1115.org

As a blog that covers media and politics, we are of course no strangers to assertions made by many on the Right that the media is liberal, or in the age of Bush, librul. Though I recognize that such bleatings say more about their source than their targets, I still resent the time it takes to document the obvious and overwhelming amount of evidence to the contrary, but “this is the life we’ve chosen…” So whether it is the absurd war reporting of Judith Miller and Michael Gordon at the New York Times, Fred Hiatt’s insane editorials and the dishonest and clueless economic and Congressional coverage by Jonathan Weisman and many others at the Washington Post, or any number of other so-called liberal media outlets, we’ve gone to great lengths to document it all.

Of course, none of this work does anything to staunch the flow of garbage spouted by those who would have you believe that the multi-national corporations who own most major media outlets are actually closet liberals who manage to advocate positions that run counter to their profitability, and do it without anyone…um…getting that message. And the worst of it is usually reserved for CNN, or as the morons call it, Clinton News Network, owned by Time Warner, a corporation that for the last five years has been run by prominent Republican Richard Parsons. And no amount of right-wing yakkers like Glen Beck, Nancy Grace etc. is ever enough to count as evidence.

I wonder how they would account for the CNN headline I came across while looking for election results yesterday morning:

A neutral headline might have read “GOP wins Mississippi, Dems take Kentucky.” But even that would obscure what actually happened in these two elections, leaving readers less than fully informed when it comes to the main takeaway of these two races. In Kentucky, Democrat Steve Beshear defeated incumbent Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher in a landslide. Kentucky is a state that George W. Bush won by 15 points in 2000 and 20 points in 2004, the same year they returned Republican Jim Bunning to the U.S. Senate despite clear and convincing evidence that he was losing his mind during the general election. Beshear’s win in such a heavily Republican state is an actual accomplishment. In Mississippi, another deep red state, (Bush won by 17 in 2000 and 20 in 2004) Republican incumbent Governor Haley Barbour won reelection over a relative unknown, hardly a man-bites-dog story.

Yet CNN goes out of their way to bring Hurricane Katrina into it:

In Mississippi, Barbour, 60, was seeking a second term in a state still recovering from the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Unlike neighboring Louisiana — where Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco came under such fire in the aftermath of the storm that she didn’t seek re-election — Barbour’s handling of Katrina bolstered his political prospects.

This is what is truly galling about CNN’s account. Katrina did far more damage in Louisiana, and did her damage in heavily populated areas. Mississippi certainly saw significant damage, but an order of magnitude less than what hit Louisiana. Blanco didn’t exactly shine in her time on the national stage, but she’s also no Ray Nagin. Barbour, a sleazy former lobbyist and RNC chairman spent as much time working the media for good coverage as he did anything else. And when it came time to rebuild, Barbour proved how corrupt he really is. But the librul media narrative consisted of Blanco=bad, Barbour=good, and that was the end of it. Yet when Barbour wins, it’s some kind of surprise and CNN’s role in deifying him is swept under the carpet.

And the icing on the cake? CNN ran two photos with the story, Republican Fletcher, and Republican Barbour.

Excellent work.