The media failed Americans during the '04 election.

[BUSHOUT]

I can put up with losing.
But the one thing that keeps coming back and bothering me is how the media failed so miserably this election.

Let's take a couple exampes:

The 87 Billion voted for and then against.

We all know how this was jumped on by the republicans. It was made a centerpiece of their campaign and never put asside even after the "flip-flop" attack eased off.
I knew that the vote Kerry made against 87 Billion had other aspects to it and the vote had nothing to do with not wanting to support the troops. It was a principled vote which attempted to bring attention to some important issues.
What happened? It was as if the media just decided that this was a Bush talking point, and it would be allowed to proceed without question. Sure, democratic spokespersons explained it to the media on occasion, but they mostly ignored the explanation and kept showing footage of republicans smirking about Kerry not funding the troops....without question.

The missing explosives.

The media tried avoid, but finally couldn't avoid, a story about 300+ tons of missing explosives. The obvious conclusion that at least a sizable amount the explosives were missing AFTER the invasion started was seemingly locked onto by Aaron Brown (of all people) through some simple obvservations on his late night show. This conclusion was ignored by the rest of the media and the republican denials and protests over the timing of the dissappearance continued unchallanged.
The media even let republicans at the highest levels make comparisons between the 300+ tons of high-grade explosives and the supposed 400,000 tons of other "minutions" the've already found in Iraq. The media was to lazy...or kind...to point out that the IAEA had singled out the Al-Qaqaa site before and after the war and this was a closely monitored site due to the powerful nature of these explosives. They can't be compared to 400,000 tons of rusty 10 year old shells and tanks and orginary munitions found around the country. Yet that's what they did and the media let them.

CheneyGate.

The media allowed Lynne Cheney to dictate the news to them following the third debate. Suddenly a Jerry Springer-type reaction by a woman who isn't even running to a minor comment by a presedential candidate is news. Dick chimed in the next day when he realized the non-story had legs and would hide the fact another debate was lost.
Nevermind that in the same debate George Bush had explicitely said he allows God to control his foreign policy. Nevermind everything else that was talked about in the debate....many issues in which John Kerry made excellent points explaining the direction he would take the nation and the record of the last four years was examined. Forget all that, it's not relavent. Lynne Cheney blew a minor fuse. Almost threw a chair. I feel a Scott Peterson coming on.

Anyway. That's three quick areas I noticed the media acting almost inexplicably. It's sell sell sell I guess....they're not paid to give us the truth they're paid to stop us from turning the channel.
To bad. Part of me will forever be idealistic and wish we had an intelligent media willing to spend a few extra bucks and time to dig a little. They've got to stop allowing partisan hacks to lock horns and rattle off a litany of untruths without question.

The "87 Billion voted for/then against/didn't vote to fund troops" thing should have been ripped apart. One candidate was using it against another with effect, and we were never even treated to a solid explanation by the media....no accepted wisdom emerged from those charged with looking for one.