Let’s wind the clock back to sixteen years ago when a liberal network went to extreme measures to save beloved Democratic candidate Barack Obama from a notable faux-pas. On Memorial Day 2008, Obama made a blunder during his speech when he referred to America’s “fallen heroes,” oddly stating that many of them were present in the audience. Yet, this was a clear mistake as those termed as ‘fallen heroes’ are the brave souls lost in service to their nation, and the audience was made up of very much alive veterans.
Obama gave this speech before a vibrant crowd in Las Cruces, New Mexico. His mistake would have doused a Republican candidate’s run with relentless criticism for days on end. However, the media seemed to turn a blind eye to it. The next day, a report by CNN’s Joe Johns consciously edited out Obama’s gaffe, presenting audiences a flawless representation of Obama’s Memorial Day speech.
Interestingly, CNN’s live coverage of the event conveniently missed the inception, evading the blunder. Later, Campbell Brown, a CNN anchor, shared snippets of both, Obama and his then-opponent John McCain, from Memorial Day events. During this broadcast, the unedited quote from Obama was shown, but Brown refrained from acknowledging it as a mistake.
As the day progressed, a story on Obama’s patriotism was broadcasted by the network, in which the clip was subtly edited to omit Obama’s misstep. It reappeared the following day during the 11 am and 3 pm slots, once again without the blunder.
Attempting to justify this act, one could argue the edit was to save time. However, the scrubbed portion was merely two seconds long, instantly debunking that reasoning. The only logical conclusion is that the network intentionally shielded Obama from potential humiliation by eliminating his blunder.
Later that same week, Obama had made another couple of gaffes, stating the U.S. having 58 states and overshot the actual death toll in a Kansas tornado by several thousand. But, once again, no serious coverage of these blunders by the liberal media.
CNN’s manipulation of Obama’s Memorial Day quote was a glaring act of bias; favoring to shield the candidate’s image rather than letting viewers form their own opinions about the gaffe’s significance. It’s not the worst mistake made on the campaign trail, but the network’s choice to hide it instead of letting audiences judge speaks volumes about its biased actions.
The role of media has always been to deliver the truth to the public. When it falters from this path to protect its favored candidates, it only erodes the trust of its audience. It’s about time the media got back to giving people fair and impartial coverage without leaning towards any side.
