I had 40 minutes to kill, while waiting for my kids to get out of camp, so I scribbled down a letter, while waiting in the car. I typed it up and sent it when I got home. We'll see if it gets published. Here it is:
I was very interested to read the letter to the editor published in the Bellingham Herald on Monday claiming that there is a political double standard, with the press holding Republicans to a higher standard than Democrats. The letter writer contrasts the press coverage of Barack Obama’s admission of high school drug use in his autobiography to press coverage of the accounts by various witnesses of Mitt Romney’s attack on a fellow student.
I had heard about President Obama’s use of drugs, and I haven’t read his book, so I’m pretty sure the media did report it. I guess the letter writer feels that they didn’t cover it thoroughly enough. But if you think about it, a self-admission in an old book is a lot less news-worthy than people coming forward, right now, with stories of a violent attack on a fellow student. Or possibly, old stories about drug experimentation just don’t pull in the viewers like accounts of a rich kid bullying someone because they are “different”.
Whatever the case, it is worth noting that whenever a Republican is displeased with what the media is reporting, they attack the media. It wasn’t Newt Gingrich’s fault when he had multiple affairs and asked one of his wives for an “open” marriage; it was the media’s fault for being so “liberal”. It wasn’t Herman Cain’s fault when women began accusing him of sexual harassment; it was that danged “liberal” media. It wasn’t Rush Limbaugh’s fault when he was arrested for illegally obtaining drugs; it was the liberal media’s fault. It wasn’t President Bush’s fault that many of his agency appointees owned stock in companies they were supposed to be regulating; it was the “liberal” media’s fault for reporting it. It wasn’t John Ensign’s, David Vitter’s, or Larry Craig’s fault – nope, that “liberal” media again. Isn’t it strange how the media is too liberal when they are reporting about Republican wrong-doing, but just fine when they are reporting Democratic scandals?
Wouldn’t it be nice if our Republican politicians who are so concerned with morality and personal responsibility would take responsibility for their own actions and stop blaming the media?