The mainstream media couldn't ask for a better venue for its cheery reports of death & mayhem then the upcoming Iraqi elections. They are salivating, chomping at the bit, just waiting to bring its viewers all the bombings, killings & slaughter (they hope) that will fill your t.v. screens in living, blood-red color. The elections promise to bring them more than enough killing - it may even satiate
their thirst for gore.
Prepare yourselves for the somber correspondent in Iraq, reporting the latest atrocity, while a back drop plays of horrified Iraqis reeling from a car bombing near an election line. Prepare yourselves to listen to CNN, MSNBC & Fox so-called analysts & experts grimly diagnose the situation, proclaiming in I-told-you-so words that the American war in Iraq is a failure. Prepare yourselves for the never-ending film loops of the same horrific scenes being played over & over & over & over ad nauseam.
The elections in Afghanistan were a non-starter for the media. Big, big disappointment. The anticipated killings & bombings of Afghani voters never happened. There were more murders that day in Brooklyn than in Afghanistan. Their elections were not only unprecedented, but surprisingly peaceful - the Taliban ran tail. This event in itself should have been news. But there was barely a word printed or a correspondent heard about this peaceful transition to democracy. After all, blood sells news. It must be a depressing business to be in - always hoping for the disaster, always looking for the negative side of humanity.
Well, on to Iraq they go now. The media is hoping to more than make up for the fizzle that was found in Afghanistan. Camera ready, lint off the collar....and roll em. Let's pray that what the media lives for does not come at the expense of some one dying.
The Iraqi elections will go forward. There may be killings, maybe many killings, but it will go forward. The media will prefer to jump on a reported election fraud incident or voter complaint or irregularity & play it to death then report on the positives of the election. They forget that with over 200 years of democracy in the United States, Florida, Washington & Wisconsin can still not get it right. Iraq's first ever election will have fraud, cheating, mistakes, controversy. They will then be down at our level. But the media will see to it that the elections in Iraq are invalid if those problems do occur. We now have a greater respect for car salesmen.
....from sea to shining sea