What Good News?
A frequent commenter has challenged me to note what good news there has been for the GOP during this election cycle which has been ignored in the Old Media. Here's a partial list:
:Unemployment at 4.4%, a story buried on page 3 today . . . page 3 of the BUSINESS SECTION, that is
:wages up .4% this month, following being up .3% last month; such an accelerated increase in wages, in fact, that it gave investors the jitters about inflation yesterday
:speaking of inflation, its actually fairly well in check
:interest rates, while not at historic lows, are still quite low
:growth of GDP (the fullest--and most cryptic--measure of the strength of the economy) is progressing at an annual rate of over 3% for the year
:Dow Jones Industrial Average has set several all-time highs recently, including spending several days over 12,000
:state tax receipts up by more than a billion dollars this year, continuing a trend that started 6 months before CO approved referendum C last year
:five years after taking a multi-trillion dollar hit the deficit has been cut in half--two years ahead of schedule and "in the face of" those horrible tax cuts
:gas prices back down to normal--not something that I think the GOP should get any credit for, but it should improve the national mood a bit
:in spite of every effort by the NYTimes to give away the playbook, and in spite of every effort by Democrats to make us fight with one hand tied behind our backs, we still have not been attacked in the homeland after five years
Oh, and, as I mentioned below--SADDAM HAS BEEN CONVICTED AND SENTENCED TO DEATH IN A FULL, FAIR, AND PUBLIC TRIAL
Was/Is Mark Foley a creepy, disgusting slimeball? Of course. Did he deserve his punishment? I would say yes, and much, much more. Was it really worthy of several days' worth of front page stories? Hardly.
Has the news from Iraq been tough lately? Yes. But look at why--first, there's this wierd tendency among Muslims to celebrate holy days and months with violence; but second, because--of course--they know, the murderers/terrorists know, that they can influence the American election if they can keep the violence in the news. They assume, and, to a degree, correctly, that America no longer has the intestinal fortitude for difficult battles.
But neither of these explain the imbalance highlighted by the CMPA study. Indeed, it would seem to me that ONLY bias--whether deliberate or as an emanation of a dominant and unchallenged groupthink--can explain the difference in the coverage. | |
