Posted on 09/23/2008 11:17:53 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The 2004 contest between President Bush and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry marked the beginning of the end for the old media monopoly. On the one hand, clumsy media attempts to fabricate a story, complete with phony documents hastily fabricated using modern word-processing software, clearly indicated that CBS bigwig Dan Rather and his minions were stumping for Kerry. Meanwhile, the old media failed miserably in their shameless attempts to discredit the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth. That organization's thoroughly documented evidence completely unraveled Kerry's baseless claims of heroism in Vietnam. By so doing, the Swift Vets struck the fatal blow to his inept campaign.
Of course the old media, devoted exclusively to liberal ideology, are wholly incapable of admitting their outrageous slant. Nor can they fathom their current inability to successfully function in the absence of their former almost total domination of information. Not surprisingly, the current crop of nasty and small minded leftists throughout the "news" and entertainment media (and to an ever increasing degree, the two institutions are becoming indistinguishable) are at it again. This time, their target is Alaska Governor and vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
The entire dynamic of the 2008 presidential race changed dramatically, the moment Republican candidate John McCain announced his pick of Palin for VP. Grassroots Republicans, who at best had previously been lackluster in their support for McCain, were suddenly enthused. And Palin has since become the most notable and influential political figure on the national scene.
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has had to completely alter its strategy in order to hold any hope of challenging Palin's spectacular rise in national renown. Formerly, Barack Obama was all about "hope" and "change," a message which resonated with those Americans who were otherwise blind to the realities of his political philosophy, but have understandably grown tired of business as usual inside the Beltway.
No real substance was necessary to support Obama's rhetoric. He simply sounded better than more of the same from Washington. But in the wake of Palin's arrival on the national stage, everything changed. In stark contrast to Obama's vacant oratory, Palin does indeed intend to shake things up in the Federal Government, and has an impressive and inspiring track record to prove it.
So the Obama campaign has had to regularly switch from his vacuous message of "change," to denigrating Palin's supposed "lack of experience," in order to cast her as somehow unfit for the nation's second highest office. Yet this strategy poses its own risks, and requires a great deal of dexterity by Obama, since any real scrutiny of experience among the candidates reveals him to be by far the least qualified among them.
Thus, the liberal political machine is forced, once again, to rely heavily on media complicity in order to pull off this ruse. And of course its minions among the "news" and entertainment industry are fully willing to comply.
For starters, the level of discourse on national "news" programs has seriously degenerated, while members of the "entertainment" industry are becoming ever more vocal with their opinions. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult to tell the two entities apart.
Political commentators and their "analyses" sound increasingly like what one might expect from Simon Cowell, with far more focus on style than substance, and on "presentation" rather than policy. But in contrast to the shallow cheesiness of "reality TV," Americans ought not care if, according to media elites, Sarah Palin "looked flustered" during the Charlie Gibson interview. Instead, they should be more concerned with her core principles and resulting policy positions on key issues.
Nevertheless, Sarah Palin's competence and fitness as vice-president is currently deemed lacking by such colossal intellects as Matt Damon, Susan Sarandon, and Lindsay Lohan. Sadly, while these talented individuals can capably stand in front of the cameras and deliver lines sounding as intelligent as their script writers intend them to sound, nobody warned them not to attempt such things at home. But to be fair, their diatribe no longer sounds markedly different from the shallow observations offered by the likes of Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson, among other "old media" stalwarts.
So as the incredible level of venom directed at Sarah Palin continually proves to be an ongoing failure, media efforts to obliterate her popularity have only increased in their shrillness. And in so doing, they increasingly highlight their own moral and philosophical bankruptcy. In the midst of such a disgraceful firestorm, Palin's steadfastness is, if anything, underscored in the eyes of the public. Meanwhile the tenor of the media grows progressively more desperate.
Perhaps the most stunning example of this desperation was a September 15 article by Jon Friedman first appearing in "Market Watch," though it has enjoyed wide circulation since. According to Friedman, Palin's skyrocketing popularity of the past few weeks was principally a product of the media attention given her. Upon this sham of an assertion, he goes on to confidently predict that the same media which "made" her will now be the cause of her undoing.
Friedman gives no consideration to the reality that Palin's popularity among America's grassroots derives from her down-to-earth wholesomeness and above all, her unabashed devotion to conservatism and the traditional values of heartland America. In his world, she is simply the result of media attention, as if it was ever positive in its assessment of her. Thus does he maintain, in the vanity of his own imagination (along with the equally empty contemplations of his fellow media minions), that the ebb and flow of America's political landscape is really all about him and his kind.
Mainstream Americans are overwhelmingly angered by the flagrant audacity of such a self-absorbed appraisal, lacking so thoroughly in evidence as it is. Nevertheless, a new wind is blowing across this nation. Friedman, Couric, and Gibson, along with those pretty but empty mouthpieces of the Hollywood left, will continue to offer their venom and drivel to an ever diminishing audience, oblivious to the fact that their sphere of influence is in danger of eventual extinction.
In its place, the force and character of courageous individuals such as Sarah Palin, along with the grassroots network of true conservatives whom she so well represents, will begin the long task of restoring the dynamism, energy, and virtue of America.
To quote Pamela anderson, the MSM can suck it!
Greet toon. I saw another somewhere that showed Palin aiming a rifle at a moose with the name Mainstream Media on the antlers. Wish I could remember where I saw that.
Not according to the MSM. In a single breath, they can tear into Palin like they’ve never touched Obama, then complain about conservatives’ complaints about media coverage. What attacks? Where?
Obama is Bill Ayers' Renfield but it's not a story.
“Obama is Bill Ayers’ Renfield but it’s not a story.”
Nor is it a story that he used coke, or that he has children and he works (!), or that he voted for the bridge to nowhere, or that he is in no way qualified to be president, etc.
GREAT ARTICLE !! Thank you
They are all deranged! I have NEVER liked Matt Damon, Lindsay Lohan, Susan Sarandon, or the media moguls, anyway! We choose not to have a TV, primarily because we feel we could live quite well without their daily dose of socialistic diatribe, anyway! It is amazing what living without TV does for your world view, not to mention your sanity!
I can see the imagery: ''Master, I've cleared all the bugs out of the hold. They were NICE, and JUICY. And I caught a nice fat rat, too.''
Well said!
bumping for later...
This is possibly the third or fourth article I’ve seen here today that shines a bright light on this one phenomenon of the campaign.
I’ve really enjoyed reading each and every analysis by these great writers. They are writing what will soon be seen as prophecy about the networks, and the MSM in general.
In the first week of the jaw-dropping attacks against Sarah Palin, I opined that the reason for those attacks is that Sarah had the temerity to publicly reveal the treachery and empty souls of the left to 40 million people, while using the networks’ own medium against them!
I couldn’t believe the irony of what I was seeing when Sarah gave her acceptance speech. The proof of that was the reaction of the attending news people at the conclusion of her speech. They were awed and in shock. It was plainly visible in their loss for words. It was in their stuttering, and their injured body language. I was overjoyed at their finally being cornered and shamed with the truth by this incredible woman.
That was the moment that the leftmedia decided to rush into their suicidal banzai charge against Sarah. They sensed her power, but it only made them psychotically choose to destroy her in a mad bid for survival. They have so miscalculated her in their madness. And now - they will die.
well I did like the Bourne trilogy... :(
That was the moment that the leftmedia decided to rush into their suicidal banzai charge against Sarah.
no they started as soon as she was picked. They didn’t give her a fair chance
The Mojo Vampire and his willing victim. Oprah(Edith Keeler) Winfrey’s career, is going to be sucked into an anemic Norma Desmond-cy. The way he sucked away mojo from the Clintons, the way he sucked on the legends of MLK, JFK, RFK, Wright, Lincoln, Reagan, The way he sucks off the mojo of all the famous and celebrities he comes into contact with.
What stood out, as it always does, is how nobody ever asks the person attacking Governor Palin what qualifies the Great Obambi for President. No comparisons to Governor Palin or John McCain, just the drivel we are used to hearing. Obami ain't black, he's Teflon brown.
As usual, Jay Leno (who I like) did no Obama jokes during his monolouge. He did the usual McCain (old guy) jokes and showed clips of Governr Palin and Joe Biden gaffes.
Good old Barry has it made. No investigations of his background, no jokes about him on Late Night TV, nothing but favorable press coverage, no reporting of daily gaffes and all we get is the worship from his sycophants in the Media blessed with sharing time with him.
Oh sure, they gave her the standard Republican treatment as soon as she was announced. That was going to happen no matter who McCain picked.
But - the total blitzkrieg of venom and shrieking hysteria didn't start until after Sarah's acceptance speech. In my mind, that's the moment the media went into their psychotic break, and rushed into their suicidal banzai charge against her.
What's so fantastic about this, to my mind anyway, is that no one in the power centers of the media or the DNC saw that this would be a strategic blunder of historic proportions for them.
The media's complete lack of judgment on this is just eye popping, in my opinion. That no one, in any level of their hierarchy could see this, is a testament to their sheer infantilism and blindness. It's simply astonishing to see the level of arrogance and presumption of absolute power these people have.
They obviously didn't learn a damn thing from Dan Rather.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.