Anyone whose eyes have been glued to certain news outlets for the last 24 hours has probably heard almost nothing about one of the most offensive political advertisements in recent memory. That's because most major networks have largely failed to cover a video portraying Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan as literally throwing grandma off a cliff.
While ABC, MSNBC, and CNN continue to ignore the left-wing attack ad, these same outlets wasted no time excoriating Sharron Angle's controversial immigration ad during the 2010 cycle.
[Video embedded after the page break.]
The video, which shows a frightened elderly woman being steered off a cliff by the House Budget Chairman, parrots the liberal meme that Republicans want to kill old people by ending Medicare, which apparently the media doesn't find controversial.
But just a few months ago, the same outlets that couldn't be bothered to question the Agenda Project's Medicare video were quick to condemn the former Nevada Republican Senate nominee for using images of immigrants crossing the border illegally to criticize Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) record on amnesty.
On ABC's "The View," liberal comedienne Joy Behar called Angle a "moron" who will "go to hell" because of the campaign spot.
"I am not praying for her," added Behar. "She's going to hell, this bitch."
On Andrea Mitchell's eponymous MSNBC program, the incensed anchor complained that Angle's ad looked "like a Halloween show" and was "beyond the pale."
Mitchell's guest, Washington Post reporter Dan Balz, scolded, "A lot of people say this is the closest thing we have this year to a Willie Horton or the Jesse Helms white hands ad from that North Carolina race back in the day."
For CNN's part, both "Anderson Cooper 360" and "Parker-Spitzer" featured Democratic strategist Robert Zimmerman, who offered a robust defense of Behar's "bitch" smear.
"I'm standing with Joy Behar because she nailed it when she went after Sharron Angle for the xenophobia, for the racist type of campaign she has run, and for, in fact, exploiting prejudice and bigotry," blathered the one-time CNN political analyst.
Fox News, as well as numerous sites, started covering the offensive anti-Republican video yesterday, a day after it was released. ABC, MSNBC, and CNN have had ample time to do so, but continue to ignore the controversy.
--Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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