Palin, How the Media is Giving her a Free Pass

The McCain campaign has taken a 3 point lead in the Gallup poll, mostly because of two things. The convention bump and conservative excitement over Sarah Palin. As an outsider I can tell why the selection of Palin has actually worked. The country does not yet know who she is. And it may remain like that for a while.

The McCain camp has refused to expose her to actual media interviews, so Palin has not had to answer any real questions. Her claims have gone mostly unchallenged in the news networks. The McCain campaign has actually succeeded in putting the Media in the defensive, with claims of sexism. These claims are of course bullshit.

What the media started doing was trying to get to know Palin, and when questions were asked they were told that was sexism and they backed off. The same way that the media backed off when they were told we were invading Iraq. What people in the media fail to realize is that digging for the truth (which is their job) is not sexism. Giving her special consideration is.

Are you saying that Sarah Palin must be granted a certain level of protection because she is a woman? Is that really what feminist would tell us?

Yesterday Joe Biden appeared in Meet the Press. He opened himself to tough questions, why can't Sarah Palin try and do the same? Right now as we speak they are teaching her everything they think she needs to know, and how to avoid questions that she does not know the answer to. Will the media when they finally get to her recognize that? Or will they just roll over as they have been doing lately?

Let's face it, the media has become lazy, they sit back and wait for talking points from the campaign. They repeat what the campaign says, but hardly ever challenge it. Edward R Murrow must be turning in his grave.

IMHO what the media needs to realize is that the truth does not have two sides. More often than not, the truth is not "fair and balanced". Investigative reporters who have worked throughout history have not found out the truth then publish the other side of the story as if somehow the truth and the talking points are at the same level. It is different to give Sarah Palin a chance to defend her record, than it is to give her side of the story.

It is time for the media to go back to the 60's when we had reporters who put the truth first.