“Let’s keep pivoting around media bias, and not get distracted
with the vulgar personal shots. Call out lies and set the record
straight, but always keep the ball moving. No one ever won a game only
playing defense.”
Upon my return from an outstanding and productive trip to India and
Israel, I’ve been inundated with requests to respond to petty comments
made in the media the past few days, including one little fella’s
comment which decent people would find degrading. (I won’t bother
responding to it though, because it was made by he who reminds me of an
annoying little mosquito found zipped up in your tent; he can’t do any
harm, but buzzes around annoyingly until it’s time to give him the
proverbial slap.)
I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I’d like to share my thoughts on the never-ending issue of media bias.
When it comes to responding to the media, the standard warning is:
Don’t pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel because calling
out the media and holding them accountable is a risky endeavor. Too
often the first instinct is to ignore blatant media bias, crudeness, and
outright lies, and just hope the media instigator will grow up and
provide fairer coverage if you bite your tongue and not challenge the
false reporting of an openly hostile press. But I’ve never bought into
that. That’s waving the white flag. I just can’t do it because I have
too much respect for the importance of a free press as a cornerstone of
our democracy, and I have great respect for the men and women in uniform
who sacrifice so much to defend that First Amendment right. Media, with
freedom comes responsibility.
Friends, too often conservatives or Republicans in general come
across as having the fighting instinct of sheep. I don’t. I was raised
to believe that you don’t retreat when you’re on solid ground; so even
though it often seems like I’m armed with just a few stones and a sling
against a media giant, I’ll use those small resources to do what I can
to set the record straight. The truth is always worth fighting for.
Doing so isn’t whining or “playing the victim card”; it’s defending the
truth in fairness to those who seek accurate information. I’ll keep
attempting to correct misinformation and falsehoods about myself and my
record, and I will certainly never shy from defending others who are
unfairly attacked. This is in the name of justice.
But two decades in politics have taught me that when it comes to
picking battles, often it’s best to ignore the truly petty, ugly
personal media shots because engaging in a counter argument with
disreputable, intolerant people doesn’t vindicate me; it merely gives
those people the attention they seek. It wastes my time and it distracts
from what we should focus on.
We must always remember the big picture. The media has always been
biased. Conservatives – and especially conservative women – have always
been held to a different standard and attacked. This is nothing new.
Lincoln was mocked and ridiculed. Reagan was called an amiable dunce, a
dangerous warmonger, a rightwing fanatic, and the insult list goes on
and on. (But somehow Reagan still managed to win two major electoral
landslides, and this was in the days before the internet and talk radio
when all he had were three biased network news channels spinning reports
on him. If he could do so much with so little and still be such an
optimistic and positive leader, then surely we can succeed with the new
media tools at our disposal.)
Let’s just acknowledge that commonsense conservatives must be
stronger and work that much harder because of the obvious bias. And
let’s be encouraged with a sense of poetic justice by knowing that the
“mainstream” media isn’t mainstream anymore. That’s why I call it
“lamestream,” and the LSM is becoming quite irrelevant, as it is no
longer the sole gatekeeper of information.
Let’s keep pivoting around media bias, and not get distracted with
the vulgar personal shots. Even with limited time we can try to call out
lies and set the record straight, but always keep the ball moving. No
one ever won a game only playing defense.
I’ll keep correcting false reporting, and I’ll defend others to the
hilt; but I won’t spend any more precious, limited time responding to
personal, vulgar, sexist venom spewed my way.
Today, our country is faced with seemingly overwhelming challenges.
We have an unsustainable and immoral $14 trillion debt problem which,
combined with a self-inflicted energy crisis, could bring America to her
knees. The President of the United States is manipulating an energy
supply by refusing to develop our U.S. energy resources. Shouldn’t that
be the media’s focus today? Wouldn’t you like more information on the
deficit that for last month alone was the highest in our history at $223
billion? That single month’s deficit was more than the entire deficit
for the year 2007! We still have a 16% real unemployment rate. We had
2.9 million home foreclosures last year alone, with this year predicted
to be even worse. Americans who are struggling to make ends meet are now
hit by rising food and energy prices – exacerbated by the Fed’s
decision to drop that $600 billion money bomb known as QE2 on us. Gas
has already hit $4 per gallon in some areas. And let’s not forget that
our men and women in uniform are deployed far from home today. From
Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, to who-knows-where tomorrow under a clouded,
confused Obama Doctrine, our armed forces are in harm’s way, defending
our interests and protecting our freedoms.
Now these are the real concerns to Americans. These are times when real leadership is needed. We must never be distracted from these real concerns.
Petty comments from the small-minded are used to distract. Stay
focused, America. Don’t wave any white flag. Simply put, let’s spend our
precious time on causes that are worthy.
- Sarah Palin