GOP Need To Confront Media

[britinusa]

There seems to be an unwritten law that politicians and their spokesmen must be polite to the news media, whatever the provocation. This shouldn't be the case.
The media is immensely powerful, they're the Fourth Estate, practically the fourth branch of government. And they are biased, of course. Evan Thomas of Newsweek said recently that the pro-Kerry bias in the media will boost Kerry by 15% come election time.
There was a time when the media were too deferential towards politicians, now it's the exact opposite.
Now is a perfect time to turn the tables on the overwhelmingly hostile White House press corps who have embarked on a massive damage limitation exercise on behalf of the Kerry campaign.
Yesterday, for example, Bush condemned the SwiftVets along with all the other 527s. That wasn't good enough for the media. One female reporter said something like "Never mind the other 527s, why don't you just condemn the SwiftVets?"
Bush should have said something like "Let me get this straight, you want me to single out the one 527 that just happens to be hurting the Kerry campaign and forget about the $62 million worth of ads directed at me?"
Why can't Bush say that? Why can't the media answer questions?
Is there a law against it? Why aren't the media taken to task by the politicians for a change? Polititicians have First Amendment rights too, don't they?
White House press secretary, Scott McClelland ought to directly challenge reporters to demand Kerry sign an SF-180, for example.
Some may say this is a risky strategy. The media may get even more biased.

I don't think that's possible.

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

I have to agree with you there Brit. Considering how stupid that question was, I think Bush would have been totally justified saying something like that.

That's one of the things I like about Rumsfeld. When they ask him stupid crap, he pretty much lets them know he thinks it's stupid crap.

 

[britinusa]

Yes, Rumsfeld is terrific. I wish he was 10 years younger. He would make a great president.

 

[tpahl]

I agree that the politicians should talk back to the press when they ask stupid questions. I think it would make them less biased. I think right now they feel they can ask anything, but if they were to made to look like a fool in front of other media, they might start thinking twice before asking such questions. In addition i think the people would respect such answer much more because it makes the politician seem like a real person more.