After nearly winning the Ames straw poll on August 14th, Rep. Ron Paul was ignored by the mainstream media on Sunday’s talk shows the following day. The straw poll winner, Rep. Michele Bachmann, was on every major talk show basking in the limelight as the MSM anointed her, Mitt Romney and Texas governor Rick Perry, who announced his candidacy for the presidency the day of the straw poll in South Carolina, as the three top tier candidates in the race for the GOP nomination.
After the media flashed the results of the Ames straw poll, a CNN “journalist” gushed how the boring Pawlenty, who finished a distant third, will be able to continue his campaign despite not finishing first or second. The next day Pawlenty dropped out of the race. In addition, the warmongering Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who has no business running for president, was given kudos for finishing fourth! Feckless reporting on CNN and the other networks seems to be the order of the day.
Despite being shut out of the Sunday talk show gabfests following his near stunning upset of hometown favorite Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul is getting more attention for being ignored by the MSM than if he had won the “irrelevant” poll. If you Google Rep. Paul and the media, there are more than 70,000,000 hits.
The question keeps on being asked is why are the MSM media ignoring Ron Paul’s surge. After all, he finished fifth in the Ames poll four years ago. One would think that Ron Paul’s “fringe candidacy” four years ago to a legitimate top tier candidate today would be the “story” of the Ames straw poll. Instead, Ron Paul is still being treated as a fringe candidate. Why?
In many ways the MSM are treating Ron Paul not unlike the Ku Klux Klan’s treatment of black people after the Civil War. In fact, the KKK was more “honest” in its treatment of freed slaves than the current crop of “assassins” in the MSM. The KKK made no pretense of embracing their liberated neighbors in the South. The KKK marched with American flags claiming they were “true”Americas. Obviously, they did not embrace the principles of liberty, and had—and still have–a pathological hatred of blacks and other “undesirable” American. The KKK’s racism was not sugarcoated in any way. Everyone knew what the KKK stood for.
The MSM, on the other hand, are supposed to be reporting the news objectively. They are supposed to provide the public with the “facts” of the day. They are not supposed to “spin” the story of any event but inform their viewers: how, what, when, and where. After the facts are presented on the air, then the anchors can invite columnists—the talking heads–who write opinion pieces to comment on the facts. Moreover, when we hear the allegedly opinion molders and analysts open their mouths what comes out is pure hatred of Ron Paul, not unlike the acts of the KKK.
There is one obvious answer to the media’s hatred—I am using the word advisedly–of Ron Paul. They do not see him as a “true American” of the 21st century. They see him as the greatest threat to the supposed “new America” of the past century—the welfare-warfare state. The MSM have become self-appointed gatekeepers of acceptable political debate on the major national networks and on cable outlets. The vast majority of so-called journalists and opinion writers support the welfare-warfare state, favoring more welfare if they are in the left-wing camp or more warfare if they are in the right wing camp.
Ron Paul opposes the welfare-warfare state lock stock and barrel. Therefore, he is an apostate to the ideological status quo, collectivism at home and empire building abroad. In short, the MSM’s mission is to destroy Ron Paul politically. However, many Americans like to root for an underdog and have a sense of fair play. The MSM have crossed the line. Their hatred for the greatest champion of liberty who has sought the presidency is a threat to the statists in both political parties. Nevertheless, Ron Paul’s presidential campaign is about to go into overdrive, and his support will increase exponentially.