Is The Media Coordinating On Race Baiting? Ask John Harris and Politico

RedState ^ | 8/29/2012 | Erick Erickson

[middlegeorgian]

We should not forget that John Harris of the Politico, who asked the stupidest and most irrelevant questions of any moderator during the GOP Primary debates, is married to the former head of NARAL in Virginia.

We should not forget that Jonathan Allen of the Politico once worked for Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

We should not forget that Andy Barr of the Politico left the Politico to go work for the Democratic National Committee.

We should not forget any of this because I do not believe it is any accident that today the Politico has a big story from John Harris about race in the 2012 election.

The welfare attacks came up suddenly from the Romney campaign, which said little about the issue when Obama’s administration changed policy to let states seek waivers on the work requirements. The Romney welfare ads, which have been on heavily in battleground states, prominently feature Bill Clinton signing the welfare reform bill into law. The first ad in the series said that Obama moved “quietly” to “gut” the Clinton reforms so that now, “They just send you your welfare check. … Welfare-to-work goes back to being plain old welfare.”

The welfare ads — regardless of their racial intent — seemed designed to help Romney gain ground on Obama since many independent voters in key demographics, such as swing-state Catholics, tend to view government aid to the poor with suspicion, according to polling data.

Why not an accident that this story appears today?

It comes on the same day the Los Angeles Times runs a story that the GOP is trying to make an all white party look brown, NBC would not show any of the speeches from minorities at the RNC Convention on their website, BS-NBC ditched all minorities during their live coverage of the convention, and Chuck Todd, whose wife used to work for the Democratic Party, says the GOP is pushing a diversity card.

I wonder if any of these people have noticed that the Republican Party has more elected hispanic Congressmen and Governors than the Democrats?

It is not an accident that the media, immediately after the Democrats started pushing out the War on Women, began running stories about the GOP’s hostility to women. It is now not an accident that the media, led by NBC and the Politico (which also partnered on that pathetic GOP primary debate), would peddle out the GOP and race stories.

It is far too much to be a coincidence that the Politico and NBC have ties, sometimes in the same bed, to Democrat and leftwing activists and then hop out of bed on the same page as the Democrats’ talking points.

[newzjunkey]

Every one of these "reporters" should report their biases in the interest of transparency with every byline.

There are millions who don't realize George Stephanopoulos was a senior Clinton policy advisor and now he's presented as an unbiased gatekeeper of truth in politics.

Or they don't know crazy Chris Matthews was on the staff for a Democratic Speaker of the House.

Or Cokie Roberts is the daughter of Democrat heavyweight Wade Boggs.

The list is near limitless but it's kept quiet.

Americans have a right to know their news filters are married to, children of, or worked for activists and politicians of one viewpoint or another.

[bronxville]

A very informative article by RedState. Thanks for posting it.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

It is far too much to be a coincidence that the Politico and NBC have ties, sometimes in the same bed, to Democrat and leftwing activists and then hop out of bed on the same page as the Democrats’ talking points.

There is no need to point out such linkages to convince a philosopher of the fact that such linkages are possible in principle. After all, if Mary Matlin and James Carville can be married, why can’t a Democrat and an “objective” reporter? But are they likely in practice? Yes, because

• ”the media” (a plural noun) “is” (a singular verb) is a misnomer. The true meaning intended is journalism is, because
  • journalism is nonfiction, and sells itself as objective and true, and
  • ”journalism” is singular rather than plural because the “various” journalism outlets are joined at the hip via the Associated Press newswire.
• The unity of journalism produces a “propaganda wind” in favor of journalism’s own interests, namely, the desire (and need) to exploit the AP newswire to promote journalism as a source of wisdom (which journalists call “objectivity” in their case). Because “the wire” does not transmit wisdom but mere ephemeral facts (and or misstatements), journalism emphasizes novelty rather than enduring values. Because journalism needs the attention of the public to sell ads and to promote its influence, journalism emphasizes dramatic negative reports over gradual positive ones such as construction.
• The existence of a political party which aligns itself with that propaganda wind at its back is only to be expected - it takes courage and principle to oppose it. It is only to be expected that journalism will flatter politicians who align themselves with journalism by awarding those politicians with positive labels such as “progressive,” “moderate,” or “liberal” - and deride those who do not with negative labels such as “conservative” and “right wing ” (Note that “conservatives” are the ones who favor such progress for the people as fracking and less limited drilling, and “progressives” are the ones who oppose it).

  Journalism and Objectivity