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An Open Letter to the Washington Post
If you would like to listen to an audio reading of this column click here.
Dear Ms. Howell,
Thank you for your report on the Washington Post's "tilt," which in other words proved to be, complicit support of the Obama Campaign for the Presidency of the United States of America. I suspect that most other media, if they had any integrity at all would admit the same, after all, the evidence is overwhelming. So, well done. But before you stop short, I urge you to peruse the remainder of my missive.
Ordinarily I do not communicate with newspaper writers because as a rule, and it has proven to be an accurate rule to date, they have their own agenda, so it's a waste of both our times. My experience in communicating with them and politicians is somewhat like the old admonition about wrestling with a pig: "Never wrestle with a pig, you'll both get dirty and only the pig will enjoy it."
However, this once, being critical in the academic context, you did a fairly good job of "outing" the Post's "tilt," which, let's face it, was not a "tilt," it was in reality, overt campaigning for Obama. You left untouched key issues that many, including me believe should have been examined and printed; and, in my opinion, absent intentional and complicit behavior on the part of the WP and other news outlets to suppress, will eventually gain national prominence and bring about a Constitutional crisis. How that is handled will determine whether or not the U.S. is reduced to the level of behavior one would expect in a Third World Country, if not a second Civil War.
The first issue is the Article II requirement that a candidate be a "Natural Born Citizen." I have done my own research and whereas I can plainly see that McCain was born in the Canal Zone and Obama ostensibly in Hawaii, there are numerous meritorious reports that the latter may not the case. That fact is clouded by the shroud of secrecy surrounding Obama's "Certificate of Live Birth" in Hawaii. It is further clouded by the 5th District Court's ruling that Phillip Berg "did not have standing" to bring a suit, not that Berg's suit was without merit, but he had "no standing," to bring the suit to determine Obama's Constitutional eligibility for the office. And further that there are stories about Obama's Kenyan grandmother being present at his birth "in Kenya." Finally, it is further obscured by Obama's closed fist denial of permission to see the original documents of his health record and birth certificate, for verification of his status vs. the allegations.
Madam, that story alone should warrant WP front page coverage. But who at the WP had the integrity to investigate it? Evidently, no one, and if so, it was spiked. And please don't tell me that was not a "Worthy News Story," we both know that if it had been McCain, the Heaven's would have resounded with the screeching, just as the Heavens heard the "media" wolves howling at the slightest shred of information on Sarah Palin. By the way, did the Post give much, if any, play to the fact that Palin was exonerated in "Troopergate" days before the election? I don't read the Post often, so did not notice. Your piece caught my eye for obvious reasons (and admission of its bias) and I wanted to know more.
Second, you mentioned Rezko in your piece, but evidently the Post, and you, were derelict in discussing Obama's radical associations to any significant extent. The old adage, "Birds of a feather..." seems most appropriate in this instance. Not to come across as a broken record, because if you bothered to watch anything more than MSNBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, listen to NPR, and read the WP and NYT you would know that his pastor of 20 years is a hate-America filled person, as exemplified by his "God Damn America" rant, (and yes, I listened to the entire context), and that Obama did not lift a finger to ameliorate the situation during his 20 year stint as a parishoner; you would know that Obama's friend, American terrorist Bill Ayers and his wife wish they had done more bombings during their brief reign of terror and Ayers now mocks "guilty as hell, free as a bird, America's a great country;" and, you would know that Obama supported, in fact used his Senatorial office to raise funds for Kenyan leader Odinga.
There are more issues, but these spring immediately to mind and should have motivated the WP staff to be serious in their pursuit of newsworthy stories. However, it is all to evident to us in "flyover country" that the Post was not interested in pursuing anything that may have undermined the Obama campaign because the Post was in a leadership role for his candidacy.
Your own Bill Hamilton, Managing Editor for politics said, "There are a lot of things I wish we'd been able to do in covering this campaign, but we had to make choices (and the choices were far and away supportive of Obama) about what we felt we were uniquely able to provide our audiences both in Washington and on the Web. I don't at all discount the importance of issues, but we had a larger (to get Obama elected) purpose, to convey and explain a campaign that our own David Broder described as the most exciting he has ever covered, a narrative that unfolded until the very end. I think our staff rose to the occasion." (and succeeded in the goal of getting Obama, the least qualified person in the history of this country, elected.) This, to anyone who knows both the English language and Washington politics, translates, not into a "tilt," but rather into being at the forefront of the political left's effort to get a particular candidate elected.
Third, there was his association with Khalidi, the Palestinian professor with whom Obama exchanged visits, meals and baby sitting; and who by Obama's own words helped to shape his view of the Arab/Israeli conflict. Where is the original unedited transcript of Khalidi's going away party and Obama's remarks at that party, that was reported in the Los Angeles Times? As a supporter of Israel's right to exist, what are Obama's acquired views and biases?
Fourth, Obama's childhood in Indonesia is fertile ground for exploration of his citizenship including his having become an Indonesian citizen, and whether or not Obama ever thereafter became a US citizen, and his alleged using an Indonesian passport to travel to Kenya during Odinga's run for office. Where are the investigations into that sleight of hand to avoid US knowledge of the trip? What are the implications of that behavior and status, legal and otherwise, for a man who at the time was aspiring to run for the Presidency of the United States of America? What are the implications now?
There are numerous other issues about Obama that were and remain worthy of investigation, [the Post certainly hasn't held back on trashing Republican (I am a registered Independent) misdeeds and there were plenty of those] but there is no evidence that the WP made or will make any serious effort to investigate Obama.
I do not know the answers, but the information that is available suggests that there are serious issues that the American people have a right to know.
Now, what will the Post do? Continue the charade? Anyone with any integrity would run those issues to ground and put them out for the whole world to see, and let the chips fall where they may. Does the Post and/or you have that level of integrity? I am hopeful, but admit to cynicism. We'll see.
Thank you for your report on the Washington Post's "tilt," which in other words proved to be, complicit support of the Obama Campaign for the Presidency of the United States of America. I suspect that most other media, if they had any integrity at all would admit the same, after all, the evidence is overwhelming. So, well done. But before you stop short, I urge you to peruse the remainder of my missive.
Ordinarily I do not communicate with newspaper writers because as a rule, and it has proven to be an accurate rule to date, they have their own agenda, so it's a waste of both our times. My experience in communicating with them and politicians is somewhat like the old admonition about wrestling with a pig: "Never wrestle with a pig, you'll both get dirty and only the pig will enjoy it."
However, this once, being critical in the academic context, you did a fairly good job of "outing" the Post's "tilt," which, let's face it, was not a "tilt," it was in reality, overt campaigning for Obama. You left untouched key issues that many, including me believe should have been examined and printed; and, in my opinion, absent intentional and complicit behavior on the part of the WP and other news outlets to suppress, will eventually gain national prominence and bring about a Constitutional crisis. How that is handled will determine whether or not the U.S. is reduced to the level of behavior one would expect in a Third World Country, if not a second Civil War.
The first issue is the Article II requirement that a candidate be a "Natural Born Citizen." I have done my own research and whereas I can plainly see that McCain was born in the Canal Zone and Obama ostensibly in Hawaii, there are numerous meritorious reports that the latter may not the case. That fact is clouded by the shroud of secrecy surrounding Obama's "Certificate of Live Birth" in Hawaii. It is further clouded by the 5th District Court's ruling that Phillip Berg "did not have standing" to bring a suit, not that Berg's suit was without merit, but he had "no standing," to bring the suit to determine Obama's Constitutional eligibility for the office. And further that there are stories about Obama's Kenyan grandmother being present at his birth "in Kenya." Finally, it is further obscured by Obama's closed fist denial of permission to see the original documents of his health record and birth certificate, for verification of his status vs. the allegations.
Madam, that story alone should warrant WP front page coverage. But who at the WP had the integrity to investigate it? Evidently, no one, and if so, it was spiked. And please don't tell me that was not a "Worthy News Story," we both know that if it had been McCain, the Heaven's would have resounded with the screeching, just as the Heavens heard the "media" wolves howling at the slightest shred of information on Sarah Palin. By the way, did the Post give much, if any, play to the fact that Palin was exonerated in "Troopergate" days before the election? I don't read the Post often, so did not notice. Your piece caught my eye for obvious reasons (and admission of its bias) and I wanted to know more.
Second, you mentioned Rezko in your piece, but evidently the Post, and you, were derelict in discussing Obama's radical associations to any significant extent. The old adage, "Birds of a feather..." seems most appropriate in this instance. Not to come across as a broken record, because if you bothered to watch anything more than MSNBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, listen to NPR, and read the WP and NYT you would know that his pastor of 20 years is a hate-America filled person, as exemplified by his "God Damn America" rant, (and yes, I listened to the entire context), and that Obama did not lift a finger to ameliorate the situation during his 20 year stint as a parishoner; you would know that Obama's friend, American terrorist Bill Ayers and his wife wish they had done more bombings during their brief reign of terror and Ayers now mocks "guilty as hell, free as a bird, America's a great country;" and, you would know that Obama supported, in fact used his Senatorial office to raise funds for Kenyan leader Odinga.
There are more issues, but these spring immediately to mind and should have motivated the WP staff to be serious in their pursuit of newsworthy stories. However, it is all to evident to us in "flyover country" that the Post was not interested in pursuing anything that may have undermined the Obama campaign because the Post was in a leadership role for his candidacy.
Your own Bill Hamilton, Managing Editor for politics said, "There are a lot of things I wish we'd been able to do in covering this campaign, but we had to make choices (and the choices were far and away supportive of Obama) about what we felt we were uniquely able to provide our audiences both in Washington and on the Web. I don't at all discount the importance of issues, but we had a larger (to get Obama elected) purpose, to convey and explain a campaign that our own David Broder described as the most exciting he has ever covered, a narrative that unfolded until the very end. I think our staff rose to the occasion." (and succeeded in the goal of getting Obama, the least qualified person in the history of this country, elected.) This, to anyone who knows both the English language and Washington politics, translates, not into a "tilt," but rather into being at the forefront of the political left's effort to get a particular candidate elected.
Third, there was his association with Khalidi, the Palestinian professor with whom Obama exchanged visits, meals and baby sitting; and who by Obama's own words helped to shape his view of the Arab/Israeli conflict. Where is the original unedited transcript of Khalidi's going away party and Obama's remarks at that party, that was reported in the Los Angeles Times? As a supporter of Israel's right to exist, what are Obama's acquired views and biases?
Fourth, Obama's childhood in Indonesia is fertile ground for exploration of his citizenship including his having become an Indonesian citizen, and whether or not Obama ever thereafter became a US citizen, and his alleged using an Indonesian passport to travel to Kenya during Odinga's run for office. Where are the investigations into that sleight of hand to avoid US knowledge of the trip? What are the implications of that behavior and status, legal and otherwise, for a man who at the time was aspiring to run for the Presidency of the United States of America? What are the implications now?
There are numerous other issues about Obama that were and remain worthy of investigation, [the Post certainly hasn't held back on trashing Republican (I am a registered Independent) misdeeds and there were plenty of those] but there is no evidence that the WP made or will make any serious effort to investigate Obama.
I do not know the answers, but the information that is available suggests that there are serious issues that the American people have a right to know.
Now, what will the Post do? Continue the charade? Anyone with any integrity would run those issues to ground and put them out for the whole world to see, and let the chips fall where they may. Does the Post and/or you have that level of integrity? I am hopeful, but admit to cynicism. We'll see.
Semper Fidelis
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