The longest presidential campaign in U.S. history is now eleven days from completion, unless the lawyers take over after the polls close and keep the show running even longer. The television and radio broadcasters increasingly are taking sides without much embarrassment. Are we developing a system of openly partisan media as in Jeffersonian days? It would seem so. The masks are coming off. Maybe that will prove healthier in the long run. Once people realize the bias of the press and broadcast media they will be better on guard against it.
One example is the way malfeasance in the election process itself is handled. There is no question that ACORN is under criticism for fraudulent voter registration in over a dozen states nationwide. ACORN plainly aims to benefit the Democratic Party, though it is supported by the government. So brazen is ACORN that even Democratic elections officials, as in Nevada, have been incensed by the group's improprieties. (From my experience, most elections officials are honest and want to run an honest operation, regardless of their own affiliation.)
So, when CNN wants to show an example of election fraud, what do they do? They run a segment about the rare Republican who has been indicted. There was a time thirty years ago when CNN truly tried to present news objectively. Those days are gone.
Then there is the Sarah Palin treatment. It is preposterous that Gov. Palin and her husband should be hauled before a state personnel board in Alaska eleven days before a presidential election. But no one seems to protest in the media. Instead, they will be at the hearing with hundreds of cameras and reporters.
Enormously important issues like the coming crisis with Iran are going unremarked in the media during this campaign. That makes it particularly breathtaking to see the fourth estate wallowing in such trivia as Palin's clothing. Dan Henninger gets much of it in today's Wall Street Journal column.
