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Monday, October 16, 2006
Rich Galen :: Townhall.com Columnist
Fair and.....What?
by Rich Galen
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Will the Dems' health care Christmas Present to America be an improvement or detriment to our health care system?


  • Some of the biggest names in the Popular Press - Time & Newsweek, and the Washington Post are all but swooning with the sure knowledge that their universe will soon return to its proper alignment - at least one chamber of Congress in Democratic hands; maybe both.

  • I have spent most of the past three decades in Washington, DC dealing with some formation of the national press corps. For the most part, I like them. In fact I can't think of a single senior reporter with whom I have had one-on-one dealings over time, that I don't like.

  • I suspect they are mostly Liberal in their outlook and I believe they have different rules, not for covering Republicans, but for assigning motives to what Republicans do as opposed to what Democrats do.

  • There was breathless coverage last week about Senator George Allen (R-VA) had not having reported certain stock options which he had been granted when he was out of public office.

  • The Washington Post, if I am reading their search page correctly, ran six different stories in a two-day period on various aspects of Option-Gate. You would have thought he was about one guilty plea from sharing a cell with Bernie Ebbers.

  • Turned out it was a technical violation. Options allow you to buy a stock at a set price. If you have options to buy stock in Mullings.com at $10 per share and Mullings is selling for $15 per share, those options are worth five bucks each.

  • In the Allen case the company's stock is, in effect, selling for $3 per share. Executing an option and paying $10 for a stock anyone else can buy for $3 is not a fast path to personal wealth creation.

  • At about the same time, it seems that Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) did a land deal flip with a friend which earned him about $1.1 million. He neglected to list portions of the transaction on his financial disclosure forms back in 2001. The Post apparently felt that a single story about the financial dealings of the man who might be the Majority Leader of the US Senate was more than sufficient.

  • Last week Time Magazine's cover was of an elephant's tush - even someone with my limited sense of humor got that joke; and Newsweek had a close up of Mark Foley with an inset of George W. Bush - the implication being that Foley is somehow Bush's responsibility.

  • On Saturday, our friends at the Washington Post did their level best to provide balanced political coverage on its front page.

  • The Republican story was about Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) pleading guilty to charges of influence-peddling:

    • Ney Pleads Guilty to Corruption Charges

    Lawmaker's Conviction Is 8th in Abramoff Probe

  • Legit news, to be sure, so you can't complain.

  • But, here was the headline of the front page story about Democrats:

    • Democratic Faces That Could Launch Thousands of Votes

    With a Parade of Attractive Candidates, the Party May Benefit From the Politics of Beauty

  • What? The best the crack political staff at the Washington Post could come up with is a story about how Democratic candidates are prettier than Republicans?

  • In a front section political piece about Karl Rove being optimistic about holding the House and Senate, Post reporter Mike Abramowitz - one of those national reporters with whom I am acquainted and who I like - has this graf:

  • "The question is whether this is a case of justified confidence -- based on Bush's and Rove's electoral record and knowledge of the money, technology and other assets at their command -- or of self-delusion."

  • Note that there is no one quoted here. Abramowitz was permitted to openly speculate, in a hard news piece, about whether the President and Rove are delusional.

  • Finally John Kerry was interviewed by Bob Woodward while Kerry was in - wait for it - New Hampshire giving a political speech. Kerry. New Hampshire. Speech. Politics.

  • Now, that's being delusional.

  • On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to all the stories referenced above; the Time & Newsweek covers; a modestly amusing Mullfoto and a Catchy Caption of the Day.

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    About The Author

    Rich Galen has been a press secretary to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich. Rich Galen currently works as a journalist and writes at Mullings.com

    Be the first to read Rich Galen's column. Sign up today and receive Townhall.com delivered each morning to your inbox.

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    (18 comments so Far)
    View in ascending order     View in descending order
    Reply # 1
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 11:11 AM EST
    Never fair, rarely balanced
    What do you expect from 'news' sources that still pretend that Patrick J. Buchanan is a leading conservative spokesman?

    The msm is a giant echo chamber where all the liberals go to have their views on themselves, politics, and culture reinforced by people that think just like them. That is why there's a bias in the media; it's not an active conspiracy, just the natural consequences of groupthink!
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 2
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 1:33 PM EST
    note that it isn't
    Fox News Channel - Fair and balanced.

    it is:

    Fox News - Fair and balanced.

    I have yet to see anything on their news reporting(ya know ACTUAL journalism) to make me dispute that claim.
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 3
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 1:47 PM EST
    Allen/Reid
    Presumably you know that the Allen/Reid coverage in the Post is not a fair comarison. For the Post the Allen race is a metro story, while Reid is not. If one checks the Nevada papers I expect one would find that the Reid story got covered and the Allen did not.
    A better comparison would be how the NY Times covered them since neither is a local story for them.
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 4
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 2:08 PM EST
    Pretty Democrats?!?
    Th DemoRats biggest problem is that they are too pretty!! LMAO!!!!!

    Check it out...

    http://www.grouchyoldcripple.com/archives/002188.html

    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 5
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 3:35 PM EST
    Go to Icedog01's link -- LOL funny!
    Thank you for the laugh, Icedog! Hillarious!!

    It's nice to laugh in these times, where I truly worry about a possible Dem takover of the House.
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 6
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 4:32 PM EST
    ???????
    Democratic Faces That Could Launch Thousands of Votes

    ----------------------------------------------

    Just how many lesbian voters are there?
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 7
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 4:51 PM EST
    justpaul
    Actually, the Reid thing keep getting better, or worse, depending on where your interest lies.

    Harry is now filing "amended ethics reports" dating back to (wait for it) 1986! Seems Harry forgot to file accurate reports on a couple of other land deals as well.

    Imagine if it were a Republican telling you that he had "mistakenly" filed inaccurate ethics reports for the last 20 years, and then ask yourself what kind of stories (and how many) the Washington Post would be running about him.

    How is this any different from a bank robber saying that he really meant to give the teller a deposit slip, not a note demanding a bag of money? Hey man, it was an honest mistake! The gun? Oh, I forgot I had that with me. Sorry I was waving it around. Just a misunderstanding you see.

    And that want to make this guy Senate Majority Leader?

    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 8
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 5:08 PM EST
    Worried About a Demonrat Takeover
    is exactly where I want us.
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 9
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 8:01 PM EST
    Nevada Papers
    Does anyone live in Nevada who hasn't been bought and paid for by "High Moral Ground" Harry Reid? If you are out there, how 'bout you tell us what the Nevada papers reported on this "honest mistake" that has lasted for 20 years now. Those of us who don't trust the MSM to get anything reported in a "fair and balanced" way would like to know the facts from Nevada. How was this treated in the "hometown" papers?
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 10
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 9:19 PM EST
    Hay Jerubaal, Roger over
    We got them right were they think they want us.

    Suicide watch starts, 1900 hours, November 7, 2006
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 11
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 9:23 PM EST
    Hello! Nevada?
    Is there anyone in Nevada who can respond to the question of what did the newspapers there have to say about "High Moral Ground" Harry Reid and his 20 years of "mistaken" filings and land deals?

    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 12
    Date: Oct 16, 2006 - 10:37 PM EST
    GI Joe - ROFLMBO!
    "Suicide watch starts, 1900 hours, November 7, 2006"

    LOL. Now you know why I want Jeb Bush to run for Prez in 2008! We could get rid of all the democrats without even having to restart the draft!
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 13
    Date: Oct 17, 2006 - 6:47 AM EST
    The pity of it all
    Television "news" predigests selected events into sound bites for those who have never learned critical thinking skills. Those few who still skim newspapers and news weeklies typically have never learned critical reading skills. Thus, both media rely on the picture telling the story or the headline totally divorced from the meat of the story. Why else would the media's cynical power brokers rely on these incapacities and laziness to shape the message they want to convey?
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 14
    Date: Oct 17, 2006 - 8:17 AM EST
    More reid

    Now I hear Reid had to "repay" his campaign fund because he gave staffers bonuses out of it. (wrong pocket to dip into)

    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 15
    Date: Oct 17, 2006 - 9:52 AM EST
    “FAIR AND BALANCED” FOX NEWS

    “FAIR AND BALANCED” FOX NEWS isn’t really news, or fair and balanced, but propaganda and some innuendo to nourish all the single-source “truth-seekers” of the Right. Fox’s creed is a twist on Abraham Lincoln’s famous saying: JUST FOOL ENOUGH OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME!
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 16
    Date: Oct 17, 2006 - 11:52 AM EST
    Say what?
    According to CNN, Harry Reid "said he believed the 2001 sale did not alter his ownership of the land".

    So Harry Reid does not understand the difference between his own person and a company of which he is a partner?

    (Kind of makes sense, given that he clearly thinks HE is the Senate too.)

    So Harry Reid does not understand the purposes of forming a Limited Liability Company, even though he took part ownership in one?

    (Kind of makes sense, given that Harry's business acumen has always been suspect.)

    And they want this guy to be the Senate Majority Leader?
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 17
    Date: Oct 17, 2006 - 3:30 PM EST
    That's a major part of the problem.
    Rich Galen,

    How can you see and experience liberal hypocrisy on such a regular basis and then still like the liar.

    For if they are intentionally misleading the viewers or readers in their reports, then they are liars.

    I guess they are very interesting at all the socials and parties that you attend. Probably pretty nice, when they not withholding the truth.

    I bet the misses, if you lied to her, might throw a vase at you. If it continued, a bobbit stitch my be in the cards.

    p.s. If your auto mechanic or home repairman mislead you with a little white lie. Just how understanding would you be.

    p.s.s. I just wonder if you are just one more elitist twit.
    Flag as Offensive

    Reply # 18
    Date: Oct 17, 2006 - 9:45 PM EST
    Fabulous commentary
    I am hoping that the Democrats (i.e. liberals) are "Counting their chickens," etc.
    The fact that FOX news has such a big following combined with the fact that George W. won by such a large margin after multiple polls predicted disaster—leads me to hope that voters may be smart enough to see the hypocrisy and lies promoted by liberal media and the Republicans will not lose many or (perhaps any) seats.
    Flag as Offensive
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