Ten questions for the media pundits

They’ve asked the candidates the questions, and written many sneering op-eds on that yokel Sarah Palin, so I have a few questions for the media. Just to test their general knowledge of things I’ve been reading about lately.

  1. How do you field dress a moose? Please be specific and tell me what kind of equipment is generally used, and why you would do so in the first place.
  2. What is the Bush doctrine? Name the dates and times it was enunciated, and who was the first to describe it as such.
  3. How old were you when you got your first passport? If you weren’t a reporter, do you think you would have gotten one? Be honest.
  4. Do you go to church, synagogue, or any other house of religion on a regular basis?
  5. If your teenaged daughter got pregnant, would you mind if your colleagues in the media investigated the story and threatened to leak it to the public? (This is mostly for nationally-known reporters; reporters from small towns can skip this question and move onto the next.)
  6. Do you think all feminists must be pro-choice or they are not “really” feminists?
  7. Are you a registered member of either party? If yes, which one?
  8. Whom did you vote for in the past four (if applicable) presidential elections?
  9. Did you contribute any money to a presidential campaign? If so, which one?
  10. True or false: If you’re not voting for Obama in November, you’re a racist.
  11. True or false: If you don’t think Sarah Palin is a good vice-presidential candidate, you’re a sexist.

Whoops. Looks like that’s eleven questions. But that’s okay. The media won’t be putting forth any such suggestion as the eleventh question. Because it’s not the narrative.

Click on the links to see how many reporters vote Democrat in November. (Or to learn how to field dress a moose. Being a city girl, I’ll just pass on that.)

Please hand in your responses to be graded. We will not be using a curve.

Update: Welcome, Instapundit readers. If you like this post, you’ll like the all-Sarah-Palin, all-the-time Shire Network News podcast, where my contribution is why a former Clinton/Gore/lifelong Democrat voter is going to vote for McCain-Palin.

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33 Responses to Ten questions for the media pundits

  1. Hankmeister says:

    For the most part the elitist, biased snobs in the lamestream media would refuse to take this test because it would be beneath the dignity of their station in life to do so … thus proving they are indeed elitist, biased snobs!

    BTW, as to their party affiliation, liberal Democrat journalists have figured out long ago they must register as “Independents” … plausible deniability and all that despite the fact they’ve probably voted for a LibDonk for president in at least six of the last seven elections.

    I’ll put my “independent, mainstream voter” credentials up against any lamestream journalist any time.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Since most people don’t live far north enough to regularly hunt moose, you could substitute “big game animal of your choice”, e.g. deer (although moose taste a LOT better).

    And since hunting big game hasn’t been an upper class sort of thing since perhaps T.R., you could include the most basic questions:

    Do you own a gun?

    If not, have you ever fired one?

  3. Well, Anon, I have fired a gun, and I own two. Just got them this summer. I have to get them back from their current home, though.

  4. seejay says:

    Actually, all of the questions are just filler, except for #10.
    Truth is, the very CONCEPT of “racism” is nothing more than anti-white bigotry disguised as a “social science!”
    There is no more “racism” in America today than there is that other social fabrication; “sexism.” These are both nebulous terms used to confuse the honest!
    If I have to admit that blacks make better basketball players and rappers, than shouldn’t I also admit that whites make better firefighters, salesman, managers, Mayors, Governors, Presidents, executives, representatives, overall employees, teachers, counselors, doctors, lawyers, scientists, researchers, drivers, students, police, builders, developers, construction workers, installers etc.?
    This whole construct called “RACISM” is a scam!

  5. Actually, seejay, it isn’t, and your comment pretty much proves the point.

  6. Spinoneone says:

    Meryl,
    I think anon’s comment was aimed at the media types, not you. And their answer would be, “of course not, guns are dangerous.”

    Racism exists. It exists in all communities. Blacks are just as guilty of racial bigotry as whites, asians, hispanics, and everyone else. Another question for the MSM types might be, “If the black candidate were Michael Steel instead of BHO, would you still be supporting him so strongly?”

  7. Increase Mather says:

    There will be at least one good thing to come out of this campaign…..the media has been outed.

    Go over to POWERLINE and see the list of questions Charlie Gibson asked Obama immediately after his nomination. Just below you will find the questions asked Palin.

    The comparison is hysterical. Go see for yourselves.

  8. Colin says:

    Instapundit visitor here. Thanks for the poll, and also the invite to visit often, but I am already under-impressed. On the Podcast, I sadly find that #2, Joanne, is already spewing Leftist tripe she ate, didn’t masticate, then expectorated as if fact.

    She says Palin is against Gay rights. No, she isn’t, she is against gay marriage, just like many of us conservatives… Joanne, please check your Leftist dogma at the kennel if you want to work with us.

  9. htom says:

    If you’d used a bulleted list, rather than an enumerated one, I doubt that any reporter would have noticed the “error”.

    (Ha! Firefox wants to spell bulleted, “billeted”.)

  10. Robert says:

    Guns are supposed to have summer homes? Who knew this? I took a couple of mine on a working vacation to the National Matches, but the others just stayed home and worked on their summer reading list and tanned.

  11. McCarroll says:

    I had planned to vote for McCain-Palin, but since I’ve learned she’s wearing shoes that are “too young” for her, I may have to reconsider.

  12. J Richardson says:

    I love the list and I learned something from it – how to field dress a moose. It’s a heck of a lot of work!

    I agree with Anon. about the gun ownership questions.

  13. Anonymous says:

    Yes, my questions were for the media, not Meryl, although not having visited her blog for far too long I’m happy to see that she’s become a gun owner and is well on her way to becoming a good markswoman. As it happens, the best shot on my high school rifle team was a woman.

  14. BackwardsBoy says:

    1. A large sharp knife.
    A moose (or a deer) is quite heavy, and unless your ATV is parked nearby, you have a lot of physical work to do to get dinner home. You begin by removing dead weight that won’t be eaten.

  15. Robert: Heh. I asked a friend to hang onto them while I went on vacation, because I lived in a crappy neighborhood and didn’t want them stolen. I’ll be buying a lock box and gun case for them in my new condo.

  16. southernman says:

    A saw or hand axe is not a bad idea for field dressing any deer-or bigger sized animal. Its too bad that no one in the media will ever see, much less complete a survey like this. What is it about humans, that they have this innate desire to form groups that disparage one another, sometimes groups formed specifically for that purpose? I think tribalism is bred to the bone in us all, and like racism, sexism and all the other lesser-isms it can be controlled, supressed, but not eliminated. Recognition of the fact is the first step to control. Who in the media would like to step up and be first? Charlie Gibson? Are you listening??

  17. Bob Hawkins says:

    12. Three of you are in a pickup. Where do you sit? (In the middle. You don’t have to get out to open gates.)

    13. How do you get free-range chickens to lay eggs where you want to collect them? (Leave a few fake glass eggs there. Chickens are followers.)

    14. What do you do when the oil lamp starts to smoke? (Trim the wick.)

    15. What’s the smallest recommended caliber for self-defense? (.380 Auto/9mm Kurz.) (This is my “Bush Doctrine” question.)

    16. Fill in the blank: “When seconds count, the police are only _____ away.” (Minutes.)

    17. Where do you put the woodpile? (Between the back door and the outhouse. You can grab some wood on your way back from the outhouse and save a trip.)

    18. What is son-of-a-bitch stew? (You throw all the stuff you couldn’t sell in a pot and cook it until you’re hungry enough to eat it.)

    Bet you didn’t learn that at Hahvahd.

  18. Koblog says:

    Oh, racism exists, alright.

    Eva Longoria dissed Sarah Palin at the recent 2008 ALMA awards presented by the National Council of La Raza.

    La Raza means “the race” … and they ain’t talkin’ 10k’s or NASCAR here.

    And Meryl, I love the Shire Network News podcast. Enjoyed every one of them.

  19. Oxbay says:

    I stopped for gas in Woods Bay, Montana about 10 years ago. When I finished paying a woman walked in as I walked out of the store. Outside the only other vehicle in addition to my car was a big dually pickup. In the back was a skinned disembowelled moose carcass splayed out. She must have been on the way to the butcher. I say butcher instead of home because of the way she was dressed, i.e., the woman not the moose.

  20. JorgXMcKie says:

    Bob Hawkins, you must have grown up in a place like my boyhood home. ;->=

    You shoulda seen my college roommate (never out of the Chicago suburbs until college) when he came home with me and it was time to castrate pigs.

    He wasn’t good at layin’ fence, neither.

  21. paz says:

    Have you ever been to Alaska? Have you ever met an Alaskan? If you have been to Alaska, did you go there before you went to Paris?

  22. lgv says:

    Another question: Can a pro choice female choose to keep a Down syndrome fetus?

  23. Moptop says:

    She is certainly getting into their heads.

    Clinton is said by friends to be “gutted” that she put 18m cracks in the glass ceiling for women only to have Palin kick in the pane. But she is thought to share Palin’s conviction that the media are treating the Alaskan governor unfairly.

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4749000.ece

    Actually, looking for this quote, the first reference I found to Hillary and “gutted” was Monica describing how she felt “gutted” when Bill admitted the sexual harrassment on national TV and never appologized to her. Kind of a funny term, and telling maybe of sympathy for Monica, in a way. I don’t know.

  24. oMan says:

    I grew up in the Yukon. Walking to school at 70 below, and knowing the value of a freezer full of moose, and aware that if you head off into the bush you may not see another soul for 3000 miles, is just…different. The media don’t get that. And so they fear and mock the set of mind, and the skills and tools, that make such places not merely manageable, but marvelous.

  25. Jeff says:

    Igv:

    I don’t know where you are going with that but according to all the pro-choice woman I know, including my wife, the answer would have been yes.

  26. Jeff says:

    On the flip side of #6, do all pro-choice woman have to be feminists?

  27. Rebekah K says:

    I have another question (and follow-up)for the journos: Precisely how many of our United States have you visited for any length of time; how many of those did you see by choice, and not as a part of your job?

  28. Jon Ihle says:

    I’m a reporter. Here are my answers:

    1. I’ve never even seen a moose. Have you, Meryl?

    2. The Bush Doctrine permits the US to use military means to quell emerging – rather than imminent – threats to national security. It was enunciated over time, starting with the ‘axis of evil’ speech and coming into force with the invasion of Iraq. I believe Charles Krauthammer gave it a name, but he did not bring it into existence.

    3. I was 14 when I got my first passport and used it to visit four countries (not including Canada and none of which I could see from my home state) before I left high school. I even live abroad now (again, not in Canada).

    4. I go to shul maybe a half-dozen times a year.

    5. I reject the premise of your question. If my teenaged daughter got pregnant, I would not issue a press release about it. If I did issue a press release about it, I certainly wouldn’t bitch when reporters followed it up. Following up press releases is part of a reporter’s job. If I held the same political positions regarding sex and abortion as Sarah Palin, I might see in my teenaged daughter’s pregnancy a reason to re-evaluate my thinking. I guess that’s another way I’m not like her.

    6. This is a good question. If you believe gender is a social construct built on certain irreducible biological facts which must nevertheless be overcome in order to achieve genuine liberation, then the answer is yes. If you define feminism as being atleast as much of an asshole as the next smug Republican male, then no.

    7. No.

    8. Clinton, Clinton, Nader, Bush.

    9. No

    10. False

    11. False.

    How’d I do?

    I’d like to ask a question now: are you at all concerned, Meryl, with Palin’s Jews for Jesus dalliance? I seem to recall you’ve promulgated some rather astringent opinions on the subject of deceptively proselytizing Jews.

    I also find it interesting that someone as perceptive as you are about anti-Semitism is so dismissive of the possibility that racism is at play in this election.

  29. Jon, the reason the Palins issued a press release is because the media was going to go ahead with the story. Apparently, family is not off-limits, except when it comes to Obama.

    As for Palin and Jews for Jesus, I have not heard of that connection. Cite, please.

    I’m not dismissing all racism here. But I don’t believe that if Obama is not elected, it’s because Americans are bigots. Some Americans are bigots. But I really don’t think we’re a nation of David Dukes, which is how some on the other side are making out non-Obama voters.

    Of course racism is playing a part in this election. Some people are voting for Obama BECAUSE he’s black. Some people are telling us we SHOULD vote for him because he’s black. How is that not racist? Of course, it’s considered the “good” kind of racism.

    Four years ago, I thought that America was not yet ready for a black president. Now, I think she is. But not this one. And not because he’s black. Because he’s green.

  30. Jeff says:

    I’d say a majority of people voting for Obama because he is black are voting for him because he is black and they agree with him on the issues. There is a difference. Many of these voters would probably not vote for Condoleeza Rice or J.C. Watts.

  31. Jon Ihle says:

    I think when you list ‘hockey mom’ as one of your key qualifications for VP, you have put your family at the center of political and media attention. You don’t get to complain when someone wants to find out more about what kind of a mom you are.

    J4J: http://blogs.jta.org/politics/2008/09/02/1226/sarah-palins-looming-pastor-problem/

    I agree with you on the racism thing and also think it is worth pointing out when criticism of Obama depends on racist tropes. Same goes for Palin and sexism. To be fair to both, neither has really played the victim card the way others might (Jesse Jackson, Hillary Clinton).

  32. Okay, Jon, I researched Palin and the J4J issue. We don’t even know if she was in church when her pastor invited a J4J preacher. That is hardly something I should be condemning her for. It’s not like she brought the guy in. Straw man.

    Also, how is it that it’s not okay to go after Michelle Obama when she stumps for her husband, but it’s okay to go after Palin’s pregnant teenaged daughter because of some arcane rule you and your buddies on the left made up?

    Please. Michelle Obama can’t be touched even though she’s leading rallies for her husband, but it’s open season on a 17-year-old girl because her mother says she’s a mom? Your logic is so twisted I’m getting dizzy trying to follow it.

    You also seem to have completely blown past the issue of the press INVESTIGATING Palin and about to release the fact that her daughter was pregnant. That’s why the press release was issued. Palin was forced into it.

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