NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

Should The Press Boycott Sarah Palin Until She Holds a News Conference?

By Robert Paul Reyes

John McCain treats the media with contempt, he rarely holds a news conference and he keeps his lipstick wearing Pitt Bull on a very tight leash. Early in the campaign McCain seemed to enjoy the give-and-take with the press, but now he assiduously avoids reporters.

Joe Biden has granted over fifty interviews since Obama selected him as his running mate, Palin on the other hand has had only two legitimate interviews and not a single press conference. Even though Biden is gaffe-prone he soldiers on delivering substantive speeches and answering every query from the media.

When Sarah Palin makes a stump "speech" it's an assorted collection of colloquialisms, talking points and attacks that are tailor-made to appeal to the Republican base. She is very adept at flinging red meat to her adoring fans, she had them with her first wink.

The press shouldn't allow Palin to get away with spewing memorized non-sequiturs, instead of addressing the pressing issues our country faces. It's incumbent upon the media to expose Palin as a lightweight who is utterly unqualified to serve as vice-president.

I believe the media should cover Sarah Palin, and expose her as a fraud. But Matt Littman of the Huffington Post has a different take, he thinks the media should not cover Palin until she holds a press conference.

"So Palin continues to regurgitate what's handed to her by the campaign, and the fanatics she attracts eat it up; they eat it up and they are still hungry for more. For the zealots, it's not enough to say Obama pals around with a terrorist. They shout that Obama is a terrorist! There's no place to go that's too far when you're talking to the fringes of society. Obama's a lesbian! is right around the corner.

But Palin gets media coverage, and this baffles me. Why cover Palin if the media cannot speak to her? Why cover her if, as is now the case, the media are not allowed to talk to her supporters?

This is ridiculous. It's out of hand. And the media that continue to cover Palin's repetition of talking points are the enablers of a McCain-Palin regime that embraces the tactics used in China."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-littman/media-must-not-cover-pali_b_132661.html

It is unconscionable and downright un-American for McCain to prevent Palin for holding news conferences. Palin is not running for the Mrs. America Beauty Pageant title, destiny may place her in the Oval Office, and she needs to be grilled by tough and seasoned reporters just like every other candidate who ever ran for high office.

I'm not sure what is the best approach, to ridicule Palin or to simply ignore her until she holds a press conference. But the cable news networks and the major broadcast news programs shouldn't condone and participate in the Palin fraud by giving her free air time.

Robert Paul Reyes is a NewsBlaze writer on Politics, Pop Culture and Pointless Pontificating. Contact him by writing to NewsBlaze.