Mainstream Media has pinned their hopes on Lord Kerry. Last night at his ludicrous midnight rally he once again claimed to have been misled into war in Iraq. For this to be a winning tack, Mainstream Media must give short shrift to stories that contradict his claims.
They have to ignore the Butler report. Remember the infamous sixteen word in the State of the Union speech? The Butler report concluded that the President’s claim that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa was “well-founded”.
Mainstream Media must downplay the Senate Intelligence Committee Report that said the intelligence on which the President relied in deciding for war in Iraq was exaggerated, but that also said it was the CIA that exaggerated the intelligence not the White House. Mainstream Media must send their very own Bob Woodward on vacation. It was his book “Plan of Attack”, that described a skeptical President as having been won over to the argument of WMD in Iraq, won over by Clinton appointed CIA chief George Tenet who said “It’s a slam dunk”.
On top of all that Mainstream Media must refrain from asking what kind of gullible moron would think he'll win people over by insisting again and again that George Bush misled him. As if prone to being misled is a quality to inspire confidence.
On the domestic side the economy has seen robust growth, and after a brief slowdown, may be poised for a record setting boom. Meanwhile, Kerry persistently sticks to the fiction that we’re in a depression. Mainstream Media has historically sided with the Democrats on this issue, reporting that the state of the economy is robust when a Democrat resides in the White House, but anemic when it is home to a Republican. The 5.6% unemployment rate was lauded by Mainstream Media during the Clinton years, but 5.4% we see now is considered lackluster or suspect. During a Republican administration bad economic news makes the front page, while good news makes the business page.
Kerry's is sticking to a game plan that could have far reaching impact on the balance of power among media outlets. He has put all his hope in Mainstream Media, just as they have in him. It is hope well founded, as wWith breathtaking arrogance,Mainstream Media is distorting the news in an all out effort to elect Lord Kerry. But they’re stuck with him. He’s the only horse left in the race. Rumor has it that Dan Rather, himself will join the fray with a campaign ad to counter-attack to the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth. It will be called “60 Minutes”.
But Kerry is a one trick pony. His campaign strategy of surrounding himself with Vietnam veterans goes back decades. It worked in Massachusetts when the stakes were not so high, but now world leadership is in the balance. Now veterans are coming forward to challenge him, veterans who refuse to concede that his service to country is somehow superior to theirs, veterans who will not be silenced. To every criticism of Lord Kerry’s record he answers that it’s an attack on his patriotism. Then without batting an eye, he will criticize someone else’s service record. This is not playing well.
Bloggers have come onto the scene, and they pose problems for Mainstream Media. Stories can no longer simply be ignored. This election campaign is the struggle Mainstream Media against the people for control of news information, and for the very first time MM is in trouble. The availability of internet technology and high speed communications has broken the strangle hold MM has had on information. The power of the Mainstream Media is the power to withhold, suppress, or surreptitiously transform. As that power slips away the desperation begins to show.
With a half decent candidate, and the press would win out again as they did in 1992. But somehow in they've settled on the most pathetic candidate ever as their champion. The degree of distortion and disguise needed to make Lord Kerry look like a competent candidate is beyond the power of even Mainstream Media. Their grip is being broken.
Update: Power Line has this story in which AP is caught in a deliberate distortion.
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