In the traditional media it'll be open season on Dems (especially progressives) till we say we're mad as hell and we're not gonna take it anymore

This insane CNN "poll" has John Aravosis seeing red.

"The media never dares to question the integrity, the sanity, the patriotism of Republicans. God forbid. Hell, if you're the NYT, you literally pull stories that might make voters not like Republicans as much. But if you're a Democrat, the NYT, CNN, and the AP have no such problem sliming our politicians and our party. . . .

[referring to an AP story by reporter Nina Pickler headlined "Conservatives say Obama lacks patriotism"] "How fucking dare you? Lack patriotism? What is this, the McCarthy era? AP is now willing to write any crap, so long as it's a Republican saying it about a Democrat? AP knows damn well that Obama doesn't hate America. This isn't a he-said-she-said. It's a case where AP is genuflecting to the Republicans and regurgitating their crap in a way Pickler and her fellow reporters wouldn't dare do if the victim were Republican. Has Pickler ever written a story about John McCain being insane? Being senile? Somehow I doubt it. . . .

"It's high time we declared war on the media and made it clear that this year if they decide to give coverage to the Republicans' swift-boating lies, then they are going to pay a huge price."

--John Aravosis on AMERICAblog


I hadn't heard the news Howie passed on earlier about CBS affiliate WHNT in Huntsville, Alabama, which services the northern part of the state, pulling the plug on last night's 60 Minutes report on the Republican frame job that, incredibly, put former Gov. Don Siegelman in prison (a story Noah wrote about for DWT in December).

Of course CBS itself had pretty much pulled the plug on the story, literally pulling the story at the last minute when it was originally scheduled to run some weeks ago and then dumping it into the ratings black hole of last night's Oscar show. Let's play another round of that old favorite game, If the Shoe Was on the Other Foot. Let's say there was strong evidence to indicate that a Republican former--and likely future--governor had been similarly railroaded by a cabal of Democrats, reaching into the highest reaches of government. Would that story be blacked out by the traditional media?

(My goodness, when one thinks of the rampant criminal behavior that has been standard operating pracice--"all in a day's work"--these seven years of the Bush regime . . . )

Which brings me to my subject of the moment: the media. As you may have noticed above, over at AMERICAblog, John Aravosis is venting a storm of righteous outrage over fresh reminders that the traditional media operate by a political double standard as a matter of policy: You can say anything about a Democrat, especially a progressive one, whereas you don't dare say anything hurtful about a Republican, especially an extremely conservative one--the more conservative, the more daintily the delicate soul must be handled.

This isn't news, of course. It's an all-too-familiar story. But with election season underway, we can't just stand by. Read the whole of John's rant, and see if it doesn't work you up into your own Network moment. I think John's conclusion is worth repeating:

"It's high time we declared war on the media and made it clear that this year if they decide to give coverage to the Republicans' swift-boating lies, then they are going to pay a huge price."

Now it will be interesting to see, for example, what kind of price WHNT pays for censoring the 60 Minutes report on the Siegelman frame-up, for which the station was at the very least an enthusiastic cheerleader. I'll bet the FCC has already scheduled hearings. (Ha ha.)

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UPDATE: DO SOMETHING

Jane's got an automated tool you can use over at FDL to write to local newspapers that serve your zip code about smearing Democratic candidates the way AP and CNN did.