Setting The Record Straight, Part One

For most of my life I've tried to wrap my head around why it is that so many so-called "journalists" refuse to report the truth. As a young teenager, doing research for a speech competition in which I was writing a speech on accuracy in journalism, I came across the story from 1987 when then CBS news anchor Dan Rather stormed off the set, leaving the screen black for 6 minutes. All because he didn't get his way. This event had more to do with Rather being a diva than it did accuracy, but it gives a great example of the light in which these reporters see themselves. It used to be that journalists were sworn to a code of ethics much like the one seen here, but sadly, few media outlets actually enforce it. Never has this fact been more evident than in the case of Governor Sarah Palin the very minute she was introduced on the national stage. I know, I was watching, along with the rest of the world.

I knew very little about Sarah Palin until shortly before her nomination as Vice President. I had heard various conservative commentators and radio personalities mention her, citing the fact that she was the most popular Governor in America, with approval ratings that had hit the 90's at one point. It took very little digging for me to begin finding out the truth, much of which Fred Barnes laid out nicely in this article posted long before her nomination as Republican Vice President. 

Senator John McCain announced his nomination of Governor Palin on the morning of August 29, 2008. It was shortly after her acceptance speech was given that the media firestorm started and this blog was created. I was so angry at what the media was doing that for five days I posted nothing. I just watched in disbelief. This was my first post on September 3, 2008. 

Accuracy in journalism has been lacking for many years, and it was during the Bush Presidency that it became most evident. The lies, the hate speech, and the sheer lack of credibility reached an all time high during the last eight years. However, until Sarah reached the stage, we didn't know the extent to which journalists, politicians, and their voters on the left would go to destroy someone with whom they disagree. Organizations that have shrieked about women's rights for years were strangely silent, proving to those of us on the right what we'd known all along--it's about the liberal agenda, not women's rights. Something big took place in the 2008 election: the primary objective of the media became an undeniable effort to destroy Governor Sarah Palin. 

As I previously noted, it takes little effort in this day and age to find the facts. That so many Americans blindly, like dogs (and I realize that's rather insulting to dogs), lapped up whatever the mainstream media fed them in this last election was both pathetic and absolutely unbelievable. Even more sickening was the blatant disregard for reporting anything about Barack Hussein Obama's actual history: his true associations, his true record, his real qualifications, or lack thereof. It's frightening, really, that so many people exist in America who care so little about the truth. 

The first bit of insanity started nearly immediately. The mainstream media began to question whether or not Senator McCain had even vetted Sarah for the V.P. spot. This was incredibly insulting to the man who had previously been quite the media darling. Networks like CNN, MSNBC, and newsprint organizations like The Washington Post and The New York Times began reporting these claims: 

• John McCain did not know about Palin's daughter being pregnant.
  
• She should step down due to family considerations.
  
• Palin's husband had a DUI arrest that McCain didn't know about
  
• The vetting process was rushed. Obama had a large vetting team.
  
• Nobody in Alaska was approached during the vetting process.
  
• McCain only met Sarah once.
  
• McCain's camp is only now sending a vetting team to Alaska.

In fact, Senator McCain and his team thoroughly vetted the good Governor, as explained here and here. This would be the first of many lies reported as fact by the mainstream media.

Next, on August 31, 2008, a fictitious story was posted at Daily Kos (a left wing liberal blog) saying that Trig Palin, Todd and Sarah's four-month-old son was not their baby, but instead belonged to their daughter Bristol. The best answer I have to this is: absurd. But look what the left was, and still is, saying about baby Trig: 

• Fake Ebay listing put up by Democratic Underground posting baby Trig for sale as a political prop. The Obama's could trot their daughters onto the stage anytime they wished, and it was okay, but because Sarah brought her children with her on the trail she was using them as 'props'. No double standard there, is there?
• Nicholas Provenzo, writer for the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism, wrote an article stating that Trig, because he has Down Syndrome, was a financial burden and should have been aborted. Here's another writer suggesting Trig wishes he'd been killed by abortion. 
• Media began demanding DNA samples from the Palin's to prove Trig was really their son.
• "Comedian" Bill Maher not only told the story that Daily Kos reported as fact, but in this clip, had disgusting things to say about special needs children and how abstinence doesn't work (which, by the way, is the most mind numbingly idiotic statement I've ever heard). **language alert
• Vanity Fair magazine put up a Trig Palin conspiracy timeline on their web page. 

The list goes on and on, but you get the picture. There are some sick people in this world, and many of them on the left chose to exploit a precious little baby just because they want to destroy his mother by any means possible. 

The next big story was, of course, the announcement on September 1st that Sarah's daughter Bristol was pregnant. Many in the mainstream media reported that this announcement came as quite a shock to the McCain campaign when, in fact, the campaign had long known about the pregnancy and had embraced Bristol with wide open arms. Never in my lifetime have I seen the children of a candidate treated the way Governor Palin's children have been exploited.  You need only to google Bristol's name to find the endless amount of things that were said about her in the media. 

Next came the story that Sarah was a liar because she claimed she'd sold the Governor's corporate jet on eBay. Nope, that's not what she said, and the only research I had to do to find that out was to actually listen to her speech! Here's what she actually said on September 3rd, in her acceptance speech to the nation:

While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.

Here's the truth, which can be found at Fight the Palin Smears:

• She listed the jet on eBay, then sold it elsewhere.
• She listed the jet on eBay for $2.5 million with no bids, then sold it elsewhere for $2.1 million. 
• The state's jet plane was a major issue in the 2006 election, which Palin won. Then-incumbent Frank Murkowski had defied protests from members of the state Legislature and the public when he bought the jet in 2005 to travel around the state. His political opponents said the jet symbolized his arrogance and free-spending ways.
• She said during the campaign she would sell the jet, and one of her first orders on taking office was putting the it up for sale. And yep, the state decided to list it on eBay for an asking price of $2.5-million. (The state had paid just under $2.7-million for it in 2005.)
• The state had sold smaller aircraft previously on eBay. Alaska is a large, rural state, and state officials do use aircraft to get around. But typically they use smaller, more rugged planes than Murkowski's jet.
• But the jet's eBay listing did not prove effective, and the state never got its asking price. Instead, in 2007, the state turned to an aircraft broker, Turbo North Aviation. The jet was purchased that year by businessman Larry Reynolds, the owner of a sporting goods store and marine supply store in Valdez. Reynolds paid $2.1-million.
• So, it's true that Palin put the plane up for sale on eBay, but it didn't sell on eBay.
  

The absurdity that followed was the rumor those in the mainstream media reported as fact that started at this site on September 3rd.  The commenter claimed that Sarah Palin had a list of books she wanted banned from Alaska libraries. Michelle Malkin did a great job of debunking this rumor, and she points out that all it took, again, was a simple google search. The sad thing is, then Presidential candidate Barack Obama's website reported the rumor as fact, although that part of his page has been conveniently removed. Not only that, the rumor was started in the comment section of a blog, and reported as fact by the media at large. Many of the books listed hadn't even been published at the time she supposedly issued the list. 

The following day, the National Enquirer printed a front page story alleging that Sarah had an affair with her husband Todd's business partner, Brad Hanson. The Huffington Post, which many on the left hail as a mainstream newspaper, reported the story as fact. The story caught on, and spread world wide, although for some reason, the mainstream media outlets pretty much left this one alone as far as I can tell. The story was completely false. 

To me, what was probably most startling during all of this was how openly biased the blowhards in Hollywood and in the mainstream media were. I mean, we all knew they were liberals, but the vicious attacks on a Vice Presidential nominee were unbridled and unprecedented...it was as if she was the one running against Barack Hussein Obama. As soon as Sarah emerged onto the scene, rallies that had previously drawn thousands were drawing tens of thousands. She was a breath of fresh air, and they couldn't stand it.  See what some were saying: 

• Matt Damon weighs in at CBS. 
  
• One of many blowups on The View 
  
• Lynda Carter, the 'has been' who used to play wonderwoman, had much to say. 
  
• Chevy Chase weighs in on Sarah's appearance on SNL
  
• Chris "Tingle" Matthews of MSNBC calls Sarah illiterate

These are just a few examples, but it gives you a clear picture: these people think we actually care what they have to say! 

...to be continued