Media Spin in South Carolina on Presidential Race

The moguls of the mainstream media are at it again with their latest smear tactics against Fred Thompson in the GOP Presidential race.

In Sunday's Spartanburg Herald-Journal, a major Upstate S.C. newspaper which, by the way, is owned by the New York Times, an article appeared on the front page of the local news section which stated several times that Fred Thompson had 'gone negative' in his campaign strategy.

Not only did the article state that Thompson had 'gone negative' about Mike Huckabee but that he had adopted negativity as a campaign strategy for the rest of the way to Super Tuesday.

First, let's get this notion out of the way at the very outset. Thompson did not 'go negative.' Since when did pointing out someone's very public record as a Governor constitute 'going negative?'

This is Huckabee's definition of going negative. The Governor does not want his record discussed, since the record proves that his rhetoric concerning his days as Arkansas's Governor is at best grossly exaggerated and at worst contains some outright untruths.

That the mainstream media has adopted Huckabee's definition of the term is very telling.

A clear-headed, rational attempt to contrast one's views with another's is NOT 'going negative.' The opponent's views must be pointed out in order to differentiate those views from one's own.

Second, Huckabee himself has contrasted his record with that of other GOP candidates, yet to date no mainstream media outlet has described this tactic as 'going negative.'

Yet Huckabee went far beyond merely contrasting his record with the others. In Mitt Romney's case, for example, Huckabee went out of his way to attempt to portray himself as the 'Christian' candidate, the Baptist minister, in the very areas where there is yet a marked religious bigotry against Mormons.

This is, no doubt, exceeding the boundaries of discussing political differences by personally attacking an opponent's religion.

Yet Huckabee to date has gotten a free pass on his religious bigotry in the mainstream media in South Carolina. In fact, in Sunday's article in the Herald-Journal, no mention was made of Huckabee's ever going negative.

Further, the article not only focused on Thompson's supposed 'negative campaign' but Romney's as well. And the rift between Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani certainly did not escape the scrutiny of the writer.

In short, Huckabee came out smelling like a rose. The rest were portrayed as nasty ogres who say nasty things about poor little preacher Huck.

And, mind you, this was NOT on the editorial page. This was supposedly a news article.

The article also failed to mention that as an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Convention, Huckabee is not getting much support from the denominational leadership. SBC conservative icon Judge Paul Pressler of Texas has endorsed Thompson. Richard Land, powerful head of one of the SBC's major agencies, has also expressed reluctance to support Huckabee but speaks in positive terms about Thompson.

Agency heads in the SBC do not officially make 'endorsements.'

The mainstream media, particularly anything affiliated with the New York Times, would naturally promote Huckabee. After all, he is widely viewed by Democratic insiders as the one GOP candidate that would be most easily defeated in the general election.