WILL THE MEDIA START TREATING ALL THE CANDIDATES THE SAME?

…The Rumpled Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders

 

All primary winners and losers should be treated the same.

 

If Hillary becomes the final Democratic nominee, I will most likely be voting for her. 

 

Looking at who the Republicans are expecting to offer-up from their side, the only one in their stable that appears to me to have his head on reasonably straight is the Ohio Governor, John Kasich.  All the other yahoos would set back this country for decades. 

 

That “Third-World Status” that the conservatives keep wishing the US to become will come to fruition if any of the others get to the White House.  Should that happen, the US Supreme Court and the strides toward dealing with climate change and green energy will be set back for decades.  Not to mention the nation’s health care, immigrant status and US / Foreign Affairs.

 

But what is bothering me about Hillary’s presidential campaign is how the media is treating her when compared to how they treat the GOP candidates.

 

In Iowa, yes it was close between Hillary and Bernie, but looking at the big picture, Hillary not only did beat Bernie Sanders, she received more votes than any of the Republican candidates.  And she became the first woman to ever to win an Iowa caucuses.

 

However, the Washington Post next day headline said: “Photo finish reveals shortcomings of candidate who once seemed invincible ”

 

The headlines of the other mainstream medias such as the New York Times, CNN, Politico, etc. they also made it sound like she just barely skated through.

 

Now on the other side of the aisle, all the positive media noise was being made that it was outstanding that Marco Rubio took third place against the number one and two GOP candidates.  Positions one & two had broken all the past records for receiving votes for Republican candidates.  But Marco’s third place was made into a bigger deal than Hillary’s winning in Iowa…..?

 

As Dana Milbank of the Post stated, “Question: When is a win not a win?  Answer: When the winner is Hillary Clinton…… from the media coverage of Monday’s caucuses, you’d think Clinton was on the ropes.”

 

Milbank also seemed to feel that the other publications were putting Clinton’s expectations well above what was expected of the other candidates.

 

This was even though, just before the caucus began, RealClearPolitics polling had shown Hillary up four points in Iowa, while a few days earlier that same poll showed Sanders with a slight lead.  The final results showed exactly what the polls had said days before.  They said it was going to be close, and it was.

 

Now we are moving on to New Hampshire, where Sanders from next-door Vermont has been well ahead of Hillary in the polls.  The fact that the western border of New Hampshire is sometimes referred to as “Vermont-East”, and that New Englanders tend to always vote for their neighbors, the media will probably ignore that fact.  Instead, you can just expect that if Hillary does lose to Bernie, I would bet that the media will blame Hillary on her weakness, and will not give the credit that the Vermont neighbor Senator being on the ballot was the reason.

 

If you think I’m kidding about the “voting for their neighbors” comment, just look at all the previous New Hampshire primary winners such as: Mitt Romney, John Kerry, Paul Tsongas, Michael Dukakis and Edmund Muskie.  All were from other New England states.

 

Hillary’s team is very aware of how they must not make any premature statements about any political “wins”.  For this reason, it wasn’t until the day after the Iowa caucus at the Nashua Community College in New Hampshire that candidate Clinton felt it safe enough to verbally declare victory. “I am so thrilled that I’m coming to New Hampshire after winning Iowa,” she told about 800 supporters. “I’ve won and I’ve lost there. It’s a lot better to win.”

 

Whether Clinton wins or loses in the end, I am just hoping that she gets treated the same as the other candidates looking to become the final choice.

 

That’s all I’m asking for all of the candidates.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016