On Sunday I blogged: Saturday's GOP Debate: MSM Mask Slips - Foreign Policy, Immigation Dissenters To Be Silenced and now with characteristic vitality and industry Youth for Western Civilization has published a valuable quantification: CBS Memo Confirms Media Selection of GOP Candidates By John Anderson

"Although CBS has defended their actions by saying “Bachmann remains at 4% in the polls,”...this does not explain why Rick Perry was given the most speaking time, since Rick Perry has also remained mired in single digits according to the same CBS polls. Rick Santorum, with half of Bachmann's support, was given almost twice as much time as Bachmann. Jon Huntsman, whose support was a quarter of Bachmann's, was also given more time than her. Ron Paul, who placed ahead of Bachmann in the poll, was given less than half as much time as Bachmann."

The link is to the We Occupy The Web! blog, which has done its own counting:

"TIME TO TALK during the televised 1st hour of the GOP debate tonight: Rick Perry:..............7.75 minutes (Yes the Alzheimer case got the most allotted) Mitt Romney:..........6.5 minutes Newt Gingrich:........6.0 minutes Herman Cain:.........5.75 minutes Rick Santorum:.......5.25 minutes Jon Huntsman:........3.5 minutes Michelle Bachmann: 3.25 minutes Ron Paul: ...............1.5 minutes (Ignored as usual!)"

Of course the most extreme aspect of the atrocity was the virtually complete repression of Ron Paul, who as the only real dissenter on foreign policy, arguably in a “debate” supposedly devoted to the subject should have had as much as half the time. Anderson points out:

"Ron Paul was almost completely ignored, given  only 89 seconds, despite (or because of) being outspoken on many foreign policy issues for years.... In fact... the candidates were given speaking time in reverse order of foreign policy expertise. Paul received the least. Michelle Bachmann, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, received the second least. Jon Huntsman, a recent ambassador to China...received the third least."

Anderson opened his piece by offering his analysis:

"A couple months ago, I discussed the media selection of 'frontrunner' status in the GOP primary. What happens is the 'mainstream' media decides who the 'frontrunners' should be, then gives these candidates large amounts of media attention, and the designation of 'frontrunner' status becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; as people called by polling companies tend to pick candidates they have heard about frequently in the news."

True enough in an immediate sense. But the problem is fundamentally deeper. The concept of deciding political issues by debate rather than force came to America as part of its WASP heritage. It is far beyond the comprehension of most other cultures.

The American MSM is a not a WASP culture zone.