Medias One Way Street

The AP is doing its level best to deliver the votes for Kerry. In the most recent attempt, the AP revisits Bush's National Guard record. The hit piece starts off this way:

Unearthed under legal pressure[as if Bush didn't release his military records but the valiant AP, defenders of truth, had to snatch them from the bowels of Fort Knox], three-decade-old documents portray President Bush as a capable and well-liked Air National Guard pilot who stopped flying and attending regular drills two-thirds of the way through his six-year commitment — without consequence[as if there should have been a consequence].

Then it moderates somewhat,

The files, many of them forced to light by Freedom of Information lawsuits by The Associated Press [how many had to be forced? Since the President signed a release allowing public disclosure of all of his military records, how many precisely did the AP have to get released by force?], conflict with some of the harshest attacks Democrats have levied on Bush's Vietnam-era service, such as suggestions that Bush was a deserter or absent without leave.

So they find he wasn't AWOL and he wasn't a deserter. If that's the case, then who cares? The AP does:

But gaps in the records leave unanswered questions about the final two years of his military service in 1972 and 1973. Chief among them: Why did Bush's commanders apparently tolerate his lapses in training and approve his honorable discharge?

The piece goes on insinuating that Bush got special treatment blah blah blah.

But this isn't what really interests me.

What interests me is the fact that after all of this, all of the revealing of documents "Unearthed under legal pressure" and "forced to light by Freedom of Information lawsuits by The Associated Press" no mention is made of the fact that Kerry has not released his documents at all!

The fact is, the vast majority of the documents the AP is reviewing were released by Bush himself.

Kerry has released none of the documents related to his time in Vietnam.

None. Nada. Zip

And what is missing from the report is such a statement as

"AP has repeatedly attempted to unearth Senator Kerry's military service record and has yet to succeed."

We don't know if the AP has pursued Kerry's military documents with the supposed zeal they have produced the Presidents.

Why?

I don't know. But would it be unreasonable to assume that it's because they don't care one iota about the service records of either candidate?

Is it unreasonsble to assume that it's because all that they really care about is damaging the President and leaving Kerry unscathed?

Is it unreasonable to desire a press corps that is not so blatantly biased?

I do not consider myself an unreasonable person.

But the media's One Way Street with regards to political reporting has got to stop.

One way to do that is to call them on it each and every time.

Oh the mud splattered victims
Have to pay out all along the ancient highway
Torn between half truth and victimisation
Fighting back with counter attacks

It's when that rough god goes riding
When the rough god goes gliding
And then rough god goes riding
Riding on in

I was flabbergasted by the headlines
People in glasshouses throwing stones
Gaping wounds that will never heal
Now they're moaning like a dog in a manger

It's when that rough god goes riding
And then the rough god goes gliding
There'll be nobody hiding
When that rough god comes riding on in

-Van Morrison