Leave It To The AP To Find A Worm In The Apple

The Associated Press is calling President Bush’s choice of Ms. Miers as a nominee to the Supreme Court a calculated risk. Their reasoning is the press [aka] media doesn’t know anything about her. The constitution requires the advice and consent of congress when appointing judges to federal courts. Nowhere in the constitution does it require the advice or consent of the media or the public. The media who consider themselves the fourth branch of government have yet to discover exactly how to exorcize their fourth estate powers. There was a time when it was essential for a President to have Print News approval. Cable TV, Talk Radio, and the Internet have changed all that. Print News is giving way to their competition. TV Network News is giving way to Cable News. The internet is kicking all their butts .

I’m convinced we’ll discover more factual information regarding Ms. Miers from the internet than from the Senate Hearing. By the time the Sunday Pundits have their say we the public will be well enough informed we’ll know which biased opinions on what Sunday shows are worthy of paying attention to. Personally, I’m a Fox Cable News fan, at times even Fox can get a little thickheaded. For those unfamiliar with Fox, it’s the conservative cable channel with an equal number of liberal hosts. Fair and balanced is their motto.

If I may be allowed. The internet has become the conscience of the new information age. Many like me have chosen to challenge the mainstream media. We aren’t graduates of any prestigious schools of journalism. Therefore, our bias is from the heart not something we were taught by a liberal zealot professor. When one has conviction and is willing to step forward and express opinions it opens the minds of many undecided readers. There’s an inherent distrust of the national media. The internet is filling that gap of mistrust. As columnists, we aren’t telling the public what to think, we’re telling the public what we think. The majority of our readers make up their own minds based on what they read from a verity of published articles. I for one am not out to change any minds, simply to open them with alternative views. The only way to know a quarter isn’t counterfeit is to see both sides.

I’m going out on a limb and predict the Republicans will have an overwhelming victory in the 2006 national election. How can I be so positive, the mood of the country is changing? Voters no longer want to be told what to think. They want to know what the candidates think. They want to hear it from the candidates themselves not the candidate’s opponent. I predict any candidate who doesn’t have a position on the important issues and relies on the politics of personal destruction will find themselves on a dusty road headed home in November. Since the 2004 election, we’ve heard an endless barrage of accusation by Democrats accusing the Bush Administration of nothing less than total failure. When the facts are known, the Bush administration has preformed rather well under the circumstances. The public knows this and will vote accordingly.

The National Media is in crises. They know they must change to match the times they don’t know how. They won’t admit their out of touch with the public. Cable News, Talk Radio, and the Internet are all kicking their butts. The New York Times is a prime example, scarily a week goes by one of their reporters doesn’t make a fool out of themselves. They admit their wrong but don’t recognize why their wrong. They have an addiction to a liberal and philology won’t let go, like a drug addiction they fear the cure.




We’ll watch in the coming weeks to see what wrath the media brings down on nominee Harriet Miers. I for one will be counting the retractions by the media.

e-mail ken-hughes@comcast.net