This past weekend, Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan, a member of the House of Representatives from Wisconsin, to be his vice presidential nominee. Without missing a beat, the media jumped all over the move.

But why is it that no one is talking about the media’s misrepresentation of Ryan? Many media outlets have linked Ryan to the Libertarian Party or marked him as a libertarian.  Ryan is in no way a libertarian.

Ryan, while in the House, voted in favor of Troubled Asset Relief Program, replacing Medicare with a different program, housing subsidies, permanent extension of the Patriot Act and much more. No real libertarian votes in favor of any of these.

Regardless of these facts, he gets dumped into the libertarian category by the media in an effort to stop anyone but the Democrats. The media leans quite a bit to the left, contrary to many outlets claiming to be centered.

MSNBC gave a show to Al Sharpton who said, “If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house.” Sharpton can make insensitive remarks about a group of people and it’s OK, but Don Imus makes a remark about the Rutgers women’s basketball team and there’s a problem.

In both instances, Sharpton and Imus have the right to say as they wish.  I don’t agree with making statements of that manner for risk of losing a job, or just because it’s mean. But Imus is a “racist,” while Sharpton isn’t; even though Jews are not a race, but a religious group, he is still not called insensitive.

The media gives a huge pass to Democrats, or anyone who leans left. Jesse Jackson called New York “Hymietown,” another shot at Jews.  Jackson doesn’t see claims of racism, prejudice or other terms from the media, but Rush Limbaugh receives these accusations constantly.

This pass even exists in the American public. During President Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008 and the beginning of his presidency, he said his stance on gay marriage aligned with scripture.  He said since the Bible said no, he said no.  Earlier this year though, he said his view on gay marriage was “evolving,” which is fine. If he follows scripture, however, his view shouldn’t be evolving since scripture isn’t evolving.

The media and the public didn’t jump down Obama’s throat to point out this inconsistency. The public overlooks these events because the media does. The media overlooks these because they lean left.

Earlier this year, when secret service agents hired prostitutes in Columbia, there wasn’t a very big uproar. They were agents who made mistakes. But when troops under the Bush Administration were committing atrocities in the Middle East, the media said “the fish rots from the head” implying Bush was the reason for these atrocities.

Many think tanks, such as the Pew Research Center, have come out with studies over the years giving Democrats anywhere from a six- to 11-point advantage in the polls, just from the media bias favoring the left.  Any advantage from the media gives candidates a better shot at elections, regardless of their stances.

I have experienced this bias as well. Having written a fair amount of articles for the Barometer, I take the libertarian stance, which many people interpret as to the right. Because of this, I’ve heard negative comments, remarks, been called names and experienced all kinds of reaction from people. They don’t agree so I’m “racist.”

But if someone writes a politically left article, he/she is compassionate and in touch with what we need in America. The bias reaches all the way to college newspapers.

So, as the race for the presidency thickens, take note of articles and reports from MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and any other news outlet. More times than not, articles about Romney and Ryan will be negative while articles about Obama and Biden will remain positive.

“Fox is politically right.”  Yes, they are.  But they don’t deny it, and that’s one media outlet, while the left has many more, and they don’t claim to support the left.

The media can do whatever it wants. People can believe whatever they want.  I only urge you and everyone else out there to recognize this bias.