Posted on 08/31/2004 4:40:16 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
As your intrepid reporter on liberal bias at the morning news shows, a thought was running through my mind as I watched last night's speeches by McCain and Giuliania: "these are so good, there is no way the morning shows can spin these as anything but a major blow to John Kerry."
Apparently the morning shows agreed, because to varying degrees they adopted the strategy that the best coverage was limited coverage, or in the absolutely mind-blowing case of CBS' Early Show, NO COVERAGE AT ALL!
OK, in fairness, there was some brief mention of the convention during the Early Show's news recap at the very top of the hour.
But when it came to the extended segments during the first half-hour, first up was a rehash of the Kobe Bryant case. Surely, I thought, the convention must be next. But no, it was an update on surgery on conjoined twins. "No, this can't be happening," I thought. "They must be building toward a big conclusion to the half-hour with a major convention segment."
Uh, no. The final segment was devoted to informing us that it was rainy in Richmond yesterday.
Over at the Today Show, rather than extended coverage of the convention, we were treated to the second installment of a near week-old interview that Matt Lauer had done with Pres. Bush. OK, not as bad as CBS' Richmond weather report, but the big news of yesterday was what happened in the convention, and we saw very little of it. Rather than any extended excerpts from the McCain/Giuliani speeches (and don't forget that NBC did not broadcast the convention last night), we were treated to another soporific interview between Katie and Tim Russert.
Finally, at GMA, Diane Sawyer conducted a live interview with First Lady Laura Bush. I must say that Laura looked absolutely beautiful and conducted herself with her characteristic charm and class. That was put to the test when Diane Sawyer crudely asked her "so, are you going to attack John Kerry tonight?" "Of course not," replied Laura, maintaining her good-natured composure as someone might when a visitor's dog soils the living room carpet.
Both Today and GMA focused of course on W's inelegant phrase yesterday regarding our ability to win the war on terrorism. Nice try, but that would only stick if people thought for a second that W wasn't tough on terrorism or that Kerry was tougher. Don't make me laugh.
I thought a clear highlight of last night's speeches was Giuliani's parody of Edwards' 'two Americas' theme, when Rudy suggested that perhaps Kerry needs two Americas: one to take one position, the other to take exactly the opposite position on the same issue. But of course none of the networks let Americans see that this morning.
All in all, an infuriating performance by the MSM. But let's take it as a compliment and a good sign: they know how devastating the McCain/Rudy one-two punch was last night, and didn't dare let the American people see too much of it this morning.
They've been telling us that Bush will not get much of a bounce, if any from the RNC and they don't relish the prospect of not only being wrong but of having to figure out and report why he did up with a hefty bounce.
They just can't be seen as cheerleading you know.
Guiliani wouldn't even let him finish his sentence. He went off on Gibson that the democrats have been using 9/11 since the primaries. He mentioned Michael Moore and his "movie" and comments made by Kennedy, Kerry and Edwards. Guiliani then said he thought the media had double standards in their coverage of Republicans.
I saw that too, and it was great. Thanks for mentioning. Rudy added that asking W not to mention 9/11 would be like asking Lincoln, running for reelection in 1864, not to mention The Civil War.
Is FNC really all that helpful? They spin and lie just like the other alphabet channels, and it's getting worse, not better. I just gave them up... was tired of paying for cable just to see them.
Doesn't matter.
Old Media makes itself irrelevant everytime they do this. People notice and head to alternate sources for news. People will hear about last night DESPITE the Old media attempts to black it out.
Forsake the paleomedia for the neomedia and you'll never have to be called naive again.
Members of the MSM maintain the mentality of a junior high school clique. Most have egos that never developed beyond the early teen years. "Ignoring" the GOP Convention is just one example of the immature, juvenile mindset they can't seem to escape. They're simply pouting this morning.
The ad shows Kerry disrespecting the symbols of honorable service, his medals, and asks "if you can't trust him to respect the symbols, how can you trust him to respect the country?" or similar.
If it is true that the people own the airwaves and the networks "rent" permission to use them in exchange for providing full news, then this lack of convention coverage is easy proof that the networks are not fulfilling their contractual obligation.
Does anyone have any links/sources to the coverage that CBS provided to the Democrats on their 'first day' of their convention?
I thought they already did.
I rely heavily on the internet, FNC and other sources for my news. I follow the MSM morning shows not to inform myself but rather to monitor and report back on what they are up to.
She will it's a long slow process, it's called rat extermination.
COmpared with the Swifties, who have said that even if President Bsh asked them to stop, they would NOT (no coordination there!).
It is so crystal clear, looking at those examples. I wonder how many sheeple "get it?"
True. Someone yesterday made the contrast that Old Media tried to blackout the Swift Boat controversy, but the Internet bypassed them so effectively, that half the people in the nation had seen or were familiar with the SBV views.
Switched over to the Tim/Katie interview...Tim:"If Michael Moore is the face of the dem party, Kerry is in trouble!"LOL!
I saw that. He was complaining about a delegate who was distributing band aids with purple hearts on the convention floor. Somehow the Dem spinner claimed that doing so dishonored the thousands of soldiers who have received purple hearts in Iraq.
I was surprised/annoyed that ED Hill quickly joined the chorus. "Yes, that was wrong."
Talking about PMSNBC I almost dropped dead last night when I heard our boy fat Chris almost concede the race to Bush, it was quite a moment, few probably caught it though.
Not that big a deal. He was running for his first term as a Congressman, and my family knew him because we had lived in Midland when he did. I was President of the local Young Republican Club and we gave his campaign and John Tower's lots of help that year.
You are right! I switched to C-Span which had unbroken coverage! As for the MSM not covering the convention news this morning, that is a mute point. You must realize that the MSM has rendered itself useless as a reliable news and reporting source. If the Swift Boat Veterans, can alter the course of a presidential election with a $100,000.00 ad that is destroying John Kerry, you have to know the MSM does not reach the American public as it once did. Talk radio, cable news and the internet is where folks get their news from these days! The elite MSM is only fooling themselves.
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