Back when everyone was speculating on whether Donald Trump was going to jump into the 2012 presidential race and the Birther issue (Obama's birth certificate fiasco) was constantly talked about in the media, I headlined a piece with "Donald Trump's So-Called 'Birther' Claims: The Media Continues To Bring It Up, Trump Just Responds," where I showed examples of the media consistently harping on the issue, then asking Trump about it, then claiming HE was the one bringing it up again and again.
I see the media is doing it again, with Rick Perry after he met with Donald Trump, only this time the media is being called out about it by one of their very own.
MediaIte:
Let start with the origin of the controversy, the Parade Magazine interview published Sunday:
Q. Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States?
A. I have no reason to think otherwise.Q. That’s not a definitive, “Yes, I believe he”—
A. Well, I don’t have a definitive answer, because he’s never seen my birth certificate.
Q. But you’ve seen his.
A. I don’t know. Have I?
Q. You don’t believe what’s been released?
A. I don’t know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night.
Q. And?
A. That came up.
Q. And he said?
A. He doesn’t think it’s real.
Q. And you said?
A. I don’t have any idea. It doesn’t matter. He’s the president of the United States. He’s elected. It’s a distractive issue.
Affording these comments the sort of attention that ought to be reserved for important issues like the economy or national security, while Perry seems to laugh the subject off, makes the media appear petty, humorless and a bit ridiculous (by the way the reference to Obama showing his grades is a more serious and legitimate issue to raise with Perry than the birth certificate). By constantly revisiting the birther issue, the media not Perry, affords this non-issue the sort of credibility it never deserved. A CNN reporter later followed up asking what it will take to “convince” Perry “that the President was born in this country?” At this point, Perry was right to avoid continuing the “distraction” by shooting down the reporter’s question.
In his “keeping them honest” segment last night Anderson Cooper claimed “its a distraction that the Governor himself revived for no apparent reason.” No, Perry didn’t revive it. Cooper and the rest of the media did. Sure, Perry didn’t help the situation, but it’s time for those who find it so outrageous to start taking the lead from Perry and even Trump and accept that, at this point, it is just a “distractive issue.”
Kudos to MediaIte for pointing out the media's deliberate attempt to create the news instead of just reporting it.
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