Media Insiders Shaft Biden, Richardson, Dodd, Kucinich and America

Immediately after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto the front page story in the Washington Post about Pakistan and the presidential campaign did not even mention Joe Biden, the only candidate who seriously distinguished himself on the Pakistan crisis.

Upon reflection, the Washington Post editorial page, which has supported Bush on the Iraq war as Pravda supported Leonid Brezhnev, followed up with a lead editorial on candidates and Pakistan, which, incredibly, did not even acknowledge of Joe Biden.

Here is why the major media, including the daily newspapers, has lost such credibility with the American people and in the case of insider print media, so many subscribers who moved their business to internet sites, including this one.

It is not only Biden. The insider political media is now embedded with, and morphed into, the insider political classes to the point where they part of the same beast. The insider political reporters have moved beyond the courtiers that Stephen Colbert so brilliantly satired two White House correspondents dinners ago; and have fully joined the home team of the insider Washington establishment.

This class decided a year ago which candidate was inevitable, and which candidates were exiled into the insider media gulag, destined to disappear as though they never existed.

By any standard, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd stand at the top of the list in presidential qualification, stature, substance and a lifetime of depth and achievement. A reasonable person might conclude that each of these three, has equal or greater qualification to be president as any of the three leading Democrats.

Yet from the beginning, they were banished by the insider classes like the Soviets banished dissidents in the Gulag, like Pinochet banished the disappeared in the darker days of Chile.

Biden, Richardson and Dodd simply did not exist in the eyes of the annointing class, a group of political insiders with an extremely narrow life experience beyond their life as political insiders with each other.

Biden, Richardson and Dodd are the political detainees of our time, the political prisoners of our democracy, treated with contempt and scorn by the elites of the political press who, by doing so, are showing their contempt and scorn for the standards of professionalism in journalism, and their contempt and scorn for the very notion of the role a free press should play in our democracy.

Who do these people think they are, that during most of the presidential debates, the three candidates with such vast experience had to virtually ask permission, to sandwich a few seconds of their views, into the most boring, shallow, vapid, pointless debates that any serious democracy could possibly conduct at such a momentous time in our history?

Regarding the last Iowa Democratic debate, who do these sainted Iowa debate organizers think they are, that Alan Keyes gets prime participation in the Republican debate while Dennis Kucinich is banned from the Democratic debate?

I cannot even show minimal professional respect; only an idiot would give Keyes prime exposure while treating Kucinich like a Guantanamo detainee; and the idiots that made this decision have far too much power, in Iowa and nationally, for the health of our democracy.

The internet will continue to mature; grow and flourish over time; some reporters and some television will rejoin the real America and prosper while major newspapers such as the Washington Post will careen towards obsolescence and ultimate extinction unless they dramatically get with the program of true democracy and serious standards of journalism.

In the meantime, the reason the so-called pundits and media elites are almost always wrong is they are so divorced from the real America and so embedded into their provincial elitism.

The only thing that is truly inevitable is that the courtier classes and incestuous bonds between media insiders and political insiders are destined to fade further into the mist, until they are left with large galas of insider self-congratulation, and no remaining customers as the real America takes its business elsewhere.

Comments

[rwoodsathome]

You mean the Biden that won't stop talking?

Or the Richardson that wants to disolve the Pakistani government and replace it with a 'democratic union' including Taliban and Al Queda?

Or the Dodd that hold his senate seat due to his family name?

Of the three, Biden is the most serious. But he just can't stop talking long enough to be effective.

[TheDoomed]

Dodd is the ONLY one who took time out from campaigning to actually do his fucking job. Hilary, Obama and Biden could learn a lot from what Dodd just did. Now that is presidential timber right there. Actually risking the job to do what is right takes more balls than a poolroom.

[Jillianw]

As someone that was literally waiting for Biden to announce his candidacy, I cannot tell you how frustrating this has been.

Even today, C-span is playing campaign events all day. Biden and Dodd were both left out of their lineup. They even neglected to play their commercials, yet played everyone elses.

And what are we going to get in return? A candidate that may not be able to beat the GOP in November. While the msm has been busy playing up the story of the first woman vs the first African-American, Newsmax has an article that talks about how if Hillary wins the nomination, a Rep will be sure to win in 'o8.

Thank you Mr. Budowsky for another insightful op-ed.

[2LaneIA]

When Chris Matthews started bleating about how the death of Benazir Bhutto helps Hillary Clinton because of her self-characterized foreign policy "experience," I thought it well-illustrated how shallow and thoughtless TV news has become. What experience would that be exactly? People like Matthews just repeat the word as if it is fact, but the facts are that Clinton's foreign policy experience is no greater that Barack Obama, and perhaps John Edwards. Obama can at least claim some time spent learning from Biden on the Foreign Relations Committee.

It is an absolute outrage that that Biden has been talking about Pakistan for years, was the only candidate to talk about it at the debates, and still the media is focused on Clinton. I am an Iowa Democrat who is going to caucus for Joe Biden.

[liveandlearn]

this is where one sees the advantages of being part of moveon.org. we had whole meetings covering the various candidates' views on particularly well focused topics. i came out of that liking bill richardson, but events encouraged me to choose dennis kucinich. my fallback candidate is edwards, and after that, any of the democrats.

let more groups organize candidate interactive time to show where each stands on a variety of issues. we all win.

now to persuade the democratic party to accept the results of the michigan and florida primary elections.

[RepublicanBrain]

Oh, there's a good reason why Biden was ignored. Speak to someone who knows his policy and lives in Delaware. Biden has experience; he sure does. But experience doesn't mean jack if you do the wrong thing. His foreign policy experience is nothing to be shameful about. I actually like his idea for Iraq (needs tweaking, but that's what tacticians are for), and his Iranian idea is a little iffy, but doable.

It's his domestic policy that's the problem. Many of these are just leftist dogma with no basis in reality. Take his "Empowering Women" section. It makes the claims that only "dads" are "deadbeats", wants to give money only to girls, denies "equal protection" when it's already a constitutional amendment. He also assumes a male perpetrator and a female victim in domestic violence, despite mountains of evidence that domestic violence is almost always initiated by women. Not only does it lie in what he says, it also lies in what he doesn't say. He says nothing about violation of court custody orders, refuses to acknowledge that prostate cancer is more prevalent then breast, yet breast gets more funding.

It is reared again in his "Climate Change" section. Not only is it just leftist dogma, but it's infeasible and expensive, passing the expenses right along to the consumer. How much do you think building alternative-fuel pumps cost. It's not cheap, and when costs are up, prices go up.

For a third example, look at his idea on finances. Increasing minimum wage hurts minimum wage owners because it drives up prices (most of the people who hire minimum wage employees are places such as grocery stores, restaurants, and other things that sell basic necessities). This is one of those things that just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

In short, Biden may have professional experience in foreign policy. But it's at the sacrifice of a disastrous domestic policy. And ultimately, we as Americans live in America.

[mjkblog]

Well, thank you thank you thank you, but I really gotta ask:

Where the hell have you been for almost a year!

This is not a new problem with the media and this presidential campaign. Did it actually take the tragic death of a remarkable woman to inspire you to comment on the inadequacy, arrogance, and ineptitude of the traditional media and its coverage of the Democratic presidential candidates? Or is it that you've only just now noticed the inequity?

Astonishing...

[peonyharp]

I pray you're right about the encouraging trend.

I've coped with the delusional Very Serious Traditional Media (thanks, Bob C.!), by two simple actions: shutting off the tv and no longer buying newspapers.

Instead of getting disheartened by the ignorant treatment my candidate receives from the MSM, I've become more determined to support him by whatever means I can.

Kucinich '08

[gateley]

We supporters of Biden, Dodd, Richardson and Kucinich have been outraged and frustrated by any acknowledgment by the media. Biden, especially, has long been warning us about the situation in Pakistan. One would think he would be the "go to" person after Ms. Bhutto's assassination. Not only is the coverage unjust, it's unfair to the American people. I never would have believed that our media would become so manipulative. Apparently I was naive.

[OSUMercutio]

Nice article but you forgot about Gravel!!

[LizM]

Wow. I'm speechless...for now...!

[caywen]

Hell yes! I'm a huge supporter of Biden, but the media has been absolutely unfair to all the candidates in the second tier. It was a slap in the face to have Joe practically ignored on the Pakistan issue. I've lost my faith in all the major rags, and I hope that sits like the Huffington Post will continue growing and become more the source of political decision-making than bought-and-paid-for newspapers.

Oh, and BIDEN '08!!

[realitytrumpsbull]

Well, maybe if the talking heads spent less
time propagandizing and trying to shape public
opinion and instead spent more time trying to
audit same, there wouldn't be such a problem
trying to hold an uncouched public debate.
Time limits: Put a 10-second warning bell,
then a LOUD buzzer. Talk for 2 minutes, then
yield, puff, puff, give, etc. Otherwise these
people will talk the polar bears right into
the ocean...the GOP debate was even more of
a circus, the little country song video, anything to take up airtime, I guess, and bypass
the more difficult questions...

[AnotherunhappyDemocrat]

I couldn't agree more. I have a very long list of things that irritate me about our "democracy", including how the voters of two small and insignificant states are allowed to decide the nominees. (if anyone from Iowa and/or New Hampshire takes offense, just remember that your famed "retail politics" gave us John Kerry back in 2004 - I have not forgiven you yet!) I think I loathe our establishment media even more. What a bunch of narcissists! I can't wait until the Internet drives them to irrelevance. Seriously, Biden, Richardson and Dodd are as qualified if not more than the big three Democratic candidates. We would be in such better shape if our media "allowed" more people to know this.