Posted by
Mark MacBayne on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 8:27:48 PM
As if I wasn't already convinced of bias in the media, last Sunday Lola Ogunnaike said on CNN's "Reliable Sources" program, "And that's what she (Palin) is going to have to guard against. I mean, McCain has been really good about painting Obama as this lightweight, using the word "celebrity" as a pejorative. They don't want to have a boomerang effect. They don't want that to come back on Sarah Palin, and people say, yes, she looks good in a bikini clutching an AK-47, but is she equipped to run the country?"
There are two big, I mean really big, problems with this comment. First, the photo of Gov. Palin in a bikini holding a rifle to which Ogunnaike refers, is a fake. In fact, CNN reported as early as Sep. 2, the photo, circulated after Palin's speech at the Republican convention, was photoshopped and actually depicted a young woman from Athens, GA. Second, the girl in the photo was not "clutching" an AK-47, but a Crossman BB gun. To make reference to a picture that everyone knew was fake, without commenting on the veracity of the picture is an inexcusable lapse in journalistic integrity. Then Ogunnaike insults our intelligence by calling the rifle in the picture an AK-47. What is worse is that no one else on the show pointed out the picture was debunked five days prior. I thought Howard Kurtz, host of "Reliable Sources", was supposed to train a critical eye on the media?
I have lingering questions about Gov. Palin as a presidential running mate, but this type of comment is an example of the worst sort of intellectual dishonesty and liberal bias in the media. The country will learn more about Gov. Palin over the coming weeks and ultimately will decide if they like her as a vice-presidential candidate or not, but let that judgement at least be based on reality.