The reason for the news media's panic is clear

By Jack Kelly

"We need to throw every last molecule of s**t we've got at McCain and Palin," said a poster at the Democratic Underground. "Demonize them. Dehumanize them."

Panic brings out the ugliness in ugly people. And ugliness of this sort is not restricted to moonbat bloggers.

"In the press galleries at the convention, journalists wrinkled their noses in disgust when Piper, Ms. Palin's youngest daughter, was filmed kitty-licking her baby brother's hair in place," wrote David Carr in the New York Times Sunday.

How black must your soul be for you to be "disgusted" by a six-year-old girl who is behaving lovingly toward her baby brother?

News organizations have flooded Alaska with investigative reporters, hoping to dig up something — anything — bad to say about Sarah Palin. As mayor of Wasilla in 1996, did she try to ban from the public library books that weren't published until 1998?

The sewer that is the left-wing blogosphere pumps its bilge directly into the "mainstream" media. "People say yes, she looks good in a bikini clutching an AK-47, but is she equipped to run the country?" asked CNN reporter Lola Ogunnaike, referring, as if it were true, to a crude photoshop on left wing blogs that imposed Ms. Palin's face on someone else's body.

Sarah Palin's approval rating in Alaska last month was 81.6 percent. That means for every person who doesn't like Ms. Palin, there are four who do. But reporters seem only to quote her political enemies, without identifying them as such.

Media honchos say they're just doing due diligence.

"Intense, independent scrutiny by the Times and the rest of the news media of Palin's background, character and record was inevitable and right," declared Clark Hoyt, the "public editor" of the New York Times.

But their hypocrisy is so pronounced the hicks from the sticks have noticed. Among other things, the media moguls expect us to believe:

That inexperience in foreign policy is a fatal defect in the Republican candidate for vice president, but unimportant in the Democratic candidate for president.

That a DUI 22 years ago by the husband of the Republican candidate for vice president is scandalous, but the Democratic candidate for president's admission that he was snorting cocaine at about the same time is too insignificant to mention.
That the pregnancy of the teenage daughter of the Republican candidate for vice president is fair game, but the fact that a Democratic candidate for president (John Edwards) was conducting an extramarital affair while his wife was suffering from incurable cancer should not be reported out of respect for their privacy.

That it is scandalous that Sarah Palin, as mayor of Wasilla, sought earmarks for her town, but unworthy of mention that Barack Obama has steered earmarks to the hospital where his wife works, and to his major contributors.
That the pastors of the churches Sarah Palin attends in Wasilla and Juneau are worthy subjects of investigation, but that the pastor of the racist church Barack Obama attended in Chicago for more than 20 years should be off limits.

A news media which is probing every aspect of Sarah Palin's life has been remarkably incurious about Barack Obama's relationship with unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayres.

The reason for the news media's panic is clear. The Sarah Palin phenomenon has turned this race around. John McCain is now leading or tied in all major polls.

But the news media's flagrant bias may cost journalists more than a loss for the candidate they're stacking the deck for.

Last week the gossip magazine Us Weekly, owned by Obama supporter Jann Wenner, featured on its cover an unflattering photo of Ms. Palin (which, I imagine, took some effort to find), and the headline: "Babies, Lies, and Scandals."

The lies were what others were saying about Gov. Palin, Us senior editor admitted to Megyn Kelly (alas, no relation) of Fox News.

So a bottom feeding tabloid has smeared a Republican. What's news about that?

The consequences. "Us Weekly...is said to have lost thousands of subscribers in just the first 24 hours following the printing of the issue," reported MSNBC entertainment writer Courtney Hazlett Friday.

These are tough times for journalists. Layoffs are the rule at newspapers throughout the land. Flagrant bias is likely to be bad for business for more than just Us Weekly.