Gyroscope

A newsletter for those unmoved by spin.
No. 48, Sept. 20, 2004

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George Bush must be the luckiest man on earth. Who else could skate through so many disasters, wind up twice with ineffective opponents and have so many other circumstances break in a favorable way for him?

The allegedly forged documents put out by CBS is only the latest and most amazing in this run of luck for Bush. I have no idea what the ultimate truth is here, but now, because of how this has broken, Bush has, for the second time, received immunity for his National Guard non-service. It won't matter now that the New York Times published this morning a front page article that pretty much lays out all the proof you need that Bush flaked out on his commitments, got special treatment and didn't pay the price. They even manage to come near to stating that he didn't deserve his honorable discharge. A tremendously damning charge, but it will just vanish into air now - while many still think there is some question about Kerry.

So this makes is crystal clear just where the 'bias' in the media lies. The howls of outrage over the CBS documents, the calls for Dan's resignation, the preaching about the need to always check before running with a story, the demands for the highest standards of proof and for journalism to maintain the highest standards of proof - oh! it was so ennobling to hear these calls for us to sacrifice at the altar of truth. How inspiring to be summoned to live our lives on such a high plane of existence!

Except of course, that this is the exact same media that for weeks ran with accusations about John Kerry's military service that didn't stand up to ten minutes of analysis. This is the same media that never looked into the motives of those accusing him. This is the same media that still jabs at Al Gore, falsely claiming that he claimed to have invented the Internet.

And it is the same media, that covers its bias by false posturing of "balance." Twice in this election a national magazine has pretended to "balance" on the story of military service by running cover photos of Kerry in civilian clothes and Bush in uniform - when the truth would demand the reverse. This is the media that writes 'tut-tutting' stories about "the slime campaign" as if both sides were doing roughly equal amounts of it.

But that is just the wealthy media looking out for one of their own. Predictable to all. What passes understanding is the total inability of two Democrat candidates to understand and deal with the slime. Kerry can't possibly been surprised by the approach Bush has taken, yet he acts like a deer in the headlights and cannot organize an effective response. Gore might claim surprise, though Ann Richards could have told him what to expect. Kerry saw what happened to Gore, and has fallen victim to the same non-response.

We have a President who all his life has had others to get him out of trouble. We have a president who lied us into war, mismanaged the war, led us into quagmire and a full on guerilla war against our troops, while having no plan for getting us out. On September 12th, 2001 the entire world supported us, extended their sympathy to us. The French said "We are all Americans," the Iranians held moments of silence for us. And in three years, the fool has thrown it all away and reduced our standing in the world among many to less than the evil terrorists who started this.

Why in god's name half the population still supports Bush, well, maybe its because so few read or see anything other than TV. But why a professional politician, with access to the entire progressive establishment, as much money as he needs, and a Democratic party united as it seldom has been, yet is still unable to penetrate the bubble of happy stupidity that is our semi-elected leader. This I will never understand.