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Oct. 25, 2005 The liars and spin-doctors in Washington, on both sides of the aisle, have been around since George Washington’s administration. For the first two hundred years, or so, of our country’s history, it was an even fight with one side having the upper hand for a while, then the other. Since then, it has become an uneven playing field. With the overwhelming bias of the mainstream media towards liberal causes and the Democratic Party, and their growing power as communication access has expanded first into cable TV, then the Internet, and now down to video IPods, the Democrats have an unfair advantage. The Republicans can yell all they want about this unfairness, but when the Democrats use the media’s bullhorn, their cries are drowned out. Here’s the current example: During Clinton’s administration, the President and his equally corrupt wife were accused of several crimes – the real estate scam with the McDougals, Travelgate, and Clinton’s sexual harassment of Paula Jones, and the Monica Lewinsky affair. As is their right, the Clinton’s availed themselves of every legal defense, and some not so honorable – Bill perjured himself by claiming not to have had sex with Monica Lewinsky, a Travelgate co-conspirator is found dead, and the Mcdougals play loyal Romans and fall on their swords to protect their leader. There is no doubt that crimes were committed – the McDougals served time (one or both, I forget), Monica produced the infamous blue dress that proved the lie, and the Travelgate allegations did occur. Did the mainstream media hound this President unmercifully as they now do the Bush administration? No. In particular, the general consensus among the media regarding Bill’s perjury was that “everyone lies about sex, it’s his personal business, leave him alone.” Of course, if Paula Jones could have used the truth behind the Monica Lewinsky affair, or any of Bill’s other escapades, her sexual harassment lawsuit would have had a much stronger case as his pattern of behavior was shown. Alas, the evidence was hidden behind the perjury and Clinton walked. Now, we have Plamegate and perjury indictments are rumored to be announced against one or more Bush staffers. Crazy thing is – the allegations that originally impelled Mr. Fitzgerald’s investigation will not result in any indictments (if the rumors hold true). It appears that the substance of the entire affair is nothing more than ‘politics as usual’ with one side making extreme efforts (fact-finding trips to Niger, Africa) to dig up dirt, and the other side countering with exposure of the bias of those efforts. So, you’d think the media would be consistent – if they didn’t think Clinton’s perjury was wrong – even though it shielded him from a civil lawsuit, why do they now seem dead set on convicting Cheney, Rove, Libby, or someone on the Bush team of perjury when the subject of the alleged perjury was not even a crime? Don’t let them off the hook by listening to their excuses that there is a larger issue – Bush’s justification for the Iraq war – behind their hypocrisy. Nothing about Plamegate has prevented any of Joseph Wilson’s Niger information from reaching the public – you can be sure the media would not allow that. Yet, you see scant criticism of Mr. Wilson’s work from the media although the essence of its allegations have been shown to be false – the Bush administration did not fabricate the Iraq-Niger connection, it honestly relied on information thought to be sound and confirmed by other sources. No, this is blatant media bias masquerading as investigative journalism. I have no problem with investigative journalism – when it investigates both sides fairly. The mainstream media does not investigate fairly and the American public has come to recognize that truth – the bigoted media’s TV ratings and subscriptions rates are plunging while Fox News’ and conservative web sites’ numbers are soaring. If you want another prominent example, look no farther than the Delay indictment. Again, politics as usual, but the narrow-minded media ‘investigators’ focus on Republican fund-raising tactics to the exclusion of any examination of Democratic shenanigans. Any intelligent American knows that both parties game the campaign donation laws any way possible, whenever possible. We read about DeLay taking trips to U.S. Samoa over and over, yet we have to dig and dig to learn that Democratic legislators were on the same trip. Ditto as to DeLay’s association with Jack Abrahamoff, the embattled lobbyist – the Democrats had their hand in his cookie jar just as much, but where are the investigators? I wouldn’t excuse either party of these crimes, but I don’t agree with the media’s attacks on one party only. And I think the Democrats are hypocrites for insisting the Bush staffers be prosecuted for the same crimes that they whine about when Clinton was guilty. Of course, the Republicans are hypocrites for now suggesting the Bush staffers walk while raging about Clinton – the difference is they are whining through cupped hands while the Democrats bellow through the media’s bullhorn. ------------ About the author: Ron Lewis is a software salesman extraordinaire, albeit habitually unemployed, with no significant accomplishments at age 47 other than two wonderfully talented children who take after their mother. All his friends note his keen insight, bad eyesight, doggedly jaded disposition, and rugged bad looks. A third person seems to recall that he talks too much. Email: grnacres@direcway.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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