At a small party over the weekend, the subject of our
presidential election arose. Living as I do in Connecticut, I was
prepared for the typical onslaught a conservative is sure to endure
from liberals in social situations in our state. I was, of course,
not disappointed.
The insults, name-calling and foul language — staples of most
liberal conversations—directed at my fiance’ and me were to be
expected, as we were the only representatives of a party that our
fellow guests said “makes them sick.” Once again we witnessed the
phenomenon where otherwise perfectly nice people were transformed
into fire-breathing attack dogs at the mere mention of the GOP.
And the name most frequently offered up for hatred and derision
was: Karl Rove. Yes, that Karl Rove, who ostensibly stepped down
from public affairs over a year ago. But that didn’t stop three
angry women from blaming the dimming of their star on the wily
Rove. Just as frat-boy George W. Bush wasn’t capable of winning the
White House without the dastardly dealings of his Texas cabal, so
they are convinced that Barack Obama cannot lose unless Republican
dirty work is afoot. They told me they wished the Democrats would
“fight back” once in a while against right-wing media bias. Some
things never change.
The media in this country has, for some time, demonstrated its
own agenda — witness Walter Cronkite’s false assertion that the
Tet Offensive was a success and the Vietnam War was “unwinnable” —
yet they kept it pretty much under wraps. But this all seemed to
change during and after the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Although
driven from office, Richard Nixon escaped the ignominy that befell
the man from Hope; an unthinkable injustice in the eyes of the
press. Someone had to pay.
Even before George W. Bush was “selected” by the Supreme Court,
the liberal media despised this man and sought at all costs to
ensure his defeat. No gaffe went unreported, no misspeak was
ignored and no scurrilous rumor went uninvestigated. And nowhere
was this more apparent than the coverage of the 2000 election.
In August of that year, Al Gore’s son was arrested for reckless
driving in North Carolina, which resulted in the loss of his
driving privileges there. Typical of the kind of scant coverage
this received was this story
on the younger Gore’s arrest last year on drug charges. After
reporting the details, ABC goes on to devote six paragraphs to the
Bush Twins’ troubles. Yet, at the time, the reckless driving arrest
was barely reported and certainly not the subject of countless
Sunday morning panels and sordid speculation. Democratic
candidates’ families, at least, were off-limits.
LIKEWISE IN 2004, the endless calls for every scrap of paper from
Bush’s Air National Guard days did not suffice to quench the
media’s thirst for GOP blood; notwithstanding that John Kerry saw
fit to release virtually no information from his time in Vietnam.
This treatment no doubt led the American people to give credence to
the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign, but liberals never
learn. Today’s disgusting attacks on John McCain’s health, physical
and otherwise — MoveOn.org is calling for more info on his bout with cancer —
are pretty rich coming from worshipers of Bill Clinton, who has yet
to release his medical records.
And can you imagine if a Republican called Obama an
“African-American who is articulate, bright and clean”? He’d be
tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail like George Allen;
but coming as they did from the mouth of a man who seems to have
arrived in Washington with Pierre L’Enfant, he was rewarded with
the number two spot on the “change” ticket.
In the bad old days before Fox News and the Internet, this kind
of hypocrisy went mostly unnoticed by the American people whose
attention span was short. Now, when liberal media outlets revel in
Sarah Palin’s “Troopergate,” it will only remind us of Bill
Clinton’s scandal of the same name, which ended with a contempt of
court citation, suspension of his Arkansas law license, and a hefty
$850,000 out of court settlement. And when they question Palin’s
experience, it will only serve to remind us of the lack of same at
the top of their ticket.
But, unmindful of the fact that their relentless attacks have
only served to get George W. Bush elected twice, and still
confident that they can keep this country’s citizens under their
former fog of liberal indoctrination, the media don’t show any
signs of slowing down. They will continue to parrot left-wing
talking points, denigrate people of faith, and talk down to the
majority of the American people. And they don’t need Karl Rove to
do it.
