Saturday night, I had a conversation with a pretty well-informed friend which helped me see just how biased our media are.
This Democrat knew about Sarah Palin’s inquiry twelve years ago into removing books from the Wasilla Public Library (though he did not express it that way), but didn’t know about her success in pushing through a “gas pipeline project to bring new supply and price relief to the lower 48.” Indeed, he didn’t know much about her various (successful) battles against entrenched interests in her own party. Nor do most people who seem dumbfounded by my defenses of the Alaska Governor’s qualifications.
And some of these people read the Los Angeles Times on a regular basis. For others it’s its Big Apple counterpart.
Here is a woman who even before her election as Governor caused her state party’s chairman to resign from the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission and also exposed the state Attorney General, also from her own party, forcing him to resign as well. As Governor, she held the line on spending and fought attempts by big oil companies “to block development of the state’s resources.”
Save for those of us who read the conservative media, it seems more people know about teenage daughter’s pregnancy, her husband’s drunk driving conviction (22 years ago), her inquiry into banning books and her alleged membership in the Alaska Independence Party (AIP) (she wasn’t her husband was) than know of her reform record.
Yet, much as we know about such insignificant details of her life and even fabrications about that life (based on shoddy reporting), we know even less about Barack Obama and Joe Biden. While some assume (falsely) Palin joined the AIP, most remain ignorant of Obama’s involvement in the socialist “New Party” in the 1990s.
We read much in the media on how Palin’s supposed hypocrisy for highlighting her opposition to earmarks since she once sought them, yet little on the failure of her rival for the Vice Presidency to disclose the earmarks he requested during his 35 years in the Senate, including the $342 million he requested this year alone.
While the MSM scour the dumpsters of Alaska for any incriminating evidence on Sarah Palin (even if it’s a fabrication), they’re steering clear of easily obtainable records in Chicago and Wilmington (Delaware) while failing to prod either man on the Democratic ticket to be more forthcoming about his past, including his record in office.
You can’t entirely blame the media. The McCain Campaign has been completely inept at putting forth Palin’s reformer bona fides. Personally, I think when McCain saw how much more popular she was, his ego couldn’t take it. He put her in a metaphorical burqa and made her walk ten metaphorical steps behind.
Palin has real chops. She’s a stand-up dame, and if anything good comes from this election, it’s that the Right has a new superstar. She can do a lot of good campaigning to help Republicans pick up seats in 2010. And as I’ve said, whoever becomes the leader of the opposition to Obamunism becomes the Republican front-runner in 2012. Go Sarah!
I don’t know that this gets laid in the lap of the McCain campaign.
I do think the media has deliberately sought to vilify Palin. Just looking at the Gibson and Couric interviews, they were entirely about gotcha moments, there wasn’t any focus on her accomplishments-they didn’t even ask a “What things have you done as governor that make you most proud?” type questions.
I think her interviews have been the toughest, in your face and hostile interviews of any of the main 4 candidates on the tickets.
Wheere I do agree with you on the McCain camp screwing things up is more in the area of overly focusing on the “Maverick” label (a word I hope to never hear again after this election cycle) rather than on her governorship in general, but the media is deliberately ignoring the positives of the story in order to promote their “Palin is a white, trash redneck that actually hunts moose” biography, and being successful or knowldgeable about energy and other governing concepts don’t fit so it gets ignored.
The biggest highlight of Obama’s career was the “ethics” reform bill that the senate isn’t even following to the letter-that is his accomplishment-oh and his other is that he ran a campaign for the presidency-and that is why he is qualified.
Palin has links to Iran and her husband is a traitor and terrorist. Haven’t you heard?