Snubbed by the NY Times: A lesson on the Fairness Doctrine

By John Kubicek

John McCain, this one's for you!

Really, Senator, now that you've seen what can happen in a political campaign, do you really think that the Fairness Doctrine should go back into affect? You, sir, were snubbed by the New York Times. They refused to publish your rebuttal to a Barack Obama staff-written commentary. And is that fair? Absolutely not! And just who came to your rescue (besides me)?

That's right, Senator McCain, it was Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, and Fox News: the conservatives of talk-radio, the New Media and the leader of fair and balanced news! And I am sure many others have or will soon be throwing in their 2-cents. I am sure somebody from WorldNetDaily.com - most likely my hero, Joseph Farah - will be among the commentaries we'll be able to read that will go into further detail. That's not to mention yours truly, me, weighing in on this subject!

While heading to the grocery store today, I first heard about this on Rush's show. Just to tell you how big this was, in Rush's daily "Rush in a hurry - July 21, 2008," it was said, "The NY Times published an op-ed by Barack Obama. So John McCain submitted one, and the paper rejected it, but suggested they'd publish it if McCain rewrote the piece to sound more like Obama. This is how it is, folks." Clicking on the supporting story about this on Matt Drudge, NYT Rejects McCain's Editorial; Should "Mirror" Obama, I was able to learn even more!

Drudge wrote, "The paper's decision to refuse McCain's direct rebuttal to Obama's 'My Plan for Iraq' has ignited explosive charges of media bias in top Republican circles." Oh, really? Hey, Senator McCain, shouldn't that tell you something? That, just maybe, that Fairness Doctrine thing, you will assist the MSM (Main Stream Media for those in Rio Linda) in the further ability to increase media bias? You really need to rethink that.

You see, there won't be any oversight of the Main Stream Media bias should the Fairness Doctrine be reinstituted. The truth really is that when we DID have the Fairness Doctrine until Ronald Reagan was able to terminate it, nobody ever questioned their liberal bias. And why was that allowed to happen? To be honest, I do not know; I'm still in the process of researching that question, but my suspicion is that CBS, ABC and NBC had plenty of political support as long as they were able to deliver the right votes to the right people.

So, Senator McCain, you were given the press for your rebuttal to the Obamanation article because of the fair-and-balanced Fox News Channel. You should feel very lucky that they are around. You should very lucky for Rush Limbaugh's commentary, and the Matt Drudge piece that alerted Rush. And, in fact, you should feel good that johnny2k found this to be something that I would write about tonight (I know, a pat on my own back, but hey...).

But so that you know that I'm not out to totally discourage you, let me just say, sir, you were totally correct of your assessment of the War in Iraq and the way that your opponent, Senator Barack Obama, would have us lose.

Related stories:
Bring on the Fairness Doctrine Debate - by Roger Hedgecock
The McCain Op-Ed The New York Times Wouldn’t Publish - Fox News Channel - by John McCain