How the Media Is Protecting Martin Sheen

While the media is doing its best to exploit the self-destructive train wreak otherwise known as Charlie Sheen, reporters, especially those in the liberal media, are demonstrating a case of selective amnesia about how cruel Charlie Sheen's father, Martin, was in his comments about former President George W. Bush's admission of his drinking problems as a young man.

In the 2000 Presidential election, Martin Sheen favored Al Gore.  There is no surprise there as most of the Hollywood elite favored a continuation of the Clinton administration and, for the most part, despised Republicans.  Sheen, a former substance abuser himself, took a nasty shot at Bush when he was addressing a group at a California treatment center during the campaign.  He referred to the soon-to-be President as a "white knuckle drunk" who was in denial about it.  Sheen claimed that Bush could not have stopped drinking on his own, and that he needed to be in some kind of recovering program.

Martin Sheen has every right to support and oppose any political candidate he wishes.  Nevertheless, it's sad to see what I hear is otherwise a very decent man make virulent comments about someone he really doesn't know personally just because he disagrees with him politically.

Fast forward 11 years, and now we hear Martin's son, Charlie, bashing alcohol and substance abuse programs, claiming he doesn't need them, and he is somehow so superhuman that he can abuse anything and still excel in his acting profession.  While I don't watch every news show or read every newspaper that exists, I haven't seen one reference to the irony of Charlie Sheen's present meltdown and his fathers former cruel statements about the so-called false recovery of George Bush from his own self-admitted drinking problems.

During my career, I have often said to my fellow communicators and reporters alike that we have too many advocates and very few true journalists in the news media.  This situation with the Sheen family provides another example about how advocates in the media give those who agree with their point of view a pass on a scenario that exposes obvious hypocrisy on the part of Martin Sheen.

I feel bad for Mr. Sheen and his entire family.  It must be very difficult for them to watch Charlie come unglued on the national stage and jeopardize what was a very successful acting career. Martin Sheen has asked for privacy and courtesy from the public while he and his family cope with a self-destructive family member.  It's too bad Mr. Sheen couldn't display the same compassion and understanding for George W. Bush that he now expects from everyone else.