Pat Caddell advises us that the mainstream media is hurting the United States more than we really know. At least he is trying to get us to listen to why he is telling all who will listen that the heavy majority of our major communications networks, news outlets and major newspapers are placing the United States in some serious jeopardy for the future for lack of the truth or just absence in reporting.
First let me explain Pat Caddell and state that he is not the first registered Democrat to work for Fox News and though I haven't recorded the bio information on other Democrats who do the same, I assure you Pat is not alone. Almost immediately the name of Bob Beckel comes forth as another one who is on the Fox payroll on a regular basis.
Caddell's background is steeped in Democrat lore and employment having started his work for Democratic presidential candidates with George McGovern in 1972 and following with Jimmy Carter's campaigns in 1976 and 1980; Gary Hart in 1984, Joe Biden in 1998 and Jerry Brown in 1992. Caddell worked on the U. S. Senate campaign for Democrat Andrew Romanoff of Colorado in 2010.
So credentials such as these should be strong enough to know that if someone calls Pat Caddell a Fox News Democrat, such as the liberal critics on Salon.com, you will know that he is an American first and a political person second; and make that an honest person. He tells the truth about the way different politicians spin the story.
On September 21, 2012, Caddell, as a Democratic pollster and a Fox News contributor delivered a speech to "Accuracy in Media's Conference: Obamanation: A Day of Truth." The title of the speech was "The Audacity of Corruption." Caddell doesn't comment on the title but the mockery and innuendo is inescapable.
Caddell stated in the speech that he felt the most dangerous time in our political history was at hand and the balance of power that the media plays in whether or not a free democracy can be maintained. He also stated that when he first started in politics, all politicians of both major parties despised the press commonly, because they were SOBs to everybody; continuing, "Which is exactly what they should be. Whatever the biases were, they were essentially equal-opportunity people.
Claiming that changed in 1980 during the Dukakis-Bush(Senior) election campaign, Caddell said that the press literally was trying to get Dukakis elected by ignoring what was happening in Massachusetts, with a candidate who was running on the platform of "He will do for America what he did for Massachusetts"-while they were on the verge of bankruptcy.
I believe Caddell chose that explanation of how the press community stopped "being an SOB" to the Democratic Party and Gov. Dukakis, as one of the earliest examples of bias in political campaign coverage showing abandonment of equal-opportunity. And for the years since 1980 the great majority of all news networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN and MSNBC have given the fawning attention to the Democrats and fail to cover most favorable news to the Republicans.
When cable news appeared on the scene, a new major news cable news service appeared with the name of Fox News and rather than show all their favorable coverage to the Republicans, they have covered major news stories for both political causes, liberal and conservative on, as they state, " Fair and Balanced Coverage", while the what has been named, the Mainstream Media or MSM, rarely cover negative stories about the Democrats.
What is amusing to me is to listen to the complaints from the Democrats when Fox News reports on an unfavorable story concerning the Democrats from the ONLY news source while every last one of those news services in the MSM regularly blast the Republicans.
Mr. Caddell also said these words in his speech to the "Accuracy in Media" conference:
"But the overwhelming bias has become very real and very dangerous. We have a First Amendment for one reason. We have a First Amendment not because the Founding Fathers liked the press - they hated the press - but they believed, as [Thomas] Jefferson said, that in order to have a free country, in order to be a free people, we needed a free press. That was the job - so there was an implicit bargain in the First Amendment, the press being the only institution, at that time, which was in our process of which there was no checks and balances.
"We designed a constitutional system with many checks and balances. The one that had no checks and balances was the press, and that was done under an implicit understanding that, somehow, the press would protect the people from the government and the power by telling-somehow allowing-people to have the truth. That is being abrogated as we speak, and has been for some time. It is now creating the danger that I spoke to."
America desperately needs more honest men like Pat Caddell.
The entire speech can be seen online at FoxNews.com, "Mainstream media is threatening our country's future" by Patrick Caddell, published September 29, 2012.
Gerald A. “Jerry” McConnell, 92, of Hampton, died Sunday, February 19, 2017, at the Merrimack Valley Hospice House in Haverhill, Mass., surrounded by his loved ones. He was born May 27, 1924 in Altoona, Pa., the fifth son of the late John E. and Grace (Fletcher) McConnell.
Jerry served ten years with the US Marine Corps and participated in the landing against Japanese Army on Guadalcanal and another ten years with the US Air Force. After moving to Hampton in 1957 he started his community activities serving in many capacities.
He shared 72 years of marriage with his wife Betty P. (Hamilton) McConnell. In addition to his wife, family members include nieces and nephews.
