The media are to blame for what happened Tuesday. Bush’s total failure in foreign and domestic policy is obvious to anyone who gathers the research. The media are also supposed to do some of this research before they print either party’s bullet points.

The media have wasted too much time blindly parroting the administration’s lies, and recent efforts to tell the truth came too late. Half of the people have been kept in the dark about Iraq. People have had to dig for truth on economic data Web sites.

This was not a normal election. The people were up against a deliberate and blatantly corrupt consolidation of power. Yet the media presented their lies as equal to accurate descriptions of truth.

Our democracy had one last chance to survive. With Bush and the GOP in power, this nation has ceased to be what our founders created, and the media are culpable.

Tom Bishop

Malden, Mass.