BCT Editorial – 9/3/08

This page was last updated on September 3, 2008.

Get used to it; Editorial; Beaver County Times; September 3, 2008.

The editorial subtitle is “Irresponsibility has no boundaries in the blogosphere.”

This editorial is a combination of some previous editorial topics. They include “you can’t trust the Internet,” “you can trust the mainstream media,” and “the evil right-wingers are the source of everything bad written about Barack Obama.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The pregnancy of the 17-year-old unmarried daughter of John McCain’s vice presidential choice, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is not a campaign issue, and the Palin family should be afforded the same privacy as other candidates’ children.

“With luck, this matter will have its five minutes in the spotlight and fade away.”

[RWC] The previous sentence was really supposed to read “With luck, this matter will have its five minutes in the spotlight.” <g>

“But there’s another aspect to this incident that cannot be dismissed because it is here to stay — the impact of the Internet.

“The McCain camp released the news of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy to rebut what one aide called ‘mud-slinging and lies’ circulating on liberal blog sites. Reuters reported the McCain people were appalled that these rumors had not only been spread around liberal blog sites and partisan Democrats, but also were subject to heightened interest from mainstream news media.”

[RWC] Note the editorial didn’t say what the rumor was. The rumor was that Mrs. Palin’s five-month-old baby was really the baby of her daughter Bristol. As I write this, lefty nut cases are still demanding a paternity test for that baby.

“Their righteous anger, while understandable, is hypocritical.”

[RWC] The Times writes about hypocrisy? Though we read several editorials calling VP Dick Cheney a “chicken hawk” because he received five deferments during the Vietnam War, we haven’t read similar editorials about VP Democrat candidate Joe Biden’s five deferments.

“Conservative and right-wing blogs have had a field day spreading lies and rumors about Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and other Democrats. They have had no qualms at all about distorting reality — or inventing one — when its suits their political and ideological needs. They have had no regard for accountability and responsibility. They have had nothing but disdain for the drudge work [sic] that the mainstream media do to check out the political flotsam and jetsam that surfaces during campaigns before reporting it as fact.”

[RWC] The previous paragraph and the first two sentences of this paragraph are essentially a regurgitation of the Times editorial entitled “Liar, liar.”

“[T]he drudge work that the mainstream media do to check out” stories? Is this the same “drudge work” that led to the Times “12 alive – only 1 trapped miner doesn’t survive ordeal” headline after the Sago Mine explosion? You can read more about this here and here.

Also, that “drudge work” didn’t stop mainstream media outlets from repeating the “blogosphere’s” scurrilous smear.

“They have exploited the anything-goes blogosphere to their own ends far too often to be appalled when their opponents resort to the same tactics.

“It’s not right, but it’s the way it is. Get used to it.”

[RWC] Translation: Though it’s irresponsible for the “blogosphere” to start baseless rumors, it’s OK for the mainstream media to spread them as long as they smear the correct people.