ABC Strokes the Mighty One’s Ego

I have a confession to make…i always wanted to be a journalist. I actually went to school to learn the profession, sitting through hours of riveting classes like Bias 101 and 202 and 303; Republicans Bad, Democrats Good; and Fundamentals for the Party Mouthpiece. It was a swell time.

As a working journalist, I immediately recognized that for some of my peers it didn’t matter who was right or wrong, just as long as they managed to make one side look pitiful. To accomplish this it was particularly important to develop the innate sense of finding absolutely the worst person possible to represent the standard bearer of an argument, and in the case of the “conservative” argument, well, one could never find anyone even remotely worse than Sen. Arlen Specter (D, then R, now D -- Pennsylvania).

Needless to say I enjoyed journalism so much that after 5 years I scurried off to hide in the equally odious profession of public relations for a short spell before landing in an even more exciting and controversial career, health care (as a Doctor of Editorialness).

Given my experience, you can naturally conclude that I’m looking forward to June 24, when ABC spends the day examining health care from the bowels of the Obama administration’s point of view, about as much as I’m looking forward to a cell in Gitmo for my low-level domestic terrorism activities, like blogging and hanging out at Tea Parties.

This all coming when the president’s poll numbers have come down to earth and support for Obamacare seems to be coming unglued.

Should we really expect anything less from the Fourth (Branch of Government) Estate?

We (that is, those of us with at least half a brain…meaning those of us who aren’t liberals) know the litany. The media’s allure for Democrats, not withstanding this Democrat, has always been overwhelmingly obvious. Over the past 44 years, journalists have voted Democratic in national elections by vast margins that go far beyond the relative plurality of the general vote in most national elections (even the great Barack Hussein Obama, for instance, captured only 52.7% of the popular vote). The history of reportage itself is fraught with incredible bias against conservative candidates, perhaps none more recently infamous than admitted liberal Dan Rather’s “myopic zeal” to have CBS become the first news organization to make a false and derogatory report about former President George W. Bush’s National Guard service…on the eve of the 2004 election.

And media love for Obama (captured by Bernard Goldberg’s excellent book, “A Slobbering Love Affair,” really can’t be demonstrated any better than the recent bow of NBC’s Brian Williams. (Um, Brian…here’s a little secret: He’s not royalty; it’s hyperbolic to bow to an elected official, and at best such stupidity reveals the moronic sycophant you truly are.)

Of course, this isn’t the first time a network became the mouthpiece for an administration pushing national health care. NBC aired a two-hour commercial-free special in 1994, after accepting $3.5 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which had five fellows serving on then-First Lady Hillary Clinton’s secret health care task force. As NewsBusters’ Tim Graham points out, “this year, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation can he heard in the underwriting announcements on [the partially federal-funded] National Public Radio -- still plugging the need for health ‘reform.’”

ABC’s breech of trust with the American people is equally as disturbing. You need not look much further than three curious facts:

• A former ABC staffer runs Obama’s health communications department.
  
• ABC employees gave $160,000 to then-candidate Obama during the election, with additional money going into the coffers of now-White House Chief of Staff Rham Emanuel and his PAC.
  
• ABC refuses to accept any paid spots during its health care presentation, “Prescription for America,” from outside interests with viewpoints alternative to the national health care platform the president and the Democrats in Congress are trying to muzzle us with.
  

ABC, naturally, defends its plan Wednesday to interview both Obamas on “Good Morning America” and have lethargic anchor Charles Gibson broadcast the weakly-rated “World News” from the White House and then air a prime-time, hour-long townhall special from the Blue Room, with the president fielding questions from Gibson, Diane Sawyer, a panel of guests, and audience members chosen by ABC:

ABC News prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers -- of all political persuasions -- even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABC News is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue.

You can trust us, ABC says. We’ll be fair, ABC says. We wouldn’t let you down, would we? ABC says.

Besides, like Obama says himself, with the Fox News Channel around, he needs allies: “I've got one television station entirely devoted to attacking my administration….That's a pretty big megaphone. You'd be hard pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front.”

Awwwwww. It always comes down to who’s stroking the Turtle Tunnel President’s ego, and who’s not...doesn’t it?

What will ABC do next, change its name to OBAMATV and start airing a full line-up of programming to massage the president’s fragile psyche? Imagine the possibilities! Why, wouldn’t we all enjoy such great reality shows as “The Next Big Takeover” and “Obama Eye for the Conservative” and “Gardening Tips from the First Lady”?

I can hardly wait.

In the meantime, we have Wednesday’s GLORIOUS OFFERING, ALLAH AKHBAR! to the president and his plans for borrowing more than a trillion (despite what he may be saying about “found” money in the budget) for a train-wreck national health care program that will send the average American household’s share of the national debt careening from a staggering $547,000 toward an inevitable outcome. If it happens, no matter what form national health care takes, the end result will be health rationing, a lower standard of care, and the destruction of the American economy as we know it…with ABC profusely groveling at the feet of The One, lovingly helping the federal government make the biggest power grab of individual liberty in our history.

This snark is also posted at Smart Girl Nation.