More Left Stream Media Bias
8/28/6 - Carol Marin displayed palpable bias in her WTTW Chicago Tonight interview of three Cook County commissioners and an alderman on July 19th.
This is a woman, who is showing more and more of her organization Democratic Party bias.
You remember her.
She became a national media heroine by quitting WMAQ-TV when the station hired former Democratic Party Cincinnati Mayor and then and now TV shock show host Jerry Springer to do commentary.
Then, in 2000, she was given carte blanc to create the “liberal thinking woman’s” nightly news show by WBBM-TV, but bombed.
This summer, she didn’t utter a public peep when WTTW hired no-longer-on-Chicago schlock radio host Mancow for similar guest commentaries.
On Chicago Tonight, Marin had been questioning just-named interim Cook County Board President Bobbie Steele about the financial situation at county government when she turned to Republican Party nominee for Cook County Board President Tony Peraica.
On the panel were three Democrats (Alderman Todd Stroeger, named the day before by the Cook County Central Committee to replace his father on the fall ballot, Cook County Commission Forrest Claypool and Steele), plus Republican Party nominee for Cook County Board President Tony Peraica.
A pretty normal 3-1 WTTW bias against conservatives. (Despite, the odds, conservatives are able to hold their own on these WTTW panels).
I finally got her exact words. You can listen them to here. (7 minutes in.)
Here’s what I was able to transcribe.
After interviewing Steele on substantive governmental questions, Marin changes course in what had to be a pre-planned attempt to smear Peraica:
Commissioner Prisonni (she mispronounces Peraica’s name), let me jump to you and ask about a political question…Peraica says, “Sure.”
…because there are plenty of Democrats out there who might want to protest by voting for you, but they see you as an anti-gay, pro-gun, anti-abortion (pause) guy in the bluest state and county in the state, so what do you have to say to them on the social issues that are going to make you attractive if they do decide to jump the traces?Peraica then tries to follow up on what Steele had said about doing a quick study to figure out how to save money, pointing out that 30 years of studies are already on the shelf and gets in that he has taken a pledge against raising taxes before Marin charges back to her agenda of trying to frame the fall election in favor of Todd Stroger:
OK, but, but, to my question first.Peraica responds,
What are you going to do on, on the pro-gun, anti-abortion, anti-gay kind of, you’re not a social liberal.
There’s not anti-gay anything. That’s, that’s a myth that was created by some to paint me as some kind of an extremist.He challenges Stroeger and Steele to tax a no tax hike pledge, but Marin, surprise, surprise, fails to follow up.
I am pro-life. I am pro-2nd amendment. I am anti-tax. I’m a fiscal conservative. And I think that these issues that you try to kind of raise as a division between myself and the Democratic electorate who voted for Forrest Claypool are really a myth.
People care about their pocket books….
= = = = =
Photo of Carol Marin, looking left, taken from the WTTW 7-19 interview of Peraica and others.
For more McHenry County Blog stories, including one on Michael Tristano that I'll post here tomorrow, click here.
22 comments:
Cal, this one is too easy for me. I'll defer to your calm Calvinsim in taking the red-headed Oprah to task.
Are those his views are not? If they are not, then tell us why.
Those are legitimate questions.
If he is proud of his views, he should
be happy to tell us all about them.
You act like it is Carol Marin's fault that he takes extreme positions.
Skeeter:
“If he is proud of his views, he should be happy to tell us all about them?”
Hmmm.....would that sound sort of like: “I am pro-life. I am pro-2nd amendment”? Because, let me check.....yep, he said just that!
The only thing he denies is being “anti-gay,” and rightfully so, because he is not “anti-gay.”
Are those “legitimate questions?" I don't know. I mean, Marin is smart enough to know that the County Board President has little to nothing to do with gun-control policy or access to abortions. Her failure to provide that context while hounding away at Peraica about those issues seems, to me, a little inappropriate. Especially for a reporter of he stature and intelligence.
I'm one of the Dems Marin references--I want to vote for Peraica, but he makes it impossible for me by his extremist positions on social issues. So it seems to me that the political problem Marin describes really is the political problem Peraica faces. Or is it just that it's out of bounds to say so...
Not anti-gay? Here's Peraica to Ben Joravsky: "I know this is a hot-button issue, a wedge issue. But as you look at the long-term picture, decay comes from within. It’s problems from within that cause the decline of all the great empires." Gay people will destroy our "great empire"! If that doesn't count as anti-gay rhetoric, what does?
I'm sorry, Cal, but you're coming off as being a bit paranoid.
Did you bother watching the show last night? It was 3 on 1 against Stroger. Marin tossed Peraica a couple of softballs ("What can be done about this....") and kept Stroger on the defensive the entire time. Quigley, a Democratic commissioner, sat between the two and refused to endorse his own party's nominee! I'm having a tough time figuring how the night could have gone any better for Peraica.
Now, based on what you wrote, it seems Marin was a bit tougher last time Tony was on the show. But those questions about his conservative views are completely legit -- and he seems to have answered them deftly.
If a gay-rights supporting, pro-choice, gun control advocate was running for office in the most Republican-leaning county in Texas, don't you think he should be asked about his views being out of sync with his constituents?
Sammy,
I wouldn’t have had a problem with Marin asking about Peraica’s conservative views if she actually tied them to decisions he’d make or actions he would or would not take as County Board President.
GOP,
Abortions at Cook County Hospital.
Gun control in the County.
Seems to me like those are potential issues for the next Cook County Board.
I still remember his pulling his welcome for the gay games after he had signed on to the welcome earlier. Sorry, I also view him as anti-gay and won't vote for him as a result. It's the very same reason I did not vote for Poshard. And I'm not gay, I just don't trust or like folks that put their moral beliefs above their duty to all their constituents.
skeeter,
Please explain to me what steps John Stroger took as County Board President to increase gun control in Cook County.
Please explain exactly what steps you think Peraica could take as President to restrict abortions at the Hospital.
When you come up with a list for the later, I'd be the first one to support Marin's questioning Peraica about them on his next appearance.
To your credit, you've been very good about not just saying things like "President Bush is anti-veteran," without citing specific examples of what that means on the ground level as far as policy action (or inaction). Please tell me what it means on the ground level for the County Board president to be anti-gun control and pro-life.
He could support or oppose gun restrictions in the County.
He could attempt to bar abortions at Cook County Hospital.
Why is this is so difficult, GOP?
South Dakota has passed a clearly unconstitutional law banning abortions. What is to prevent Mr. Peraica from attempting to do the same?
Moreover, none of us can guaranty what the U.S. Supreme Court may or may not do.
What if the S.Ct. overturns Roe? If so, potentially the County Board could vote to bar abortion at County facilities.
Given Peraica's positions, I understand why he does not want to discuss the issues. However, the questions themselves are surely legitimate.
And to think, skeeter, how much you love to attack the Bush Administration for fear mongering…..
There are certainly more than enough gun-control laws on the books right now….more than can ever be practically enforced as it is. But let’s say that both Topinka and Peracia both get elected. Neither of them is going to have a legislative body of their party willing to retract any existing gun laws, so the most that will happen is that we’ll just have to make due with what we have now. Which, quite frankly, is quite a lot.
And even if SCOTUS overturned Roe, that would still mean that Peracia would need the County Board to vote in favor of banning abortions at the Hospital – which seems really, really, really unlikely to happen.
I suppose that if you really believe that these are salient issues in this campaign, then those are “legitimate” questions to ask. And Peraica is certainly not shy about answering them. He proudly and clearly states that he is pro-life and anti-gun control. He doesn’t go out of his way to discuss them because he doesn’t think they are the most important issues facing this county right now. Is that not a “legitimate” stance to take, as well?
GOP: Do a candidate's positions on social issues not illuminate their approach to all sorts of broader policy issues? Do they not tell us a lot about how that candidate thinks, operates, and who that candidate is?
Sure they do. In this case, Mr. Peraica seems to have a very novel political philosophy: protect those who cannot protect themselves (ie, unborn children) and allow those who can protect themselves to do so (ie, protecting the right of law abiding citizens to own firearms). I don't know about everyone else, but that sounds good to me.
Seriously though, it's pretty much universally accepted that the most salient issues(ie, those issues that are most pressing, and over which the office being contested has the most direct, practical authority) facing Cook County right now are: too much waste and cronyism. How do a candidate's views on gun control and abortion speak to those issues? I don't know.
GOP,
What your argument boils down to is that you see certain issues as important, and consider it left wing bias that a reporter would focus on other issues.
By the way "no abortion ever" doesn't do much to protect victims of rape or incest. Apparently victims of rape or incest are not people who need protection, according to you.
You right wingers sure do want to tell people what is good for them.
No, that’s not what it boils down to, skeeter. There is a difference between an issue being important and an issue being salient. As I have pointed out, neither gun control nor access to abortion are salient issues in the race for Cook County Board President.
And I think that if Peraica makes the case properly, he can win over plenty of Democrats who don’t agree with him on social issues. Given the choice between (a) real reform of payroll, patronage, and the budget, with the far outside chance that it might possibly, under a rare confluence of unlikely circumstances, lead to restrictions on abortion and the halt of expanding gun control laws or (b) status quo patronage, fiscal mess, and two social issues that are all but certain to not be affected regardless of who wins……who do you think the majority of Claypool voters will go for?
BTW.....as far as wanting to tell people what is good for them, I don't think the right wing as a monopoly on that by a LONG shot....and at least don't want to take 1/2 your money while we're doing it.
No, GOP, you do not get to decide what people should view as important.
You believe that since there are probably few votes for banning abortion at Cook County Hospital, it is not relevant.
Why not say the same about anything Peraica proposes?
Are you suggesting that his ideas will carry a great deal of weight on some issues but not others, and tnat an unbiased reporter would sense the issues that Peraica may be able to persuade the rest of the board?
Come clean on this one, GOP. You will feel better. We can all see the truth, but for some reason you will not acknowledge it.
Admit that there was no left wing bias and that the initial post was mistaken. It is the intellectually honest thing to do.
Skeeter and GOP, mind if I play referee in your debate?
Sorry GOP, Skeeter wins on the facts. Here's why:
Between 1991 and 1995 Dick Phelan served as County Board President. He ruled with an eye toward his 1994 Democratic primary run for governor, which means he championed many liberal causes. He brought abortion to Cook County Hospital by executive order -- the commissioners never voted on it. By the way, George Dunne, the previous president, was mostly pro-life and did not allow abortion-on-demand at CCH. He would only allow it if the mother's health was threatened and in cases of rape, but the doctors could only go forward with abortions in those cases if Dunne himself personally signed off on it. (This was alluded to in Dunne's obituary earlier this year.) So, both Phelan and Dunne had a whole bunch of unilateral control over abortion policy at the hospital.
Also, Phelan enacted very strict countywide gun control ordinances while in office. He implemented a version of the Brady Bill in Cook County before it was enacted nationally. However, many of Phelan's gun controlled initiatives have never been enforced because suburban municipalities with home rule status can enact legislation that supercedes the county's.
In other words, yes, the county board president's views on certain hot-button social issues does matter quite a bit, particularly on abortion. Peraica could undo Phelan's executive order allowing abortion at Cook County Hospital with a stroke of his pen, if he so chooses.
I'm sure the county board would try to stop Peraica. But they'd have to pass an ordinance, which Peraica could veto.
Anyone else tired of the "media is biased" debate? If it's not the right wing claiming the media is out to get Bush, it's the looney left obsessing about Fox News.
fair enough, sammy.
skeeter, I concede that gun control and abortion are more salient issues on a county level than I previously thought. So, perhaps it is perfectly fair for Marin to bring them up.
Peraica has stated time and again he will pursue fiscal responsibility rather than social issues as Cook County Commissioner.
Marin may not like his posistion on social issues, and is trying to torpedo him, although I would guess the grand majority of voters agree with Peraica, they do not necessarily vote that way.
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