Drive-By Media Reporterette Laughably Claims Total Objectivity

RUSH: Listen to this audio sound bite. This was this morning on Washington Journal on C-Span. Brian Lamb is the host today, and he was talking to the chief White House correspondent for ABC News, Martha Raddatz. We talk about the Drive-Bys all over the place. One of the points I made to you about the Drive-Bys is they still carry this illusion, put forth this delusion, that as far as they’re concerned, that they are objective. They are objective — and, of course, that’s one of the big problems, because everybody knows they’re not, now. Everybody knows that they are agenda-driven and for the most part they’ve thrown in with their buds in the Democratic Party. So a caller from South Bend, Indiana calls into C-Span and asks Martha Raddatz, ‘I would like to know if your guest this morning, if she is a Republican, Democrat or independent.

RADDATZ: We don’t talk about those things! We don’t talk about those things at all. I’m an objective reporter. We don’t really talk about that. I wouldn’t talk about that! I’d like you to find a reporter that does.

C-SPAN CALLER: Could you tell me the last time that you voted for a Republican?

RADDATZ: I’m not going to tell you anything about how I vote, when I vote and who I’ve ever voted for! I am here as a journalist. I am not here as a political representative of either party. I am a journalist and that is my job, to try to maintain objectivity. I’m not calling in on a call show to tell you what party I belong to. I’m…a journalist!

C-SPAN CALLER: But if you were truly objective, it wouldn’t make any difference, would it?

RADDATZ: There’s an appearance of conflict of interest, you know. If I came out here and said something like that, there would be people saying, ‘A-ha! See? She’s not objective.’

RUSH: See, it’s sort of funny listening to all this. They twist themselves into pretzels trying to maintain this premise of objectivity. You know, folks, let’s talk about objectivity for a second. This is an object lesson. Thinking, informed, engaged human beings — and Martha Raddatz is one and so are most of the members of the Drive-By Media, as are all of you, and as am I. I’m probably the king of the Engaged, Informed and Thinking Individuals out there. As such, we care. Why would you be engaged? Why would you be thoughtful? Why would you be someone who endeavors to learn about things if you didn’t care? So the fact that you care means, furthermore, after that, that you’re going to have an interest in outcomes. See, I think it is humanly impossible to be uncaring or uninterested in the outcome of an event, whether you’re a journalist or anybody else, if you are a thinking, engaged, involved person. So this whole concept of objectivity has always been a strange one for me. I think it’s a fall-back position and it’s used to camouflage and hide what real thinking and engaged people are doing. The Drive-Bys are the classic illustration of this.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We played this sound bite in the previous hour from Martha Raddatz. She was on C-Span’s Washington Journal today. She got a call from a guy in South Bend, Indiana who tried to pin her down if she’s Republican, Democrat or an independent. She said, ‘I would never discuss that. No journalist ever would. We’re objective. I would never discuss it.’

Could you tell me if you ever voted Democrat or Republican?

‘I would never tell you that. No journalist would ever say anything like this at all. Not going to call talk shows and go on talk shows and tell you how I voted.’

The caller said, ‘Wouldn’t it just cement your objectivity? You say you vote Republican or vote Democrat, but you’re still objective.’

‘No, no. No journalist would ever talk about that.’

Those of you who call C Span, I want to help out here. You’re never going to get the answer you want if you ask these journalists if they’re Republican, Democrat or independent, or how they voted. You’re going to get the runaround. The next time that Brian Lamb or anybody at C-Span has a journalist on when they’re taking phone calls, here’s what you call and ask them: Do you support life? Are you pro-life or pro-choice? Do you support gun ownership? How do you feel about tax cuts? Are you in favor of America winning the war on terror? Do you support drilling for oil in ANWR?

Ask them specific, issue-related questions. They’re not going to answer those either, but the way they’ll squirm out of those will be even tougher. ‘I can’t answer that question.’

‘You mean to tell me as an American you have no interest in whether the country wins?’

‘Well, as a journalist I can’t compromise my standards. I’m really not allowed to choose sides.’

You’ll hear stuff like that. Of course, that’s when you will know that it’s all BS, because, of course, every American has opinions about this. These types of people do, the thinking and engaged types. So this is a great illustration of the kind of learning that happens and is available to you from the Limbaugh Institute For Advanced Conservative Studies.