[hinckley buzzard]

The real toxic effect of the leftwing media is their ability to set the premises of the public debate. They can present a set of facts selected on the basis of implicit assumptions. The viewer casually accepts the facts, or may even respond skeptically --but the undelying premises go unchallenged and are absorbed uncritically.

A simple example you can see every day: "The troubled and weakening economy presents more problems for the embattled Bush administration tonight...." A few random figures are presented, with a couple of carefully picked sound bites. Then the story moves on to Iraq.

The idea that the economy is "troubled and weakening" is simply taken for granted, neither supported nor questioned, but simply offered as a fact. That the Bush administration may in fact not be "embattled" at all is not a thought that anyone will glean from this story. But next day, when Obama or Clinton yammers about the "terrible economy" the viewer recalls the story from the night before, and listens...

[connell]

Exactly.