If you genuinely honestly truly want and expect the press to play a watchdog role over government, then you must vote Republican. Only when the president is a Republican can you be confident that the press is watching, taking note, and reporting what it sees.
If a Republican were president, we'd be hearing non-stop about how gas prices are at record highs.
If a Republican were president, we'd have non-stop coverage of drone strikes into sovereign countries, especially when those drone strikes target American citizens.
If a Republican were president, the talking heads would be chattering away about the government's trying to intimidate an American citizen who exercised his First Amendment rights.
If a Republican were president, we'd hear nothing but contempt over a failed Mid-east foreign policy.
If a Republican were president, body counts in Afghanistan and Iraq would be leading stories, and each time the ones-digit was another zero it would be called a "grim milestone".
If a Republican were president, a tanking economy would suggest poor stewardship.
If a Republican were president, the press would attack the Republican instead of--oh wait, they are attacking the Republican candidate instead of pressing the White House. And they're collaborating amongst each other to ensure their version of the story is what is reported.
If a Republican were president, we'd be hearing about FISA and warrantless wiretaps.
If a Republican were president, we'd be hearing about presidential vacations.
If a Republican were president, this statement would be on every news report for a week instead of going down the rabbit hole, especially in light of the events of the last few days.
If a Republican were president, it would be a scandal if he didn't attend his daily intelligence briefings.
If a Republican were president, we'd be hearing about how bad it is that the Muslim world hates us, and how such hatred is evidence of poor foreign policy.
Only when a Republican is president does the press seem concerned with constitutional freedoms, with the economy's impact on the average American, with civil rights, with the actual performance of the president in all matters foreign and domestic. If these topics are important to you, you must vote Republican. If you vote Democratic, it's clear that the only thing that matters to you is party affiliation.
Update: related picture linked at Instapundit.
Update #2, 9/17/12: Here's more, all of it recent.
And the lesson to draw from that list is that reporters/media people are just people.
ReplyDeleteThey're not Edward R. Murrow or Woodward and Bernstein or at least they're not what those guys are popularly portrayed to be. They're just people with their own biases and a sense of responsibility that's not quite up to the task of keeping those biases from dictating their reportage.
Fortunately the days of the de facto monopoly of the big, three TV networks are behind us and we're moving quickly into an era of news gathering and dissemination that's beyond the control of anyone.