After months of failures by the Obama administration to secure our border, on July 21, Texas Governor Rick Perry decided to take border security into his own hands with an announcement that he is sending 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the border to try to get a handle on the humanitarian crisis there. But despite the newsworthiness of this story, Huffington Post found it unworthy of coverage on its home page.
Perry’s announcement that he intends to take over border security–a federal responsibility–is quite a move for a governor to take. In his announcement, Perry said he had grown tired of Obama’s “lip service” to border security. He also said he was done with Obama’s “empty promises.”
Perry and Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott also said state officials feel that Obama should foot the bill for the deployment. “Texans are willing to put boots on the ground. But we expect Washington to foot the bill,” Abbott said.
Despite all this politically momentous news, however, by the early evening of the very day Perry made his announcement, the Huffington Post home page didn’t include a single story on Rick Perry’s troop deployment announcement.
The liberal news website did have several stories about the downing of Malaysian flight MH17, various stories on Obama’s political situation, and at least one story ripping Republicans. There was even a story at the top of the fold exploring the important question of where the cast of “Happy Days” is now.
But nothing appears on the home page about a state governor taking what is normally a federal matter into his own hands. In fact, despite the humanitarian crisis at the border, only two stories on immigration appear on the front page.
This disinterest in the Perry story was reflected on the network morning news shows, as well. Neither ABC nor NBC made any mention of Perry’s announcement, and CBS gave it only a scant few seconds.
Perhaps with rumors of his possible bid for the GOP nomination for President in 2016 heating up, the networks and HuffPo don’t want to give Rick Perry any positive news coverage; and with Texas Attny Gen. Abbott running for Governor to replace the retiring Perry, the news outlets may have a second reason for ignoring the story.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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