Inside Politics

By Greg Pierce (Contact) | Monday, October 27, 2008

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Press coverage

"Republicans are justifiably foaming at the mouth over the sheer one-sidedness of the press coverage of the two candidates and their running mates. But in the last few days, even Democrats, who have been gloating over the pass — no, make that shameless support — they've gotten from the press, are starting to get uncomfortable as they realize that no one wins in the long run when we don't have a free and fair press," journalist Michael S. Malone writes in an opinion piece at abcnews.go.com.

"Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those people who think the media has been too hard on, say, Republican vice-presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin, by rushing reportorial SWAT teams to her home state of Alaska to rifle through her garbage. This is the big leagues, and if she wants to suit up and take the field, then Gov. Palin better be ready to play. …

"No, what I object to (and I think most other Americans do as well) is the lack of equivalent hardball coverage of the other side — or worse, actively serving as attack dogs for the presidential ticket of Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Joe Biden, D-Del. …

"Why, for example to quote the lawyer for Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., haven't we seen an interview with Sen. Obama's grad school drug dealer — when we know all about Mrs. McCain's addiction? Are Bill Ayers and Tony Rezko that hard to interview? All those phony voter registrations that hard to scrutinize? And why are Sen. Biden's endless gaffes almost always covered up, or rationalized, by the traditional media?

"The absolute nadir (though I hate to commit to that, as we still have two weeks before the election) came with Joe the Plumber. Middle America, even when they didn't agree with Joe, looked on in horror as the press took apart the private life of an average person who had the temerity to ask a tough question of a presidential candidate. So much for the standing up for the little man. So much for speaking truth to power. So much for comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, and all of those other catchphrases we journalists used to believe we lived by."

Under the bus

"Political parties are rarely so cold-hearted as to throw their own over the side in pursuit of votes. But that's happening to Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich as the Illinois Democratic Party is using the unpopular governor as a club to defeat a Republican for a key vacant U.S. House seat," John Fund writes at www.opinionjournal.com.

"The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began spending $1 million this week airing TV ads that link Mr. Blagojevich to Marty Ozinga, the GOP candidate for Congress in the suburban Chicago district being vacated by GOP Rep. Jerry Weller," Mr. Fund said.

"'Concrete's a dirty business, especially for Republican Marty Ozinga,' the ad's script reads. 'Republican Marty Ozinga and his companies gave 23 grand to Rod Blagojevich,' the ad continues, showing an unflattering picture of Mr. Blagojevich. Mr. Ozinga, the script concludes, is 'the last guy you'd send to clean up Washington.' …