Here's a favorite question these days: Is the media biased?
My answer: Of course it is. While the ideal media outlet is straight down the line in its reportage and has room for strong opinion on the editorial page, good luck finding any that can achieve this. Nearly all so-called "objective" newspapers, magazines, Web sites, TV, or radio stations will let their bias show, some more blatantly than others.
The good news is that you can choose your bias. If you're conservative, you've got Fox News to watch, any number of foaming-at-the-mouth talk show hosts to listen to, and conservative Web sites. If you're liberal, you've got the New York Times, Huffington's blog, the Daily Kos, and about a zillion others. Pick your poison.
In some regions -- such as the Midwest -- newspapers are aligned with a certain political party. This is standard operating procedure. My last newspaper job, in southwest Indiana, was with the Posey County News, a Republican paper. Our rival in the county was the Mount Vernon Democrat, which was ... well, the first two guesses don't count. Party affiliation is taken more seriously in that area, and voting a straight ticket (a practice I do not endorse) is a lot more common there.
Even with a Republican paper, I tried to keep my reporting as balanced as possible. On Page 4, though, that's a whole 'nother story. One of the things I've always pushed for in every newspaper I've ever worked for was a strong editorial page. That page is the guts of the newspaper.
Based on my years in the news business, you can pretty much write this down. Above all else, the news media loves an underdog. And there's nothing underdoggier, on the surface, than someone like an Obama. All the ingredients are there. A fresh new face. A studied Miles Davis cool. Lots of well-phrased rhetoric. Young. And black. Man, that's a story! From a pure news standpoint, that mix puts established senator/military man in the shade.
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After almost a month of waiting, my voter's registration card has arrived.
This is partly my own fault.
It was really close to deadline when I sent off all my paperwork, and you can bet the voter's registration offices are swamped. More so given the interest in this election -- I would be very surprised if this one does not set turnout records.
Early voting is catching on here, and folks are reporting hour-plus waits to get through the line to the polling booth. For early voting, not for Election Day itself.
Not only do I expect a record turnout, but I also expect unprecedented clusters in the voting/counting process this year. Methinks the Charleston County voting system is already overwhelmed, and we're still a few days away from Election Day.
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I'm not sure which I like more -- politics or debating said politics.
It's been kind of slow at work this week, so we had our share of discussions about the presidential race. One of our yard-truck operators was sounding off yesterday about how the economy went south and why he's going to vote as often as he can for Obama. Elaine, my supervisor, said she doesn't like to debate him 'cause his mind is so made up. Of course, I had to get my innings in with him. Made my points, presented my supporting arguments, and he kept steering the subject over to how Bush screwed up Iraq. When in doubt, change the subject.
It was fun, but not as much as it could have been.
Moral: Never debate with a Kool-Aid drinker. Like the saying goes, it's like trying to teach a hog to sing -- it wastes your time and annoys the hog.
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One of the fun memories of covering elections was hanging around the Mohave County elections office, shooting the breeze with then-department head Paul Post, waiting for the Colorado City/Arizona Strip vote to come in.
Colorado City is a Mormon stronghold, and was the headquarters of Warren Jeffs' sect back then. It's also physically cut off from the rest of Mohave county. Situated on the Utah line, there's no straight drive to the county seat in Kingman from there. The west end of the Grand Canyon is in the way. Ballots are driven to an airport in Utah (St. George, I think), then flown from there into Kingman. Election nights ran late out there.
Especially the 1994 election. This was a mid-term election, though Governor Fife Symington (who later did time) was running for reelection against Democrat Eddie Basha. Anyway, the ballots from Colorado City were taken to the Utah airport, flown down to Kingman, loaded into a car for counting ... and the car was crunched in an accident en route to the elections office.
Which made for a *very* long night.
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I've always liked Charles Barkley, even though there are times I think he's full of it. But he's definitely his own man, and he's not afraid to say what's on his mind.
Anyway, Sir Charles says 2014 is the year he'll run for governor of Alabama. This has been talked about for some time, even when he was still a force in pro basketball.
Anyway, from Barkley: "I am (serious). I can't screw up Alabama. We are Number 48 in everything, and Arkansas and Mississippi aren't going anywhere."
We need more candidates like that.
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