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Friday, July 25, 2008
Douglas MacKinnon :: Townhall.com Columnist
A Poll the MSM Will Never Take
by Douglas MacKinnon
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Poll
Do you feel the leaked information from a global warming alarmist organization is meaningful?



By and large, much of the mainstream media is unethical, biased toward the Democrats, and openly trying to elect Barack Obama.

Obviously, for those who are center-right, this is not a news flash. For us, it's as if someone said, “The sun is going to come up in the morning.” Yawn. What else is new?

What makes the above statement of fact of interest is that the complaint was vocalized to me by two editors at two different top-20 newspapers. Both editors are self-described “liberals” and both bemoaned the “growing lack of integrity” within their own business. To the point where one of the editors told me unjust liberal bias was one of the deciding factors in his decision to quit the paper.

The main complaint of this editor was the liberal “monolithic-thought” that permeated management at the top newspapers in the country. “Oh, sure,” he stressed. “They will let the occasional conservative on the page, but a conservative will never be hired.”

I recently had breakfast with a well-known center-right columnist and pundit who echoed that charge. “While you and I would never want to work at a newspaper where management was totally conservative, the liberals who run America's newsrooms are just the opposite. They won't be satisfied until they control 100 hundred percent of the media and have squashed any opposing thought. It's the model now employed in Iran.”

So, while understanding that media landscape and acknowledging that Sisyphus will get that rock to the top of the mountain before most liberal media managers will admit that their diversity programs welcome all but conservatives and balance of thought, I'd still like to challenge them to conduct a specific poll.

Over the last few weeks, I ran a very basic resume poll. I knew the only way this poll would work would be to talk to people outside of the egotistical, out-of-touch bubble that is our nation's capital. To get an honest reaction, I'd have to talk with average Americans who are more concerned about real life and the welfare of their families, than the names, education, wealth, or accomplishments of those who seek their support.

My premise was very simple. You have two people who are being considered to run your county, head up your local school board and manage your police force. Based on the background and experience listed below, who would you choose?

Candidate A: Middle-aged. Studied overseas. Attended two different colleges in the U.S. before getting a degree. Went on to get a law degree. Worked community affairs in his adopted home city. Was elected to local office. Served in local politics for just over six years. Got elected to a federal state-wide office. Has one real year of experience in that job.

Candidate B: Middle-aged. Went to college and got a degree. Served in the National Guard for six years. Became a sergeant. While in the National Guard, earned a law degree. Became an investigator for a consumer-protection division. Was elected to a federal office. Was re-elected to a federal office. Was elected to a federal statewide office. Was re-elected to a federal state-wide office. Served in the executive branch for four years.

Either in person or over the phone, I showed or recited exactly as written above, the background of these two candidates to voters who don't follow politics very closely. I ended up speaking with twenty different people from diverse backgrounds.

To be sure, some of those I spoke with rightfully said, “In reality, I'd need to know a lot more than you're giving me.” Accepting that caveat, all 20 people picked Candidate B. Candidate B is Dan Quayle.

Candidate A is Barack Obama.

Stripped of his name, the color of his skin, or his history-making primary win, in a blind, experience-only test, does Mr. Obama possess a resume that is worthy of the Oval Office?

Should one of the left-of-center “news” organizations decide to conduct such a poll, I suspect the response of the American people may shock and depress them. But then again, maybe not.

While not willing to be honest or fair to their readers and viewers, biased liberal media managers tend not to spin themselves. Hence, their embarrassingly skewed polls that favor Mr. Obama.

No matter. The final poll will be taken on Nov. 4. Most of the people won't be fooled.

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About The Author

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and author of the forthcoming novel, The Apocalypse Directive.

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Whose Memory is REALLY Selective?
Cam scrawls with his pink crayon (7:10 pm July 25th):

"No Dan Quayle committed Character Suicide. For those with selective memories . . . . some of Quayle's oratory gems"

And while you're at it, Cam, why don't you go over some of your hero BHM Ubama's "oratory gems" (like the one about visiting all 'fifty-seven' states)?

If any conservative had said something that stupid, as sure as night follows day, the media would have been all over it like a cheap suit; but because their fair-haired boy (as much as Ubama can be a "fair-haired boy" to anybody) said it, they've totally ignored it.

Now I ask you, Cam, whose memory is REALLY "selective"?



Rush is a singularity!
There is NO other. He's the blue unicorn of media unique and riveting. He calls himself a commentator or a socio-politcal analyst when he feels he wants to really pin down what he does.

-Ray
NRA Life Member

Show the proof or STFU right now!!!
Witch hunts? WHAT are you smoking? I've met Roger. Have YOU ever met Roger Ailes you ignorant dolt? He told me his only criterion for air staff and newswriters was that they keep their opinions OUT of the news and keep it in the OPINION sections where it belongs!

Too many MSM turds out there are packing the news with opinions to the point you can't see where the news ends and the Op-Ed page begins.

Want to see a conservative-free zone? Watch Keith Uberdouche on Countdown to No Ratings. He will NEVER allow ANYONE on who disagrees with him. They are told that up front.

-Ray
NRA Life Member

nutnfinr
Rush Limbaugh thanks you for stating he is NOT a 'journalist'. I'm not sure about calling him an 'entertainer', but given the full context, he probably would not complain.

Right on Doug!
Great article on the obvious propagandist media that always tries their darndest to promote, for free, the socialist/marxist candidate whether it be Clinton, Kerry, Carter, Gore, or any candidate that has a "D" after their name.


Anthony
No Dan Quayle committed Character Suicide. For those with selective memories who want to blame the press, this link shows some of Quayle's oratory gems:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dan_quayle.html

among the dumber columns
When will conservatives realize that acknowledging that journalists prefer liberalism is like Ford acknowledging that Road & Track editors prefer Toyotas? Journalists constantly follow world events. They have to do their homework. Of course they're going to prefer liberalism.

BTW - Roger Ailes conducted witch hunts at Fox News to root out liberals. Can anyone specifically cite examples of that happening in MSM? MacKinnon couldn't.

Usually employers are interested in the schools a candidate has attended and their work places. Obama went to Harvard law and taught at the University of Chicago. Did Quayle do anything remotely close to that?

Corbett
The article's author never insinuated that Quayle was running. He just picked the one pre-Bush Candidate that the media had destroyed as being too stupid to breath, and showed that he was more qualified than Obama. Which is a FACT.

So, either Obama is too stupid to breath, or Dan Quayle was the victim of the mass genocide version of Character Assassination.

As for the War Whiners. Would you be happy if we had just turned Baghdad to glass and not risked any combat personnel? No, I didn't think so.

ab

Hi, all
Had to go be productive.

John Doe: Thanks for taking up for me in my absence.

Mrs. Ramsey:
Sorry I muddied the waters with my initial post. I hoped that it would be obvious to everyone that I was poking fun at the MSM, but I hadn't had any coffee when I typed it.

Dreadnaught:
The _Times_ is hemorrhaging money. The Big Three networks are hemorrhaging viewers. During pauses in Perky Katie Couric's monologue, you can hear crickets chirp. Ain't it grand?

Wrat Wrangler:
A real Fairness Doctrine -- think I'll add that to my Christmas list.

Resume
As I wrote elsewhere, Obama's resume includes only the following. He has (allegedly) "written" two books, both of which are about himself, and he has read a lot of speeches. He hasn't actually done anything, he has read a lot of speeches.

Quayle v. Obama
If Dan Quayle were running against Obama, the GOP would stand a chance in this election. BUT DAN QUAYLE ISN'T RUNNING!!!!!

If he tries his poll based on the positions taken by each of the people running, he'll find that no one wants either of these clowns, but that if they have to pick one, they'll pick Obama. Why? Because people are tired of spending billions & having brave men killed and maimed in Iraq. That single issue is the only positive either of these idiots have.

I am John Doe
if he did, maybe my little how dare you tirade will help someone else realize they are being bamboozled by the MSN. Thank you for correcting me so gently.
:) Mrs. Ramsey

Mrs Ramsey, Paleocon gotcha!
That's some fine satire, there, Paleo!

MSM
If every right of center reader would do as I did 15 years ago and call the local paper and inform them my bird died and I would no longer have any use for their product we would not have them around to complain about. I tire of conservative carping when action is what is needed to solve the problem. Also surely we could form a national conservative daily paper and leave the liberal crap on the newstands for those for whom they are intended. Totally ignoring them rather than giving them power by mentioning them incessantly is the proper response.

Pinch me I'm dreaming


I had quite some dream yes twiddy.

In that super dream I saw the New York Times reported losing 85% of it's "profits" and later saw a breakdown. It really should have reported NYT had lost 85% of its INCOME, not profits.

So, a genius raised the NYT daily newstand price to
$1.50-- sure to impress their advertisers. Now even less readership will see their ad copy.

I woke from the dream & found it was no dream! They ARE slowly going broke! As for me; a buck-fifty daily is exhorbitant enough. The Sunday Crossward puzzle; single best page in their fish-wrap is too expensive now for my pocketbook.

Those bastrwads will soon have to GIVE their BS away.

wow
Wow, you strip most of the relevant features away from your description of the candidates and you get a different response than if you had included them. That would seem to show conclusively that relevant information makes a difference. Why do you think the media would report on this study? It must be bias.

Paleocon
Sir, I believe you have been watching the wrong news sources...CBS and NPR (the only redeemable aspect of NPR is Juan Williams) ABC, CBS, NBC, and the rest of the aplhabet soup are pretty much in the tank for Obama..With all due respect, maybe channel surfing during prime time news hour should be in order for next weeks homework. Even CNN is starting to report the flaws on your presumptive candidate. There was a lot of in your face white folk condescending on part of his entourage. but if you want real reporting there is Glenn Beck, check Lou Dobbs, check FOX, do your Homework. The alphabet soup channels have "rotten fish" on their menu, you are wide eye staring at the dish of rotten fish all the while thinking you are eating Filet mignon...wake up, the cool aid is tainted!

"Journalism" is a business.......
Media outlets of all stripes live only to make money. The shows and news on TV are there only to attract viewers for the ads the station has sold. Follow the money, even in so-called objective journalism.

Rush Limbaugh is not a journalist--he is an entertainer who happens to be able to disect liberal claptrap for a conservative audience.

Dan Rather was neither a journalist nor an entertainer. He was a thinly disguised shill for every liberal cause that came down the pike.

I once watched him on "60 minutes," (but I don't watch that propaganda any more) when he narrated a vicious anti-Israel/pro Palestinian segment which was followed immediately by a segment on prostitution. I wondered if the producers missed the irony in that.

The difference in liberal "journalists" and conservatives is that the liberals still pretend they are journalists.

Let's have a REAL Fairness Doctrine!!!!!
Instead of using the Fairness Doctrine to stifle Talk Radio, which is a blessed thorn in the sides of libtard politicians, let's expand it!!

The New Fairness Doctrine would apply to print and broadcast media and cable. All news outlets would have to hire an EQUAL number of conservatives. Not just as commentators or reporters but as editors and programming managers too.

Can we hear the wailing and whining already? Good.

-Ray
NRA Life Member

Douglas MacKinnon
"Most of the people won't be fooled."

Are you saying you predict Obama will be defeated?

I hope you are right, but I am afraid I don't think so. Part of the problem is that the people you polled did not even recognize Obama as candidate A. And they should have. They didn't recognize him because all they hear is the rhetoric and all they see is the flashy smile radiating out from a black face and they can only think "Oh look how progressive we all are".

Really, really shallow.

Dave
If the media didn't openly and actively favor the Democrats (Like calling Florida for Gore early in 2000, and pretty much declaring Kerry the winner before the election in 2004) They'd never win national races, certainly not with the crop of candidates they keep putting forth. Sure, they'd win local races in Coastal California and state-wide races in Massachussetts, but overall their national numbers would crumble.

The Media
One thing I'm tired of hearing is how "Journalism is an honorable profession." It neither is now nor has it ever been an honorable profession. There are a number of honorable people in journalism, both on the Left and Right, but the majority of reporters, editors, and publishers (or their radio and television equivalents) feel that rather than simply reporting the facts, they are needed to educate and sway the ignorant masses into their own, "enlightened" point of view. The ones on the Left go even further in actually believing that they can, universally, change all our views. The recent spate of fraud in the media -- from Jayson Blair (whose former editor stated that "Diversity" is more important than accuracy and integrity) to Dan "Memogate" Rather to Peter "Sarin in Vietnam" Arnett -- has only served to provide evidence to the lack of honor that permeates Journalism. And those are only the ones who've been caught.

Funny how...
The GOP is getting progressively stupider (thanks Paleo!) and the media is an active force behind the Dems. Yet we Americans still tend to pick the GOP over Dems.

One wonders in all seriousness how well the GOP would do if the MSM was actually balance or even at least 40% pro-GOP.

Sorry about the typo
"NPT" should've been _NPR_.

Impossible
Candidate B can't be Dan Quayle. Everyone knows that Quayle is too stupid to feed himself, never mind serving in the National Guard or earning a degree. He's more stupid than Reagan, who was more stupid than Ford, who was more stupid than Goldwater. . .In fact, Quayle was the stupidest living creature known to science until someone discovered Bush 43 on a collecting trip in an unexplored part of Texas. These are all facts well documented in major newspapers and magazines and explained in great detail on CBS and NPT. What are you playing at?
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