Another nugget worth its weight in gold from the Journolist treasure trove:
Ryan Avent, then blogging for the Economist and now an editor there, agreed that criticizing Palin's experience might not work. "I really don't think the experience argument needs to be made by the Dems. It's completely obvious to any reasonable person. Instead, hammer away at the fact that she has terrible positions on things like choice, and on the fact that she has no ideas on the issues important to people," he wrote.
The biggest driver of liberal media bias is not a grand conspiracy to alter the news--although the Journolist disclosures show there was more coordination and conspiring going on than most would have imagined. The chief reason that the news is more often than not tinged with a leftist perspective is that the vast majority of people in the newsrooms, studios, and offices of the traditional media roughly share the same ideological mindset. And, since the people they work and live with generally have the same views they do, they assume that this mindset is shared by the majority of Americans. Well, at least the majority of reasonable Americans.
When Avent says that Palin "has terrible positions on things like choice," everyone on the Journolist knows exactly what he's talking about and agrees with him. What reasonable person wouldn't? The use of language is also telling. Now when I read Avent's words about "choice" I know exactly what he's talking about. But this isn't how most people talk about abortion. And if you told the average American that Palin has "terrible positions on choice" they might well ask what the hell you're talking about. A choice about what?
ABORTION! ABORTION! ABORTION! The semantic games that abortion supporters play betrays that fact that they know how unsettling the word is. If abortion is such a swell "choice," why not come out and say that you're pro-abortion. Heck, I'm willing to drop the "pro-life" label (at least when it comes to abortion) if the "pro-choice" crowd would be willing to be honest about what they really support. One side is anti-abortion and one side pro-abortion. Let's stop playing word games.
Avent and his fellow Jounolisters might also want to reconsider whether Palin really has "no ideas on the issues important to people" given that polls continue to show that Americans Are More "Pro-Life". Just not the Americans in the newsrooms, studios, and offices of the media.
