Cal Thomas: The media vote

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/ct20041025.shtml ^

[Caleb1411]

The Big Media - by which I mean the three broadcast networks and the most "influential newspapers" (i.e. The New York Times and The Washington Post) - have been "voting" for the next president for much of the last two years. In their news pages and on their news broadcasts, the Big Media have backed any Democrat over George W. Bush, and now the long-awaited mystery of which candidate they would officially endorse is over.

May I have the envelope, please?

The winner of the editorial endorsement of both The New York Times and The Washington Post is: John Kerry! What, you're not surprised?

Reading like a script from Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," The New York Times claimed in its Oct. 17 endorsement of Kerry that the Massachusetts senator is "a man with a strong moral core."

For a newspaper that recognizes no morality expect that which it writes for itself, the Times might have disclosed its "moral code" and the basis on which it can be deciphered. It certainly isn't rooted in anything related to what has traditionally been known as morality, for the Times consistently backs ideas, behavior and opinions that would have scandalized the once immutable moral code that comes from an Authority higher than its editorial boardroom.

Regardless of who wins next Tuesday's election (and no matter how long it takes to get the results following expected lawsuits and ballots cast by ineligible voters), this may well be the last election cycle in which the Big Media are taken seriously or regarded as influential.

The Big Media (let's abbreviate and call them BM) have gone over the top with this election. They have ripped off their final layer of faux objectivity, revealing their ideological nakedness for all to see in a desperate effort to get John Kerry elected.

No good news from the Bush administration is treated kindly by the BM. Is employment up? They're not the "right kind" of jobs. Is most of Iraq being pacified, and do many Iraqis speak well of the United States for ridding them of Saddam Hussein? It doesn't matter, because pockets of Iraq are unstable and Iraqis can be found who don't like the "occupation." Any moral convictions held by anyone in this administration are dismissed as right-wing fundamentalism by the BM as if the only convictions that matter are their own.

CBS News, which has a credibility gap wider than the Grand Canyon after it stood behind fake documents pertaining to George Bush's National Guard service, broadcast a report Friday night by Anthony Mason questioning whether most Americans are better off financially than they were four years ago. Mason claimed that while, on average, Americans are making more money than they were in 2000, they are "in fact, worse off." Mason's proof: "Median household income . . . is now $41,550, $30 lower than it was four years ago."

So, while Americans have more money than they did four years ago, median household income is down $30, proving to the BM that Bush's economic policies are a failure?

There are, and have been, countless examples of the most grotesque media bias against all things Bush and Republican by the BM. But it doesn't matter anymore. The BM are the past. Cable, newspapers in "flyover country" and the Internet are the future. I seriously doubt whether anyone's mind is changed by the BM's predictable endorsements and their familiar reasoning, which goes something like this: Big government and high taxes are good, sex with anyone for whatever reason is good, abortion and gay rights are good, more regulation of "evil corporations" (but not the BM corporations) is good and all conservatives are evil. Anyone sharing the BM's platform gets their endorsement. Anyone who doesn't gets unfavorable treatment in the news pages and on the air.

The anger of the BM in anticipation of a Bush win has gone beyond the fringe of a Michael Moore film or a George Soros 527 group. London's Guardian newspaper printed a column Saturday by a Charlie Brooker, who, after mocking President Bush with the familiar leftist invective, concluded: "The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr. - where are you now that we need you?"

Nice, huh? This is why the media future is in what is called "alternative media." It will soon become the mainstream.

[Caleb1411]

This is why the media future is in what is called "alternative media." It will soon become the mainstream.

A happier death knell (for the MSM) you've never heard.

[anniegetyourgun]

"The Big Media (let's abbreviate and call them BM..."

What an appropriate term for them.....BM.....

[Trepz]

I wonder how many will recognize the humor of Thomas's use of the letters "BM" and their connotation? A more appropriate term, I cannot imagine.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Amen to that.

Rush transcript relative to the NYTROGATE story here:

Partisan Press Wants YOU Depressed

[Spok]

"this may well be the last election cycle in which the Big Media are taken seriously or regarded as influential."

I've said it before-the MSM has more at stake in this election than John Kerry does. Leftist America and the institutions it has hijacked are going to be mortally wounded on November 2, to the benefit of every man, woman and child in America, whether they know it or not; whether they like it or not.

[Graybeard58]

We need more people like Cal Thomas running the country People with moral values that don't come from the New York & L.A. Times.

"W" is one such person but we need more.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

BM is part of the Unholy Alliance:

Unholy Alliance by David Horowitz Hardcover - (September 2004) - $27.95 In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the “Great Satan” with America’s radical Islamic enemies. In a remarkable exploration of the “Mind of the Left,” Horowitz traces the evolution of American radicalism from its Communist past to its “anti-war” present. He then shows how this Left was able to turn the Democratic Party presidential campaign around and reshape its views on the War on Terror.

[BoBToMatoE]

What an appropriate term for them.....BM.....

---

BWAHAHAHAH.. aint that the truth. :)

[weegee]

Media Schadenfreude and Media Shenanigans PING list

[Johnnyboy2000]

Cal Thomas is the man. I know people who were Democrats and are now just disgusted. Everyone sees this bias clearly now. Even I doubted it at times until this election cycle bgan over a year ago. The leftists are way over the top now, and the American people are not pleased to say the least.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ping your lists........

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Time to check Realclearpolitics......

[weegee]

November 3rd, Jean Kerry will return to the Senate. Meanwhile millions of Americans will have to decide if they will ever tune into NBCNNABCBS again for a serving of alphabet soup courtesy of the DNC soup kitchen. The buggy whip media is on the outs. They need to clean house. Viacom's stock is down 25% for the year (and continuing to dive). The MSM is not trustworthy.

[Johnnyboy2000]

Dan Blather is a bowel movement.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Here is where we are today:

______________________________________

RealClearPolitics Poll Average^SM
3-Way Race: Bush/Cheney vs Kerry/Edwards vs Nader/Camejo
Send This Page to a Friend | Graph: RCP Historical Poll Average

Poll	Date	Bush/ Cheney	Kerry/ Edwards	Nader/ Camejo	Spread
RCP Average	10/21 - 10/25	48.8%	46.3%	1.2%	Bush +2.5
Reuters/Zogby (1206 LV)	10/23 - 10/25	49%	46%	1%	Bush +3
TIPP (792 LV)	10/22 - 10/25	49%	43%	2%	Bush +6
ABC/Wash Post (1248 LV)*	10/22 - 10/24	48%	49%	1%	Kerry +1
CNN/USAT/Gallup (1195 LV)	10/22 - 10/24	51%	46%	1%	Bush +5
Los Angeles Times (881 LV)	10/21 - 10/24	48%	48%	1%	TIE
Newsweek (880 LV)	10/21 - 10/22	48%	46%	1%	Bush +2

[Grampa Dave]

Hopefully, when we trounce Kerry, that will be the beginning of the Death Knoll for ABCNNBCBS and the MSM print mediots.

[Johnnyboy2000]

So Kerry leads in the polls of the two papers that endorsed him. He sure looks desperate in the past week, doesn't he? I think the DNC knows there beat and they will throw anything they can at Bush. It is a joke now because everyone reads Kerry's daily speeches on the front page of the Times 5 hours before Kerry even gives them. He is blaming Bush for the flu. What is next AIDS?

[Caleb1411]

Here is where we are today:

How about these polls' track records? Do some have more credibility than others?

[BlessedByLiberty]

Thank you. I could find no fault with this article and believe as Mr. Thomas that this election will be the end of MSM as we know it.

Rush, talk radio, the Internet: Free Republic, Drudge, Lucianne, and 24/7 cable news stations began dismantling of the stranglehold the MSM has held for decades. Alternative media will replace the entertainment industry known as MSM.

Has competition killed MSM?