Guest guest Posted June 7, 2001 Report Share Posted June 7, 2001 <center>Liberal Bullies</center> The national media exploited the fact that 19-year-old Jenna Bush did what many college kids do: she used a false ID to order a drink. However, on October 1, 1995 CNN buried a similar story about then Vice President Al Gore s 16-year-old daughter, Sarah, near the end of their News Briefs section. The story, entitled "Vice president's daughter caught drinking," only consists of three sentences, has no picture, and is the fifth of the seven news briefs: <blockquote> <blockquote> President Al Gore's 16-year-old daughter has been given a citation for underage possession of alcohol. A spokeswoman for the Gore family confirmed Saturday that Sarah Gore was cited for holding a beer outside a Washington area party Friday night. The maximum penalty she could receive is a $500 fine. (CNN News Briefs, October 1, 1995) </blockquote></blockquote> It seems Sarah's story was largely ignored by the national media that now finds Jenna's story so newsworthy. Jenna's story received timely coverage in the New York Times, and substantial coverage The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Los Angles Times. According to Howard Kurtz's June 1 article: "Jenna Bush Gets No Pass From Press This Time" that appears in the Washington Post: "The Los Angeles Times ran a substantial inside-the-paper piece, while The Washington Post put the story on its Style section front. USA Today ran a front-page picture of the twins, referring to a story inside." (Kurtz C01) The Jenna Bush story was covered by ABC and NBC news as well as the morning and Sunday broadcast and cable news shows. When it was the daughter of a Democratic Vice President, there was no attempt imply that she was corrupted by bad genetics or a bad upbringing. The same cannot be said for the Jenna and her Republican father George W. Bush. For example, ABC's national, hourly, news radio broadcast milked the story for two days, and on the second day an "expert" was telling us that Jenna Bush has a genetic drinking problem. However, they did not mention that there is no evidence that Jenna has an alcoholic problem, no evidence that she has a defective gene, and no evidence that George W. Bush is an alcoholic. Evan Thomas of Newsweek is now trying to dig up more dirt on the twins, though Newsweek ignored the stories about the Gore children. According Stephen Robinson's article "America's elite closeranks over Gore son's suspension" which appears in the March 22, 1996 issue of England s Electronic Telegraph, "THE crusading American media and Washington's political elite have closed ranks to protect Vice-President Al Gore from embarrassment over his teenage son's indiscretion." Robinson explains: <blockquote> <blockquote> Albert Gore, 13, was last month suspended from St Albans, the capital's most exclusive private school, after teachers discovered him, another boy and two girls drinking alcohol at a school dance. The White House and the school refuse to provide any details of the incident but young Albert was also found to be smoking a herbal substance, described by sources as either marijuana or oregano seeds. The other boy was expelled from the £10,000-a-year school, while Albert was let off with a suspension and severe reprimand. (Robinson) </blockquote></blockquote> Why was this story hidden from the American public? According to Robinson: <blockquote> <blockquote> both of Washington's daily newspapers decided not to publish the news. The Washington Post had researched the story and was preparing to publish when a high-level decision was taken to protect the privacy of the Gores, who have a clean-cut image in the American media. (Robinson) </blockquote></blockquote> In addition, Robinson cites the Weekly Standard which claims that "senior Clinton administration official" requested silence from the media and got it (Robinson). Furthermore, in their June 1, 2001 Cyber Alert, the Media Research Center (MRC) points out that the same Networks that pounced on Jenna Bush "ignored the speeding and reckless driving citations issued to Albert Gore III for going 97 mph in a 55 mph zone" (MRC). The MRC points out: <blockquote> <blockquote> The network fascination with the initial investigation of Jenna Bush for using another person's ID to buy an alcoholic drink at an Austin restaurant Tuesday night contrasts with how the networks last summer ignored the speeding and reckless driving citations issued to Albert Gore III for going 97 mph in a 55 mph zone. While Gore was 17 at the time of his offense on an August weekend before the Democratic convention, and so still a minor, and Bush's daughters are now 19, the media-applied standard has been that offspring are only off-limits until they make the police blotter. (MRC) </blockquote></blockquote> The MRC also points out that those papers that did report the story, gave it minimal coverage until after the Democratic convention in which Gore was portraying himself as a family man: <blockquote> <blockquote> the Washington Post and New York Times held themselves to one edited AP dispatch on the incident a week after it occurred. The Washington Post reported in full on page A6 on Sunday, August 20, three days after the Democratic convention. (MRC) </blockquote></blockquote> Many Americans do not realize that the mainstream media is dominated by liberal activists who consistently show a clear double standard in their stories about Democrats and Republicans. Liberal news outlets engaged in self-flagellation for invading Bill Clinton s private life when they had to cover the fact that 52-year-old Democratic President broke the law when he lied in a sexual harassment suite and then again when he lied to a grand jury. These same news outlets now argue that it is public news when a 19-year-old, college kid, who happens to be the daughter of a Republican President, tries to get some booze with a fake ID, or actually imbibes. What keeps the Democrats powerful are the media, and what keeps the media powerful is their credibility. I believe the liberal media is extremely vulnerable now: Americans hate to see girls being bullied around. For example, when Rick Lazio simply walked over to Hillary and asked her to shake his hand on campaign finance reform during the first debate, the liberal media were able to spin it as if Lazio were actually bullying around a helpless girl. In the case of the Bush Twins, the liberal media is actually bullying around two teenage girls. If the public can be convinced that these news outlets are doing this for partisan political purposes, their credibility and, therefore their power, will be extremely undermined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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