The media keeps missing the boat on Iraq
The media keeps missing the boat on Iraq
By Mike Gallagher
Thursday, September 7, 2006
Liberals like to pretend that there isn’t a media bias when it comes to the coverage of the Bush Administration or the war. Despite the fact that newsrooms are filled with dyed-in-the-wool liberals, there’s a preposterous attempt to portray the mainstream press as fair and objective.
Well, this week’s news cycle has delivered proof that the liberal media bias is not only present, it’s overwhelming.
Most Americans probably believe that Iraq taking control of its military command is a big deal. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman, called the takeover “gigantic.” In fact, it could be argued that the news about Iraq finally taking control of its armed forces command is one of the biggest and most successful examples of the progress that is being made in Iraq since the war began.
So what was the big story during this particular news cycle? It wasn’t the Iraq one. Evidently, the arrest of Paris Hilton for allegedly driving drunk is the gigantic story that America needs to hear.
In the all-time list of irrelevant stories, I’ve got to believe that the drunk driving arrest of some publicity-craving hotel heiress in Hollywood has to make the top ten. I can’t be the only person who couldn’t care less about the exploits of Paris Hilton.
But Iraq taking control of its military command? That’s about as big as it gets. Democrats keep harping about a timeline for our troops and many war critics want us to pull out immediately. If Iraq is now taking over its own military command, that is one giant step towards the day when we can finally leave that country altogether, right?
So go ahead and try to find the news media coverage of this historic event. Most newspapers buried it between the obituaries and the classified ads. USA Today saw fit to put the story on page 11A. The broadcast news media thought the Miami investigative reporter getting punched out and the stupid Paris Hilton story deserved much greater coverage.
And when the media did report on the military command takeover, the story was framed, as always, by reports of car bombings and mortar attacks. It’s as if the writers and reporters were saying, in hushed tones, “Well, Iraq took control of its armed forces command today BUT (changing over to a bellowing yell) MORE BLOODSHED TOOK PLACE WITH DRIVE-BY SHOOTINGS AND A CAR BOMBING!!!”
It’s really disgusting to witness this distortion of the truth in Iraq. Talk to just about any returning soldier, or one home on leave, and you’ll hear tale after tale of amazing progress being made in Iraq. Often, that same soldier will express complete amazement at the way the media has twisted and manipulated the facts to suit their agenda.
And the agenda is simply astonishing. The mainstream press hates President Bush so much that it’s actually hoping we’ll fail in Iraq. After all, there’s an election a few weeks away, right? There are Democrats that need to be elected, a House and Senate that is within reach for the Dems. Why worry about national security when the political stakes are so high?
It’s amusing to watch Bush critics struggle with the reason why there have been no terror attacks on American soil since September 11, 2001. I posed that question to the liberal radio listeners in my audience the other day and their answers were downright hysterical. “We’ve just been lucky”, said one caller. “You’re a liar, Gallagher, what about the anthrax scare?” asked another. And perhaps the best one of all: “George Bush has a secret deal with the terrorists to wait until after he leaves office until they hit us again.”
With that kind of blind ignorance, it’s no wonder the news media keeps trying to fool the American people into believing that the war is a total failure.
This week, history was made in Iraq. You can look it up. You’ll just have to look real hard.
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