It’s difficult to be honest about someone who has just passed from this life to the next. We have a general feeling that the departed is being judged elsewhere, so there is really no point in beating their memory to a pulp. We want to say nice things, forget the missteps, and sing praises of the dead. Anything less seems rather tawdry. The advocacy media has employed this behavior of late, but somehow their motives don’t seem quite so pure.
In fact, the media has twisted the life and legacies of two Republicans they formerly loathed. First, it was Senator John McCain (R-AZ), whose passing was treated by the MSM as if George Washington had just died. Now they have an opportunity to double down on this false bereavement with the death of 41 – George Herbert Walker Bush.
The Spin Zone
Why would the establishment media elevate these two men to such heights in death? Would it be too crude to say the Fourth Estate has been spinning the demise of McCain and Bush in order to take a swipe at President Trump? And in doing so, does this posturing bring dishonor to the memory of the dearly departed?
Looking back to 2008, the establishment media wasn’t exactly besotted with John McCain. As a matter of fact, McCain was hosed in the press when he ran as the Republican nominee for president against Barack Obama. The negative coverage of the Arizona senator was overwhelming.
Fast forward a few years, and it’s plain to see that the former Vietnam POW and the press eventually formed a tight bond, especially since President Trump took the oath of office. Oh yes, they worshiped at the altar of McCain who became their Republican whipping boy for Trump. And the man from Arizona was only too happy to oblige. So, it makes some sense that the MSM would treat McCain’s demise as the passing of a great monarch.
Where the phony grief seems a bit more dubious is regarding the memory of President Bush.
Not so very long ago, the establishment media labeled George H. W. Bush “a wimp” who was “out of touch.” He was the one who nominated Clarence Thomas – the man they love to hate – to the U.S. Supreme Court. Victor Davis Hanson recounts that the media objectified Bush as a “ninny” and a “fool”:
“Once elected president, Bush was variously trashed by the media as a warmonger, a whiny nerd, and a Reagan wannabe. After he lost his re-election bid to Bill Clinton in 1992, Bush was dismissed as a failed president.”
Indeed, the media pounded 41 every which way but loose until he did something almost unheard of for a former Republican president: He reportedly pulled the lever for their heroine, Hillary. Whether Bush actually voted for HRC is not clear. Perhaps that’s why American ballots are hidden behind a curtain – for privacy. Without a doubt, that’s when the wimp, the fool, the ninny was rehabilitated into a media darling. Now we must endure a week of fawning over a man they formerly despised. Somehow this all feels a bit unseemly.
In a way, this false bereavement by the left-wing media brings dishonor to the memory of the 41st president. When the Fourth Estate plays this little game of elevating someone in death for the purpose of administering a beat down of our current president, it seems more than a bit vulgar and insincere.
And even though he was not a fan of President Trump, it seems doubtful that a man with the decency and class of George Herbert Walker Bush would approve of these tasteless motives by the mainstream media.
