Un-be-lievable...

After excluding Ron Paul from the Fox News forum two days before the New Hampshire primary (a state for which his campaign had great expectations), now this:

Following the New Hampshire primary, six Republican candidates will attend Thursday night's debate in Myrtle Beach, state party officials said today.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee have all accepted their invitations, said Rob Godfrey, spokesman for the state Republican Party.

To be invited, candidates must have placed in the top 5 positions in the New Hampshire poll -- McCain, Romney, Huckabee, Giuliani and Paul -- or be polling at least 5 percent nationally, such as Thompson.

Under what authority does the media establish these shifting goalposts for who gets to play? Paul was excluded last time because he wasn't polling 10% nationally (even though he'd just received that much of the vote in Iowa's caucus). So why is the bar now 5%? Oh, wait, Thompson would be excluded if they were consistent. Can't have that... he's the "Reagan wannabe backup" when everyone is finally disgusted with Giuliani, Romney and The Huckster. Paul's campaign is considered to have peaked now that he didn't place high in New Hampshire, so the pundits figure there's no danger in allowing him to resume debating until he drops out. Great.

I don't care what your opinion of Paul is, the blatant media manipulation of the system already evident during this election cycle should raise the ire of every American who cares about the nation and the form of government we inherited. Our media masters no longer even feel it necessary to be subtle. Why should they? It's not as if anyone will penalize them for playing these games.