Media Malpractice

I ordered John Ziegler's "How Obama Got Elected" video last week and watched it.

Let me first say that I'm glad someone's out there doing things like this. John is a patriot and is doing an invaluable service and I commend him highly for his efforts.

That being said, I will say that while his overall message was well validated, I thought some of the points were weak. Some of them were very strong, don't get me wrong, but I think the film got a little watered down by the weaker ones, many of which probably could have been made better, or cut out and the film would have been stronger (albiet maybe shorter). I don't know how much time John had to track things down. I suspect he spent a huge chunk of his life (and his own money!) on this project, and again, I appreciate it. After all, what have I done?

The most damning bit, however, came at the end of the film. It seems that John had interviewed some Obama voters and they come off shockingly ignorant. But that wasn't scientific enough for John.

So he commissioned a Zogby poll to see if his observation bore out in a larger, more scientifically controlled population.

This overwhelms the small negative gripes I had about Ziegler's work here. What it shows is the effect of what the film suggested -- that the news media had painted a glowing, soft-focus picture of Obama that lacked any substance, driving home the negative points left-wingers made about McCain/Palin, and dismissing any negative points about Obama/Biden.

And here's what drove the final nail into the media's coffin and finished making Ziegler's case.

When he went to commission a similar poll on McCain voters -- Zogby, having seen the results of this poll ... refused to do it. But he did get Wilson to do a poll. The results speak for themselves.

From an Op-Ed Ziegler did subsequently:

Next, I issued a challenge on national TV to liberals to duplicate the Zogby results with McCain voters (and offered to pay for it myself if McCain voters didn’t outperform Obama voters on the “quiz”). Despite loads of belly-aching from the left that Zogby only polled Obama voters no legitimate takers took me up on my offer. So I decided to go ahead and do it myself. Zogby, seemingly intimidated by the firestorm of negative reaction, declined to take my money to do virtually the identical poll that his company was thrilled to do just a week before.

After discovering that other polling outlets were similarly frightened by the prospect of having the Obama-backers harass them, I was able to find a reputable one that was not. If ever there was proof of the adage “Be careful what you wish for…” the results of the ensuing survey are it. The Obama-backers are going to have to reignite their spin/assault machine of rationalization in a huge way.

One of the more interesting points seemed to be the disparity of general knowledge between those who watch Fox News and those who do not. And it wasn't in the direction the Fox bashers would have us believe.