Shaddup, Politicians: A Small Rant

Did you hear about how Newt laid into the media at the debate on Thursday?  No?  Beuller?

Go here and read about it.

I'll wait...

Gingrich's lambasting of the media at the debate ticked me off.  Cheesed my crackers.  Newt's ex-wife made some interesting observations about him with regard to his behavior during their breakup and divorce(he was cheating on that wife with the woman who is the current wife, for those keeping score).   Such behavior speaks to the kind of man he is, to the kind of POTUS he would be if elected, I think.  Such behavior is not irrelevant, although perhaps not appropriate fodder for the purpose of the debate.  Still, the subject was brought up, the least that Newt can do is answer the question, right. Wrong.  At a televised presidential debate sponsored by the media,  prospective presidential candidate Newt goes on an attack...of the media.  

How convenient.  How original. Everyone clapped and whooped and hollered, just like the bystanders do when a bully gets in a good shot.  It was textbook. 

Everyone loves to pick on the media, politicians in particular.  Blame the media and people want to climb right on that bandwagon.  It's very easy to place blame on some shadowy, generic, entity like "the" media. I'm surprised that the entire worldwide economic crisis hasn't been placed at the feet of ABC.  To hear some talk, you would think that the media was also responsible for the sinking of the Titanic.  Did you ever notice that the only time anyone whines about the media is when the media is asking questions they don't want to answer?   Newt certainly wasn't whining when he was being touted as a new frontrunner, was he?  No, he was lovin' that center stage!  (who wouldn't, at least for a little while?) 

I would love it if the next candidate who whines about the media picking on him was immediately cut off.  No interviews requested.  No newspaper stories. No pictures appearing on the internet. No invitations to appear at debates. A presidential candidate who couldn't get the media to show up for a sound byte wouldn't be much of a candidate.

And don't give me any more crap about a "liberal media".  It's tiresome.  We as a country have exactly the media we want, warts and all.  Think about it.  There would be no Fox News if the media were "liberal"; if nobody was watching Fox News, it wouldn't exist.  Whining about the "liberal" media is how Rupert Murdoch and others get people to change the channel; ennui is what keeps them from changing the channel. 

Okay.  That's out of my system. 




*For the record, I am not affiliated with any particular political party.  They all get on my nerves.