Posted by
Jack Kemery on Saturday, June 13, 2009 1:15:33 PM
Many of us are familiar with the recent back and forth between David Letterman and Sarah Palin. I was upset when I first watched it because in it I saw the double standard of the "mainstream media". If the shoe were on the other foot and someone from the Conservative side made such remarks about Barack Obama's, wife or children heads would roll. There would likely be an outcry and that person would be fired. We look at this and want fairness. Many of us want the "mainstream media" to apply the same standard to Letterman as was applied to Don Imus or someone similar. In my view this will never happen, so it is not worth fighting to make the "mainstream media" fair.
What we need to do is expose the "mainstream media" for what they by and large are, that of course being Liberal. The big advantage the "mainstream media" has is acceptance. Many accept on some level that they will get fair and balanced news from these outlets due to the fact they are perceived as "unbiased". This puts us at a tremendous disadvantage. During the last election Obama almost completely avoided the "right wing media", except for one appearance on the "O'Reilly Factor". We say unfair, which is true. But think about it, if Obama could get away with only appearing on friendly stations, why shouldn't he? If someone such as Sean Hannity interviewed him, he would run a great rish of looking bad.
Now take Sarah Palin. After her candidacy was announced she went on hostile television shows, such as the one with Katie Couric. Why? I believe it is still because there is the perception this is the unbiased media. So what do we do? My answer is expose them. We should apply the same tactics. Next Presidential election, only go on the "mainstream media" proportional to what our opponents do. When likely questioned and probably harshly questioned as to why simply respond: "we are going to friendly outlets just like the Democrats. They go to the 'left wing mainstream media', and we go to "the conservative media". You may say why? Simple, they have homecourt advantage. Meaning how can we win on their outlets? We can't. So let's build our own message on our own turf.
Now back to Palin and Letterman. With the exception of Governor Palin, I think what we should do is simply expose the media bias. We should use this as a way to show CBS is not unbiased. Maybe we should show how the Liberals went after others for far less than what Letterman said. From this we should raise the question, why do they do this? We should raise the question why are they so concerned about what is said about them, but not the other? The answer to this I believe is that they simply wish to control the arguments and speech. Underneath it all things such as Womens Rights are of little consequence. These type of things are simply vehicles to control the argument.
Of course this is a long term objective. Many people won't see it or get it overnight. But if we keep harping on it I believe many moderates will get it and we can win over just enough to win the elections and more importantly control our own arguments. Oh by the way with Letterman, in this context, let him keep talking, he can only help our side.