A candidate can trash the western world all he or she desires without provoking CNN, but let a candidate defend the west as Kansas 2nd District congressional candidate Steve Fitzgerald did on Monday, and CNN makes it headlines news.
Unlike many Kansas Republicans, State Senator Fitzgerald, a retired U.S. Army Lt. Col., is not afraid to cross swords with the media. And that he did at a July 2 meeting of the Leavenworth County Republican Party.
“We are being told that Western civilization is the problem in the world,” said Fitzgerald. “Outside of Western civilization there is only barbarism.”
Fitzgerald explained, “Our Judeo-Christian ethic is what is civilization. And that is what is under attack here and abroad. It also goes by a different name. Christendom. It’s under attack. And even speaking about it can bring you under attack. It has brought me under attack.”
Fitzgerald was right about being attacked. A “Democratic operative” secretly recorded the talk and rushed it to CNN. CNN, which in the past has expressed its horror at the undercover videos made by James O’Keefe and Project Veritas, was quick to run with this one.
If CNN and the Democrats thought Fitzgerald would apologize in historic Republican fashion, they misunderstood Fitzgerald. He made the comments about western values expecting his talk to be recorded and expecting the major media to broadcast it. In the campaign business, they call the phenomenon “unpaid media.” If the candidate wants his message out, and he is running in a crowded field, he can ask for no better or cheaper a delivery system.
Fitzgerald knew the word “barbarism” would prove perfect click bait for the major media. CNN used in its headline, “GOP candidate in Kansas: ‘Outside of Western civilization, there is only barbarism.'”
When asked by the Sentinel what he meant by “barbarism,” Fitzgerald, a vigorous pro-life advocate, answered, “Anything less than respect for human life is barbaric and not civilized.”
By Fitzgerald’s definition, as he well knows, there are some large pockets of barbarism within western civilization as well, including at CNN.
