Somebody had to say it

Somebody had to say it. Fortunately, Newt has the boldness to say it.

It's about time that a politician called out the "news" media on their inability or unwillingness to focus on the real issues that affect the nation. When questioning politicians they don't like, they ask "gotcha" questions. When questioning politicians they do like, they ask "softball" questions. They rarely ask the questions that we voters need asked to get the information essential for an informed vote.

During the same debate, Byron York asked Michele Bachmann, referring to her evangelical Christian faith, "As President, would you be submissive to your husband?" What kind of question is that? Does York have evidence that Mr. Bachmann would manipulate her? Or, that he manipulates her now as a congresswoman? I wonder if York is merely projecting his own behavior as a manipulator within his family and as a manipulator of the "news."

A couple of examples of "news" media malfeasance from the last presidential election:
● One day, Sarah Palin was a governor minding her own business and that of her State. She had no aspirations for national office. The next say, she was a candidate for Vice President of the United States. Katie Couric expected Palin to immediately step out of her role as a governor and present herself as a politician who had prepared for national office for years. So, Couric asked "gotcha" questions. Nobody in the "news media" has ever asked a "gotcha" question of Obama.
● The national "news media" descended on Wasilla, Alaska to get dirt on Governor Palin. Nobody in the "news media" has ever looked into Obama's background other than to read the books he claims to have written. We still don't know anything about Obama beyond what he has not chosen to seal. Those who want to know about his past are given derisive names, such as "birther."
● Although she had years of public service as a mayor and a governor, Sarah Palin's experience was challenged. Obama, on the other hand, voted "present" while serving in the Illinois legislature. He had barely been elected a US Senator when he began his run for the Whitehouse. His service in both legislative offices is entirely without merit. (The same can now be said about his tenure in the Whitehouse.) Yet, his level of experience has never been questioned by anyone in the "news media."

News reporters and editors around the world are so lazy or inept in their reporting that they often regurgitate everything in press releases word-for-word as if it were entirely truthful -- if they agree with the message -- without taking even a second to read the press release and examine its egregious flaws. This parrot-style reporting is typical of the profoundly lazy, biased, and dangerous reporting in today's "news" media. Instead of recycling propaganda as news simply because it feels good, I expect news reporters and editors to do thorough research on every story before going to press.

The fact that the news media, in general, consciously neglects to tell the whole story about certain candidates and issues certainly doesn't help inform. Instead, they focus on sensational, irrelevant, and trivial "news." News reporters no longer even try to hide their biases. The horrible government we have can be traced directly to the egregiously ill-informed electorate and to the selfishness of some voters who are simply voting for whomever will give them the biggest chunk of somebody else's money. (Selfishness is the root of socialism.) Power-hungry politicians have made it far too easy for layabouts and ignorant people to vote. The "news media" is an active participant in this ignorance pandemic.

The lazy news media in general seems to revel in ignorance on the part of voters as much as it does lazy reporters. And that's exactly what post-turtle politicians like Obama are counting on.

There are very few in the so-called "news" media who aren't weasels or lazy or both. I have just about as much respect for most news reporters as I do for most members of Congress. Zero! If I only wanted to get mindless propaganda, I'd get it from Oprah and Bill Maher. If the top dogs in the "news" media (eg Wolf Blitzer, Katie Couric, Nancy Grace, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Chris Wallace) want my respect, they must do it the old-fashioned way: Earn it! Report what we, the people, need to know -- not what you want us to know!

And, as Newt suggests, ask meaningful questions of all candidates.