By Dan Foley
I was going through some of my favorite web sites just the other day and I came across an article the Heritage Foundation had up about Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. It claimed Dodd had been exposed by Bank of America personnel. They showed copies of a letter written by their company that wound up, word for word, as the exact bill he is carrying to bail out the banking industry.
Now I am sure you are saying to yourself, why is this worth writing about since all politicians are on the take? The fact is the only ones who have such allegations made against them in the mainstream media are the conservatives. Let’s look at some facts:
When Vice President Dick Cheney met with oil companies to discuss our nation’s energy policy, the media went crazy. They accused the vice president of allowing major oil companies to dictate the policy of our country. Now there has never been any proof that this happened or anything like it — for example a copy of a letter on a company’s letterhead stating what our policy should be. Yet that has not stopped the media from accusing Cheney and bringing his meeting up every chance they can.
Now we have a former presidential candidate, a stalwart of modern American liberalism, who has actually allowed one of the largest banking companies in the world to write this legislation. That company, and the entire banking industry, may profit billions from this bill. Especially lucrative would be the part of the bill that allows these companies to buy bad loans from other companies then sell them to the government. Such a provision in the law would help save both Bank of America and Countrywide, the company it is trying to buy.
Why isn’t this news? Why hasn’t this been all over the media just like Vice President Cheney’s meeting with oil companies? Isn’t this just as newsworthy? Isn’t the mortgage crisis affecting everyday Americans? If a Republican senator who had just run for president had been caught doing this, it would be the lead story on every news source in the United States, and they would be calling on Sen. John McCain to make a comment about his fellow Republican senator.
Why isn’t that happening today? The answer is simple: There is clearly a bias, a highly selective “gotcha” attitude from today’s media that borders on hatred for conservative Republicans. This is only the most recent smoking gun that shows the bias of the national media — the very people we depend on to get our “facts.” The problem is they have an agenda, and it goes well beyond, and may not even be consistent with, the facts.
Trying to censor different points of view
Now many of these same people, and especially their left-wing political allies, want to do away with conservative talk radio. Could that be because talk radio broadcasts news stories that the mainstream media covers up? Could it be because the mainstream media are losing market share and don’t like competition? Or is it because the alternative media exposes them for what they are doing? It is obvious to anyone who pays attention at all that the so-called equal-time provision isn’t needed — that the left wing in
The media have been called the fourth branch of government, a title that carries with it great responsibility, the responsibility — indeed the duty — to bring us the news in a way that truly is fair, balanced and factual. Of course they can editorialize all they want, and their talk shows are quite appropriately filled with highly opinionated talking heads, just like talk radio. But at 6 and 10 — or at 6:30 p.m. Eastern for the network news programs — bring us the real news. And do the same on the front page of the newspapers. That is what is expected of you. That is the responsibility you have to the American people.
I will close by posing these questions: Who is watching the mainstream media and their left wing political allies? They say they are tasked with watching the government for us, but who is watching them?
Foley is the outgoing minority whip in the New Mexico House of Representatives and a Republican from