Beware of the Mainstream Media

By Alan Caruba

A recent outburst by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was a near classic example of how some members of the media are so over the moon about Obama that it serves as a reminder that their long knives are out for the Romney-Ryan ticket.

Matthews’ man-crush on Obama is blatant, but I do take some heart from a recent Newsweek cover and article that tore Obama to shreds with facts and figures. It was so unusual, given the usual news magazine adoration accorded Obama that I found it odd, though welcome.

Much depends, of course, on the coverage that will be given by the network news channels, ABC, NBC, CBS, and we should include PBS as well. From my observation, only C-SPAN makes a good faith effort to provide balanced coverage of both parties and political viewpoints.

And, of course, there’s Fox News. “Fair, balanced and unafraid” is their motto, but Fox has been afraid to get anywhere close to the issues involving Obama’s blatantly false birth certificate, the fact that his closest advisors in the White House are committed Marxists, along with his long association with friends who fit that description such as Bill Ayers.

Moreover, Fox has liberal commentators such as Juan Williams on staff and invites liberals to share their views on air as well. That said, its conservative tilt makes it about the only TV news channel a conservative can watch without wanting to throw up.

Matthews became incensed with GOP Chairman Reince Priebus during a recent discussion prior to the convention, riding his hobby horse that any criticism of Obama is racist. This charge is used to inoculate Obama against a reasoned examination of his policies, all of which have brought the nation to the brink of financial collapse, along with massive unemployment and other ills. In the area of foreign affairs, he has thoroughly weakened America’s capacity to influence the world.

The New York Times columnist, Maureen Dowd, sharpened her knives in a predictable attack on Romney in the Sunday edition, but anyone other than a brain-dead liberal knows about this newspaper’s antipathy toward any conservative seeking or serving in public office. Referencing Romney’s little joke about not having to produce a birth certificate to prove he was born in Michigan—to a Michigan audience, Dowd opined that “Already suspicious conservatives pounced on the remark as proof that Mitt would say anything to get elected.” As if Obama isn’t already famous for that.

This is not to say that many conservatives spend a lot of time reading The New York Times. They don’t. It’s the other daily newspapers, primarily written by liberal journalists, that should be of concern. I stopped reading my own state’s largest circulation newspaper for just that reason. While it devotes its columns to tearing down Governor Chris Christie, the rest of the nation has embraced his Jersey-style straight talk and guess who will be the GOP convention keynote speaker?

While most people get their general news from television, conservatives prefer sources such as Fox News, along with The Wall Street Journal, the National Standard, and the many conservative news and opinion sites available on the Internet. I am inclined to believe that conservatives are, in general, better informed and, frankly, more intelligent than liberals.

That said, the conservatives I fear most are those who say they will vote for a third party candidate like the Libertarians. When you consider how narrow the margin was in the George W. Bush v. Al Gore election literally EVERY vote matters, especially in the forthcoming one.

So this is a reminder that a massive amount of distortion about everything the Romney-Ryan ticket says in the weeks ahead will be written and said. The mere fact that the mainstream press is so reluctant to cover the biggest story of all, the dangerous state of the nation’s economy, tells you everything you need to know about their preference, once again, for the worst President to ever serve in the Oval Office.

© Alan Caruba, 2012