It's a start. Hopefully, this revolt will grow until the networks and press get hit hard in the pocketbook.
Hundreds of angry people in this small town outside Milwaukee taunted reporters and TV crews traveling with Sen. John McCain on Friday, chanting "Be fair!" and pointing fingers at a pack of journalists as they booed loudly.
On the first leg of the "McCain Street USA" tour 30 or so reporters and crew were walking back to their buses to join the McCain motorcade when hundreds of townspeople started yelling. "Stop lying! You are all liars! Tell the truth!" one woman yelled from the front of the pack. The crowd was not menacing or threatening, but was clearly angry.
"You're telling lies! Stop the lies!" one man yelled. Asked why the crowd was so angry, Linda J. Green of Mequon, Wisc., said: "I'm thinking the press is very biased."
"I think the press is very liberal and very slanted against the McCain-Palin ticket. Would you ask a man if his kids were being taken care of while he's out campaigning?"
She said the coverage of Mrs. Palin is flat-out sexist. "The media has called her a sexy librarian look. Would you say that Obama is a sexy Will Smith look? They called her Tina Fey's sister, only sexier. I think you're being very sexist."
Another woman questioned local television coverage, which differed for the Republican and Democratic party conventions, she said. "Why did the networks not carry the Republican convention, when they carried the Democratic convention?" she asked. "They do it because they're liberal," a man chimed in.
The scene was reminiscent of one that occurred spontaneously at the RNC, when Mrs. Palin accused political pundits and columnists of misinformation. With thousands of red-meat Republicans in the huge Xcel Center in Minneapolis, the crowd turned ugly. Hundreds began pointing at a group of reporters and booing -- some chanted "CNN!" while others yelled "MSNBC!" |