The Twilight of the Shills
Read this important post by Thomas Lifson at The American Thinker. He is making the point that Big Media (i.e., the New York Times, Associated Press, NBC, CBS, ABC, NPR, et al.) are watching their influence wane in a big way. They are sacrificing their credibility for the sake of propping up a Presidential candidate whose reason to run is shockingly slight.

The establishment press is coming across as every bit as pompous and conniving as the man who married two centi-millionaire heiresses.

They are, in fact, destroying themselves. Their industry is in serious trouble. Circulation scandals have hit major newspaper publishers, while the scandal-free press can take little comfort in their declining readership. Network TV news is a shadow of its former self, and its future is very limited. CNN's monopoly is shattered, and it boasts a poor fraction of the viewership of Fox News, the only cable news outlet fully covering Kerrygate with the same seriousness accorded Bush's National Guard service questions.

What's prompting such observations this time is the Big Media embargo on John Kerry's oft-repeated tale of his holiday in Cambodia ---and the fact that he is lying about it, as well as other aspects of his Viet Nam experience that he has made absolutely central to his candidacy. The blogosphere is reporting on it, but not the major dailies or turds like Katie Couric and Dan Rather. And why is that? As Newsweek's Evan Thomas remarked last week on Inside Washington (a PBS program in the Austin market):

"The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. And I think they're going to portray Kerry and Edwards -- I'm talking about the establishment media, not Fox, but -- they're going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic and all, there's going to be this glow about them that some, is going to be worth, collectively, the two of them, that's going to be worth maybe 15 points."

Whenever I visit a Leftist blogsite, I can scarcely believe that I am watching the same programs and reading the same papers as them when they complain --- without a hint of doubt--- that Big Media is in the tank ---for George W. Bush! I mean, you gotta be fucking kidding me! With horseshit like CNN's virtual rechristening as the Abu Ghraib Newtork and the constant stream of chickenshit from reporters like John Roberts and Terry Moran who want the President to apologize or feel bad about this or that and the outrageous apotheosizing of such craphounds as Richard Clarke and Joe Wilson, is it possible that the Bush-hating Left can believe that Big Media isn't on their side?

As I say, I am very anxious about this election because I know that one of the candidates is going to kill motherfuckers before they can kill us ---and the other is going to get down on his knees and service Jacques Chiraq and make nice with Arafat and Kim and the mullahs of Iran and anyone else he can find to appease.

I say it without shame: whatever it takes to ensure that John Kerry is defeated is just jake with me. If it means tearing him down over the details of his combat experience from 35 years ago, fine.

As Hugh Hewitt wonders, what will George Stephanopoulos be asking Kerry tomorrow morning on This Week? Is he going to pull his punches and be the fucking Democratic shill I know he is? Or will he ask Kerry to explain why he is lying about Cambodia? If he can't find the courage to ask the question, then to hell with him.

CORRECTION: Inside Washington is not on Austin's PBS channel (KLRU-TV). I was getting it confused with Gwen Ifill's Washington Week.