“The McCain camp has been unusually aggressive in pushing back against the media, and it seems to hope to persuade journalists to back off in their scrutiny of Palin.”
Sen. John McCain’s top campaign strategist accused the news media Tuesday of being “on a mission to destroy” Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin by displaying “a level of viciousness and scurrilousness” in pursuing questions about her personal life.
Steve Schmidt said his campaign feels “under siege” by wave after wave of news inquiries…
Arguing that the media queries are being fueled by “every rumor and smear” posted on left-wing Web sites, Schmidt said mainstream journalists are giving “closer scrutiny” to McCain’s little-known running mate…
McCain canceled Larry King in retaliation… ‘Denouncing the news media as biased’… ‘the McCain campaign is fighting … to keep the Palin allegations confined to the Internet’.
It’s funny how the same gang that thought swift-boating John Kerry and drive Vince Foster to suicide was all aboveboard now cringes sanctimoniously….
Intimidating en masse:
“Delegates to the Republican National Convention whirled in their seats en masse and called out from the floor: ‘Tell the truth! Tell the truth!’ The chants and finger-wagging were directed toward the sky boxes. Their target: the television networks and the rest of the ‘liberal mainstream media.’
The Times said “This is what they do. It’s part of their operation.”
Thoughts:
Of all sources, here’s guidance from Roger Ailes, the boss of Fox News:
“The press is an essential pillar of that democracy. The press didn’t invent democracy. Democracy invented freedom of the press. So we will investigate anything and find the truth, and report it, but we do not get up every morning, assuming that our country is guilty. We just happen to like democracy.”
In support of untiring journalists, bloggers or professionals, Sarah Palin and her associates, and similar folk with Bible-bandaged motives, stark superstition, aggression for power and social dominance, plus the bullies behind the scenes, require some effort to expose and perhaps understand. The mainstream isn’t.
They say there’s a price for everything and this maxim is true for thoughts and attitudes too. Palin is poison and McCain, Rove, the theocrats and bully elite, sour my mood and yes, they do convert me: I become grumpy and in search of dirt to cripple them. (And I’ve posted a good bunch too!)
But I must watch myself to prevent becoming “them”, vindictive, unfair.
One blogger said, “Hey, what about Obama? We need to find his positives and keep him on top….”
‘The Nation is at stake’, I say to myself, ‘so be willing to fight’, I say to myself. But this is only partially true. The Nation will endure this. A better reality is made not by battle but by moving ahead and encouraging a new and better path. I hope the election will end in Obama’s favor, if only to end these 30-ish years of rude and arrogant manipulators.
I hope one day America will no longer argue merely to lift tiny or obscure issues, be civil together and around the world, enjoy challenges as if we will master them, and no longer be in a mood for war.