SansPretense

Below the fold, there are some screen shots of MSM sites as of noonish CST, today. Let me summarize what they show. Out of the five major news sites (ABC News, CBS News, MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN), CBS, CNN, and MSNBC do not even mention the breaking news of Obama’s audio-tape, explaining his position on “redistributive change.” ABC mentions it with a headline that greatly deflates the impact: “McCain to Attack Obama ‘Wealth’ Remarks”. Hell, McCain has been attacking the “wealth remarks” for weeks now, ever since Joe the Plummer asked a life-changing question to the Obamassiah. That’s not news. The fact that this audio from a radio interview reveals that the “redistribution of wealth” remark wasn’t just a misunderstanding is a MAJOR news story. Yet, ABC downplays it. At least they covered it…in a BLOG post and not a major piece of journalism (see screen shot – the headline was scrolling).

Fox News is the only website to present the story as breaking news. Now whether this is conservative bias or just reporters doing their damn job, you be the judge.

As Bill Whittle says (h/t, Michelle Malkin):

We no longer have an independent, fair, investigative press. That is abundantly clear to everyone — even the press. It is just another of the facts that they refuse to report, because it does not suit them.

So in the meantime, those who actually do attempt to do the job the MSM refuses to do fall under the gun of thuggish attacks from the Obama camp. This, by the way, includes the student reporter who exposed fraudulent voting in OH. Have we really come to this? Lawyers threatening students for great journalism?

This story broke big when Drudge linked to it last night. All of the major blogs have picked up on it. Hot Air (as well as ABC) posted the Obama campaign’s response (emphasis mine):

“In this interview back in 2001, Obama was talking about the civil rights movement – and the kind of work that has to be done on the ground to make sure that everyone can live out the promise of equality,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton says. “Make no mistake, this has nothing to do with Obama’s economic plan or his plan to give the middle class a tax cut. It’s just another distraction from an increasingly desperate McCain campaign.”

Burton continues: “In the interview, Obama went into extensive detail to explain why the courts should not get into that business of ‘redistributing’ wealth. Obama’s point – and what he called a tragedy – was that legal victories in the Civil Rights led too many people to rely on the courts to change society for the better. That view is shared by conservative judges and legal scholars across the country.

“As Obama has said before and written about, he believes that change comes from the bottom up – not from the corridors of Washington,” Burton says. “He worked in struggling communities to improve the economic situation of people on the South Side of Chicago, who lost their jobs when the steel plants closed. And he’s worked as a legislator to provide tax relief and health care to middle-class families. And so Obama’s point was simply that if we want to improve economic conditions for people in this country, we should do so by bringing people together at the community level and getting everyone involved in our democratic process.”

Don’t you love it when politicians can say that they really meant what they said but didn’t at the same time?

Let me translate the political posturing out:

“We need wealth redistribution in the name of equality (in the Marxist sense, but let’s pretend it’s racial only), but if we say that out loud it makes us look like un-American communists disagreeing with 84% of the population. So, instead, let’s say that it has nothing to do with the redistribution of wealth we’re going for and that the McCain camp are desperate racists trying to distract you from what really matters: the Second Coming of Marx election of the One.”

As Bernstein points out (in a very well written commentary on this issue from someone who knows more than I do), this isn’t anything new, nor is it surprising. Some redistribution of wealth is part of progressive income tax rates, for example. Most people would support the idea that the rich should pay higher taxes. Poor people DO get tax credits (i.e., they make money off of the income tax ‘refund’). The troubling thing with Obama is that he promotes a radical agenda of wealth redistribution and then he LIES about it.

Gabriel Malor and Ace, both at AoSHQ, points out that the “redistribution” Obama is talking about is actually in the context of racial reparations. I don’t know if I agree or not, but it was certainly the context of the discussion.

Again, though, the story should be placed in the context of all the switching of positions and downplaying of the redistribution comments.

Update: Newsbusters has a round up of the (lack of) reporting the story that took place on the nightly news. (H/t, AoSHQ)

The screenshots are below: