Jon Stewart points out the hypocrisy of the mainstream media. They even joke about the fact that they studiously ignore Ron Paul.
What I don’t understand is how the media can not take Ron Paul seriously, when they seem to be able to take people like Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and even Sarah Palin seriously. It boggles my imagination.
More Jon Stewart goodness about the Ames Iowa Straw Poll. Also definitely worth a read is Andy Borowitz’s post “S&P Downgrades Iowa’s IQ“.
UPDATE: The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism ranked the presidential candidates in terms of how much coverage they are receiving from the media. Sure enough, Ron Paul ranked tenth — far below even non-candidates Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, or floundering candidate Newt Gingrich. The Republican candidate who received the most media coverage was Mitt Romney, who came in behind Paul in the Ames Straw Poll. Even Tim Pawlenty, who dropped out of the race because it was going so poorly, received almost twice as much attention from the media as Paul.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m not a Paul supporter — but it seems really strange to me that he could come in second in the straw poll, receiving within 1% as many votes as the winner, and still the media pretty much ignores him.
UPDATE 2: The Economist has an excellent article about how the media manufactures irrelevance for Ron Paul, while giving more attention to people like Michele Bachmann than they ever deserve.
8 Comments
Answer: Ron Paul is not a corporate shill. And the media DOES take him seriously; that’s why he’s marginalized.
How could it possibly “boggle your mind”? I suspect you haven’t watched “Inside Job”. The media no longer exists. It is being paid to say what Rove/Mudoch/Ailes want it to say. Fair and balanced no longer exist.
The only reason we have an AA- rating is that S&P was paid to downgrade it. Republicans have no money. It is the corporations behind the Republicans paying S&P. S&P and Moodys no longer have credibility. “Not meant to be factual”
I either heard this on NPR yesterday, or read it somewhere. So, sorry, no link.
The analyst argued that the reason Ron Paul gets ignored has a lot to do with what happen in the last Presidential cycle. Paul can generate lots of money, and his supporters are enthusiastic. He looked like a serious contender, and he could dominate small events (like this straw poll) because his supporters will show up. What he didn’t do last time around is gain any traction outside of that small, enthusiastic group of people.
So, this analyst asserted, Paul will be ignored, despite the internet money bombs and vocal supporters, because “we’ve seen this before” and Paul lost.
I’m not saying that that is what’s going on, or that I think it’s what should go on. But it is another explanation to through into the mix for everyone’s consideration.
I agree with Thought Dancer, along with the other point being that even if Paul won the Republican primary, he would be absolutely trounced in the general election. He would be completely out of touch with the Republican base.
But it was ridiculous during the last primaries when Paul continually came in 3rd, and Rudy was considered a serious candidate while coming in 4th and 5th.
By the “has no chance” and “we’ve seen this before” arguments, the media should be completely ignoring the entire Republican primary this time around.
We could only be so lucky
Rick Perry scares me.
Also not mentioned here is Paul’s lack of a good soundbyte. Perry, Palin and Bachmann have all said either stupid or inflammatory things, and loudly. Bachmann has morons in her campaign that can’t get Elvis’s birthday vs. deathday straight, which makes for good late night fodder. Paul doesn’t have “crazy eyes”, “good hair”, or “folksy language”.