{"id":14411,"date":"2012-10-01T18:20:21","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T18:20:21","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-10-01T18:20:21","modified_gmt":"2012-10-01T18:20:21","slug":"the_laughingstock_state_run_media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2012\/10\/01\/the_laughingstock_state_run_media\/","title":{"rendered":"The Laughingstock State-Run Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Grab audio sound bite number three. Mark “Maxi” Shields was on Inside Washington this Sunday morning on PBS. You know what I love? These media guys, they know that the deck is stacked and that they are the ones dealing from the deck. They know that they\u2019re in the tank for Obama. <\/p>\n

They know that there\u2019s not even a pretense of objectivity in the media now. I saw another story. What was this? I didn\u2019t print it out. I wasn\u2019t even gonna mention it because it\u2019s not technically show prep. But it was a story I read over the weekend about when the media changed, and it was said it was 1980 and Reagan\u2019s election. That\u2019s when the media changed. I think it\u2019s 1989. I think the media monopoly began to evaporate in 1989. I\u2019ve said that to you people, and I don\u2019t say this to brag.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This not braggadocios. Besides, as Babe Ruth said: It ain\u2019t bragging if you can do it. But I\u2019m not bragging here. I\u2019m being objective. Sometimes I blame myself for all this angst in the country. Up until I came along and then the New Media followed, this competing, real, sizeable competing media came along… I mean, the media was always left-wing and it was always in the tank for Democrats. But they tried to put forth the illusion that they were nonpartisan, that they were unbiased or at least objective and fair. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s all gone now.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not even any pretense of that anymore, and I think that\u2019s because of competition. And as their monopoly has blown up, they continue to try to prove to themselves that they do have the power to move public opinion, to shape it and to achieve electoral victory for their side. I think they\u2019re trying constantly to prove that they still have their power that they once had. Hannity had Brokaw on during the Democrat convention. He happened to mention the Democrats used to have a media monopoly, and Brokaw lit up.<\/p>\n

“Oh, yeah!” He was very happy but wistful at the same time. (paraphrasing) “Yeah, we used to. We used to. There\u2019s no question about it, Sean. Yeah, we used to.” They\u2019re bugged that they don\u2019t have it. But I really think that it all changed (they decided to give up the pretense of objectivity) with the evolution of the New Media, and it became a competition. They finally were forced into revealing their preferences.<\/p>\n

Instead of using the word “bias,” I\u2019ll use “preference.” They were forced into revealing and openly stumping and campaigning for what they always wanted but used to be able to achieve with a raised eyebrow. You know, Peter Jennings could raise an eyebrow and affect public opinion. Those days are gone now. Now they have to actually go out and behave in the way they do now. It\u2019s funny to listen to them deny it. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny to listen to them pretend that it\u2019s still 1980 or 1984 or 1970. It\u2019s funny to listen to them act as though they\u2019re all the same; they haven\u2019t changed. They\u2019re doing their jobs the same way they always did. Everybody knows that isn\u2019t the case. The respect people have for the media continues to plummet in polls of that nature. So here\u2019s Mark “Maxi” Shields, and he\u2019s on this PBS Sunday morning chat show talking about me and my comments on the polls…<\/p>\n

SHIELDS: We\u2019re into conservative “whine” country now. Uhhhh, you know?<\/p>\n

TOTENBERG: (snickering)<\/p>\n

SHIELDS: It is a miracle that Ronald Reagan won 44 states one time, 49 states the other, without a Fox News, without Rich (sic) Limbaugh, without Drudge Report, without all right-wing radio, and with the networks dominant and the Washington Post and the New York Times ascendant. And yet here\u2019s poor Mitt and he\u2019s being done in by a conspiracy at some 7-Eleven in Falls Church, Virginia, of the polling companies?<\/line><\/p>\n

TOTENBERG: (cackling)<\/p>\n

SHIELDS: I mean, this is right out of science fiction!<\/p>\n

TOTENBERG: Woo-hoo-hoo!<\/p>\n

RUSH: That\u2019s Nina Totenberg laughing. I don\u2019t… I must confess, I don\u2019t get the 7-Eleven and Falls Church reference. Do you know what that possibly means? (interruption) I don\u2019t, either. But that was the greatness of Reagan. Reagan did do all that without a fair media. The only favorable media that Reagan had was probably National Review. Bill Buckley. That was probably it. But Reagan had the ability to go over the heads of the media. He did not rely on the media filtering. <\/line><\/p>\n

There hasn\u2019t been anybody like him since. But for all of you, Mark and the rest of you, I\u2019m not saying Romney is done in by any of this. We\u2019re just chronicling what is. For you guys to deny that you\u2019re in the tank for Obama, for you guys to deny that you\u2019re not doing everything you can to tell us where he is and what he\u2019s done and how he\u2019s come to believe what he does and examine his policies honestly and so forth? It\u2019s obvious to anybody that pays ten minutes\u2019 attention every day, much less wonks. <\/p>\n

And to deny it is what\u2019s funny. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know about anybody else but I am not whining. I\u2019m not crying. I\u2019m optimistic. I\u2019m simply pointing out what\u2019s happening. You guys are doing polls with samples of Democrats plus 13, plus 12, plus 11. And we have people all over the spectrum who are saying, “Yeah, that\u2019s probably not the way it\u2019s gonna end up on Election Day<\/a>.” So why are you doing the samples that way? For you guys to deny that you\u2019re trying to suppress the vote is laughable. <\/p>\n

For you guys to deny that you are doing everything you can to harm the reputation and the credibility of Mitt Romney and any other Republican that comes along is laughable. You know you are. We do, too! The gig\u2019s up. You just can\u2019t admit it, and you have to laugh at us being paranoid or what have you. Which is not the case at all. We\u2019re simply doing what you used to do. We\u2019re telling people what\u2019s happening, and you happen to be a news story now. The media is a news story for us. <\/p>\n

Because you guys are not what you say you are. You know, if you guys would just come out and say that you\u2019re a pack of leftists and that you have every vested interest in Obama winning, everything would be cool. Nobody would complain about you, and nobody would point out your errors, and nobody would point out your hypocrisy. But because you won\u2019t admit that \u2019cause you want to hold onto some long ago sacred concept of “objectivity,” you\u2019re laughingstocks. <\/p>\n

Not us. <\/p>\n

We do the job you used to do. Where\u2019s your story on Fast and Furious? Where\u2019s your story on Obama\u2019s economic policies leading to current economic circumstances? Where\u2019s your story on that? How do you get off lying to the American people that Romney takes a trip to three foreign countries and it\u2019s one gaffe after another <\/a>when there wasn\u2019t a gaffe? We can all see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears what is happening. <\/p>\n