New Mantra of the Left Infects Most Political News
By Thomas D. Segel (10/02/05)
Harlingen, Texas, September 30, 2005: By now it must be clear to those who follow political events that all factions liberal are chanting a new mantra. You can hear the words over and over again by any champion of the Left who has entry to print media, appears on television or moves in front of a radio microphone…”The Republicans are corrupt.” “The Republicans are criminal.” “The Republicans are in decline.” “The Republicans have failed the American public.”
There are other verses to the same song. Some of them speak to the dropping poll numbers of the President. Some address the poor choice of governmental appointments. Others point out the legal entanglements of conservative congressional leaders. In point of fact, the words don’t really matter as long as liberal elements in our society can continue painting their opposition as failing and falling into steep decline. To achieve this objective, a biased media appears to be a willing accomplice and ready to use any opportunity, no matter how distant, to continue the drum beat of doom.
A perfect example of this is the September 30, 2005 article by Stephen Henderson and James Kuhnhenn of the Knight Ridder News Service. A banner headline in my local newspaper reads “Roberts sworn in a chief justice”. The first half of the article is legitimate news dealing with the vote to confirm John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States. It addresses who voted to confirm and who voted to reject his nomination. It also reports on his receiving the oath of office and the remarks of President Bush. This information consumes 16 of 32 column inches, which were devoted to the story. The second half of the report changes the tone of the article completely.
It addresses the search for another Supreme Court Justice saying, “Bush’s search in made more difficult by a declining public approval rating of his presidency and the emerging ethics issues involving top congressional Republicans.”
This comment is followed by commentary about Tom DeLay being forced to step down as Republican leader in the House of Representatives. It even reports a complete untruth by stating, “he was indicted in his home state on charges involving political money laundering.” The paragraph continues saying “Days earlier, the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors initiated an investigation into Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s sale of stock…”
The article continues to opine that the “swirl of bad news for Republicans” make it harder for Bush to select another conservative to be Justice. It quotes Democrats saying “this is the time for a consensus nominee” and reports that Democrats are not lined up to block any nomination.
As is the case time and time again in these days of distorted reporting, hard facts only provide an opening for the political commentary of news organizations. At the same time, the media loses sight of another very important fact… that Americans see this as a blatant attempt to influence the political landscape. For some unknown reason this message seems to be lost in the fog of bias.
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