by Steve Finefrock – [scriptwriter]

Two ‘facts’ emerged in this past week, one so good it had to be reported, and so useful to the left that the ‘kill him’ outburst at a Palin rally got maximum MSM coverage. Wee tiny problem: IT DIDN’T HAPPEN.

At least according to all authorities seeking prosecutorial insight – though the original reporter, and his ever-loyal publication, insists to this moment on the story’s validity.

The other ‘fact’ was a report on one website [as an ‘exclusive’ in caps] and cited by a second one, claiming a McCain-Palin campaign bus [without the candidates aboard] was blasted by paintballs and also had a window shot out by a .22 caliber bullet. Hopefully, you’ve not see this item, and thereby have not sent it around – though if you did, and it got into the MSM’s hands, you can bet they’d not have circulated it with nearly the enthusiasm they did with the so-called “Kill him” story. So far they’ve not, and of course won’t now that even a conservative site has erased the erroneous story.

And, the blasted window story would have been fully vetted by all MSMs, as it was by me, before I considered sending it around the blogosphere, thru a major publication of friendly persuasion [text message: “it didn’t happen” – Secret Service], and also a staffer at the RNC the next day confirmed the reporter’s text to me.

There you see the dramatic difference between hysterical claims by the left – full assumption of its validity, no ‘skepticism’ which is supposedly the hallmark of ‘journalism’ – and that of the right. Though the temptation was great to send this juicy tidbit to my own disto list of fervent conservatives, the checking of facts came first. And for the Cause, it was fortunate.

For the left is sitting in its duck blind, shotguns loaded with GOPshot, awaiting our blunders, sitting alongside their willing accomplices in the MSM. The tiniest error, misstep, misstatement is fodder for their grinder, a target for their double-barreled, quick-load blunderbusses.

Ain’t fair?

YEP!

That’s the ‘terrain walk’ of this political battle – the lay of the land, the topography of combat, is against us on so many levels. MSM bias is no less, not one molecule, against us than against Goldwater, or Nixon both before AuH2O and after, or Reagan, or Bush [41 or 43], or Mac today.

We dodged a bullet this week – had that item gotten wide circulation among rightwing blogs, it would have been fully noted by the MSM and leftwing blogs as proof of psycho conservatives, contriving lies and half-truths, not checking their facts. Oh, yes, it’s true they demanded Mac vett Joe the Plumber – proof more of the hostile terrain we try to navigate.

Which means we watch very, verrry, verrrrrrrrry carefully what we send around – even if it’s so damned juicy and seems so believable as something ‘They’ would do with relish and glee. Then, upon careful clearance, if it turns out to be true, DAMNED THE TORPEDOES, FULL SPEED AHEAD.

The downer I’m still overcoming, in finding this juicy tidbit was not available for the battle, is keeping me fidgety – but not nearly the downer had the bus-shooting tale morphed by the MSM into a donkey-tail pinned on our hindquarters, at this so-very-crucial late-date in the final furlong of the campaign. Which is still within our grasp – so many new friends like Murtha and Biden gives a great encouragement. Plus the stock market is settling, and gas prices are dropping like Biden’s approval.

When someone insists the right is as bad as the left, you have at least one case-study. Then ask the same persons, if they know as much about Obama’s history as they do about Joe the Plumber – that juicy one still has ‘legs’ and we should make sure those legs do a lot o’ walking. ExileStreet

copyright 2008 Steve Finefrock

Finefrock is founder of Hollywood Forum, a speaker-bureau and panel-discussion vehicle to “Bring the Potomac to the Palisades” on issues that overlap politics and culture with the Hollywood film-TV influence on such national concerns. His scripts have addressed politics [including a TV series pilot/bible package about state political combat, called “A State of the Union”], hazardous materials [from twelve years in emergency management, including six years managing FEMA’s Superfund curriculum for hazmat], terrorism, equestrian reincarnation, serial murderer killing journalists in the nation’s capitol, and fantasy about time-wasters. Finefrock is proprietor of PhoneBooth: The Smallest Space in Hollywood…

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