French Kissing John McCain

One of the things that has really irked me about the presidential campaign so far (and one that my favorite talk radio host, Rachel Maddow, has pointed out) is how the national, mainstream media is having such a love fest with John McCain, giving him a free pass without doing any unbiased reporting when it comes to him. Meanwhile, the Democrats are getting the brunt of these journalists having so much time on their hands, since they can't be bothered to touch John McCain. Case in point, all the coverage of Obama's endorsement from his pastor and Lewis Farrakhan. Did anyone notice, especially in the media, that John McCain got an endorsement last week John Hagee, the wingnut freak who said the Katrina disaster was New Orleans own fault since they had a gay pride parade. And who rants against Catholics. Read more about Rev. Hagee here in this Wikipedia entry that pretty much covers his homophobia, antisemitism, anti-Catholicism, etc .

My point again is why was the national media so silent about this, or any of the other landmines in the past weeks related to John McCain. The New York Times did a great disservice to us when they led their article about John McCain's continuation of his history of corruption and bribery not with factual data about the influence of lobbyists on McCain but on a salacious, ill-proven assertion about an extramarital affairs with such a lobbyist.

The true story here is that this lobbyist actually worked for Paxson Communications. Paxson donated large sums of money to McCain's campaign, flew him around the world in their private yet. Now here is where the bribery comes in: in return for all this, they asked John McCain to intercede for them with the FCC (which falls under his scope as chairman of the commerce committee). McCain wrote such a letter demanding that the FCC speed up its decision as to whether Paxson could purchase a Pittsburgh television station. And soon after, the FCC ruled in Paxon's favor.

For an excellent article related to McCain and his history of corruption, even as he basks in the glow of the "straight shooter" persona, see this essay.

In case you need some evidence of my belief that the national media is giving John McCain a hand job under the sheets, take a gander at this video blog that McCain's daughter, Meghan, posted to YouTube, about the big ole country BBQ the McCain family hosted at their Sedona, AZ cabin for all the members of the national media. I remember that basic lesson in my journalism ethics class back in, gosh, I am straining here....1986...oh gosh, another memory popped out of the gray matter! With Professor Caroline Dow. I loved that woman! Anywho, I remember when these were called "press junkets" and participating would undoubtedly call into question your journalistic integrity and strip you of the veil of unbiasedness that the press must maintain at all costs. So much for that ideal in 2008!



Post your comments! Why do you think the national media is stroking John McCain's saggy, old man backside?