Eagles soar; media plummet

The world may never know exactly how many people showed up for Saturday's antiwar march in Washington, D.C., and the competing Gathering of Eagles at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Unofficial estimates by the mainstream media based on information from antiwar protesters gave the peaceniks the attendance edge, while the U.S. Park Service had veterans and others protecting the memorial outnumbering the antiwar protesters by up to 3 to 1.

But what is not debatable was the media's bias, which was more blatant and disturbing than usual. They depicted the Eagles as profane, knuckle-dragging bikers itching for a fight. "One Vietnam veteran in a wheelchair yelled obscenities at demonstrators, including some with children," The Washington Post reported. Meanwhile, they portrayed the antiwar protesters, who yelled more than their share of obscenities and threats and scuffled with police, as peaceful, good-hearted, mainstream folk who were there "to be quietly counted among the people opposed to this war," only to be harassed by the Neanderthals.

Barely reported was that the march was organized by the ANSWER Coalition, which is newly aligned with the radical Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). Of the nearly 1,000 news articles filed on the march, not one mentioned the PSL was "founded to promote the movement for revolutionary change" in America based on Marxist Leninism.

Tellingly, not a single article mentioned by name the Gathering of Eagles, whose members were there to protect The Wall from vandalism by the anti-war mob: "We believe the war memorials are sacred ground; as such, we will not allow them to be desecrated, used as props for political statements, or treated with anything less than the solemn and heartfelt respect they and the heroes they honor deserve."

So anarchists who advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government and the free markets in favor of communist totalitarianism get the media's respect and reverence while veterans, relatives of soldiers who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and other patriotic Americans are treated in print as violent mental-hospital escapees.

Disgraceful and despicable, even by the media's standards.