” referring to Fox News’ coverage of members of the New Black Panthers illegally intimidating voters at a Pennsylvania polling place. Howard Dean was next, calling Fox News “racist,” inferring they showed the heavily edited tape of Shirley Sherrod to get her fired. Chris Wallace, of Fox News, corrected Mr. Dean by pointing out the Obama administration fired Ms. Sherrod before the clip aired on Fox. Shortly thereafter, Keith Olbermann criticized Fox News’ efforts and right wing views as the “utter and complete perversion of journalism...” A couple of clips of Fox News hosts were also shown where hosts were hollering at each other. You see, Mr. Kurtz is fair!

His guests, David Zurawick, Frank Sesno, Lauren Ashburn, and Chip Reid, however, were not as fair. Mr. Reid, when asked about hyper-partisanship in the media, said his department, CBS News, is an “island of sanity.” He implied that he has to be professional while others do not. Ms. Ashburn agreed with Mr. Reid’s take that mainstream news is upstanding and “paternal”, but told us the media is hurting its ability to be seen as objective – and yet, she conveniently left out the reasoning behind her revelation.

Mr. Kurtz asked Frank Sesno, a former CNN News reporter and executive, about the ferocity of media types. Sesno addressed conservatives’ criticisms of liberals, but not the other side of the coin. He said, “It goes to whether you’re a patriot or not.” The key to understanding how the mainstream media sees itself is found within Mr. Sesno’s following statement, “…the Chip Reids and the N.Y. Times…are trying to work…by some set of…traditional rules and the Breitbarts and the Becks and the others who live by no [journalistic] rules that we would recognize.” What he failed to mention is the elite media ignores news stories and events that don’t fit their liberal agenda. They don’t invite a balance of far-right wingers or even true conservatives on to level the playing field of their left-wing tilt. This is the secret that exposes Fox News’ success. Ignoring the liberal point of view is not the key. Instead, they regularly invite real liberals, even far-left wingers (such as Michael Moore) on their shows to enhance debate. Shhh, don’t tell anyone!

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