IOKIYAR, Yet Again

August 6th, 2008

In case you were still not decided on who is getting better breaks from the media, well, aside from the fact that you should really be paying closer attention, all you have to do is look at this story. McCain, drawn in to the “Buffalo Chip’s annual Tribute to American Veterans and Active Duty Servicemen” without (presumably) knowing the activities they usually hold, volunteered his wife Cindy for their “beauty contest”:

I was looking at the Sturgis schedule, and noticed that you had a beauty pageant, so I encouraged Cindy to compete. I told her [that] with a little luck, she could be the only woman to serve as both the First Lady and Miss Buffalo Chip.

The problem: the “Miss Buffalo Chip” contest is topless, and occasionally, bottomless as well.

So far, according to Google News, this story has only been mentioned in a few news blogs, but not any main sites (though ABC is currently offering the link to its blog story on the contest on its front news page). The LA Times mentions the incident deep in a story, but did not pick up on the nature of the contest. As I and others have pointed out many times before, there is an obvious disparity here: if Obama had done this–offered up Michelle for a nude contest, no matter that it was unknowingly–we’d be seeing is slathered all over the media, 24/7, for quite some time, with questions of appropriateness sprayed at Michelle and no end to the jokes.

But if you think that’s too frivolous (hey, that’s mostly what the news media does nowadays, frivolous), then how about energy plans? The media has jumped all over Obama for “shifting” his energy policy, even though he clearly stated from the start that he maintained his policy but, with the emergence of a new plan offered in Congress, would accept compromises including drilling if it meant achieving the important goals. Which is what you’re supposed to do as a good politician and leader–accept compromises in order to get the job done.

Why is this an example of media bias? Well, the media had no such rush to judgment about John McCain when, in late June, he made offshore drilling a centerpiece of his campaign and a cudgel with which to beat Obama over the head. They should have, because just a month before, in late May, McCain was still fully opposed to offshore drilling (a stance he has held for many years), saying:

With [offshore drilling], which would take years to develop, you would only postpone or temporarily relieve our dependency on fossil fuels. We are going to have to go to alternative energy. [Audio here]

But today?

And I noticed that it’s confusing now the information from Senator Obama as to whether he actually supports offshore drilling or not. The fact is, we have to drill here, and we have to drill now, and we have to drill immediately. And it has to be done as quickly as possible. And I believe that it’s vital that we move forward with that, regardless of what we do on other energy issues.

So, we have McCain doing a complete, unabashed 180-degree turn within a month, and the media barely blinks; but Obama saying that his position is unchanged but he’d be willing to compromise to get the job done, and he’s “shifting.”

The topless contest and the oil drilling are just two examples of what has been a few months of non-stop examples of absolute bias in reporting–hell, more than just a few months. Remember when John McCain broke the law? Not a peep out of the media, even though he is still in constant violation of federal law with every dollar he spends. But when Obama made the completely legal move of opting out of public financing? There was a media storm over the issue.

Just browse the news from each week over the past several months, and you’ll see a multitude of other examples of bias in reporting, from the media’s failure to cover McCain’s dozens of outrageous and sometimes sudden flip-flops and flip-flop-flips and double-triple somersaults, while immediately jumping on Obama for even minor revisions in policy. Or examples like months of non-stop replaying of the “God Damn America” clip while ignoring statements made by preachers McCain desperately sought out to receive endorsements of–or how about the “liberal” CBS “accidentally” re-editing a McCain interview, cutting a massively embarrassing gaffe which they should have highlighted as a major “get,” and splicing in clips from two other answers to make it seem like McCain didn’t gaffe?

Print this out, along with the associated links. The next time anyone within earshot even questions who the media is favoring, just unpocket the printout and hand it to them, shaking your head slowly and sadly.

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