Friday, September 23, 2011

Let's Talk Politics... A Commentary

Because I feel that it is important to share  what is going on in our world, and because it is always important to see all points of view and have and open mind to what is going on around us I will post commentaries from time to time by our readers if I feel it is not belligerent and is well thought out. In posting this I am not saying one person is right while the other is wrong. Because I can not tell you how to think, only that I like what this reader has to say and I think it is worth posting.

On 9/23/2011 9:56 PM,

I do not know what the political persuasion of everyone on this email is, but regardless of your party affiliation, I wanted to point out just how blatant the media manipulation of the information you get is. I'm really hoping all of you take the time to research EACH presidential candidate without relying on the media, the GOP, or the Democratic Party, to give you the appropriate information you need to make an informed choice. Besides voting records, it's an excellent idea to read anything any of the candidates have published - also a good way to see if they are consistent, or go whichever way the wind is blowing that month.

Now CNN, MSNBC, CBS, FOX, etc. are ALL guilty of this. Do not for a minute think ANY news site is giving you fair, balanced reporting anymore. That said, I'm going to provide you with a blatant illustration of Fox News' ongoing attempts to completely ignore one of the candidates. Anyone here who reads the Fox site has probably figured out by now that Fox desperately wants Romney to take the primary, (for about a week, it almost looked like they might switch allegiance to Perry, but in the past week, they've solidly gone back to backing Romney). This is evidenced by their incessant touting of everything Romney says or does. . . .and their almost complete omission of anything about the other candidates (unless it's something quirky they did, or borderline brainless they said, which can be turned into a headline with a little, or a lot, of stretching of the truth, depending on how bad they want the candidate to appear). And then there is one guy who they almost NEVER put in print, and that was never more grossly obvious than last night

After the Fox/Google Republican Presidential Candidate Debate on 9/22/11, Fox had a poll up where people could choose who they felt won the debate.  They did the same with the debate they sponsored in August. In both instances, Ron Paul greatly dominated the peoples' choice, as he has done in every other debate he has participated in across the country. In both instances Fox put up a poll, in both instances they pulled it down within 24 hours, and did not publish one single shred of news as to who won the poll. I have included below the results from last night's poll, which went up about 1/2 hour after the debate ended, and which is only available because Google cached it at 3AM this morning, and some people were able to find it. It must have been just prior to Fox pulling it, because it was no longer available for viewing as of 6:30AM. See link below. For comparison - their other polls frequently stay up for days, and are often still available months later. Not so these.

Fox News Debate Poll 9222011

Regardless of whether or not Paul is who you would vote for, you have to wonder WHY the media finds it necessary keep hiding the results of these polls when they don't go the way THEY want them to. Not only did they hide the poll, this morning Fox's headlines were all about how Romney dominated Perry. (??Seriously??) Nowhere, not once, did they mention the poll results. The pundits they had commenting after the debate (who were, by the way, simply awful) spoke almost exclusively about Romney and Perry, with a passing nod to Santorum. At one point they did mention all the other candidates names who were present at the debate, in a list format. Guess whose name they did not mention at all. You guessed it. Ron Paul. Listening to them, you would not even have known he was at the debate.

Even Jon Stewart took the media to task for this last month, when he did a segment on the Daily Show, and blasted the media for what they have been doing to Paul. Link below. (It's funny, but also makes a profound point.)

Jon Stewart Daily Show Segment

Just exactly what are they afraid of?  Makes you wonder doesn't it. . . . . .As far as I'm concerned, no matter who the candidates are, they all deserve equal coverage, whether I agree with them or not. I am offended that the media thinks we are so stupid as to not realize what they are doing.

Sorry, Fox. I'll make my own choice, thanks.

B.