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Monday, June 16, 2008

Virginian Pilot and the AP shill for Obama; Provide a Direct Link to the Obama Campaign.

Pravda was a beacon of journalistic truth and technical prowess compared with the Virginian Pilot


Of course this is a dog bites man story. But let’s show two stories in today’s Virginian Pilot, one on McCain and the other on Obama.

The first story is about a McCain proposal:

McCain urges end to ban on offshore drilling.

It turns out that, according the David Espo, the AP writer:

The current ban on offshore drilling covers an estimated 80 percent of U.S. coastal waters.

It would seem unexceptional that more oil would reduce the price of gasoline. Why would we be asking the Saudis to increase production if not to reduce gas prices? Or is it the position of the Democrats that more Saudi oil will reduce gas prices while more American oil will not reduce gas prices?

But Espo refers to the proposal as a "perennial cause for controversy" and quotes an Obama supporter

McCain's "plan to simply drill our way out of our energy crisis is the same misguided approach backed by President Bush that has failed our families for too long and only serves to benefit the big oil companies."


The story then veers off into a totaly unrelated direction:

McCain made his remarks before leaving the Washington area for a pair of fundraisers in Dallas.

Another fundraising event, originally set for the home of Clayton Williams in Midland, Texas was pulled from the schedule after news organizations pressed the McCain campaign about holding an event with the 1990 Texas GOP gubernatorial candidate who once joked that women should give in while being raped.


What does this have to do with the issue of increasing oil production? Nothing, of course, but it does have the effect of undercutting the McCain message.

The same issue of the Virginian Pilot contains an article on Barack Obama.

Gore endorses Obama and promises to help him

The AP writer, Nedra Pickler, begings with a paean to Al Gore, virtually nominating him to sainthood:

Al Gore announced his endorsement of Barack Obama Monday and promised to help the Democrat achieve what eluded him - the presidency.


In a letter to be e-mailed to Obama supporters, the former vice president and Nobel Prize winner wrote, "From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected president of the United States."


In 2000, Gore won the popular vote but lost the disputed 2000 election to George W. Bush, who captured Florida and its electoral votes after a divided Supreme Court ended the recount. Since then, Gore has made combating[sic] global warming his signature issue, and has been recognized worldwide for his effort - from an Academy Award for a documentary for his effort to the Nobel prize.


Gore is one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party,…

And here’s how it ends, not with any mention of Obama’s baggage (Wright, Ayers, Pfleger, Rezko, Jim Johnson, bitter clingers, etc. etc. etc.), but with a link to the Obama campaign:

"At critical moments of transition like this one, success has also depended on national leadership that moved the country forward with confidence and a common purpose," he said.
---
On the Net:
http://www.barackobama.com



That’s right! The end of the story about Obama on the same day that Countrywide is shown to have multiple ties to high profile Democrat politicians tied to Obama, being endorsed by the Nobel Prize Winning, Academy Award winning, stolen election losing, ultra popular Al Gore, is a link to the Obama campaign! An invitation to make a contribution, thanks to a link in the PilotOnline.

UPDATE: Thanks Glenn. Visit more often.

4 comments:

Andy B said...

I was wondering, does this constitute an in kind contribution? Should the FCC know about this free advertisement? I wrote the public editor. The Pilot is my home paper as well. Here's what I wrote.

As a reader of The Virginian Pilot, my home town paper, I'd like to know if it's common practice for the paper to post web links to Presidential Candidates campaign website.

Because if such a practice has been adopted, I'd like to draw your attention to a discrepancy. While you included Obama's campaign web link in the article entitled, "Gore endorses Obama and promises to help him." An article on McCain entitled, "McCain urges end to ban on offshore drilling" has no such link.

Further more, I'd like to find out from the FEC if this web link, unsolicited I assume, constitutes an in-kind contribution, therefore requiring the The Virginian Pilot to declare such contribution to the FEC.

(An in-kind contribution is a non-cash input which can be given a cash value.)

I'll be looking into this matter. Feel free to contact me at the email included in this message. I look forward to hearing from the public editor and thank you for your time.

Unknown said...

The Sainted Al Gore PBUH, did NOT win an Oscar!!

He was in a movie that won an Oscar. The people that won were the producers of that movie. Al Gore was NOT one of them.

He was the announcer. The Voice Over Guy. The Talent. The Meat.

He wasn't nominated. He did not win.

Anonymous said...

D is correct. The Goracle did NOT win an Oscar.

betweenthelines said...

It's an inconvenient truth that Al Gore did not win an Academy Award, and journalists should know better than to report "common knowledge." (Or all of a sudden they're telling us that 47 million AMERICANS are without health insurance.)