Say Anything Blog

More of this please:

Let me first say we are First Amendment absolutists on this campaign. The press and anybody who wishes to cover this race from a blogosphere perspective or from a media perspective is of course constitutionally protected with regard to writing whatever they want to write.

But let’s be clear and be honest with each other about something fundamental to this race, which is this: Whatever the New York Times once was, it is today not by an standard a journalistic organization. It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day attacks the McCain campaign, attacks Sen. McCain, attacks Gov. Palin, and excuses Sen. Obama. There is no level of public vetting with regard to Sen. Obama’s record, his background, his past statements. There is no level of outrage directed at his deceitful ads. This is an organization that is completely, totally, 150 percent in the tank for the Democratic candidate, which is their prerogative to be, but let’s not be dishonest and call it something other than what it is. Everything that is read in the New York Times that attacks this campaign should be evaluated by the American people from that perspective, that it is an organization that has made a decision to cast aside its journalistic integrity and tradition to advocate for the defeat of one candidate, in this case John McCain, and advocate for the election of the other candidate, Barack Obama.

My only quibble is that I have a hard time believing that John McCain, of McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform, is a 1st amendment absolutist.  McCain-Feingold did more to limit free political speech in this country than any bit of legislation in a generation, so let’s have none of this “free speech absolutist” nonsense.

That being said, given McCain’s wishy-washy record on conservative issues and the fact that while he was busy being “The Maverick” in the Senate and undermining advancement on certain key conservative agendas the media gave him glowing coverage, he seems an unlikely candidate to lead the cause against liberal media bias.  But if you don’t think this line of attack isn’t going to resonate with a public weary of one-sided journalism (particularly in the wake of how Sarah Palin has been treated) you haven’t been paying attention.

As this video from a McCain event today shows:

Americans may not love John McCain, but two other truths may help McCain out here anyway:  They love Sarah Palin, and they’re tired of the liberal media.