On behalf of the media, I would like to say we are sorry.
On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.
We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked. We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency? We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?
Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn’t be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.
Sarah Palin hit the nail on the head Wednesday night (and several in the audience wish she had hit some reporters on the head instead) when she said: “I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment. And I’ve learned quickly, these past few days, that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.”
But where did we go wrong with Sarah Palin? Let me count the ways:First, we should have stuck to the warm, human interest stuff like how she likes mooseburgers and hit an important free throw at her high school basketball tournament even though she had a stress fracture.
Second, we should have stuck to the press release stuff like how she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere (after she supported it).
Third, we should never have strayed into the other stuff. Like when The Washington Post recently wrote: “Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body. … Palin had promised to cooperate with the legislative inquiry, but this week she hired a lawyer to fight to move the case to the jurisdiction of the state personnel board, which Palin appoints.”
Why go there? What trees does that plant? Fourth, we should stop making with all the questions already. She gave a really good speech. And why go beyond that? As we all know, speeches cannot be written by others and rehearsed for days. They are true windows to the soul.
Unless they are delivered by Barack Obama, that is. In which case, as Palin said Wednesday, speeches are just a “cloud of rhetoric.”
Fifth, we should stop reporting on the families of the candidates. Unless the candidates want us to.
Sarah Palin wanted the media to report on her teenage son, Track, who enlisted in the Army on Sept. 11, 2007, and soon will deploy to Iraq.
Sarah Palin did not want the media to report on her teenage daughter, Bristol, who is pregnant and unmarried.
Sarah Palin thinks that one is good for her campaign and one is not, and that the media should report only on what is good for her campaign. That is our job, and that is our duty. If that is not actually in the Constitution, it should be. (And someday may be.)The official theme of the convention’s third day was “prosperity,” but the unofficial theme was “the media are really, really awful.”
Even Mike Huckabee, who campaigned for president this year by saying “I am a conservative, but I am not mad at anybody,” discovered Wednesday night that he is mad at somebody.
“I’d like to thank the elite media for doing something,” Huckabee said, “that, quite frankly, I didn’t think could be done: unify the Republican party and all of America in support of John McCain and Sarah Palin.”
And could that be the real point of the attacks on the media? To unify the Republican Party?
No, that is simply the cynical, media view.
Though as Lily Tomlin says, “No matter how cynical I get, it’s just never enough to keep up.”
I couldn’t resist that. For which I am sorry.
So do you think the media is being too harsh when it comes to Sarah Palin?
10 comments:
First of all, who was Barack Obama before he ran?? Oh, that's right..just about as well known as Sarah Palin. Isn't it just sad that the two who were equily known at first are now equily known and in the spotlight..but the one who is actually more qualified and smarter is running for the lower spot? Andf on top of that, her ideas actually go through and she keeps her promises and takes action. She set aside an emergency fund of money, and sent tax rebates back to every single Alaskan citizen.
And this "bull dog" as you call her, does so happen to have a 17 year old who is expecting. But she knows how many states there are in America...
Her speach was increadable the other night, and crazy enough as it seems, she did not contradict her points in the next..
(this little tid bit is refering to the clip you showd us in class that was the funniest thing I have ever seen)
I think that we should not be quick to judge others before we even get to know them. Despite my support for Obama, I could not help but to admire Palin's wonderful speech and her efforts to make herself known to the public. Being the governor of an isolated state such as Alaska, Sarah Palin is mostly ignored by the American people. Most people had questioned her credibility and her determination to help and benefit this country. There is no doubt that McCain is trying to draw some female voters to his favor, but we shouldn't criticize his running mate too much. Plus, reporters now days are always going off course. For example, why does having a unmarried pregnant daughter even matter? This irrelevant factors plays no importance on her eligibility as a candidate. Same thing with Bill Clinton. Although his affair was not a very proud act, the fact that the economy prospered during his presidency is unchallenged. As a conclusion, we should be logical and restrain ourselves from making such statements.
The media impact is most important in these presidential conventions. The impact coulb be bad or good for the president cadidates. But the thing is how the candidates use these massive media to get the inside track.
The media impact is most important in these presidential conventions. The impact coulb be bad or good for the president cadidates. But the thing is how the candidates use these massive media to get the inside track.
the media impact is probably most important thing in these presidental conventions. And the impact could be both bad or good.
the thing is how these candidates use this massive media to get into their inside track.
I think that the media is being a little harsh on Palin. It is true that the media should report the truth about Palin, however they are reporting a little too much on Palin's cons than they are on her pros. The first questions that arose when the public learned who Macain's VP pick was were: "Did Palin fake the pregnancy of her son Trig? Do Alaskans even want to be a part of the U.S.?" And other similar questions. And of course hundreds of questions about governor's 17-year-old unmarried pregnant daughter Bristol, whose pregnancy, her hometown had thought, was nobody's business but is now the stuff of tabloid covers. I think that it was a very smart move of Macain's to nominate Palin. And I bet that this choice will gain the vote of some of those dissapointed Hillary supporters.
this made me smile. That a politician is criticizing the media for scrutinizing the republican VP candidate is beyond absurd. So long as the media reports as much of the truth as they can, I have no argument with them at all. if Sarah Palen's daughter is pregnent and not married, tell us! If you want to lead the wealthiest nation in the world, you should be expected to be flawless, and venerable. The way you raise your child has if not complete, at least partial relevence to how you will govern your country. The republican party should not be angry with the media for reporting the truth. what conclusions the media makes of the truth is up to them. Obviously some of the media will not be voting Republican.
The media are simply doing their job. We have never known them to be nonjudgmental, fair, modest, or nice. People are upset about the way she was portrayed... okay...that's really nothing new. Republicans may not have liked it, but it is really turning out favorably for them. It has definitely unified the Republican party, as mentioned. The attention that Sarah Palin has brought to the her party has really opened many eyes. She is gaining new support that she wouldn't have received if not for the media; she is being portrayed as the victim, and many Americans are sympathizing with that.
The media was just asking the questions that we all wanted to know. These questions were harsh and maybe unfriendly, but we all wanted to know the answer nevertheless.
The media will always play the role of the bad guy, whether they are or not. We have to accept this and i think we already have for the most part. We have accepted it in other parts of society and politics, such as the notion that the media are and always will be slightly biased. We know that they make life much harder on their "prey," like celebrities and politicians. It is their duty to find the dirty laundry and expose it so that we are not so ignorant about the stories behind the people that we are trusting to represent us.
Ms Grattan,
"A pitbull" aren't my words...but those of the candidate herself from her acceptance speech as candidate for Vice President of the United States.
I wouldn't want neither a bull pit nor a lipsticked hockey mom to run for my some position as significant as the VP of U.S. Personally I think McCain's just trying to use her to win over the dream-shattered indecisive voters from the Hillary army. But if the media couldn't find any accomplishments or records, then it would have no choice but to turn its arrow to the other direction. I wouldn't say that the media is ill by nature, because once she nailed that speech, everything seemed normal again. But if Sarah Palin has something as solid as the accomplishments of McCain or Obama or Biden, then she would too be portrayed as one of the "elite".
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