Republican Infighting: The Media Distorts Matters

The media distorts matters, curbing the message to meet their own desired ends and gaining readership. Reporters don’t cover the story but instead present their side. Look at crime for example. Crime rates are down across the country but read any paper or watch the nightly news and you would think the nation as a whole is experiencing a wave of violence.

Take a few moments and read through the liberal media’s portrayal of any of the hot button issues, health care, elderly, and national debt. You’ll see action items within stories such as the government’s “need to invest in our future” and the government’s “need to care for its citizens,” code for spending more. The posts that follow the news stories demonstrate the media’s success at controlling the narrative. People get mad sitting home in front of their computers using language and rhetoric once reserved for Iraqis or Soviets. Some posters seem to be exercising demons, still others are almost speaking in tongues.

The problem with these message boards is that people are not engaging in rational discussion. On the internet people are able to hide, they can cloak themselves in anonymity while shouting insults, stirring the pot and fanning any flames. They don’t need a disguise just a user name and password. They can hit and run all from the safety of their own home. A fourteen year old boy can talk to down to others as if he has authority, rumors become fact and readers become misinformed.

This is what is happening to the Republican Party, nationally and here in Iowa. Do Republicans have ideas that differ from each other? Of course we do but we do not have differences of principle. There is not a good Republican that thinks that abortion is acceptable. There is not a good Republican that thinks we need more government. There is not a good Republican that thinks that our national debt should go higher.

The media outlets are trying to portray the Republican Party as being at war with itself, divided between crazy libertarians that would have everyone smoking pot and those crazy evangelicals that would force bibles in everyone’s hands. The worst part is seeing Republicans encouraging this perception. When I read Republican blogs with posts that include talk of “filling the air with lead” and “marching on the enemy” I see the media has been successful.

Shame on us for playing into the hands of those that seeks to divide and conquer our party. Shame on us for stooping baiting of the anonymous poster that clearly seeks only to provoke our worst reactions.

Have we forgotten our objective? Our mission is to stop the legal murder of children. Our goal is to ensure society respects each person’s property and does not redistribute it. Our calling is to maintain our great nation for future generations. Instead when we fight amongst ourselves we fiddle while our nation burns.

Let the infighting stop here and now, we can engage in spirited debates without being vindictive. In our county committees, on our Republican web sites and in all our affairs, we need to carry ourselves with the dignity of being a rational Republican and not a knee jerk liberal. We should be spending our energy rolling back the size and scope of government rather than cutting off our nose to spite our face. That is how we win elections.