- Sunday, August 16, 2015

To paraphrase and old truism, if it were not for double standards, the media would have no standards at all.

Since the rise of the Tea Party, media double standards have never been more explicit. The mainstream media has tried to portray the Tea Party movement as racist, ignorant and violent. Amazingly enough, none of those are true.

On Jan. 8, 2011, liberal Democrat Congressman Gabby Giffords was shot. Parts of the media immediately set about to try and show that Jared Loughner was a Tea Party supporter. On July 20, 2012, James Holmes went into a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and opened fire, killing 12 people. ABC News’ Brian Ross immediately went on the air and announced there was a James Holmes in the Colorado Tea Party and he wasn’t sure if that was the same James Holmes.

No, it wasn’t and ABC along with Mr. Ross were forced to apologize. To follow Mr. Ross’ logic, we aren’t sure if ABC and Mr. Ross settled with Mr. Holmes before the filing of a lawsuit; however, if they did, it was probably for a large amount.

Conservatives and Tea Party activists have loudly complained about the media coverage given the movement. A few days ago, there was another stunning example of media bias. In New York, 38-year-old Garland Tyree was shot and killed by police after he refused to surrender to them on a parole violation warrant. Before being shot and killed, Mr. Tyree shot and wounded a Fire Department lieutenant who went into his apartment building to rescue him. Mr. Tyree then grabbed a gun and charged outside, firing at the police before New York’s finest returned fire.

While this story was mostly confined to New York, there was one significant fact in this story that the mainstream media omitted. Mr. Tyree was a member of the South East Queens Young Democrats.

Imagine for a moment if Garland Tyree had been a Tea Party member. Does anyone really believe this would have been a story, mostly confined to New York? Does anyone really doubt the media description of the event would have immediately been “Tea Party activist commits murder?”

The media double standard is on full display every time a politician is arrested for wrong doing. If the politician is a Republican, that fact is usually mentioned several times. However, if the politician is a member of the Party of Treason, the word Democrat is generally omitted from the media narrative.

Mr. Tyree was not simply a casual member of the Young Democrats. His Facebook page had multiple photos of him with the South East Queens Young Democrat’s banner and photos of him with Democrat politicians.

In 2014, Gallup polled the American people on the subject of how much they trusted the media. Only 40 percent of Americans trust the media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly.” Shockingly enough over half of Democrats but only a quarter of Republicans trust the media.

The mainstream media should have reported the Garland Tyree story with the headline, “Young Democrat tries to kill New York firefighter and police officers.” Instead, the story of a violent Democrat is swept down the memory hole.

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