For the worst 'big media' bias: The envelope, please
Quin Hillyer
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Presidential elections years always provide fertile soil for the "elite" coastal media to give evidence of leftist biases, and for the celebrity world to demonstrate breathtaking idiocy.
The Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group, gives mock awards each year for the worst examples of such nonsense. This year's crop of nominees are the most outrageous in memory.
Herewith, then, my take on some of the entries.
Throughout the year, the big media blamed job losses on President George W. Bush. The most pointed example came from -- who else? -- CBS' Dan Rather. In March, Rather asked and answered his own question: "What drives American civilians to risk death in Iraq? In this economy it may be, for some, the only job they can find."
Of course, Mr. Rather later had job troubles of his own. In the fall, Rather heatedly denied that some documents supposedly pertaining to President Bush's National Guard records were forgeries: "The story is true. The story is true. ... I appreciate the sources who took risks to authenticate our story. So, one, there is no internal investigation. Two, somebody may be shell-shocked, but it is not I, and it is not anybody at CBS News. Now, you can tell who is shell-shocked by the ferocity of the people who are spreading these rumors."
But CBS News did conduct an internal inves tigation, did retract the story, and then appointed an outside body to further investigate the causes of the CBS failures. And Mr. Rather will be stepping down in March.
Mr. Rather's predecessor, Walter Cronkite, went his successor one worse. When Osama bin Laden released his infamous videotape just days before the election, Mr. Cronkite, in all seriousness, opined: "I'm a little inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, that he probably set up bin Laden to this thing."
Meanwhile, some reporters pined for the gentle reign of Saddam Hussein. In a Chicago Tribune article in May, reporter Deborah Horan wrote of three wealthy sisters, ages 17, 15, and 11: "They rarely venture outside their upscale home in central Baghdad out of fear of explosions and violence. ... Their teenage world was simpler when Saddam Hussein was in power. Back then, they said, they hung out with friends at the Pharmacists Club, a swanky place with a swimming pool. ... Iraq's new freedom -- or chaos, depending on your point of view -- has imprisoned the girls."
Not to be outdone, actress Meryl Streep had this to say during a fund-raiser for Democratic nominee John Kerry: "I wondered to myself during 'Shock and Awe,' I wondered which of the megaton bombs Jesus, our president's personal savior, would have personally dropped on the sleeping families of Baghdad."
Speaking of the Massachusetts senator, last February, Reuters New Service reported that "if John Kerry wins the Democratic nomination and goes on to be the next U.S. president, experts say it would be good for Wall Street."
Instead, during the fall campaign, the stock market stalled almost every time Mr. Kerry made strides in the polls. And the market boomed as soon as Mr. Bush won re-election.
Another Massachusetts senator was beatified by Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales: "Ted Kennedy has now reached a grand moment in the life of a senator; he looks like Hollywood itself cast him in the role. Seriously ... Kennedy looked great, like he was ready to take his place next to Jefferson on Mount Rushmore."
But former President Ronald Reagan apparently can forget Rushmore. When he died, ABC's Sam Donaldson had this to say about the Gipper: "I used to say I thought if you were down on your luck and you got through the Secret Service, got in the Oval Office and said, 'Mr. President, I'm down on my luck,' he would literally give you the shirt off his back. And then he'd sit down in his undershirt and he'd sign legislation throwing your kids off the school lunch program, maybe your parents off Social Security, and of course the Welfare Queen off welfare."
The Scrooge role also was assigned, bizarrely, to the famously courteous, and philanthropic, National Review founder William F. Buckley. In July, Deborah Solomon of The New York Times Magazine interviewed him. Two of her questions: "You have made so many offensive comments over the years. Do you regret any of them?" And: "You seem so indifferent to suffering. Have you ever suffered yourself?"
But the man most often portrayed in a sinister fashion was Vice President Dick Cheney, especially in comparison with Democratic nominee John Edwards. As Newsweek reporters wrote, "In politics, self-made men seem to fall into two categories: sunny and dark. ... In the 2004 election, Dick Cheney projects the bleakness of a Wyoming winter, while John Edwards always seems to be strolling in the Carolina sunshine."
NBC reporter David Gregory reported that "one of the obstacles for Dick Cheney tonight is the fact that he has become a dark figure. ... There are those who believe that Dick Cheney has led this administration and this president down a path of recklessness, that maybe his approach, his dark approach to this constant battle against another civilization, is actually the wrong approach for ultimately keeping America safe."
Even that portrayal of Mr. Cheney wasn't deathly enough for ABC's Claire Shipman, who said this directly to the vice president: "I read you once took a psychological profile test, and it said the position you're most suited for is undertaker."
But at least Mr. Cheney didn't personally cause 3,000 innocent Americans to die. It seems that was President Bush's job. At a press conference in April, Elisabeth Bumiller of The New York Times asked this of the president: "Two and a half years later, do you feel any sense of personal responsibility for Sept. 11?"
Ladies and gentlemen, we may just have a winner.
Quin Hillyer is an editorial writer for the Mobile Register. Readers can call him at 219-5650 or send e-mail to qhillyer@mobileregister.com
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