RUTHFULLY YOURS

New York Democrat Anthony Weiner’s tortured answers about his “Twitter-gate” episode and the mainstream media’s at least initial reluctance to cover the story, speaks volumes not only about the No. 1 obstacle the GOP faces in trying to retake the White House in 2012.

It also speaks to the No. 1 obstacle millions of like-minded Americans face as they fight to protect and preserve traditional values, the rule of law, common sense and our sovereign borders.

If you are a Republican, a conservative or an American who does believe in traditional values, you have met the enemy, and it’s the mainstream media. Period. Don’t take my word for it. Read the verbatim words of two liberal editors.

With regard to the highly negative, unfair and clearly biased treatment John McCain and Sarah Palin received in 2008, John F. Harris and Jim Vandehei, editors of the liberal paper Politico said:

“OK, let’s just get this over with: Yes, in the closing weeks of this election, John McCain and Sarah Palin are getting hosed in the press, and at Politico. And, yes, based on a combined 35 years in the news business we’d take an educated guess — nothing so scientific as a Pew study — that Obama will win the votes of probably 80% or more of journalists covering the 2008 election.”

Obama got the votes of 80% or more of “journalists” covering the 2008 election. That in and of itself should be news, but is not. Instead, it’s just one of many red flags waved in the face of Republicans, conservatives and those who believe in traditional values who in turn, dismiss this reality with a shrug of their shoulders while saying, “That’s the way it is. That’s the status quo.”

Except it’s not just the “status quo.” It’s a total and deliberate disregard for ethics that is literally jeopardizing the very well-being of our Republic.

It’s one thing for the mainstream media to try their best to ignore the curious exploits of Anthony Weiner. It’s quite another for them to purposely downplay or ignore our ticking debt-bomb, the unfunded public-employee pensions that are crippling our cities and states, the corrupt teacher’s unions that put themselves well before America’s children, our porous borders, home-grown terrorism and a host of other subjects which, if reported truthfully, would reflect poorly on their masters in the White House, the unions and the Democrat National Committee.

Many in the GOP of today are fatally underestimating the power of today’s mainstream media and how effective they can be in helping Team Obama win a second term. A myth has taken hold in the GOP: that because of the Internet, the explosion of conservative bloggers and the still-substantial power of talk radio, that the mainstream media have been marginalized.

Bull-feathers. That’s just ridiculous and is believed by those who don’t have a clue about what real Americans have to deal with every day in their real lives.

The fact of the matter is that — precisely because of liberal ideology gone wrong — most Americans are stretched more thinly than ever before. As such, most don’t have the time to read or track down their favorite conservative blogger or talk show to find out the “truth” about the harm the Obama White House is inflicting upon our nation.

Most Americans have to use their waking hours to work, feed their kids, work a second job, drive their kids to practice and sometimes work a third job.  Knowing that, I believe that at least 80% of the American people still get about 80% of their “news” from the mainstream media — be that media the three major networks or the top 100 newspapers in the nation, media that are about 100% in the bag for President Obama.

The liberal mainstream media’s reluctance to cover the Weiner story is the status quo. But it’s also something much more. It’s a timely reminder that their compromised and unprincipled behavior is putting us all in danger.

When do we finally accept and deal with that pervasive menace?

• MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and an author.