Soap Box

Reporting the news was at one time an honorable and essential profession and breaking a story was the ultimate ambition of all reporters. Getting the facts and being the first one to expose a momentous story to the public was like playing in the Super Bowl for journalists whose total intent was to report the news, not push an agenda.

In the days before television, radio and newspapers were the only way the masses could keep up with what was going on in the world and honorable men like Gabriel Heatter and H.V. Kaltenborn were trustworthy father figures to a news starved nation during the dark days of the Second World War.

Men like Ernie Pyle imbedded with the troops and stalked the front lines for the latest on what was happening to the sons and daughters of America serving overseas.

Although I'm sure journalistic political partiality has always existed to some small degree, from what I can gather, the fawning basically started with a new generation of reporters covering the John F. Kennedy presidency, a press core who were totally infatuated with Camelot and gave the president a pass on almost anything they felt would harm him.

They were not so enamored with LBJ, the rough cut Texan who was the antithesis of the Ivy League, super-wealthy intellectualism of the Kennedys and with the Vietnam war - which was actually a Kennedy legacy - his fall from grace was so complete he would not even attempt to be elected to a second term.

Nixon was the media's whipping boy and though the American public elected him two times, the mass media never liked him and his foolish handling of a minor crime by members of his administration led to the most investigated and reported political downfall of the Century.

In my opinion, Woodward and Bernstein's book All The President's Men, an expos� on the Watergate cover-up was the last gasp of true journalistic excellence, and it has gone steadily downhill every since.

Gerald Ford didn't fit the media elite's taste and they tried to cast him in the role of a bumbling senior placeholder. The truth of the matter is that President Ford was an honorable, smart, political savvy man with a good heart and a patriot to the bone.

Jimmy Carter came in with mixed reviews from the media who could never get over the fact that the American people had the audacity to elect a Georgia peanut farmer with a classic Southern accent, and he left office with the spectre of Iran thumbing it's nose in his face.

Ronald Reagan came on like a bigger than life John Wayne. Iran immediately released the hostages and Reagan went to work on the Soviet Union, upgrading our military and demanding that Mr. Gorbachev "Tear down this wall", took the wind out of Ghaddafi's sails, liberated Grenada and put a solid foundation back under America's fiscal feet.

How could even an ultra liberal media do much more than pull at threads and pick at cracks? Reagan was "The Man", most of America loved him and there was nothing the media could do about it.

Bush I was fair game to the media and they took full advantage of the fact and made sure that his "read my lips" statement was never forgotten when he came up against Bill Clinton.

Clinton-Gore was the epitome of a liberal ticket; a handsome, likable and personable young man from Arkansas and a Southern left-winger from Tennessee, socially progressive, environmentally conscious and extremely popular.

The baggage Clinton brought to office would have been enough to make life miserable for one less favored by the media but Clinton was in like Flynn with the camera and ink crowd and the only way the major players would get involved in anything negative was when they were forced to by the lesser lights.

Bush II came into office being accused of stealing an election from media darling Al Gore, and the media never forgave him for it.

So rabid was the media's dislike for George W. Bush that Dan Rather risked and lost his long time job as news anchor on the CBS Evening News trying to discredit him, but he never the less served two terms and then began, as Bernie Goldberg so succinctly put it "A Slobbering Love Affair."

The media's handling of Barack Obama's presidency has gone way past the kid glove stage to a hands off stage, in a bald faced attempt to hide or down play anything they think can be harmful to him, giving him a pass on his bungled handling of issues that will surely come home to roost in the future, praising his accomplishments while ignoring his foul ups, cover ups and reticence to let the truth be known.

If Fast and Furious had happened on either Bush watch there would have been front page headlines in the New York Times and the Washington Post, the lead story on CNN MSNBC and the major networks demanding justice for the Americans who were killed and calling for heads on a silver platter.

The Congressional hearings on Benghazi were a good start, but a start only. Any person who has sense enough to tie their shoes knows that the blame in Benghazi goes much higher than mid-level diplomats and we need more hearings and more witnesses to get to the bottom of it, a bottom that could be embarrassing to some very prominent people.

But most of the media are acting as if the ultimate conclusion has been reached, that the chain of blame need go no higher.

People, if the Obama-Media Complex is allowed to get away with this, if they are able to sidestep Benghazi, hang a couple of minor officials out to dry and move on, America is taking a step toward the kind of government that can get away with anything they want to.

I'm sure the big fear is that the stain will spread as far as Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party's heir apparent for 2016 presidential election, which should double efforts to clear her name by the Democrats if they really care about America's future.

A note to members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican.

Please be an American, uphold your oath and represent the people who put you in office and pay your salary, keep on holding hearings and calling witnesses until We The People know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

If Hillary and Obama have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.

Let the truth be known, don't be part of a lie.

Just remember, living with a decision is one thing, dying with it is entirely another.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels​