McCain and Matthews - Absence of Integrity

When a younger person I was taught that journalists/reporters were supposed to be as unbiased as possible, and provide all the available facts about a news-worthy person or event.

Later, I realized that, for the most part, that was a crock; that things didn't work that way in the real world. I learned instead that, by and large, the media slants the news to suit their preferences, sometimes by simply not reporting on an important story.

Thus today we have the situation where military "experts" have been coached and sent out by the Bush administration, often with the connivance of the media outlets, to tell lies to the nation on behalf of Bush's war in Iraq and other military adventures.

That connivance, perhaps, is one reason the major media outlets have ignored the story, a story that tells a sordid tale of an administration so deeply enmeshed in its own perversity, that truth and openness are never an option.

Media Matters notes: "Continuing their silence, the major broadcast networks and cable news networks all reportedly declined to discuss the April 20 New York Times front-page article on the hidden ties between media military analysts and the Pentagon on the record with NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. Furthermore, according to a search of transcripts available in the Nexis database, the broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, and NBC -- still had not reported on the revelations in the Times story on any of their news programs through May 1..."

This tidbit of information sharpens the point I wish to make -- the media has lost its voice, its soul, its reason for existence.

Fox News, of course, is the prime example of a soul-less media outlet, serving as a propaganda machine for the Republican Party and as the unofficial mouthpiece for the Bush administration. But, increasingly, the other major news sources, are following the crooked path trod by Fox.


Chris Matthews is a prime example of someone stumbling down the crooked path. Matthews might as well be hired by the McCain campaign. He simply refuses to report truthfully about McCain's past record, his "foot-in-mouth" disease, his lies, and his overwhelming ignorance relating to important people and/or events.

Again from Media Matters: On Thursday's airing of Hardball, Matthews stated "that McCain's primary asset in the coming general election is his 'integrity.' Matthews has previously praised McCain's 'candor' and 'straight talk' and asserted that he has 'always been honest.'"

What world does Mr. Matthews live in? More importantly, why does he insist on promoting these lies? What's in it for him? White House press secretary perhaps -- if, God forbid, McCain should win?

Even more suspect is Mr. Matthews' praise of McCain's non-existent "integrity" just a week after The New York Times reported that ol' John somehow misplaced his "integrity" to help one of his largest fundraisers, Donald Diamond, buy part of California's coast from the Pentagon, "a purchase that netted Diamond a $20 million profit."

Here's how Mr. Diamond sees things and his take on "integrity": "I think that is what Congress people are supposed to do for constituents ... When you have a big, significant businessman like myself, why wouldn't you want to help move things along? What else would they do? They waste so much time in legislation."

As Media Matters points out, Chris Matthews must not have heard of Donald Diamond, for never once has he mentioned his name; and certainly not in the same breath with McCain's name! Matthews just blathers on and on about McCain's invisible "integrity."

By so doing, of course, Matthews vitiates his own integrity and compromises his role as a reporter. Maybe Fox News can find a spot for him sometime around mid-November.