Anyone who was watching certain news outlets on Thursday probably heard almost nothing about one of the most
offensive political advertisements in recent memory. That's because most
major networks have largely failed to cover a video portraying Rep.
Paul Ryan's budget plan as literally throwing grandma off a cliff.
While ABC, MSNBC, and CNN continue to ignore the left-wing attack ad,
these same outlets wasted no time excoriating Sharron Angle's
controversial immigration ad during the 2010 cycle.
The video, which shows a frightened elderly woman being steered off a
cliff by the House Budget Chairman, parrots the liberal meme that
Republicans want to kill old people by ending Medicare, which apparently
the media doesn't find controversial.
But just a few months ago, the same outlets that couldn't be bothered
to question the Agenda Project's Medicare video were quick to condemn
the former Nevada Republican Senate nominee for using images of
immigrants crossing the border illegally to criticize Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) record on amnesty.
On ABC's The View, liberal comedienne Joy Behar called Angle a "moron [1]" who will "go to hell" because of the campaign spot.
"I am not praying for her," added Behar. "She's going to hell, this bitch."
On Andrea Mitchell's eponymous MSNBC program, the incensed anchor complained [2] that Angle's ad looked "like a Halloween show" and was "beyond the pale."
Mitchell's guest, Washington Post reporter Dan Balz, scolded, "A lot of
people say this is the closest thing we have this year to a Willie
Horton or the Jesse Helms white hands ad from that North Carolina race
back in the day."
For CNN's part, both "Anderson Cooper 360" and "Parker-Spitzer"
featured Democratic strategist Robert Zimmerman, who offered a robust defense [3] of Behar's "bitch" smear.
"I'm standing with Joy Behar because she nailed it when she went after
Sharron Angle for the xenophobia, for the racist type of campaign she
has run, and for, in fact, exploiting prejudice and bigotry," blathered
the one-time CNN political analyst.
Fox News, as well as numerous sites, started covering [4]
the offensive anti-Republican video yesterday, a day after it was
released. ABC, MSNBC, and CNN have had ample time to do so, but continue
to ignore the controversy.
- Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here [5] to follow him on Twitter.
