IBD: Conservatives Mustn't Let Media Pick the Candidate

Republicans and Conservatives need to wake up and understand that the headline is exactly what Fox News and the other MSM are trying to do once against in 2012 -- it worked in 2008 so they are back to the well once more.  The debate questions with no real meat seem to point in that direction along with interviews and articles.  

The timing for this article is perfect after the facts came out about the Fox/Google Orlando debate staged to make Republicans look bad especially Rick Perry.  The media received their full wings for unethical reporting in 2008 and are continuing into 2012.  Facts and truth mean nothing to this group of so-called journalists who long ago lost their ethics.  How many of today's so-called journalists are members of the Society of Professional Journalists who are bound by a Code of Ethics or how many know they are unethical so they refuse to join?  This is their Preamble (my bold):

Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society's principles and standards of practice.

Using the standard of the SPJ, Fox News under the leadership of Roger Aisles at the Orlando Fox debate fails on every issue that is bolded in the Preamble.  What is more important to Fox News under Roger Ailes? Ethics or old fashion American Greed?  We vote for Greed.   You need look no farther than Glenn Beck's investigation into the Obama Czars that brought in huge advertising dollars.  Even the advertisers who eventually boycotted Beck gave other shows large ad buys.  Viewers turn into ad revenue which is what Ailes and Fox News are all about.  Wonder if there is an ethical person left at Fox News that isn't part of putting money over their responsibilities to report the news.  The softball questions aimed at some of their guests while others get trashed raises the word 'bias' for their anchors as well.

Latest flavor of the day for Fox News is Gov Chris Christie to run for President.  It was in the NY Post owned by News Corp, on Neil Cavuto, and several articles coming on the heels of Fox News Sunday going after Rick Perry for his performance and statements.  The timing was suspect but now with the revelation by Howard Kurtz that Fox staged the debate to hurt Republican candidates, it is not suspect any more.

McKinnon points out in his IBD article how the mainstream media shaped the 2008 race and from what we are seeing Fox News is leading the charge this time to be the most unethical:

In creating the myth of the "Obama miracle" of 2008, the mainstream media went out of their way not to mention that hundreds of thousands of conservative and Republican voters were plain disgusted with McCain because he was anything but a conservative and could not bring themselves to vote for him. 

To be sure, thanks in large part to the unprofessional and unethical cheerleading by most in the media, Mr. Obama did grow the Democrat vote total substantially from 2004. 

But how many principled conservatives stayed home and why? That has to be part of an honest analysis of the Obama victory.

The article nails what is happening with the media trying to choose our Republican candidate so that the more moderate Republican will make Republican and Conservatives stay home and not vote.  Isn't that just great that now we are faced once again with the national media across the board wanting to choose the candidate they say is the most likely to beat Obama (Romney) when it is just the opposite.

Is Ailes afraid if Rick Perry gets in the White House, the ad revenue at Fox News will drop and conservatives will finally open their eyes that Fox News is no friend of conservatives.  I would rather watch MSNBC who I know leans far left than ever watch Fox News again who is trying to tank a candidate to get in the one they know will lose.

Phony news reports and polls along with a set-up debate by Fox News shows them to be lowest form of media -- absolutely corrupted to where the almighty dollar means more than ethics.  Roger Ailes should be ashamed but he has been part of what is wrong with the America political system since the years of Nixon and now he is in complete control of Fox News.

Conservatives Mustn't Let Media Pick The Candidate
By DOUGLAS MACKINNON Posted 09/26/2011 05:23 PM ET 

Leaving aside the televised, overly scripted, predictable and marginally useful "debates" now taking place between the Republican candidates for president, there are much more important discussions going on between conservatives and independents who are unified in their belief that for the good of the nation, Barack Obama must be defeated. 

Those discussions — taking place across kitchen tables, in lunchrooms, or in neighborhood bars after a week of hard work — are trying to determine which path to follow in the approaching political fork in the road. 

One of those paths will most likely lead to the defeat of Mr. Obama. The other could very well ensure his re-election. 

It is critical for Republicans, conservatives, and independents to remember that from the 2008 GOP field, John McCain had the stamp of approval from the mainstream media. 

In fact, the liberal media worked overtime to resurrect his then all but comatose campaign. Why? 

That same liberal media told us that independents and a good number of Democrats just loved McCain. 

Maybe some did, but exponentially more conservatives and Americans who cherish our vanishing traditional values could not stand him. So much so, they simply declined to vote.
That fact is one of the most purposefully underreported or flat-out ignored reasons why Mr. Obama won the White House in 2008. 

Well over 2 million fewer people voted for the GOP ticket in 2008 compared to 2004. Did some of those votes go to Mr. Obama? For sure. Did many just stay home? Absolutely.
Again, a critically important fact when you stop to realize that Mr. Obama won North Carolina by only 14,000 votes. That he won Indiana by only 28,000 votes. Or that he won Florida by only 236,000 out of well over 8 million cast. 

(snip)

Flashback to 2011 and Republicans are being asked to choose between the liberal-media-approved Mitt Romney — who they insist will appeal to those independent and moderate Democrats in November of 2012 — or the more conservative, less-polished Rick Perry of Texas. 

Anyone who has met Mitt Romney knows he is an incredibly decent person who loves his country.

That has never been in question. What is in question — is Romney the McCain of 2012? 

Shouldn't Republican primary voters really drill down deeper to understand why so many in the liberal media believe Mr. Romney — as they said about McCain in 2008 — will appeal to independents and Democrats? 

While Governor Perry may not quite be ready for prime time — lack of real debate time and overcramming surely contributing — there is no doubt that he is the more conservative between himself and Mr. Romney. 

In the future, he might do well to ignore hypothetical questions, ignore Mr. Romney, and simply speak to his vision for the nation. 

MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and author of the forthcoming memoir entitled "Rolling Pennies in the Dark." 

Excerpt:  Read More at IBD

McKinnon asks a very good question:  "Is Romney the McCain of 2012?  It sure looks like that is the case.  If Romney gets the nomination, I have heard numerous people say they will stay home and not vote and some of them voted for McCain.  Romney is a 'soft money' person who likes the dollar low as his investments do better but what about the middle class taxpayer who doesn't have all the loopholes?  The low dollar hurts all of us.

Maybe the show "American Greed" should take a look at Fox News.  How many so-called feuds that Karl Rove is supposedly involved with to drive up ratings are even real.  What is the Crossroads/Fox News connections to the Tea Party leaders and their organizations?  When you read an article like Kurtz yesterday
that Ailes and Fox News are pulling away from the Tea Party, it speaks volumes that their money was heavily invested in the Tea Party.  Looks like now they want them gone.  Are they afraid the members of the Tea Party won't swallow the Fox koolaid and will vote for the more conservative in the race instead of Romney who Fox is pushing along with Rove.

It is going to be interesting how many of the so-called conservative sites pick up on the fact that Fox News orchestrated the debate to make Republicans look bad or how many are joined at the hip with Fox News or Crossroads and Rove.

The bottom line is that Greed is driving the media for ratings which equal dollars.  If they can keep Obama for four more years with conservatives furious just think how much Ailes, Murdoch and News Corp along with the other mainstream media outlets will be worth then -- they don't seem to give one thought as what is best for the Country -- only their bottom line.