How to Keep the Press Honest

The Democrats are the Kings and Queens of unintended consequences.

They declare war on Tom Delay to turn him into the 2005 version of Newt Gingrich. They plan on vilifying him, make him a poster child of the horror of Republicanism. Unfortunately, after starting the attack, all they have is the fact he is a fairly unattractive and annoying man (Who is very,very effective) who plays by the rules. So they start digging to find dirt on him with slander and innuendo, as their playbook tells them to do.

But the person who wrote their playbook wrote it for a different era.

The rules were to make a charge against Republicans. Then let the media run with it. When Republicans object, write the articles in such a way that make it look like the Republicans are whine-y losers.

So the Democrats and their willing accomplices in the media start insinuating that his office practices are un-ethical and illegal. That hiring his wife and daughter to work on his campaign is wrong. That going on a junket is wrong.

And the media jumps in lock-step with the Democrats and reports this in isolation.

But there is a new game in town, BLOGGERS. They see the story on Delay, and find out that 40+ Democrats are doing the same. The meme spreads and the media has to cover the story because their credibility is eroding. So they bury the story on the Democrats, but it pulls the DeLay story off the front pages.

Now they have attacked DeLay because of his travel practices. The typically cowed Republicans have changed colors and put out the story through the Washington Times that  Nancy Pelosi may have taken a trip with a bunch of Democrats to Puerto Rico that was not quite kosher. The Drudge Report catches the story, bloggers such as myself and 100 others grab on to it also, and the media is forced to attack one of it’s own in Pelosi, or drop the story.

House Republicans yesterday called on Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to provide documentation to prove that a Washington lobbyist firm did not pay for a trip she and other Democrats took to Puerto Rico in 2001.
    ”We feel that such lingering questions undermine the integrity of the institution and we hope [the questions] will be cleared up as soon as possible,” wrote Republican Reps. Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina and Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia.
    The Washington Times reported earlier this week that Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Ohio Democrat and member of the House ethics committee, listed a registered lobbyist as the trip’s sponsor. House rules prohibit registered lobbyists from paying for travel by members.

In the past this would never have seen the light of day, now the NY Times and Washington Post will have to cover it. The rest of the mainstream media will be in a corner, do we cover it or let the story die.

The Democrats and the mainstream media have played with a playbook for so long they do not know what to do. It worked so well once the newsrooms in the country went 10–1 Democrats to Republican. But the world of Citizen Media will not replace the MSM, but it will hold them accountable. It will make them write their stories honestly and properly. Otherwise, the reporters credibility will be destroyed and they will not be writing anymore.

And Evan Thomas, Editor of the Washington Post, will have to watch elections with the medias ability to provide a 10–15 point boost to Democrats will be eroded. Here is Evan before the election talking candidly about the medias impact on the election.

“There’s one other base here: the media. Let’s talk a little media bias here. The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. And I think they’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards — I’m talking about the establishment media, not Fox, but — they’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic and all, there’s going to be this glow about them that some, is going to be worth, collectively, the two of them, that’s going to be worth maybe 15 points.”

It is our mission to reduce the medias impact on the election and how they cover politics. We will help to reduce the percentage gained from misrepresentation of the Democratic Party so that its socialistic roots are exposed and that the American people will know the truth at the ballot box.

Added to the Carnival of the Trackbacks at Wizbang. Check it out, a great collection of posts.