The Colluding Press
By Judson Cox (02/19/04)
Our Founding Fathers envisioned the press as almost another branch of government. It was to be free and nonpartisan, and would serve as a check on governmental power; it would expose scoundrels and keep politicians honest. It appears that things are not going as planned.
Were the “alphabet” channels to spend much time covering sleeper cells in America, or al Qaeda’s recruitment efforts in U.S. prisons, it might make the Democratic Presidential candidates look bad when they rant against the Patriot Act. If they were to cover the atrocities of Saddam Hussein and his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, it might reflect negatively on those same politicians who condemn President Bush for the war in Iraq. If they were to discuss Libya, it might undermine those who claim that America is no safer since we began the War on Terror. Gaddafi says that he decided to cooperate with the United States because of our overthrow of Saddam; Ted Kennedy claims that President Bush invaded Iraq for political gain – Kennedy goes unchallenged.
Last week, Matt Drudge revealed that Sen. John Kerry had an extra-marital affair. Boston newspapers have reported similar stories since the 1990’s, the “National Enquirer” ran a cover story in 2000 detailing allegations of multiple affairs and frequent drug use and the European newspapers have given extensive coverage of his adulterous lifestyle. Last Thursday, talk radio covered the story. By Friday, Fox News had mentioned it briefly. Finally, on Monday, the Associated Press reported that the alleged mistress denied the charges. The other networks followed suit, all reporting her statement as if they had covered the allegations before hand – they hadn’t.
I wish I could report that the press had made a conscious decision not to report scandal for scandal’s sake. However, the allegations of Kerry’s philandering are not easily dismissed. Several witnesses have reported seeing him with intimate female acquaintances other than his wife, and the father of the young woman who is the subject of this story verified the allegations and called Kerry “a sleaze ball.” ( The Sun 2/16/04 ) Former Democratic Presidential nominee, ret. Gen. Wesley Clark and Clinton/Gore operative Chris LeHane divulged this information to the press – that, in itself, is reason for a news story.
The press has shown no hesitation in repeating unfounded allegations that President Bush was AWOL during his National Guard Service. The White House has released pay stubs, dental records and over 400 pages of documentation from his time in the National Guard. The press claims this vast collection of validating documents “raises more questions than answers.” CBS Radio News went so far as to quote a Democratic spokesman who said, “This only proves his teeth were in Alabama.” A bigger story may be the paranoia or arrogance of a Democratic Party that either believes George W. Bush was capable of shipping his teeth to Alabama for the purpose of fooling the country 30 years later, or that thinks Americans are stupid enough to believe so ridiculous a charge!
I sincerely hope the allegations of Kerry’s extra marital affairs will prove false, for the sake of his family, and because I am tired of the Clinton goon squads and their “politics of personal destruction.” I would prefer this election to be a battle between competing ideologies. I believe that liberalism would lose on the issues, as it did for McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis. Such a competition of ideologies would be far better for our nation than another round of got’cha politics.
The press prevents an honest competition of ideology. A Republican, like President Bush, can serve honorably in the National Guard and be called a draft dodger and a deserter. A Democrat like Bill Clinton can dodge the draft and demonize the military in writing, and his actions are irrelevant. A Democrat can even kill someone, as Ted Kennedy did, and still be the darling of the media, a revered and heroic figure whose drunken rants are taken as the gospel. The goal of our Founders was an adversarial press, what we have now is a biased press, actively colluding with the Democratic Party.
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