The Double Standard Is Alive And Well In The Media

Newsbusters posted an article yesterday that illustrates that media bias is not anything new.

The article reports:

It’s always big news when a former associate of a President goes on trial, right? Well actually no.

When Bill Clinton’s Whitewater business partners Jim and Susan McDougal and the former Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker were tried (and convicted) for conspiracy and fraud charges the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) evening news programs devoted (on average) just 36 seconds per night (March 3, 1996 – May 29, 1996) to the trial. This despite the fact that the then-sitting President offered video testimony during the court proceedings.   

In contrast, the trial of Donald Trump’s one-time campaign manager Paul Manafort – for charges in a tax fraud case that had nothing to do with President Trump or alleged Russian collusion –  averaged 2 minutes and 18 seconds per night (July 31 – August 21) on those same evening programs. This was at a rate almost 4x higher than network coverage of the 1996 trial. 

…In total ABC, CBS and NBC spent 51 minutes and 28 seconds in 87 days on the trial of Clinton’s business partners.

In contrast, ABC, CBS and NBC almost reached that total (50 minutes, 30 seconds) in just 22 days of coverage of the Manafort trial.

Let’s not forget the lack of reporting on President Obama’s close association with Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, and Bernadette Dorn.

The thing to remember in dealing with the 24/7 coverage of anything detrimental to President Trump is that the heyday of the power of the American press was Watergate–when they drove President Nixon from office. The would love to repeat that performance. For whatever reason, the mainstream press is unaware that attempting to drive a duly-elected President from power does not help the republic.

When It Hits The Fan, Who Do You Throw Under The Bus?

The investigation into the unlawful surveillance on the Trump campaign and transition team is beginning to uncover the things the deep state did to keep Donald Trump from becoming President and to hinder his presidency after he was elected. Other Clinton scandals have also surfaced—Uranium One, relief to Haiti, the Clinton Foundation and pay-to-play, etc. So what is the logical conclusion to all of this investigating?

Tuesday night I had the chance to hear a conservative speaker who belongs to a watchdog group speak about the deep state. At the end of his presentation, a person in the audience asked him if he thought anyone involved in the deep state efforts against Donald Trump would ever go to jail. He said he didn’t think so. The person then asked if there are no consequences for illegal deep state activity, how do we end such activity. The speaker then reminded us that the purpose of the deep state was to prevent Donald Trump from becoming President and to remove him from office if he did become President. The speaker stated that he felt that if those efforts failed, it would discourage those in the deep state from trying this again. I really did not like that answer. Frankly, I would like to see some people go to jail, but I am not sure I am being realistic.

The history of Special Prosecutors is that someone goes to jail. The person who goes to jail does not have to be someone directly involved in whatever initial crime was involved, but can be someone tangentially related to whatever is being investigated.

In Watergate, this is the tally:

  • H.R. Haldeman and John Erlichman (White House staff), resigned 30 April 1973, subsequently jailed
  • John Dean (White House legal counsel), sacked 30 April 1973, subsequently jailed
  • John Mitchell, Attorney-General and Chairman of the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP), jailed
  • Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy (ex-White House staff), planned the Watergate break-in, both jailed
  • Charles Colson, special counsel to the President, jailed
  • James McCord (Security Director of CREEP), jailed

 

In Whitewater, these are the convictions:

The Clintons were never charged with any crime. Fifteen other persons were convicted of more than 40 crimes, including Jim Guy Tucker, who was removed from office.

As you can see, Special Prosecutors tend to send people to jail. It will be interesting to see if things have changed.

So, if someone is to be thrown under the bus for spy gate, Uranium One gate, or the other scandals involving the Obama Administration and the Clintons, who will it be? It needs to be someone considered unlikely to turn state’s evidence—someone who will limit the damage to President Obama and Hillary Clinton. If the Clinton’s follow their past pattern, it will be someone who will be appreciative of financial support for their family magically appearing while they are in jail.

Stay tuned.