I read an AP article by Mike Glover entitled “Republican field crowded and likely to remain so” on Yahoo News this weekend. You may have seen it in another online news site, or in one of many newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle, the Denver Post or the Boston Herald, where it had been reprinted.
These days most media outlets rarely publish their own national news stories; it’s cheaper and easier to regurgitate Associated Press releases than to hire their own reporters to write original pieces. So in today’s “information age,” many of us rely on just a few powerful voices to interpret the news for us.
What did we learn from Mr. Glover’s article? There are a lot of Republican presidential hopefuls besides frontrunners Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain.
Mr. Glover devotes the first three paragraphs of his article to “second tier” candidate Rick Santorum. He then devotes two paragraphs apiece to Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry. Twelve paragraphs into the article, Glover speculates that “also-ran” candidates (his term) may not expect to win, but could use the publicity for book deals or just to help them retain political power.
It’s only then that Glover dedicates a single line to Rep. Ron Paul: “Rep. Ron Paul’s hard-core libertarian views energize a small but loyal base.”
This article is at best misleading, at worst blatantly and purposefully deceptive.
1) In poll after poll of Republican voters, Paul has actually come in ahead of proclaimed “top tier” candidate Herman Cain, and on several occasions has come in second, just after Romney.
2) Can the term ‘hard-core libertarian views’ fit the definition of objective news reporting?
So what are a few of Ron Paul’s views? A sampling:
Bring government spending to a responsible level
End our wars and bring our troops home
Audit the Federal Reserve
End corporate influence
Stop corporate bailouts
Enforce Constitutional restraints on big government
Promote personal liberty
As I’ve pointed out in an earlier post, this shunning of Rep. Ron Paul is nothing new. But it’s frightening. I sent an email to Mike Glover himself yesterday, politely asking him for an explanation as to why, given the poll results, he chose to cover the story as he did. Let’s see if I hear anything from him.